What's for Dinner?: Homemade Pizza

The question, "What's for dinner?" can either be a stressful phrase or a delightful one! I'm convinced that its either one or the other based on planning and whether or not you have an archive of recipes you can rely on to be quick, easy and nutritious.

As I have mentioned before, in a previous post about cooking, I have struggled with consistency in the kitchen. I have known that it is better to eat at home than to eat out for two simple reasons: 1) it is more budget friendly and 2) it is healthier (because you can control ingredients and portions). 

For awhile now, I have wanted to share some of my recipes that are relatively inexpensive, (the food budget is the first to get trimmed down during tight months) easy and nutritious! I've decided to share them in a series and post them as I cook them.  

In my year and half of having my own kitchen and a very willing husband to try out recipes with, I have found that planning is the key to being successful with cooking dinner every night. Making your grocery list and sticking to it will also help with your budget in this area. Whether or not you plan out each meal per day or buy ingredients and cook based on what sounds good per day is up to you!

Happy Cooking!

Homemade Pizza:

This recipe was given to me by my mom. Growing up, we rarely ordered delivery pizza because this one is so tasty and much more healthy! This recipe requires more prep time than most of the recipes I will share, but it's worth it. If you choose to make it in one day, I suggest making the crust around lunchtime so it has plenty of time to rise. I usually make the dough the night before, bake the crust the first time and then refrigerate it. Then, all that is left to do the next day is add the sauce, toppings and cheese and bake it for 10 minutes. Convenient? Yes! Because this recipe makes two 12 inch pizzas, I usually freeze the second pizza crust and pull it out when I need an easy meal! 

Ingredients: 

1 packet of active dry yeast

1 1/4 cup warm water (make sure its not too hot- otherwise you will kill the yeast and the dough won't rise)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour (you can also substitute wheat flour)

melted butter

dried oregano

toppings (see section below)

tomato sauce of your choice (I like Prego)

mozzarella cheese

Preparation Instructions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar and oil. Stir in flour until dough doesn't stick to hands. Add more flour if necessary. Form into a ball. Cover with a clean dishcloth. Let it rise for 2 to 5 hours at room temperature. 

Divide dough in half and spread onto 2 12 inch round greased pizza pans. Let the dough rise in the pans 30 minutes more. 

Bake dough 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven. (If I'm making the crust the day before, this is where I stop and stick it in the refrigerator.) Brush melted butter onto the edges of the crust with a pastry brush, then sprinkle dried oregano. 

Add sauce and toppings.

Bake an additional 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until done. 

Toppings

You can use whatever toppings you like with this recipe! Here is what I like to put on ours:

1/2 chopped onion

1/2 chopped green pepper

1/2 chopped red pepper

1/2 package sliced button mushrooms

mozzarella cheese

Saute vegetables in about 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a small saucepan until onions are tender.

Put tomato sauce on crust and add a thin layer of mozzarella cheese. Spread sauted vegetables on top, and add another thin layer of mozzarella cheese.

Now its ready to bake for the last ten minutes! 

Enjoy!



Cost: $ 1.57 per person

Flour- in pantry
Sugar- in pantry
Oil- in pantry
Butter- in refrigerator
Dried Oregano- in pantry
Water- free :-)
Hunt's Tomato Sauce: $0.60
Mozzarella Cheese: $2.00
Onion: $ 0.69 ($1.38 for the whole onion)
Green Pepper: $0.75 ($1.50 for whole pepper)
Red Pepper: $0.75 ($ 1.50 for whole pepper)
Mushrooms: $1.50 ($3.00 for container)