33 years and counting: How Don Mauer’s cooking has changed over the years

Today, this column celebrates its 33rd anniversary. Wow!

Let’s jump into the way-back machine and head back 33 years to 1992. This column began in October that year, thanks to an amazing piece about me, my weight loss (105 pounds) and my low-fat cooking that appeared earlier that year in a Chicago newspaper.

Later that year, Olivia Wu, the Daily Herald’s Food Editor at the time, took a chance — a big chance — on me since I was an out-of-work custom photo lab manager with zero newspaper writing experience. There was no budget for a new column, and since I was so passionate about low-fat cooking, I agreed to donate the column. My first column was about new lower-fat hot dogs.

A few weeks after Lean and Lovin’ It appeared, Wu told me the newspaper had received so much positive mail they wanted to pay me. Lucky me.

Next, a young producer at the local cable company saw my new column and reached out to see if I’d be willing to host a cooking show on the local-origination cable channel. In February 1993, that show, not-so-cleverly named Lean and Lovin’ it, started airing in four suburbs.

Thanks to that unpaid opportunity, I learned to cook on TV, which is why, over the next 10 years, I cooked on television, most of the time live, well over 200 times.

In 1994, thanks to Anne Fletcher’s book “Thin for Life,” I was invited to share my recipes from her book on “Good Morning America.” GMA received thousands of calls, leading Fletcher’s publisher, Chapters, to do a cookbook with me, which took off like crazy on QVC; one time selling more than 10,000 copies in 10 minutes.

Today, my life and this column are very different.

Fat is no longer the total devil it once was, and sugars and highly processed foods now play that nasty role. Trans fat (partially hydrogenated oil) is now considered unhealthy and has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, strokes and Type 2 diabetes, instead of being the cholesterol-free darling it once was.

Now I’m doing my best to cut sugars from the baked goods from which I once trimmed the fat, while using fruit oils (like avocado or olive) or organic butter.

To celebrate this occasion, I used my way-back machine to find a previously shared, personal favorite recipe. Not an easy task.

Since my friends nicknamed me “Pizza Boy” because I began making pizza when I was 15 years old, I dug out my recipe for Don’s Deep-Dish Iron Skillet Pizza, first shared in 2017.

Yes, it uses a pre-made dough (thanks to Whole Foods), saving me and others the hassle of making it from scratch. This pizza is baked in an iron skillet, which is used first to proof the dough, making the dough, once proofed, easy to press out in the skillet. The high-heat oven (500°F to 550°F) produces a crisp bottom crust while beautifully browning the toppings. Give it a try.

Finally, I love, love, love writing and sharing this column and recipes. That would not be possible without you returning here, column after column. I sincerely thank you and the Daily Herald for making my joy of creation possible every other week.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Don’s Deep-Dish Iron Skillet Pizza

Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing the skillet

18 ounces ready-made pizza dough

½ to ⅔ cup pizza sauce (I used Whole Foods 365 brand organic)

1 level tablespoon dried basil, crumbled

6 ounces low moisture, part skim milk mozzarella cheese slices*

6 ounces shredded low moisture, part skim milk mozzarella cheese

6 ounces cooked, broken up and drained sweet Italian sausage (from 8 ounces uncooked)

1 medium-size sweet green pepper, cored and sliced

⅔ medium-size red onion sliced very thin into rounds (use a mandolin)

12 uncured turkey pepperoni mini slices (I used Applegate naturals)

Lightly brush the interior of a 12-inch iron skillet with olive oil. Place the chilled pizza dough in the skillet’s center and lightly press into a flat circle. Let the dough come to room temperature and rise; about one hour.

Position the oven rack in the upper-middle position, place a pizza stone on that rack and begin heating the oven to 550°F.

While the oven heats, using your fingers, press the dough out to the pan’s edges and about a ½-inch up the sides. Lay the mozzarella slices on the dough, cutting some of the slices to fit inside the dough’s circle. Using a large spoon, spread the pizza sauce out to the dough’s edge. Evenly sprinkle the dried basil over the sauce. Distribute the sweet pepper slices around the sauce and then the cooked Italian sausage pieces. Distribute the shredded mozzarella cheese over the sausage and peppers. Distribute the thin-sliced onions around the cheese. Place the pepperoni slices over the onion.

Place the skillet in the oven on the pizza stone and bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Carefully (using hot pads because the pan’s very hot) remove the pan from the oven and place on the stove top. Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes and then, using a spatula slide the pizza out of the pan onto a large cutting board. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the pizza into six pieces and serve immediately.

*Omitting the mozzarella slices reduces the calories per serving to 406 (41.7% from fat), fat to 18.8 grams and sodium to 998 mg.

Note: When pressing the dough out in the pan, you may have to lift it up from the edge to release any air bubbles trapped between the dough and the pan.

Serves 6

Nutrition values per serving: 506 calories (45.9% from fat), 25.8 g fat (9 g saturated fat), 42.8 g carbohydrates, 4.1 g sugars, 6 g fiber, 27.4 g protein, 55 mg cholesterol, 1,148 mg sodium

— Don Mauer