No take out pizza here tonight

With no pizza Friday's from school each week, my kids have not been getting their regular supply of one of their favorite foods.

Pizza is not that difficult to make on your own, but does involve a bit of advanced planning and time. Which is probably why I am more likely to pick up a walk-in special pepperoni pizza on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. Sure, not as healthy as making my own, but quicker and sometimes even less expensive.

It's summer, however, which means no working outside the home for me, no running off to pick up children from school, and a break in our usual taekwon-do schedule. Lots of time to pull out the mixer and throw together a batch of dough, or two!

And while the dough is rising, prepping my ingredients. The children, of course, will not even consider eating anything but pepperoni and cheese. Sometimes when we do make your own pizza, I can convince them to try other toppings, like pineapple, or broccoli, or ham. Sometimes even one strip of red pepper. Usually strategically placed to look like a happy face.

While I usually go vegetarian when I make pizza for myself, occasionally I want meat - lots of meat! And this time, when I set out to make pizza, I wanted lots and lots of sausage!

Okay, I also wanted veggies too, but not the usual broccoli, red pepper, mushroom, red onion toppings. The mushrooms could stay, but with a change, sauted up with garlic and butter first, and mixed in with fresh spinach, also sauted with the garlic butter mixture!

While I was at changing things up, I decided to change up the shape of the pizza as well, turning it right side in and making calzones instead of flat pizzas!

At the last minute I also decided to add some slices of a mild Provolone cheese in addition to the Brick-Mozz blend I had on hand.

Baked up to a lovely golden brown, these calzones were HUGE! I had half of one for my dinner and the other half cold for lunch the next day. It was just as good cold as it had been warm on my plate.

Soon summer will be over, work will begin again, and unless I manage to think ahead and prepare some dough in advance (freeze it into balls maybe?) it's likely that pizza from scratch meals will soon be replaced with make your own pizza on a store bought pizza shell. So I'd better enjoy it while I still have the time to pull out the mixer and let flour, water and yeast rise up into a wonderful dinner!

Crusty Pizza Dough
From the KitchenAid Stand Mixer Instruction and Recipe Book

1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water, 105F to 115F
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add salt, olive oil and 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer, turn to speed 2 and mix for about 1 minute.
Continuing on speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix about 2 minutes, or until dough clings to the hook and cleans sides of bowl. Knead on speed 2 for about 2 minutes longer.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place, free from drafts, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down.
Prepare pan, oiling bottom and sprinkling with cornmeal. Press dough across pan, or roll out for calzones. Add toppings, as desired. Bake 450F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!