Making Pizza!

I've been making pizza from scratch for about twenty years now, unbelievable really. If you're new to this, set a date for your party and then pick a "pizza night" where you can experiment and hone your pizza making skills each week to gain confidence. Try unusual toppings or make a pizza without sauce (they make great appetizers). By the time your party rolls around you'll be a pro.

We're having around twenty kids to Abby's party and the kids will make their own pizzas. I was envisioning something like a controlled food fight atmosphere with each child making their own, but have decided to put the kids in groups of four or five so we'll have large, hot pizzas coming out of the oven all evening. YUM!!!!

Host Lunch

Last week our host committee gathered at my place for a light pizza lunch and brainstorming. We had pizza with blue cheese, parmesan, and figs, finished off with arugula dressed in a light basalmic vinaigrette. Ideas were popping for corporate pizza lunches and gatherings for singles and families with kids. Pizza and movie night for the cost of a sitter was my favorite.

Video practice: Cooking with kids

This was our first attempt at making a cooking video last summer.

Note the messy audio and uneven lighting. Look for more

this week.

Healthy Pizza

I've always had a difficult time with whole wheat

pizza crust. I've made the dough from this recipe

several times now and ended up with delicious

pizzas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/health/nutrition/25recipehealth.html

Pizza Haiku: Post one of your own

Canvass crust, sauce, cheese

Basil, Olives, Peppers, Eat!

My pizza painting

Pondering the pizza of my past

In college, a friend told me about pizza crusts that you could buy pre-made, then add your own toppings to create a mock homemade pizza. I flashed back to the pizza of my childhood. We used a boxed kit from the grocery, complete with a dough mix, sauce and powdered cheese. We kneaded the crust, flattened it on a cookie sheet and smoothed on the canned sauce, but upgraded the packaged toppings with fresh-grated mozzarella and pepperoni or olives. Armed with fond memories of these childhood pizzas, but leaving the box behind, I began making my own dough recipe from scratch and adding whimsical toppers—all to rave reviews. I gained enough of a reputation, that the first birthday present from my now-husband was a pizza stone. Having long since memorized that recipe, these days I carry on the homemade pizza family legacy with my own kids two or three times a month. On pizza nights you will find our kitchen erupting with bowls of toppings covering the counter, flour in my hair, and the kids fighting for turns to make their own personal pies that turn out not-quite-round--the cheese and sauce slopping off the edges, and likely to be sporting a face with pepperoni eyes, a broccoli nose and olive teeth. They impatiently watch, snacking on chunks of Parmigianino Reggiano, while their proud creations puff and brown in the oven. Memories in the making.