Pizza Revisited

I love pizza, don't you?  When Steve was in college had it not been for frozen pizzas I think the boy would have starved to death.  I probably would have too for that matter; we ate A LOT of pizza!  I love ordering pizza from time to time - usually when I'm in a "no cooking" mood or when we've been busy all day and I forgot to plan something for dinner.  I really enjoy going out to a pizza pub on campus

called Pazzo's (we only live about 20 minutes from The University of Kentucky) and once in a while, when we're really craving a good pizza we'll drive there.  However, most times when we want pizza I make it at home.  I never knew how simple homemade pizza could be until I tried it.  Have I mentioned how cheap it is?

Depending on what toppings you like,you can make a pizza for less than $5.00.  You can't go out or have one delivered for that price...actually, you can't buy a "good" frozen pizza for that price either.  And trust me, the homemade ones are much better than delivery or frozen.  When I make a batch of the sauce, it usually lasts 3-4 pizzas, the mozzarella cheese I use will go for 2 pizzas, the pepperoni will make 4-5 pizzas, and when I make the dough, I make enough for 4 pizzas (I double the original recipe).  The most expensive item is the mozzarella cheese but often I have a coupon because my store sends me coupons for the items I buy most often :) YAY!

Since summer is almost over, my basil plants are starting to show signs of their departure but I can't stand the thought of wasting their produce, so I decided to collect some and freeze it.  I've never frozen any herbs before, so we'll see how it turns out.  I decided to use a little bit on the pizza I made the other night for dinner.  It was one of those things I chose not to tell Steve, because if I had, he probably would have turned his nose up and said something like, "Why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly good pizza?" Instead, after devouring his first slice (we aren't the most proper of people when eating) he asked, "Hey, what's this little green stuff?" He didn't seem to mind the basil, in fact he said he couldn't really taste it...not sure how that was the case.  I thought the basil gave the pie a little something special.

I also changed the sauce just a bit.  I had bought a can of fire-roasted tomatoes awhile back and had been trying to figure out what to use them for (please note I no longer purchase things without already having a recipe in mind because that's when I normally end up wasting money).  The sauce was good and if the fire-roasted tomatoes are on sale again, I'll get them.


The recipe for the dough and sauce are found on this post.  Like I said, I just used fire-roasted tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes.  I also don't measure the dried oregano- I just keep adding it in until I like the taste, same goes for the salt and pepper of course.  I hope you'll give homemade pizza a try! Your tummies and your wallets will thank you :)