But, this is what happens when you try to keep growing, active, hungry children fueled and well fed. The crucial step for me was abandoning the cereal and PB & J routine, accepting them as the breakfast and lunch foods that they are, and focusing on the time-tested question of: What's for dinner?
Going with my general life attitude of If Some is Good, More is Better (i.e. four ibuprofin instead of two), I began by doubling and tripling whatever I made, thinking I could get more out of my effort by preparing multiple meals at a time. However, I quickly found that leftovers after the third night don't go over well.
Not that I don't embrace change, I responded first by pleading, then begging and finally insisting that they eat lasagna for an entire week. When all failed, I embraced the mother within and started serious menu planning and have found moderate success in using similar ingredients repackaged into different dinners.
Or, at least, this is my perspective. Questioning my family may yield a completely different picture.
I do think, however, that we could agree on a few issues, one of which would be that my homemade pizzas have evolved into an accepted — and sought after — substitution for both the frozen and fast food variety. That is not to say they wouldn't scarf down a Papa John's pie if placed in front of them.
Still, I like to think that some day they might look back fondly on Mom's pizzas, particularly the meatball and ricotta cheese version I copied from a place in Portsmouth, N.H. and continue to refine and improve.
I also recently made the transition from using a ready-made mix for my pizza dough to an honest and legitimate homemade version, thanks to the daring yeast and flour experiments of Nicole, a faithful attendee of my yoga classes.
Below find her recipe, which is shockingly easy, even if the word "yeast" alerts your fear response.
To make the meatball and ricotta topping:
Brown some garlic in a little olive oil, add in ground beef and sprinkle with thyme and oregano. Let the beef cook up in larger chunks than you would for meat sauce. Top the pizza dough with the beef. Drop random dollops of ricotta cheese. Grate your own mozzarella cheese (the shredded kind contains chemicals to keep it from clumping) and spread across the pizza.
The other key to making homemade pizza is the Pampered Chef Baker's Roller, which my friend Jeannie sells at her site:
https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=363&words=pastry%20roller
Seriously. This tool will change your life.
Nicole's Basic Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups water, lukewarm 105-115 degrees
1 T. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 T. olive oil
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
Directions:
Stir water, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl; let stand until the yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add olive oil to the yeast mixture. Stir in flours until the dough begins to come together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (or use a baking mat). Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a large bowl that has been coated with cooking spray; lightly spray the dough with cooking spray. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a warm, draft-free place* until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide on half.
At this point, you can wrap and refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours, you can wrap it with plastic wrap, put it in a freezer bag, and freeze it (and just thaw it out in the fridge the day you want to make it), or you can roll out each crust into a 12-inch pizza. Add your toppings and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Individual variation: After kneading, divide the dough into 16 equal balls. Spray lightly with cooking spray and place the balls 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Cover and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. At this point, you can wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, or you can wrap each portion in plastic wrap and put them in freezer bags and freeze (for up to 3 months). Thaw them in the fridge the day you want to make pizza.
Roll each portion into a 6-to-8-inch circle (depending on how big you want your pizza and how thin you want your crust). Prick the crust lightly with a fork (you don’t have to do this, but it will bubble up when you bake it if you don’t, which is nice sometimes), place it on a baking sheet lined with tin foil or parchment paper and prebake it for 5 minutes at 400 degrees; then add my toppings and bake again at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and toppings are done.
*For the warm, draft-free environment, preheat my oven to 400 or 425 degrees and clear off the top of my stove; put the dough on the cook top and cover it with a clean flour sack towel.
1 ½ cups water, lukewarm 105-115 degrees
1 T. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 T. olive oil
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
Directions:
Stir water, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl; let stand until the yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Add olive oil to the yeast mixture. Stir in flours until the dough begins to come together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (or use a baking mat). Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a large bowl that has been coated with cooking spray; lightly spray the dough with cooking spray. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a warm, draft-free place* until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide on half.
At this point, you can wrap and refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours, you can wrap it with plastic wrap, put it in a freezer bag, and freeze it (and just thaw it out in the fridge the day you want to make it), or you can roll out each crust into a 12-inch pizza. Add your toppings and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Individual variation: After kneading, divide the dough into 16 equal balls. Spray lightly with cooking spray and place the balls 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Cover and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. At this point, you can wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, or you can wrap each portion in plastic wrap and put them in freezer bags and freeze (for up to 3 months). Thaw them in the fridge the day you want to make pizza.
Roll each portion into a 6-to-8-inch circle (depending on how big you want your pizza and how thin you want your crust). Prick the crust lightly with a fork (you don’t have to do this, but it will bubble up when you bake it if you don’t, which is nice sometimes), place it on a baking sheet lined with tin foil or parchment paper and prebake it for 5 minutes at 400 degrees; then add my toppings and bake again at 400 for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and toppings are done.
*For the warm, draft-free environment, preheat my oven to 400 or 425 degrees and clear off the top of my stove; put the dough on the cook top and cover it with a clean flour sack towel.
