especially if it’s homemade
Wait. What?
Am I saying you should make homemade pizza when you can order Johnny’s? Or buy it in the frozen pizza section? Yes, yes I am.
Why? Because it is a fantastic family (and friend) fun night. This blog will routinely and consistently encourage family togetherness by using the three “F’s”…food, fun and fellowship. So, passengers, please buckle your seatbelts.
Now, don’t get overwhelmed! It’s as easy as one-two-threE-make me a big ole’ cheesE-just leave off the anychoviE-I can eat a whole one, just mE.
Notice the bold words all rhyme and enunciate the “E.” It’s this thing I can do, I haven’t figured out how to use it to make me rich, but I can rhyme in my sleep. Some people can fly helicopters, I can rhyme.
I have no idea where that comparison came from. I’m just good that way.
So, where was I? Oh yeah, homemade pizza family night for therapy and calories. Did I leave anything out? Get your notepad ready and take a gander at how easy and fun this is.
First, make a list of all the ingredients you and your tribe like on pizzas. At my house, our ingredient list looked something like this:
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pizza sauce (I make homemade, but in the jar is fine…that’s a lie, don’t do that, make it from scratch)
- Sliced bell peppers (red & green) and purple onions
- Mushrooms (ours were fresh, you can use canned)
- Sliced jalapenos (and lots of them!)
- Sliced Roma tomatoes
- Cooked sausage, crumbled
- Cooked hamburger, crumbled
- Pepperonis
- Canadian bacon
- Italian seasoning, salt pepper and olive oil
Now for the crust, listen, don’t overthink this. First, they have crusts already premade, that you can buy, but I made my own this time.
You will notice my best friend, Linda Lou, in these pictures, and sometimes, when she’s being real sweet, she will make the crusts with her bread machine, but she’s very busy and important and didn’t have time, so I used Martha White pizza crust mix.
This crust is super easy, just add water and oil. I rolled each crust up in Saran Wrap and refrigerated for about an hour, so it would roll out easier.
Now, the fun part…getting everything ready to assemble! No matter how hard I try, I just can’t put all the pizza toppings in old Cool Whip bowls so I arranged everything in my tomato bowls that I’ve had for 20 years.
At this time, I start heating up the oven! I want my crusts cooked well and a little crispy, so my oven was on 400°.
I got the pizza pans out, slathered the cutting board with all purpose flour to help with the roll out, and everyone got started. My oven is big enough to cook two pizzas at a time, so we let everyone start putting their pizzas together.
First, rub a little olive oil on your pizza pan so it doesn’t stick. I love the pans with holes in them (pretty inexpensive for first time buyers) and after you roll out your crust, lay it gently on the pan. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning and salt and pepper on the crust.
Next, I like to pinch the sides down and make it fit perfectly, because, well, I have OCD and I want it to look like we are at a pizza kitchen in Chicago, right? Nah, I just have OCD.
At this point, it’s time to start assembling your pizza and anything goes! We start with pizza sauce and build our way up. Linda Lou, you will notice in these pictures, kind of hijacked the process and wouldn’t let anyone else make their own!
But that’s okay, her thrill level isn’t very high.
My son, who will guest in a lot of my posts, considers himself the junior Bobby Flay, and so he got to make his own. Not too shabby, son.
I also want to mention that we used pizza stones. Mine are from Pampered Chef that I bought years ago, and I had never really used them for anything. But Mrs. Chef-Boy-R-Dee, Linda Lou, says you should lay your pizza pan right on top of them, that it helps with cooking them all the way through.
And what do you know? She was right.
De-lish!
So, what are you waiting for readers? This is a fun night for family, and kids love it! Now, we all know they aren’t going to put anything on theirs but cheese, but hey, they are in the kitchen and they are cooking! That’s something, right?
Incidentally, Linda Lou wanted me to let you know that hers were the best…as if we could dispute that!
Question: What are some fun family activities you and your family like to do together?