I love Pizza!

A favorite meal that the kids love helping with is Pizza. In fact, I used to have a routine where we rented movies on Sunday night and we made pizza to each while we watched our movies.

The kids liked helping make the dough, and especially liked pressing out their own piece after I divided the dough. They'd spread out the dough as wide as they could, then top it with ingredients of their choice. I always offer lots of veggies (see left side of this pizza) but they're not often the first thing picked (see right side.)

Whether you use this as a family activity, or just make it for yourself - have fun!

Basic Pizza Dough
Ingredients
1 pkg dry active yeast
1 cup warm water
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

Instructions:
Pour water into a bowl and sprinkle with the active yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes or so. Then add the oil and salt, and slowly start adding the flour. Stir the flour until it sticks together, then use your hands to knead the dough. Add flour until the dough is not sticky, but smooth. Knead for a few minutes more.

Then put a little olive oil a medium bowl, and wipe it around the inside . Place the dough in the bowl, and turn a few times to cover the ball of dough with oil. Cover with a damp towel or paper towel, and put the bowl in a warm, non-drafty place. (I usually use the top of the stove or the oven,) Let sit 1 hour.

Turn on the oven to preheat it to 450 degrees. Wipe a pizza pan or a cookie sheet with a little oil.

Remove the towel and take out the dough. Punch it down to deflate it a bit, and divide into individual portions (3 or 4). Spread the dough into individual pizza discs onto the pan, and top with anything handy - cheese, vegetables, cooked meat, tomato sauce.

Bake at 450 degrees until cheese is melted and pizza browned - about 10 minutes.

Yum!