Grandkids and Pizza

The best combination!

Last weekend my 2 oldest granddaughters Kalia and Livi came over for the day.  I always love when they visit.  I also know that a 12 and 10 year old would probably rather be playing with their friends than spending the day with their ol’ gramma so I really cherish these times.

Kids today are so busy.  There are sports and studying after school and a whole slew of activities on the weekends.  It makes my head spin!  Vegging out is a luxury.  I was going to take them into town the day they came here but it was so windy and cold outside that we just stayed home.  Livi made a valiant attempt to go outside to play on her rope swing but the wind was just too much for her.

Kneading the dough

Soon after the girls arrived, I started the pizza dough using my daughter-in-law Jeanette’s recipe (below).  I figured that maybe it would be fun for the girls to do some cooking and make their own pizzas for lunch.  I mixed together all the ingredients and let it rise while we watched a Disney movie (they still love Disney movies – heck, we all still love to watch Disney movies).  After an hour, I called the girls to the kitchen.  It was time to knead the dough!  I divided it into 3 pieces and dumped a bit of flour on the center island for each one.  I showed them how to knead the dough, sprinkling a little flour if it got sticky.  Livi had a great time adding lots of flour until I mentioned that the dough needs to ‘rise’ and double in size so if she added too much flour, it might get too heavy to rise.  She eased off adding more flour.  After 10 minutes of kneading and chatting, we put our balls of dough back into the bowl and covered it with a linen tea towel.  I explained why I use a linen towel – so the dough doesn’t stick to it.  We left it rise again until double in size while we watched another Disney movie.

Making our individual pizzas

After an hour or so, we took one of the balls and divided it into three separate pieces that would become our individual pizzas.   Each one of us rolled out our dough to fit the pans – a LITTLE bit more flour was used on the center island.  Then we cut up some tomatoes fresh from the garden, onions, and shredded some mozzarella cheese.  I almost forgot about the lone green pepper from my garden until Livi reminded me!  I also had some olives in the fridge.  Each one of us spread some pizza sauce on our dough then loaded them with our individual favourite toppings while the oven heated up.  I baked them all at the same time for 12 minutes and they were ready to eat.

They were pretty big pieces!  Livi was only able to eat half of hers while Kalia devoured all of her’s – she’s growing fast and is now taller than me.  We went back to watching more movies, tummies full.

I love spending these precious times with my grandchildren.  All too soon they’ll be all grown up.

Mmmm, 3 individual pizzas ready to eat!

Jeanette’s Pizza Dough

Mix together:

2 teaspoons dry yeast

3/4 cup lukewarm water

2/3 cup flour

Let sit for 30 minutes, then add:

1 cup flour

Let sit for 30 minutes, then add:

2+ cups flour (add 1/2 cup at a time)

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup olive oil

Add flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Knead for 10 minutes and let it sit until doubled in size.

Barbequed Pizza

 

Recently one hot summer afternoon, I had a craving for homemade pizza.  It all started when I spotted the pizza crust dough in the freezer that my daughter-in-law Jeanette had left.  I took it out and let it sit until it was room temperature.   I also took out a small jar of pasta sauce from the freezer.

I dusted flour on a piece of wax paper on my center island and proceeded to roll it out to fit my cookie sheet.  It was easy to pick up the wax paper with the dough on it and lay it on the oiled cookie sheet.  I then fired up the barbeque to fully heat up.  I cut up some onions, a red pepper, a tomato, and grated some mozzarella cheese.

Pizza ready for BBQ

 

I spread on some pasta sauce then sprinkled the cut up veggies and sliced olives from the fridge then topped the whole thing with mozzarella cheese.  By this time the BBQ was hot (around 550F degrees).  I brought the pizza outside and placed it on the upper shelf inside the barbeque.  Then I turned all the burners down to their lowest setting and set my timer for 15 minutes.

Ready to eat

After it was cooked, I let it sit for 5 minutes.  Wow, what a delicious pizza!  I ate several square pieces and let the rest cool to put in the fridge for later – actually it lasted for 3 lunches.

Here’s Jeanette’s Pizza Dough recipe:

Mix together:

2 teaspoons dry yeast

¾ cup lukewarm water

2.3 cup flour (white)

Let sit for 30 minutes, then add:

1 cup of flour

1 cup of cold water

Let sit for another 30 minutes.

Add:

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup olive oil

Add  flour ½ cup at a time until dough pulls from the side of the bowl.  Knead for 10 minutes and let rise until doubled in size.   Freezes well in large baseball size pieces.