Monday's Meal

This is kind of a misnomer. You see, we pretty much ALWAYS have pizza on Friday night. It is our family tradition. So this is actually not Monday's meal but Friday's. Perhaps you won't mind though because now you have several days to gather your ingredients. Right? Right.

Actually, my children (especially the chick) is so entrenched in this little tradition that her whole weekend seems off or something if we don't have pizza Friday night. If we are going to someone's house on a Friday, her first question always has to do with pizza. "But what about pizza?" or "Are we having pizza there?" I have come to the conclusion that we must have pizza at some point over the weekend -- whether it is Friday night/afternoon or Saturday or even on Sunday -- to avoid great calamity.

This is actually the recipe for the crust. I think I got it from allrecipes.com but this is double because we always make two. The crust takes about 10 minutes to mix and 10 to rise which is what makes it so wonderful. I have been told on occasion that my pizza is better than Pizza Hut. Now do you want to try making some.

A friend of mine made an awesome chicken pizza using this crust. I've also made cheese bread by spreading some butter on it, sprinkling on some garlic, and then covering with mozzarella. Yum! You can make mini ones for lunches too. Just mix it up, make some small (maybe 3 inch diameter) crusts, bake until partially done, cool, and keep in the freezer. When you're ready for one or want to put one in a lunch, pull out a frozen one, put on your sauce and toppings, and bake until the cheese melts. For lunches, wrap it in foil and put it on top. Talk about lunch envy. The other kids are usually begging to share a quarter.

But usually we make the basic meat pizza -- just about always pepperoni, sometimes ham or canadian bacon, sausage or bacon. For Hubby and I, I will sometimes throw on some mushrooms and black olives or chopped onions. However you want to do it, it will be FABULOUS. So here's your foundation. Go a little crazy. And invite the kids. They love making pizza.

Valentino's Pizza Crust from Allrecipes.com

2 cups warm water
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
6 Tablespoons oil (preferably olive but vegetable works)
2 teaspoons salt
5 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425. Mix ingredients together. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. Pat dough onto two pizza pans or baking stones. Bake crust until partially cooked (rises but not browns). Spread sauce onto crust. Add toppings and cheese(s). Bake about 15 minutes or until done.