Monday, August 20, 2007

Last week before school starts...

And I knew my guys would want to call for delivery if I didn't head 'em off at the pass. You may remember I nabbed a pizza pan at the Thrift store last week. So today, I wanted to use it. You probably have a fabulous recipe for dough and sauce that you love. Pizza is a personal expression and an art, once you find what works for you, it's wonderful!

But today, I took the easy way out. I had pizza dough in a can from using coupons last week, love that! So that is what I used rather than slinging dough and dragging out the Mixer.

Well, it can be an ordeal but so worth it!

First I drag everything out on the counter. Rub Olive Oil on the pan real good. Then coax that square strange dough into a circle or put it on a cookie sheet.

Then open a small can of tomato paste and add: onion powder to taste, 1 T brown sugar, 1 teaspoon white sugar...mix with about 3T water and stir until blended. Then put about half of the tomato paste mixture in the center of the pizza dough and whirl it around with the back of a spoon till it looks well coated. You can add more or less to your family's taste for sauce.

Preheat oven to 400*



This is when I throw on the ingredients. Today, it was just pepperoni.



Now take mozzarella cheese sticks and slice them in half long ways and lay them end to end about 1/2 from the edge of the pizza. Then fold over the outside edge of the dough and ingredients over top of the cheese sticks. Press down just a little to make sure the dough covers the cheese sticks.

Sprinkle the top with a couple handsful of mozzarella shredded cheese. On top of that, sprinkle the shredded cheese blend for Mexican foods. Those cheeses melt so nicely and add a bit of color to the pizza.



Then sprinkle Olive Oil lightly over the whole Pizza, dust with onion powder and garlic granules (or powder). Then with you fingers, rub the top of the crust with a little sauce and pour olive oil into your hands and rub over the edges until you have a light coat of Olive Oil on the crust.

Pop it into your oven for 17 minutes at 400*...you can adjust the time as needed to produce a brown crust and simmering cheese. While the first one is cooking I usually make the next one and occasionally I'll make a 3rd for the freezer or for late night snacks during the week. I pile on the ingredients because I want 2 pizzas to fill up these males I live with. And I pocket the $$ difference between ordering out and cooking these at home.



Slice and enjoy with a salad and iced tea.

Have a great week Y'all!
Melissa

6 comments:

  1. I wouldn't have thought of using cheese sticks around the edges. Great idea! Hope you've had a fun summer. I've been missing you.

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  2. Hi Daff! I've missed you too!

    I'm a copy cat cooker...lol...those stuffed crust pizzas are so yummy!

    I think we need a Scrapper's Challenge to kick off the Fall season, what do you think?

    Melissa

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  3. We love to have a home-made pizza night. It has been a while and I need to plan one! That is always a fun treat for the kids and I to do when Dad is away.

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  4. Hi Melissa! Your pizza looks delicious! I make pizza all the time and I love the stuffed crust idea. I need to try that. However, I could never do the Mexican cheese mix...I'd be run out of Chicago on a rail for experimenting like that:)!!

    I have been meaning to comment on your blog for a while. I love reading it. It always makes me smile.

    Hope you are doing well.

    Maureen (Scraphappy)

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  5. Hello! Just found you from Cherry's blog, and being that we had the same name, I had to come by to meet you! Cute blog. That pizza looks quite yummy!

    melissa

    http://theinspiredroom.wordpress.com

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  6. OMG, that looks amazing and delicious!

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