Quick and Easy: dressed up frozen pizza

There are some common denominators among the variously aged gourmands in our household, but one consistently stands out: we love pizza. In fact, a little too much in my case. Since I am approaching fifty, I find it's impossible to indulge in all of my old habits in the manner to which I have become accustomed. I've had to make modifications to cut down on calories, fat and carbs.

When we decide to throw in the towel and just get pizza, we do follow the conventional route sometimes and hop on a laptop and order something. But more often than not, we pick up frozen pizzas at the supermarket. One choice that everyone loves is the frozen product of a local pizza purveyor, Shakespeare's Pizza (please do visit them if you are ever in the Columbia, Missouri area- they are amazing). But what Abbey and I usually grab for ourselves is an Amy's soy cheeze pizza. It's not too big for two people to reasonably share, for one thing. The crust is what I believe the pizza trade would call "hand tossed-" not too thin, not too thick. Most importantly, Amy's uses a soy cheese for this pizza which, if I may be frank, is an exception to the rule: it does not suck. It melts nicely, has a pleasant, mild flavor, and complements the crust and sauce perfectly.  Also, there isn't a ton of it, but there is enough to provide structure and grip for the multiple toppings we usually put on there ourselves. It's the only pre-prepared pizza (that I know of, I should stress) that allows me to take the easy way out for dinner and be somewhat healthy at the same time. And I am all for that!

Pizza Night!

Pizza from a local Greek family pizzeria is one of those guilty pleasures that just isn't worth sacrificing. The crust has the best of both worlds: crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle. And thin, which is the way I like pizza crust, though there are dissenters in the family who prefer thicker pies. (I don't discriminate; it's unlikely there is a well-made pizza in the world that I wouldn't like.) Arris' is the best of the local Greek family pizzerias, and is the original; it's been open in the area continuously since 1960. The menu consists of pizza but also many of the dishes you'd expect at a Greek eatery, along with salads, burgers, steak, and pasta.

The spicy Greek sausage is out of this world. Gyro meat is another option unique to the Greek pizzeria; Louis almost always requests it. Olivia is a purist and prefers cheese only. Abbey and I do what we can to make the experience somewhat healthy, though we have no illusions about it. Arris has many combinations cleverly named after ancient Greeks; our favorite is the Hippocrates, which consists of every vegetable on the menu coexisting on a pie in delicious harmony. Order light on the cheese and you have something vaguely resembling healthy.  It's an indulgence, a treat to be enjoyed every once in a while; I imagine we always will.

Pizza and Monster Trucks

 

After lunch, Olivia and I felt like making a nice big nasty mess in the kitchen, so we got out the flour, the yeast, the measuring cups and went all crazy.  The intention on Saturdays has been to plan some kind of "themed" entertainment.  For example, last Saturday, we watched a Jackie Chan movie and ordered in Chinese.  This weekend, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to make pizza and watch some metal crunching monster truck action?  So, Michael was in charge of finding some monster truck-a-thon insanity for our viewing pleasure while Olivia and I got the pizza dough rolling--so to speak.

I won't say the crust turned out exactly as planned, but it was satisfactory for a crust that was mostly made with whole grains.  Our toppings were delicious and healthy--the modern twin wonders of chicken sausage and turkey pepperoni.  And for the grown-ups, the additional pleasures of mushrooms, spinach, red peppers, and mascarpone cheese.  Delicioso!  The kids loved it, and they really loved the vintage 1980's monster truck footage their dad treated them to while they ate!

What follows is a play by play of our dough making efforts, with Miss Olivia in charge.

Proofed yeast in a Pyrex measuring cup.  We used a total of 2 1/2 cups of water, a dash of sugar, and Hodgson Mill's yeast made especially for whole grains.

Miss O.diligently mixing all the flours together.  We used two cups of whole wheat, two cups of whole grain oat flour and two cups of all-purpose white flour.

A 6-year-old's hand full of kosher salt seemed like the proper measure.

  

Pouring in our liquid and proofed yeast.

She counted slowly to six while pouring in the olive oil.

Mom was left to finish the kneading process.  (Miss O's arms got really super tired!)

And here is the fruit of our labors.  The kids had a plainer version with just the turkey pepperoni and the chicken sausage.  A fine accompaniment to any monster truck rally.