Why can't I. . .

. . . .just post a recipe and call it good? Why go on and on? . . . I Don't Know.

When we first moved the neighborhood kids were over a lot (TOO much) Their parents were working and I was the new town mom still learning the ropes. Sometimes they stayed for dinner.

A 12 year old girl who had eaten with us several times remarked once,

"You guy's eat way different (or in other words way yuckier) than we do."

We were eating navy bean soup at the time.

So I asked her what they ate at her house. She thought for a while and then said,

"Well, mostly just pizza."

Big surprise. That's about all you can find around here. Oh. . .and subs and wings.

First of all my kids love bean soup. But we eat pizza a lot too. I don't dare buy them at any of our neighborHOOD establishments, though. Something about graffiti on the counter, and tattoos and F bombs in the kitchen that ruins my appetite.

We make our own.

We used to do only boring Hawaiian or Cheese and Pepperoni . . .

but lately I've been creative and imitated some of the pizza boxes in the freezer aisle.

Last night. . . GREEK PIZZA!

De- li- ci- ous! Try it at your house.

First, skip the red sauce and mix this up in your blender/food processor.

1/8 c. olive oil

4 garlic cloves

red pepper flakes

italian seasoning

Spread on one crust.

(Be careful when you are chopping up that garlic. I picked Marcus up off my kitchen floor this morning . . Whew! -He had terrible breath. I found a half a clove under his tongue.)

Top with:

Shredded mozzarella

Chopped fresh spinach

Sliced Mushrooms

Sliced Olives

Crumbled Feta Cheese

More Mozzarella

Other yummy additions: pepperocini peppers, red onion, sausage, or cooked chicken

Top with Sliced Tomatoes after baking.

Don't forget the SLICED TOMATOES.

Crust Recipe

Now, the secret to a good homemade pizza is:

Bake on a preheated stone. (Preheated for 1 hour at 500 degrees)

This is a very good way to heat up your freezing buffalo kitchen.

Here's how we do it:

For Two Crusts

Combine in mixer:

3 1/3 c. flour 1/2 tsp. yeast 2 tsp. salt

Add 1 1/2 c. hot water

Knead 10 min in mixer.

Rise about 5 hours. (sometimes I short the rising to more like 2 hours if I have to, but I would recommend making in the morning if you are going to have pizza for dinner.)

Roll (Actually just squish it out with your fingers. This recipe is too sticky to roll) your crust out on parchment paper and slide it right from cutting board to stone right in the oven.

Bake 9-11 minutes.

Other pizza we make/love are Buffalo Chicken Pizza and Taco. Please let me know if you want these easy recipes.

And sorry that I didn't include pictures. I am way too busy during the dinner hour (on patrol -"Stop picking off your spinach, Savannah!") !" to be snapping beautiful pictures for the blog.