Pizza night has really become an "institution" for us! We look forward to it! Each family has their own style and creative spin. I can honestly say we have all become better pizza makers since starting this fun tradition. The toppings change throughout the seasons. We each have our own favorite recipes for the crust and the sauce. We locally source most ingredients and use fresh toppings and unique combinations.
We literally end up making around 8 pizzas for pizza night! The possibilities are endless. Some of the pizzas are pretty traditional. Basil, cheese and pine nuts for the vegetarians in our group. A take on a cheeseburger using grass-fed ground beef and pickles! We've experimented with seafood and made "breakfast" pizza with eggs and bacon! There have been salad topped pizzas with fresh field greens and arugula and a light dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The combinations are endless and fun and delicious. Each and every pizza has been unique and tasty and fun.
Sometimes we cook our pizzas out on our barbeque. Other times they just go in the oven. Each time they are amazing!
I'm not sure any of us expected we would keep "pizza night" going for so long. Happily, I don't see an end in sight! Next months date is already on the calendar!
Last night my daughter and her adorable little family were the hosts. The beet pizza was a huge success. Her little Sprout ate most of the olives before they hit the pizzas...We ran out of time this month before pizza night but we have high hopes of making our own mozzarella and ricotta in the near future!
Seriously...homemade pizza is the bomb! My daughter experimented with a new sauce recipe yesterday. She used our own bottled tomatoes, some organic tomato paste, her secret spice combination ;) and blended it all up in her "Magic Bullet". Not totally sure what all was in that secret combo but it was really fresh and light and tomato-licious.
Our homemade crusts tend to be light and thin and crispy. Makes it so you can eat LOTS of pieces! That's a good thing on pizza night!
Last night my boy decided to bring a nice surprise. He is quite a spectacular baker. He whipped up a batch of his locally famous chocolate chip cookies! He also brought some quality ice cream and treated us to some pretty outrageous ice cream sandwiches!
Had I known this was in the works I would have made homemade ice cream! It's too bad you guys can't taste this stuff. You will have to take my word for how ooey gooey good these were. My boy is able to bake up a cookie that is soft and chewy and still plump and fat. Impressive...
Pizza night is more than just good home fashioned and healthy pizza. It is the night we catch up and reconnect and share our stories and experiences with good friends and family. We joke and laugh and watch the little Sprouts run through the house giggling and imitating each other.
You really need to implement a pizza night in YOUR life...
Hubs is sharing his yummy pizza crust recipe...
2 cups of organic unbleached flour
.25 oz. package of yeast
pinch of salt
1 TBSP of honey
1 tsp. of olive oil
1/2 cup of warm water
He dissolves the yeast in the water and adds everything to the stand mixer. Turns it into a ball using the dough hook. Let it rise to double the size and punch it back down. Then divide into four equal size balls and let it rise again covered with a clean dish cloth. Hand fashion each ball into a single pizza crust when ready to top and bake!
All these recipes I used to be intimidated by are really very easy! They are well worth a few extra minutes of your time. Do it! You won't be sorry!
That's it! I'm implementing pizza night at my house. Yum, YUm and YUM! I've got to try the beets version! Thanks for inspiring more real food. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks so yummy!!! We do something like that at our house... so fun to have good food and good company sharing memories!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel lucky I got invited to one of these delicious pizza nights!
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