Homemade pizza

3 reasons you should make pizza for dinner tonight:
1. You can clean out the fridge of all your leftover meats and veggies. Just sandwich it all between some tomato sauce and a lot of parmesan cheese, and nobody will know!
2. Your kids will love you.
3. You already agreed to a six-month gym membership anyway, right? Give yourself a reason to get down there!


First, mix up a little bread dough. If all that kneading sounds like too much work, enlist some child labor:


After the dough rises for an hour or so, roll it out into a crust. Sure, you could just buy a Boboli ready made crust. But then you couldn't do this:


Then, grab a jar of pizza sauce, or mix up your own with a little tomato sauce, tomato paste, and a few herbs.


Spread the pizza sauce on your crust, followed by the meat, veggies, and cheese of your choice.


Toss it into a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes, and you've got a family favorite for a fraction of the cost!


Pizza Crust
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water or milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour

1. Stir together the yeast, water or milk, salt, and sugar; let yeast proof for 5 minutes (should appear slightly bubbly - if not, the yeast may not work). Stir in most of the flour, work in additional flour as needed to form a smooth dough.
2. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (turning on your oven for a brief minute then off again creates a nice warm environment).
3. Punch down and shape into one 15" crust or two 10" crusts. Top with your favorite toppings and bake pizza at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.


Pizza Sauce
6 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons sugar (to cut acidity)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat ingredients together. Note: this sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use.