Pizza Party!



 

I'm a little burnt out.  We're moving in a few weeks and even though most of the work is done, it's just draining.  What do we do when things are stressful?  We find ourselves some fun!

 

Laela's best friend, Bailey came over for a sleepover a few days ago.  We made all kinds of goodies- cookies, pancakes, and most importantly, PIZZA!  That morning, I had discovered something called "Fleischmann's® Pizza Crust Yeast" that claimed to make pizza crust in 15-minutes instead of having to wait for the dough to rise like with normal pizza crust.

 

The package didn't lie!  I made one batch of pizza dough with the girls, and we had 4 mini pizzas assembled and ready to be eaten in less than a half hour.  We had a lot of fun creating our own pizzas! 

 

The best part was that girls really enjoyed making their own dinner.  Laela and Bailey were so proud of their pizzas!  If you're the type to get nervous having tiny cooks in the kitchen, this is a really great way to have them learn about cooking without stressing you out- just put all of the toppings into bowls, help them mold their pizzas, and let them put on the toppings!               

 

30 Minutes or Less Pizza 

 

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1-3/4 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 envelope Fleischmann's® Pizza Crust Yeast

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup very warm water (120 to 130°F)

3 tablespoons oil 1Tb Italian seasonings or freshly chopped basil Toppings:

Pasta sauce

Other toppings as desired

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Combine 1 cup flour, herbs, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add very warm water and oil; mix until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky (kind of like if paste and play dough had a baby). Knead ("fold, push, and turn" the dough, and repeat) on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, for about 4 minutes.  If the dough becomes too sticky, just add more flour and work it into the dough.
• If making 4 pizzas as we did, break the dough into 4 even sections.  Gently pat dough with floured hands to create a circle.  If you like thin crust, you can roll it a little less than 1/4 inch thick.  Don't go much thinner though, or it won't hold your toppings well.
• Grease the baking sheet/pizza pan/pizza stone.  I just sprayed our pizza stone with cooking spray.  *I highly suggest investing in a pizza stone.  They'll only run you about $15, and your pizza will taste a lot better.  It gives the pizza a really great crunch to the crust, whereas a baking sheet or pizza pan don't.
• If you like, spread some sauce on the crust. Top with desired toppings and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake on lowest oven rack for 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.  If making thick crust pizza, add about 5 minutes to the bake time.
• Enjoy!

Flatbread Pizza!

Over the last two and a half weeks, we've done a lot.  I've signed up for two mommy groups (something I was always too nervous to do in Philadelphia), made some new friends in the area, and have discovered some really great places to eat.

The only thing that I haven't been able to find is really great pizza.  For some reason, the pizza here tastes really bland.  The dough doesn't have that amazing texture that pizzza had back home.  The pepperoni and sauce are missing that really kickin' spice that you can find in PA.  Here, people eat pizza from chains.  At home, we ate pizza from the Italian neighborhood we lived in.

Last Sunday, we went to a Greenville Drive game with a mommy group that I joined.  The game was really fun and the moms' seemed really nice!  After the game, Kyle and Laela were cheering "pizza! pizza! pizza!", so we ran to the store, picked up some ingredients, and I came up with this totally tasty flatbread pizza.

This pizza is practically effortless!

Flatbread Pizza with Tomatoes, Basil, Ricotta Cheese, Pepperoni and Mozzarella
You'll need:

• 1 tomato
• 6 basil leaves
• Pasta sauce (as much or as little as you'd like)
• Fresh mozzarella (I used mini balls, about 5 will do.)
• 1 piece flatbread
• Olive Oil
• Ricotta cheese (about 4 tsp, depending on how cheesy you want it.)
• Pepperoni (optional)

Instructions:

• Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Brush your flatbread on both sides with olive oil.
• Toast the flatbread for ten minutes in the oven.
• Take the flatbread out of the oven.
• Using a cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop about four tsp of ricotta cheese onto the flatbread.
• Spread some sauce over the ricotta.
• Slice the tomato into thin slices.  Add the slices to the pizza.
• Add the basil.
• Add the pepperoni slices.
• Slice your mozzarella balls into halves.
• Place them on the pizza.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.  Serve!!

*Since Kyle does not like tomatoes on their own, I  made him the same thing without the tomato slices.