Vegan Asparagus and Roasted Cauliflower "Quick" Pizza (A girl walks into the botanical garden with her camera and. . . )

Pizza always works in this house. I'll whip up a batch of pizza dough in the bread machine to make the task of having to knead and rise the dough less cumbersome (not that there's anything wrong with hand kneading--but just not right now), thereby allowing more free time for me to either traipse through the yard, walk the dogs or dig up weeds, knit, hike, run--you get the picture. I found the perfect pizza dough recipe on the King Arthur site. At three in the afternoon--(I realize this is late in the day for deciding on pizza, but my dinner planning skills are on hiatus), I placed the ingredients in the bread machine, programmed it for the "dough" process, removed it from the machine, split it in half, prepared one pie for use immediately, and the other was put in the fridge for later. So easy. So quick. My kind of spring cooking. Plus dinner for another night, too!

Prepping for this couldn't be easier. I used ready-made marinara sauce, then the toppings according to what I had on hand in the fridge. I added asparagus from my garden at the last minute--a brilliant move if I don't say so myself. Then to "up" the protein a bit, I cooked up one Gardein Chick'n Scallopini, and added it, too.

Add your favorite vegan mozzarella cheese, bake and viola'!

So last week I took a little trip by myself to the Missouri Botanical Gardens and attended a lecture on herbs. It's fun to go it alone once in a while. I'm not usually up for such excursions--but decided it was time to take one. When I called my sister to tell her I was at The Gardens (our favorite place to go together)--she said, Really?. . . You're there alone?. . . Yes, sissy went outside her comfort zone.

Here's what being out of my "comfort zone" yielded: 

I'd always wanted to come to the garden on Herb Sale Day but felt it would be a little taxing dealing with the people. Turns out, it was a tad busy for my liking. It took me fifteen minutes to get a parking space. I meditated in the car a bit before I headed into the throng of herbophiles.   

The St. Louis Herb Society's Herb of 2014 is Artemisia. This herb was unfamiliar to me. However, I learned it is part of a "family" of herbs I already have growing. French Tarragon: the herb that keeps on giving. Given that, I opted not to buy any artemisia.