Pizza You'll Feel Good About Eating

We forgot to take a picture of the beautiful pizza before we devoured it.

My husband and kids rave about our homemade pizza.  The whole thing is from scratch and, as far as pizza goes, it's pretty healthy for you.  Personally, I like it veggie-style with onions, peppers, roma tomatoes and olives, but my guys like meat.  And they really like my homemade sausage.

This recipe is very forgiving.  I make my own crust, my own sausage and sometimes my own seasonings or pizza seasoning.  I have often thought I've messed it up this time! and everyone was still happy.

Thanks to my dear friend, Mandi, for this terrific recipe.


Pizza

1/2 lb. sausage (see recipe below)
1 tube (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza crust (or use my recipe below)
2 teaspoons melted butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 medium Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced (or re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Press pizza dough into a greased 13-inch 9-inch by 2-inch baking dish (I personally swear by stoneware). Brush with butter or olive oil; sprinkle with parmesan cheese and garlic powder. If you have made your own crust, bake for 5 minutes before adding toppings.  Layer with 1 cup mozzarella, sausage and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Italian seasoning.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.


Pizza Dough

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (we use whole grain flour, freshly ground in our Vitamix blender)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/3 cup water
1 3/4 teaspoons (1 pkg.) yeast

Combine last four ingredients and slowly add in flour.  Mix on "knead" setting for 8 minutes.  Remove from mixer and cut into two pieces.  Knead a couple of times.  Rise under moist towel 30 minutes. (Freezes well.)


Homemade Sausage

1 lb. ground turkey or beef
3 Tablespoons minced onion
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all seasoning ingredients in small bowl.  Feel free to ad lib (i.e. rosemary is a good addition).  Mix seasonings with ground meat and brown in skillet.

I'd love to hear if you try this one and what changes you make to it!

~ Katrina

P.S.  What are you reading?  I have been absent from Blogger through the holidays, but we have still been reading!  We read some lovely Christmas books.  (Let me know if you would like that list.)  This month, the boys and I have been reading Just David by Eleanor H. Porter.  Written in 1916, it is a sweet tale of an innocent which sparks interesting conversation and teachable moments.  It makes me look at the beauty in the world around me in a fresh way... but we're only only on Chapter 6.  I would recommend this one for ages 5 and up.  The Kindle version is free on this link.