Monday, April 6, 2020

Not sure what to have for dinner?




What's for dinner tonight?

Hello again! I like to bake and I generally like to cook, but somehow I can NEVER figure out what to make for dinner. Sometimes, no joke, I will wake up in the morning wondering what to make for dinner in the evening and it magically is 5PM and I have NO idea what to make! Part of the problem for me is I have 4 kids and there is no meal that I can make that EVERYONE likes...except...PIZZA! Ironically out of everyone in the family I like pizza the least! However if I have control over the toppings I find it far more tasty.

In addition to being a crowd pleaser, homemade pizza has many benefits such as:
  1. You know exactly what is going in it! You don't have to worry about what is in the dough as most recipes are simple and consist of staple ingredients that you are likely to have in your pantry.
  2. You can accommodate everyone's taste fairly easily! I usually like ingredients that most of my family is not a fan of, I am a self-proclaimed Hawaiian Pizza lover! My husband and boys love pepperoni and olives and my girls just like cheese. It doesn't happen very often that one meal is liked by everyone! Also, if you are on a special diet you can generally find some type of pizza recipe to accommodate that diet thanks to Pinterest.
  3. Have some items in your fridge that you need to use? Throw it on top of the pizza! So we have made homemade pizza about once a week and each time I have made it I have looked through the fridge and tried to see what needs to be used up. We made it twice because I had purchased a pack of turkey pepperoni and I still had the other half that needed to be used up. On my pizza I had some artichoke hearts in the fridge that needed to be used, some onion, and some bratwursts so I threw it all together on a pizza and it was delicious. Have left over BBQ chicken? Sub out the tomato sauce for BBQ sauce and make a BBQ Chicken pizza that is another one of our favorite flavors!
  4. Kids love to help! I don't have my kids help me each time we make pizza, but today it was their suggestion and I had the time to let them help. They love to be in control of what they are doing and they love hearing stories of when I worked a pizza place as a teenager (for me being someone who didn't care for pizza I worked in two pizza places).
There are so many different recipes out there for pizza dough, but out of the ones that I have tried this one is my favorite. CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE. I love this recipe because the dough turns out nice and elastic, doesn't take long to start rising, I can have it in the oven within 20 minutes, and it forms well! I double this recipe and it makes enough pizza for all four kids to have about a 7-8" pizza and two adults to have a 12" each that we will easily have leftovers to gobble up tomorrow. You can easily add some different herbs to the dough for more flavor too! I usually poke my pizzas with a fork, brush on some olive oil, and pre-bake for about 5-7 minutes before I put the toppings on. I find that baking first ensures that it won't be dough-y...not a fan of dough-y pizza, I like mine on the crunchy/chewy side so I also bake it for longer than suggested too!

I made the dough and then let the kids make their pizzas after that. Prepare yourself, it can be messy, it will take longer, and however much you want to help them make it perfect only help them if they ask! They were so proud of their pizzas after they came out of the oven and and this was linner for us (to late to be lunch and too early to be dinner) so the two boys ate ever last bite!

For my scrapbook pages I used A Pizza My Heart Quick Pages by Scraps N Pieces. They have a full collection that you can find HERE, but for the sake of time I opted for the quick pages. The toughest part of quick pages is picking the photos you want to use. These were compiled, edited, and exported within 15 minutes...can't beat that!

So roll out some pizza and make some tasty memories! Take care!








Pizza, pizza, pizza!
 

  

Take care,
Carly Allred
MMS Creative Services Director

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