friday night is pizza night

Friday night is pizza night around here! One of our family traditions we started years ago. Gathered in the kitchen, we discuss our plans for the weekend while I start a batch of homemade pizza dough. Oh, wait! Back up. First I pour myself a glass of wine, then I start the pizza dough. Better. Yes, much better.

Ok. So, pizza night around here has turned into quite an event now that I have a little helper. He loves pizza dough. Not just the eewy gooey-ness of it, but he actually eats it. Raw. I know, I know. Yuck-o! 

Anyway, pizza night with an almost three year old is well, yes exciting and fun! This is how it we do it.

The recipe that I use is from the Martha Stewart's "Comfort Food" cookbook. You can find a similar one on her website, here. The main thing I do differently is that I just make it up in a bowl by hand and not in the food processor. Saves washing the food processor, and lugging it out of it's place in the bottom cabinet, way in back. I also just let it rise once for 30 minutes, not twice.

So, as I am making up the dough along comes Colin...

"Mommy I want to help too! Get my apron, pease (please) I want to tir (stir), I want to tir! Pease, pease mommy...mommy can I pat it up? Pat it up mommy! Should I tir it now? Can I pease? I want to pat it too, pat it up mama, mommy whasdat? Is that your grape juice? Can I have grape juice too? Oooh, Mommy das ticky (sticky), das ticky mama. Can I cut too? Mama what are you doing? Whasdat?..." he says with demanding excitement.

Yes, that was one continuous dialog from Colin. In between I interjected a few "Yes, honey", "no, not yet, not yet. Wait. Wait. Wait honey, ok now you can do it. Wait. OK. Now you can. OK." **sip** "No, that is wine. It is adult grape juice. No, but can have some of your grape juice."

Phew!! Are you exhausted yet? Were not done yet! So tonight we made our basic cheese, spinach and sauce pizza.

The easy way to wilt spinach is to put a bunch in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and put it in the microwave for a minute on high. But if you get weirded out sometimes like I do about putting things in the microwave, you can just steam it for about a minute on the stovetop.

So after I pat the dough into the pan, put the sauce, spinach, and oregano on, Colin's job is to put the cheese on. And, what a good job he does! We stick that baby (the pizza, not the child) in the oven for 22 minutes, exactly. Yes. Then sip a little more wine and wait for pizza goodness.

Notes:  We used sharp cheddar for this recipe. The Greek Oregano was harvested from my garden last summer, it is so nice to have this time of year! I highly recommend having an oregano plant in your yard or garden. One plant dried and harvested will last all winter.

There you go! This is how our pizza night goes. Good pizza, good family time. Yes, always good family times!

Comments

[varenia]

Oh, that pizza looks delicious! And of course probably extra tasty made with three year old love ! :) Great blog.

[MamaShift]

We're going to have a Friday Night Pizza tonight, thanks to this!

[Alison]

Looks delicious. I made pizza Friday night, as well...I don't know if your little one would like it, though (butternut squash, mozzarella, and gorgonzola.

[Anna]

Friday night is our pizza night too. Dad and the kids are in charge of making the pizza, it's my night off.