I have been M.I.A for the past few days! Sorry guys! I have a shift at Gymboree (not the clothing store but you know the super fun place you can take your kiddos!) and have been training on some stuff so have been completely busy! BUT today is Friday and one thing we love on Friday's is easy meals. Something that takes little to no thought and that the kids can jump in and help with!

Today we are making homemade pizza. I mean entirely from scratch! Please forgive for the horrible photos as I took the pictures when my Canon was still at the camera shop! This camera was HORRIBLE!

My crust recipe you will need a bread machine!

1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil

Combine all of the above ingredients into your bread machine. Select the dough setting.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Next up make the sauce!





Open 1 small can of tomato sauce. I prefer Huntz...in my opinion it doesn't have a sharp tin taste! But a trick to counteract that taste is sugar! Anyhow, pour your sauce into the pan and add in a few leaves of fresh basil. I grow some in the garden and a small one inside the house! Next I dump in a small palm full of Italian seasonings, garlic powder, onion powder and some salt and pepper (all combined in your palm that is!) if you rub the Italian seasonings together in the palms of your hands while pouring into the pan it helps crush the seasoning down a bit and also helps bring out the flavors! Heat till low boil then simmer on low till pizza dough is finished in the bread machine.





Once the dough is finished I like to lay it out on my board or pastry mat that is lightly floured. I roll it into a ball and let the kids pound it out. Roll it back into a ball again and then toss it pizza man style into the air and spread on my un-greased pizza stone (Pampered Chef). I then mix a bit of olive oil and a few cloves of minced garlic and spread over my dough.



I then spread the sauce over the top!



We like variety on our pizza! I picked the Bell Pepper from the garden (one of the few things that are growing like crazy!)



I let the kids spread the cheese!


Look over at the baby and make sure she is doing OK!




Let the kids throw the toppings on (sneak in some bites at the same time!)



Bake at 400 about 20 minutes (you will need to lift up the pizza to check the center and make sure its not mushy on the bottom!!

Eat, enjoy, eat some more and open the top button of your jeans!