Pizza is one of those things I never make at home. When you live in New York or New Jersey, the best pizza in the country is just a walk, ride or phone call away. But this article by Melissa Clark in the Times the other week had me looking at pizza dough in a new light. Instead of baking a traditional pie, she piled on cheese, veggies and such, folded it over and produced something I haven’t eaten since my college days: a calzone! Though Melissa had a few suggestions of what you could stuff the mega-sized dough pocket with, the one that spoke to me instantly was made with broccoli rabe (possibly my favorite vegetable) and olives.

I followed Melissa’s recipe, which is pretty straight forward. First, cook the broccoli rabe like always — sauteed in a pan with garlic and touch of oil. After that is finished, roll out the pizza dough — I used frozen, that defrosted during the day when I was at work — with a bit a flour until it forms a 12 inch round. Next, cover half of the dough with the following yummy ingredients: Ricotta cheese, some fresh garlic, cooked broccoli rabe, fresh mozzerella, red chili pepper flakes, and sliced Calamata olives. Fold over the dough and pinch the edges to close. Brush a little olive oil on it and bake at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes. The crust will be firm and golden brown. Let it cool a few minutes before you cut. When I sliced mine, a bit of excess water from the broccoli rabe ran out. Next time I’ll be sure to pat it dry with a little paper towel before putting on the dough. The taste? Crazy delicious. That was easy! Click here to see full recipe.

Do you make homemade pizzas at home? Now that I’ve tackled the calzone, I think I’m ready for a pie. This could be life changing!

More recipes featuring broccoli rabe:

One pan sausage with broccoli rabe rice

Pasta with broccoli rabe

As soon as we saw Judy Kaufmann’s vibrant Houses & Birds, we knew we had to feature her as one of Etsy artists of the month. Barcelona-based Illustrator makes gorgeous, repetitive patterns of animals, famous people, houses, cars, trees — all the things that fill our heads, everyday. Sweet and funny, they are sure to make your day. Some of our favorites include her portrait of Woody Allen and her whimsical world map. Click here to visit her Prints & Prints shop on Etsy. Her prices start at only $25 a print. Wouldn’t one be a great birthday present for your bff? We think so.

We asked Judy to share a few insights into her work and life. See her answers below!

How would you describe your work?
Repetitive, tumultuous, colorful and spontaneous.

When did you start making your prints?
In 2000, I was working at an advertising agency, and I had lot of moments of boredom. I began drawing a lot and I think that’s where my first prints came out.

How does your home/city/town inspire your work?
Barcelona is a very inspiring city. I love the fact that you’ve the sea and the mountains very close. The city is full of art history and there is great love for design.

What kinds of artwork would we find on the walls of your house?
As my boyfriend is a sculptor, he has introduced me to all his favorite artists. On our walls you can find engravings from Armand (a french artist), Riera i Aragó (a Catalan Artist) and also some sculptures from my boyfriend, Marc Sparfel.

What is your decorating style?
Marc and I are drawn to classic wood and craft-style objects, which we’ve been lucky enough to find on the street. It helps that Marc knows how to apply his skills to fixing up and treating every piece we find. We love the mix of a Nordic functional furniture and a recovered wood furniture from the sixties. We also adore our small collections of miniature cars.

To learn more about Judy Kaufmann, visit her Etsy shop.

I am obsessed with front doors. It is the place where a home’s personality is most projected outwards. My favorites are ones that are painted a bright color so they POP and let you know that something fun and quirky is within. This dandy door is in Hudson, New York, where we are lucky enough to hang out a weekend or two a month. Isn’t it perfection? The bright teal complements the gunmetal gray building color just right. The well tailored checked curtains are masculine and slightly retro. It’s also geniusly unsymmetrical: with a large potted plant to one side and a classic doormat on the left.

Have you seen a front door you love? Please let me know! We’ll do a series and show them off here.

You don’t have to twist our arms to pin cute images of nursery decor to our boards on Pinterest, but Dwellstudio and Hatch maternity have created a really good reason for us to start a new one today. In partnership with Christy Turlington Burns’ and her awesome charity organization Every Mother Counts, they have started the #stylesquared contest. Make a pinboard that captures your personal nursery and fashion style, tag it #stylesquared, and you could win over $1500 in DwellStudio and Hatch gear. But best of all, for each pinboard created, the companies will donate $10 to Every Mother Counts. Click here to read more about the contest and how to enter. And, click here for a little happy Pinterst browsing of the #stylesquared boards already created. Contest closes May 17th.

In recent weeks I’ve made brownies with black beans and peanut butter pie with squash inside. This past weekend I added another guilt-free goodie to my repertoire: peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies. What makes them so healthy? No sugar! Not one little pinch. There’s also no flour and no eggs. In fact, I’m not even sure you can technically call these buttons of yumminess cookies — they are more like congealed clumps of well-matched ingredients. I found the recipe on Babble’s Family Kitchen blog. Here’s my version:

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Clumps

3 large, ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter (or some other kind of nut butter that floats your boat)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups traditional oatmeal (use gluten-free if you want)
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Get your cookie trays ready. I used a non stick spray on mine, but lining them with parchment paper would be even better.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a bowl: bananas, peanut butter, oil, and vanilla.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl: oats, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and stir in chocolate chips.
5. The mixture should be well combined and have a goopy, sticky texture. Using a tablespoon, scoop out large clumps of the batter and place on the cookie tray. They won’t spread while baking, so don’t worry about how much space is between them.
6. Bake 12 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before removing from tray.
7. Eat as many as you like, knowing that they are full of good things!

I’ve been absent from these pages for a while, and here’s why: we just moved 2,000 miles from Seattle to Chicago! What a change – the biggest part of which, at the moment, is our living space. We went from 880 square feet in a 1940s cottage to 2,000+ in a giant 1800s-era two-story house. (Lest you think we suddenly came into some money, we’re renting.) When I first saw the house, the previous tenants were using the dining room as a living room.

I just chalked that up to their age – guys in their 20s don’t tend to value décor, in my experience. But now that we’re in the house, I confess we’re considering doing the exact same thing. Despite all the space, we’re having trouble setting up the living room to comfortably watch TV (and I can admit: we like TV). There’s a huge open archway, an awkward room off the entry through another archway, and a three-window nook. The only wall big enough for the TV is also the only wall big enough for the couch. Putting the couch against the windows looks weird. I am adamantly against putting a TV in front of a window. And floating the couch in the middle of the room messes up traffic flow. The dining room, on the other hand, has two good-sized walls for both TV and couch, as well as a lot more electrical outlets. So, what do you think: have you ever switched up the layout of the house like that? Will we be risking the wrath of the feng shui gods if we do?

I am one of those fanatical people who insist on having a beautiful (or at least, as beautiful as I can get it) guest bathroom. The guest room itself may be cluttered with office supplies and there may be a stack of out-of-season clothes in the corner, but by goodness, I’ll make sure your towels are color-coordinated and you have all the lotions, potions and bubble bath you need to make your stay a good one.

At the top of the “guest room musts” list for me is a great hand soap for the guest bath. It has to look pretty on the counter (without being overly girly), and have the absolute perfect scent. Not too strong, not too feminine…as Baby Bear would say, just right. So, when I recently tapped out my supply of guest soaps, I thought it the perfect time to do a little testing. After an exhaustive search, I came up with a few favorites that will perk up any powder room.

Compagnie de Provence is nearly always my top choice. They take the cake when it comes to clean, simple packaging that’s still beautiful, and their scents are fantastic. I’m currently obsessed with Pamplemousse (grapefruit), which is perfectly cool and crisp, and Figue (fig) though it smells more of pine than fig, if you ask me, making it a great men’s option. Splurge on the glass bottle instead of the plastic, and you can easily refill it once empty.

Much as I adore CDP, they’re not the budget option. For something a bit more budget friendly, I love Caldrea’s Ginger Pomelo hand wash – the fragrance is a little on the strong side, but it’s so lovely, I don’t quite mind. Mistral also makes a fantastic fragrance called Milk (it smells almost like a baby product, and would be a dream for sensitive skin). All of Mistral’s options are antibacterial as well, which is a nice touch.

Now I just have to see about replacing those guest towels.

