Pizza!!

I remember when I was a kid, every friday night my dad would come home, get the checkbook, go to the bank, and then go pick up the pizza that mom had ordered. We have the BEST pizza place in town so what a great friday night dinner that always was. It became a great birthday tradition in our house as well.

Unfortunately, pizza every friday night doesn't fit in our budget these days. But several months ago, I told my husband that there was no reason why we shouldn't still have pizza every friday night even if we couldn't afford to get take-out. So began my experimenting with different doughs, toppings, etc.

The pizza above was made with Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough (without the msg). I made this same recipe last week, and it was like thick crust, so I divided it in half this time and made 2 pizzas. The first time I made it I pre-baked the crust for a few minutes. But this time, I opted not to pre-bake since it was much thinner. I did have to bake the pizzas longer however. The pepperoni I bought at Winco, $2 worth that was enough for 2 pizzas. Cheese was also purchased at Winco for $3.98 for 2 lbs. I only used half of the brick for these 2 pizzas shown here. So including the 1/2 can of pineapple pieces I used on the pepporoni (liquidator store for .69 i think), the ingredients I had on hand (homemade pizza sauce, flour, yeast, etc), cheese, and pep, the total for this weeks 2 pizzas was roughly $4!!

The 2nd pizza is just plain cheese, a favorite of mine when I was a little girl. But I think I should have baked it longer so it might have had that crisper crust and browned cheese on top. Mmmm... nothing better than bubbly golden cheese! I thought my 16 month old would enjoy the plain vs the spicy pepperoni.

My husband and I went to Italy for our honeymoon and enjoyed real Italian pizza several times. I've been searching for a recipe that would mimic that. I might try Pizza Marinara this week. We'll see if I have time to do the dough by hand. :) (I usually use the bread machine.)

I found this recipe for All Purpose Pizza Sauce at The Grocery Cart Challenge recipe swap a while back:

All Purpose Pizza Sauce

1 can (28oz) tomato puree
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup water
1 T dried parsley
2 t basil
1 t oregano
1/2 t thyme
1/4 t pepper
1/4 c olive oil
2 T garlic powder
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1 to 1 1/2 t salt

Just wisk it all together! I put mine in ice cube trays and when solid, transfered them to freezer bags and just take out a few each time I make pizza. So convienient and yummy!!

Its been fun to try different recipes, add different spices to the doughs, try different flours, think of different toppings, etc. Most every pizza you've ever seen or tasted, you can make at home! You can go as cheap or expensive as your budget allows.