Pizza night

Growing up, we went to my grandma's house every Sunday. That was the ritual. Some days, of course, I didn't want to go, especially when I got into high school. It wasn't because I didn't like going, more because I had a lot of homework to do. Looking back, I'm glad that I had that connection with her. She is still alive and kicking at 90 years old, but I don't live so close anymore so it is hard to get down to see her. One of the memories I have is when we made pizza for dinner. It was always fun to putting the pepperoni and other toppings on, and of course it tasted really good. Grandma always had a few pizza crusts from Norcia's bakery in the freezer, I don't know how often we actually made pizza, but as a little kid, it is those types of things that stick out, especially when we only made it at Grandma's house (We were "raised" on Pizza Hut-yay for Book-It, which is still one of my favorite pizza places).

So, when my husband said he was in the mood for homemade pizza the other day, I was all for it. However, we had no Norcia's, but I had found a pizza crust recipe a few months ago that I had been wanting to try (I think I found it on Cooks.com, but I don't know for sure). I got it out and within an hour, we had our own pizza. Now, we had the usual questions about the differences in preparation (my hubby had only ever had homemade pizza growing up), but being the chef, I prevailed. The dough is easy to make, and doesn't have a huge amount of flavor on its own (but I didn't have onion powder, so I just left it out and don't know if it adds much), but I'm sure you could jazz it up if you were inclined, with Italian seasoning, or something else. The crust was on the thin side, but it browned very nicely and evenly, even with lopsided toppings (Paul and I don't really agree on toppings, and his half had about 3 more things than mine did). I think this will be put in heavy rotation at our house.

The way my grandma always made pizza was to spread a small amount of oil on the dough before adding the pizza sauce (which was also homemade), and to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese onto the sauce before adding the toppings.

Pizza Dough

1 package quick rise dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tbl vegetable oil
1 tbl honey
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Mix yeast in water in a glass bowl. Add vegetable oil and honey and stir together. Add flour, garlic and onion powder and mix by hand. Let sit 5-10 minutes covered. Flatten on greased pan and add toppings. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Makes one crust approximately 10"x 15".

Things I learned from my mother

Almost anything is better when it is homemade.

You should always have some cooked ground meat in the freezer.

Always buy extra butter when it is on sale. . .and flour. . .and chocolate chips. . .really anything, that's what the freezer is for.

Save when you can, but there are some things for which the generic brand won't cut it.

You should always be able to make chocolate chip cookies, so make sure you don't run out of ingredients.

Don't be afraid to try new things.

Always give someone else's cookies a try, you never know when you might actually want the recipe.

Everyone appreciates a home cooked meal.

Vanilla doesn't need to be measured (and peanut butter doesn't always have to be either!)

I'm sure I could think of more, and when I do, I'll post them.