What do a corporate HR runaway and a full-time high school teacher have in common? They both love pizza night! Sisters Elizabeth Aarness and Rebecca Biederman have turned their love of pizza into a business, selling specialty “healthy” pizza doughs using local, organic food sources.

It all started when the sisters wanted to begin a family tradition of pizza night once a week with their children. However, the high cost of quality pizza or pizza layered in grease did not sound appealing. So the sisters worked together to create their own healthy pizzas at home.

Elizabeth and Rebecca began experimenting with healthy, creative options for the pizza dough. As the sisters started to perfect the pizza doughs, they began to give out their dough as gifts. People enjoyed the dough so much they started placing orders for more.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., June 20, 2016 - The FEAST Local Foods Network and its partners won the Environmental Initiative Award in the Food Stewardship category on Thursday, May 26. This program, hosted by the nonprofit Environmental Initiative, annually honors projects that have achieved extraordinary outcomes by harnessing the power of partnership.

The FEAST Local Foods Network is a collaborative network across Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin of local foods advocates. The FEAST Network organizes the annual Feast! Local Foods Marketplace. Partners accepting the award included Renewing the Countryside, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), University of Minnesota Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Mayo Clinic and People's Food Co-op. The network was created to support local food producers and foodmakers by boosting access to financing, resources, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities...