Pizzaaaaaaaaaa!

We've been trying to get together with my brother Michael and his girlfriend Heather for weeks now.  Heather's birthday was in January, and Michael's in the beginning of February.  We haven't been able to get together with them because of all of our schedules.  In any case, they finally had a quiet Friday and came over tonight for dinner (we finally got to give them their birthday gifts and have some cake!)


Being the first Friday of Lent, I made a meat-free dinner consisting of Spaghetti Aglia Olio (Spaghetti with garlic and oil) with Broccoli, Spinach Pie and Pizza.  I have to admit, it was pretty good - my whole condo smells like garlic (but that's really not a bad thing, is it?).  The spinach pie was mostly bread with a little bit of spinach in it (I realized I only had 1 package of spinach and really should have used two), but the pizza was awesome and so was the spaghetti (which is so easy to make - brown 4-5 cloves of garlic and red hot pepper flakes in olive oil, add in as much or as little broccoli/cauliflower as you want, let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, covered.  Save a few cups of the boiling liquid and add into the garlic/oil/broccoli mixture with spaghetti.  Add more liquid if needed.  Serve with grated cheese!).


Here are a few pictures of the pizza process for your viewing pleasure!


The Process of the Pizza

About a pound and a half of pizza dough, spread into the baking pan (which was previoulsy greased with crisco - if you try to grease with oil, the dough will shrink - crisco helps it stay in place).  Let it sit for a while if you can before you fix it.

I use a full 28-ounce can of Pastene Peeled and Crushed Tomatoes spread onto the uncooked dough...You can use less if you don't like a lot of sauce...

The crucial pizza ingredients - salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and crushed red pepper (and grated cheese, which isn't shown here!)

Don't forget to drizzle some Olive Oil over the pizza before putting it into the oven!

Ready for 25-30 minutes at 425* - at the end, shredded Mozzarella added to the top will be delicious, just stick it back in for a few more minutes to melt the cheese.