Half-full or half-empty?

Nick's title suggestion. He informed me that's not so much referring to the pizza stone as our stomachs with the pizza half-eaten. We love pizza. It's a default meal at our house. So, why don't I just keep the ingredients on hand? I don't know. But tonight, as usual, Nick and I both though pizza sounded good for supper. So... to the store I went. The cashier was intrigued by the unidentifiable cheese I was buying (a ball of fresh mozzarella), so I had to explain that it makes pizza so much better than the preshredded kind. She looked doubtful, but politely inquired if my pizza crust was really good and crispy. I replied that I make my own, so, yes, it is indeed delicious. I don't think I converted her to making pizza at home rather than ordering it from some delivery place, but maybe... Anyway, as she was ringing up my mozzarella and tomato sauce (for Nick to make the pizza sauce) and fresh mushrooms and bell pepper-- not to mention the tofu and bamboo shoots for sweet-and-sour-- I noticed the folks behind me piling Banquet frozen dinners on the conveyor belt. The contrast was almost too much. Needless to say, the cashier was pretty sure where my groceries ended and theirs began. And I left the store as quickly as possible so I could laugh. No offense to those of you who depend upon processed food for survival-- I just forget sometimes that my food habits are not the norm.

For the record, I'm convinced that frozen pizza is a racket, just like Jell-O no-bake cheesecake, or frozen cheesecake for that matter. Nick reminds me, though, that that's for another post.

I don't use a recipe for my pizza crust, but I'm posting the one I used until I no longer needed it. It's actually Emeril Lagasse's muffaletta pizza; it's not vegetarian and it's not what we ate tonight, but it is amazing. I'll let Nick write about his pizza sauce, which also is amazing.

Recipes and notes:

Muffaletta pizza
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/muffuletta-pizza-recipe/index.html

I use rapid rise yeast, so I don't wait long at all for my crust to rise. I use King Arthur flour, which really does make a difference. I bake on a 13" round Pampered Chef baking stone. The pizza picture was topped with Nick's sauce, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms-- which Wal-Mart now sells open stock!-- black olive tapenade (which I tossed with the vegetables), mozzarella, and freshly grated Parmesan. Like Nick's sauce, the cheese easily covers 2 pizzas.

Nick here:

I often make the pizza sauce for our pizza. No need to buy a pizza from any pizza chain. Nor is there a need to buy a jarred sauce from a store. It is easy to make it for literally pennies. A small can of tomato sauce is the starting place...about $0.50. Pour it in a small bowl, add a clove of minced garlic, some crumbled dried oregano. If you don't have fresh oregano growing in your backyard, you are missing out, so buy one this March and stick it in the ground...in the meantime, you can stop by, and I will share my fresh oregano...I have fresh and dried. I dry it at the end of the season, and have it year round. Also, add some rosemary chopped up finely....buy a rosemary plant this spring too, another herb everyone needs in their yard. Add a little salt and pepper, whisk together, and presto! you have pizza sauce. One small can makes enough sauce for approximatley 2 pizzas. The sauce gets better if you let it sit overnight.....usually, we use it right when I mix it up, and then leave it a couple days for the second pizza.

All that is a complicated way explaining how to make something really simple. To put it more simply, mix the following ingredients together:

1 can tomato sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh or dried oregano (homegrown if you have it)

1 tablesspoon fresh rosemary

if you don't have the herbs above, use italian seasoning.

Salt, pepper

Done!

After you have had a pizza with good mozzarella and homemade sauce, you will probably never want another chain pizza again.

Nick out.