Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts: Make Your Own Pizza

As I was taking pictures while cooking last night, my son says "Mom, everyone knows how to make pizza, you don't need to blog about it." Well, maybe he is right, but I am going to blog about it anyway.

Make your own pizza's is one of my son's favorite dinners. Probably because he gets to put on only the toppings he likes, and doesn't have to deal with what everyone else likes. But he also really likes to help in the kitchen, and this is the easiest meal for him to help with. I like it, because the recipe I use for the crust is relatively low in calories. Each personal size crust has only 135 calories, so you can make pizza low in calories if you put the right toppings on.

Pizza Dough
Makes 4 - 6in crusts
2 cups flour
1 pkg Rapid Rise Yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp if you have a jar like I do)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
7/8 cup Hot water (125-130 degrees)
1 tsp Olive Oil

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Then slowly add the water and oil to the flour. Stir until it forms a ball. Then put onto a floured surface and knead for approx 6 minutes. It should be smooth and not sticky when you are done. I have done this in the food processor as well. Then I think I just pulsed it for 3o sec to 1 min. Put the ball of dough in a bowl and cover for 10 minutes.

While the dough is resting you can get all of your toppings ready. Use your imagination! My favorite is pesto sauce with chicken, black olives, tomatoes and mushrooms. That wasn't what I made last night, but it is very good!

I had made some pizza sauce a couple weeks ago, that I had stored in the freezer. It is super easy to make your own sauce, and tastes much more like sauce from a good restaurant.

Pizza Sauce
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (60z) can tomato paste
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sugar

Just mix together everything in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Once the dough has rested, roll it out into approx 6 inch circles. Put the dough on a greased cookie sheet, or use the silicone liners. I like to prick the dough with a fork, and bake it for about 5 minutes before I put the toppings on. It just makes for a little bit crispier crust. Now you are ready to assemble your pizza. And the more help the better!