I keep seeing these gorgeous purple baby artichokes at my local fruit and veggie market. I am enamored by them, but I have no idea how to cook or serve. I’ve done some searching, and most of what I have found is how to use them as decoration. They make lovely tabletop pieces, as seen here in this Food Network story about Thanksgiving ideas or this suggestion from CasaSugar on alternative wedding bouquets.

Surely they must be more than a pretty face? Any suggestions on how to cook? Do you just steam them like regular ‘chokes and take tiny bites? Sounds unsatisfying… Help!

The void created in our lives when Domino magazine folded is still there. The special issue that is on newsstands now, Domino Quick Fixes, has some of the sensibility of the original magazine, but is missing the warmth. It just leaves us wanting more. The folks over at One Kings Lane are trying to help, and have put together a week of sales inspired by the spreads in the special issue, piecing together product offerings that make recreating the looks easy. Like that ornate mirror? Here’s five more. Thinking of a whimsical wallpaper? How ’bout one of these? Like all things at OKL, this is sale is a limited time and ends on Friday. We recommend clicking around even if only for future inspiration. It’s like a decorating 101 lesson! See this link to view all the Domino-inspired sales.

I’m writing this tale in hopes of preventing others of making the same mistake, though I will likely seem pretty damn foolish as I do so.

You see, I know that raisins are bad, very bad, for dogs. And I know the safest place for puppies when you can’t watch them is in a crate. Yet, I somehow seemed to carelessly forget both of these things and our insanely loveable, six month old labradoodle Cupcake managed to devour a snack box full of raisins Saturday afternoon. Thank heavens he’s fine now, but let me tell you of our scare.

We went upstate to spend the night in our little cottage. We only have one crate for Cupcake and though it collapses, we stopped bringing it on overnight trips with us a month ago. Cupcake sleeps solidly through the night at the foot of our bed, and we never leave him alone long enough to get into trouble during the day. That was until Saturday, when the three of us headed out to a restaurant leaving our dear little pooch alone for a couple of hours. Coming home with our bellies full, we open the door to find Cupcake, happy and excited to see us as always, standing over a shredded box of empty raisins on the rug. I had left them in a bag on a chair, and now that too was on the floor.

My heart instantly leaped into my throat. Raisins are on the list of things that are toxic to dogs (along with grapes, chocolate, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts). How toxic? I didn’t know and instantly started Googling “My dog ate raisins” to find out. The results terrified me. Eating raisins causes sudden kidney failure in some dogs. But the specifics were unclear: How many raisins? How quickly? Some dogs? This Snopes page offered some useful, albeit scary, background.

Apparently, animal doctors made the link to kidney failure in dogs with grapes and raisins in late ’80s. They found that after eating a few ounces of them, some dogs would stop eating, have diarrhea, and grow lethargic. After a few days, they would not be able to pass urine, causing intense abdominal pain — and sometimes resulting in death.

Everything I saw advised to call a vet immediately, so I dialed the number of the nearest 24 animal hospital (about 40 miles away). They told me to give him a teaspoon on hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. After a quick run to CVS, we managed to do this — and it worked! Up came a rather impressive pile of all the things Cupcake had eaten recently including a whole lot of raisins. I thought that would be it, but the vet told us we needed to come in none-the-less.

We got to the clinic and immediately felt out of place. Obviously the other pet owners were there with really sick animals (who were howling and whimpering sadly from behind closed doors), while our dog was scampering around, as cute and energetic as ever. How could anything be wrong with him?

The doctor called the Animal Poison Control Center, to get the prognosis. She came into the exam room grim faced and told us this is very serious, and Cupcake would have to spend two nights at the hospital, and be treated with intravenious fluids and charcoal to flush the toxins out of his system. After this — and a $1500 bill — she promised he would be 100% well.

Reluctantly, we left our dear dog at the clinic and headed home to a much emptier house. I called every twelve hours to check on him, and got nothing but positive news. He came home today with a funny cone around his neck, a shaved leg, brimming with wags and kisses. It’s possible that he would have been fine if we hadn’t taken him to the hospital, but who could take a chance like that? We’re so happy to have him back.

And for the record, we now live in a raisin free house.

More posts from the Puppy Files:

Choosing the perfect breed