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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Great Minds Think Alike

I've been meaning to blog about pizza night for awhile, but the Pelletiers and the Calandros beat me to it!

I used to make homemade pizza quite often. We would make one pizza for the adults and another for the kids. Then it got to where the kids couldn't agree on what toppings they wanted. I got a little frustrated and we just quit doing "pizza night" (which led to "quesadilla night" so it wasn't all bad!).

Now "pizza night" has returned! To get around the topping arguments, each kid gets their own "personal pan" pizza. Rebecca usually has just garlic and cheese, the older two boys like just tomato sauce and cheese, and Noah is a meat lover! Terry and I have tried all kinds of creative toppings.

I start with a homemade crust. Here are the ingredients:

From Pizza Night


And no, I don't use quite that much garlic and salt! That would really be over the top. Here is the recipe I use:

6 c. flour (I sometimes use a little whole wheat)
2 T. sugar
1 t. salt
2 t. minced garlic
1/2 c. oil
2 c.water
2 T. yeast

Mix. Knead a few minutes and let rise one hour before rolling out for crust.This makes enough for two very large pizzas or an assortment of sizes. I usually make 4 pie-size pizzas for the kids and two more large pizzas.

The crust is really quite easy and very good. I love the garlic!

From Pizza Night


Here's a finished pineapple and peppered-bacon pizza. It got a little overdone. The stones work best for pizza, but I haven't found them in the "personal pan" size, so the kids just stick with pie pans.

Terry and I have some favorites:

Thai Chicken pizza (peanut sauce or just a little peanut butter spread on the crust as a base, Thai BBQ chicken, bacon, green pepper, onion, and extra red pepper flakes)
Chicken & Spinach Alfredo (alfredo sauce, leftover grilled chicken, spinach, onion and mushroom)
Sausage & Spinach Alfredo (same as above but with sausage)
Pineapple and Ham or Bacon

When I have to make a little alfredo sauce for a pizza, I make what I call 3-2-1-1 sauce:

3 T. butter, melted
2 T. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. parmesan cheese

Incidentally, this is the same sauce I use for mac&cheese - I just use Velveeta in place of the parmesan.

Our pizza night isn't always on the same night of the week - but the kids always love to hear "pizza night!" because they know it means good food and usually a movie or cool sporting event watched in HD.