Game 4--happily at home for this one!

So here I am at home, watching the fourth game of the NHL Stanley Cup Semi-finals. For those of you who know me and Josh well, this is putting a strain on our marriage. Thankfully, hockey season will be over soon, and things will be put right with us again. The other good thing about that is that I will not have to endure another evening of sitting in a Hooters restaurant being asked by creepy guy #3 if I want to attend a Hooters swimsuit competition with him. Thanks but no!!!

I am enjoying the cool breeze of the evening coming in from the open slider that leads out to the balcony and drinking a glass of Two-Buck-Chuck with my pizza. Mmmmm...pizza. And no, it is neither delivery nor DiGiorno.

Mama Louisa made this pizza herself. Josh and I do this once in a while. It is a lot of fun, i is healthy, and it doesn't really take long to do. You can make pizzas with just about anything you have in your fridge/freezer. I didn't specifically buy anything for my pizzas, except the crust. And these days, Trader Joe's and Sunflower markets have ready made pizza dough on hand everyday. Trader Joe's has three kinds of pizza dough too, so you have choices for that.

Just remember to be creative and put flavors that you know you like together on one pizza. You'll wind up with a yummy, fun dinner. I usually get all the toppings together: Jars opened, cheese shredded or crumbled, meat products cooked, veggies cut up. Then it is super easy to assemble, and 20 minutes later, you've got dinner!

These are the ingredients I used tonight--just things I had and grabbed, ready to go. The only big prep thing I did was cook the chicken and onions.

1 portion of pizza dough (this is easily enough for 2 people--I quarter it and make 4-6" pizzas)
olive oil
fresh basil
dried basil
fresh rosemary
dried oregano
granulated garlic
red pepper flakes
jar pasta sauce *see my note below about this*
Grana Padano cheese
plain goat cheese
1 boneless chicken part of your choice--no skin
1/4 onion sliced thinly
Mixed Olive Bruschetta--Trader Joe's

Let dough sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes, remove from packaging, and portion out. Heat oven to 450 degrees. The hotter your oven, the better for cooking pizza. I learned this in Cooperstown watching the cute Italian boys cooking pizza in a VERY hot brick oven. If you have a baking stone or pizza stone, put it in the oven cold and let it heat up with the oven. If not, use a cookie sheet and do not heat it. Instead, brush it with olive oil or liberally sprinkle with cornmeal/polenta. I like the polenta--it gives the crust an extra crunch.

Roll or pull the pizza dough to your own desired thickness. Remember, it will rise as it cooks, so go thinner than you think you will like. Place on cookie sheet, or peel if you are using a stone, and brush top with olive oil. Add your toppings, put in oven, and bake 15-20 minutes. You've got pizza.

This is what I did for toppings. I sliced the chicken very thinly and sauteed it in olive oil with the onions, finely chopped fresh rosemary--about a teaspoon--salt, pepper and a pinch of granulated garlic until almost cooked. It will finish cooking in the oven.

On one pizza I spooned half of the chicken mixture onto the dough, sprinkled it with dried basil, tore up 3-4 leaves of fresh basil, and liberally sprinkled the top with Grana Padano.

On another, I spooned some of the jarred sauce on the dough, sprinkled it with dried oregano and red pepper flakes, then dropped the mixed olives and goat cheese alternately in clumps on top of it all.

On the last, I spooned the last of the chicken mixture on top, added 3-4 leaves of torn fresh basil, clumps of the mixed olive bruschetta, and topped it all with the Grana Padano.

These were very good. The flavors were all complimentary to each other and combined well. Sometimes we like to use crumbled Italian sausage, prosciutto, artichoke hearts and fresh buffalo mozzarella. Bell peppers, roasted peppers, and mushrooms are great too. Use those flavors you like best, and you will enjoy your pizzas.

**Pasta sauce in a jar. I love to make my own sauce and do frequently. But, when I can't there are a couple of brands of sauce out of a jar I will use. I do read labels, though, and am very careful to buy ones that have no sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them. Most of these sauces have either no oregano or not enough to make it taste like "pizza" sauce. That is why I add it to the pizza that had red sauce on it.

Well that is it. I am done, and the game is over. The stupid Redwings won, so I am off to cry myself to sleep. Good night!