Pizza

I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner since I did not plan ahead and put anything out of the freezer. I thought about the scanty ingredients I had; I rarely get to the grocery these days, with 4 kids it's hard to find room in the cart for the food.

I realized I had everything I needed for pizza and this is a kid favorite. It's mostly a kid favorite because they get to help build the pizza. So I searched for a quick pizza dough and found this one. I used a bit more flour (1/4-1/2 cup) than the recipe called for and I added 1 tsp garlic powder and onion powder, 1/4-1/2 tsp dried parsley, thyme and oregano directly to the dough.

I divided the dough in half so I could make two pizzas. I was able to stretch the dough working it by hand and never used the rolling pin. I put down a flexible cutting board, put a piece of aluminum foil on top of that and put the dough right onto the foil. This allows me to heat my stone in the oven so when I put my pizza on it is already hot. The foil also allows me to remove my pizza from the oven without having to take the stone out. This is helpful when making multiple pizzas. I can build a second pizza while the first is baking and not need additional pans.

I lightly dressed one side with pizza sauce and left one side with just olive oil on the crust...two of my children don't like red sauce and one does. I added some grated parmesan and fresh grated mozzarella. Since I divided the dough I only baked for 15 minutes at 400 degrees rather than the recommended 20 minutes at 350 degrees in the recipe.

When making a pizza for myself I love to add chicken, fresh brocolli, black olives, cooked ground turkey, fresh tomatoes, spinach, bacon...well just about anything! Tonight I caramelized onions added fresh mushrooms and black olives.

The only thing I would have changed would have been to add garlic powder on top of the pizza sauce, otherwise the herbs in the crust flavored the pizza beautifully!