At my house, it is homemade pizza season.
In other words, its cold enough that I can run my oven at 475 for a while.

We love to make all kinds of pizza, meat lovers, hawaiian, veggie, cheese,
margarita, sausage, and how about supreme….

I use the word “homemade” loosely because 90 % of the time I buy the dough at my grocery store.
It is made fresh daily and I can make 2 crusts (medium size) for $1.49. Saves a step so I can focus on my toppings.

What I’ve learned about pizza, I have learned from my mother-in-law,
the internet, and good old trial and error.

These are some tips that work well for me.

1. Invest in the pizza stone. I use a pampered chef one.
When I broke one, I tried 2 other cheaper ones, NOT the same!
I’m back to a pampered chef one. I’m sure there’s other nice ones out there too.
2. Make sure the oven is hot enough. 450/475/500. We want a crispy crust for sure!
Depending on how your oven cooks. In our old house I did 500, but my new oven cooks a little hotter.
3. Preheat your stone with the oven. The stone stays in the oven the whole time!
4. Prepare the pizza on a pizza peel.
Cover it with corn meal first, and then open the hot oven and slide it onto the hot stone.
When it’s done, remove it by sliding that peel under it and transferring it to your cutting board.
Then you can start your next pizza on that peel.

5. Have fun. It is so fun to make “made-to-order” pizza with guests.
Just set out a ton of toppings and let people personalize it.
Or let your kids do it. We did this at my kids’ birthday parties.
Pizza is just plain fun for any occasion.

Now if you want your kids to call you RAD…. go for a stuffed crust!
It is so easy and my kids like it even more than letter-shaped pancakes. (Hard to beat)

Step 1- Roll out your dough.
Step 2- Place mozzarella cheese around the edge.
(you can cut cheese sticks in half vertically, then horizontally or cut it off a block)
Step 3- Fold over and press down with your thumb.
Step 4- Top it with whatever you want. Most kids would be happy with just cheese.

Now granted this isn’t that impressive to us, but to a 10 and under crowd, it is mind blowing.
They giggle, laugh, eat the crust first, giggle, make a mess, show their friends, laugh.
Amazing that it is that entertaining, but to my kids, it is.

And… they called me rad!
Which makes me pause and think, is the word rad coming back, or have they learned it from me?

Speaking of rad, I have some totally radical news! Kathryn had her baby today!
A sweet baby boy weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces.
Both are doing well and we are all thankful for his safe arrival.