Do you still call a big pizza chain to get your pizza?

Can I ask you why?

In this post I wanted to make a case as to why you should never; I mean NEVER, order pizza again:

1. Unless you live under a rock you have probably seen via YouTube what happens to food in these places. Not exactly appetizing….
2. You can make a pizza for about half of the cost.
3. Homemade pizza can be made in less time than it would take for them to deliver it to you! Especially on the weekend!

Still don’t believe me huh? Okay well I guess I will take a moment to show you how quick, easy, delicious, and fun this really can be!

First you need to roll out your pizza dough. Now you can make this from scratch if you would like and nothing truly compares to homemade pizza dough. However, seeing as how we are trying to save time, store bought dough will do just fine.

Next, add your pizza sauce. I personally make my pizza sauce by using some sicilian seasoning. It is quick and easy as well. Again, if you are trying to save some time and money you can find this at the local grocery store too.

This is where pizza making gets fun. Add whatever toppings you want. Be creative! Think of all the ingredients you wanted to have on your pizza but were told that they couldn’t do it! Keep this sane though; think of what each ingredient will bring to the table. Combining anchovies and pineapple might seem like a good idea at first but may be regretted later.
Seeing as how I am a long time fan of delicious meats I created a pizza that is literally mounded with meat. If you however, are more vegetable minded and don’t want to see the heaping pile of meat monstrosity I created, then click here.

For me my `meat lovers’ pizza starts out with some freshly grated mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago, and parmesan cheeses! Then I top this will pepperoni, mushrooms, pancetta (try getting that added to your next chain ordered pizza), Italian sausage, oregano, parsley and finally some more asiago and mozzarella cheese! Now that is a hearty pizza. Just look how high that is stacked up!

Put your pizza in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want your crust and you are done! Once your pizza comes out give it a few moments to cool and dig in.

Now if you are meat adverse there is always the vegetarian option. My wife went this route as she was not feeling the meaty heart attack I was soon to be facing. For her margarita style pizza she used some fresh sliced mozzarella, tomato, and basil. Put your pizza in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want your crust and you are done! Once your pizza comes out give it a few moments to cool and dig in.

What’s that you ask? Where’s the photo of the finished margarita pizza you ask? Well let’s just say that someone (who will remain nameless) was so excited by their creation they didn’t wait for photos to be taken. I guess I could have taken a picture of the empty plate but unfortunately that would have been a little dull as the plate was licked clean.

I think that the best part of homemade pizzas come from the creativity that you can use when creating your own personal masterpiece. A while back we used this as a party concept where we had all of our guests create their own pizza. It was tons of fun and super easy to do! Simply put out all of the ingredients you think your guests might like to cover their pizza with and let them go at it. Since the pizzas only take a few minutes to cook everyone will have a completed personalized pizza to dine on all at the same time!

Ryan’s Meat Loving Homemade Pizza

Ingredients:
• ½ pizza dough (8 inch thin crust)
• 3oz pizza sauce
• ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup shredded provolone cheese
• ¼ cup shredded romano cheese
• ½ cup shredded asiago cheese
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 Italian sausage
• 25 pepperoni slices
• ¼ cup sliced mushrooms
• ½ cup diced pancetta

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Roll pizza dough into a thin circle.
3. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the surface of the dough leaving approximately ¼ inch outer ring.
4. Add remaining ingredients.
5. Cook approximately 10 -15 minutes.

Jessica’s Homemade Margarita Style Pizza

Ingredients:
• ½ pizza dough (8 inch thin crust)
• 3oz pizza sauce
• 4oz sliced mozzarella cheese
• ½ tomato sliced
• 2oz basil chopped

Directions:
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
7. Roll pizza dough into a thin circle.
8. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the surface of the dough leaving approximately ¼ inch outer ring.
9. Add remaining ingredients.
10. Cook approximately 10 -15 minutes.

My entry for The Gourmet Girl’s and KitchenRap’s Summer 2009 Cupcake Crawl

It’s Tuesday and I’m dragging. For some reason I just couldn’t get myself out of bed. Ever have one of those days? It seems as though they are coming more and more often than I would like. Could it be the exercise? Could it be staying up late? Maybe. I wonder if it’s a mix between the two…

I wanted to get out of this lazy funk so I decided that for the last cupcake of cupcake month I would cruse through the newest addition to my cook book library 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julia Hasson. Which, I must confess is partly responsible for this month’s cupcake theme. The book which I anxiously awaited for is full of recipes and beautiful photography that makes any cupcake fan feel as though they could open up their own cupcake bakery by the end of the week!

I found the recipe for Kahlua Cupckaes and realized that this was the perfect way for me to get out of my lazy funk! Chalk full of caffeine and coffee flavor this cupcake made the perfect afternoon pick me up! (Can’t you tell from all of the exclamation points?) My favorite part of this recipe was that the smell of the kitchen became that of a small coffee house and whisked me away to memories of carefree afternoons. As soon as they cooled off enough for the icing, I piped on the deliciousness and started on my mid afternoon pick me up. I highly suggest that the next time you feel the Tuesday morning drags that you whip up some Kahlua cupcakes for that afternoon pick me up. You’ll be glad you did!

Kahlua Cupcakes-from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julia Hasson

Preheat Over to 350
Line cupcake pans with paper liners

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
Pinch salt
1/3 cup Kahlua or coffee flavored liqueur
2 tsp instant coffee granules
¾ cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 egg whites
1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt (set aside)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together Kahlua and instant coffee (set aside)
3. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy
4. Add egg whites one at a time, beating after each addition
5. Alternately beat in the flour mixture, buttermilk and liqueur mixture, making three additions of flour and one each of the buttermilk and liqueur, beat until smooth
6. Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pan (about ¾ of the way full)
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back slightly when touched.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then cool completely on wire racks.
9. Make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting

Coffee Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar
Pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp hot coffee
1 tsp Kahlua or coffee-flavored liqueur

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together butter, sugar and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth
2. In a small bowl mix together coffee granules, hot coffee and liqueur. Stir until coffee granules are dissolved. Let cool completely
3. Add cooled coffee mixture to butter mixture, beating until smooth, creamy and well mixed. You will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times while mixing
4. Spread icing over cooled cupcakes