Pizza with Mom

I spent Thursday night at my parent's house because I had a job interview in their area the next day. Mom works late on Thursday, so I offered to make dinner, and she proposed pizza.

I used a Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pizza crust mix that reminded me a little too much of Play-Doh as I worked with it. The taste was OK, but "off" compared to normal pizza doughs. I really don't dig the gluten-free stuff; I just used it because Dad is going wheat-free. (Here are dough recipes I would normally use, whole wheat and basic.) The crust had to be par-baked for 7 to 9 minutes before applying the toppings and baking for another 15-18 minutes.

I surprised myself when I turned a little can of tomato paste into enough sauce to spread on two 12-inch pizzas. I added about a teaspoon each of basil, oregano, garlic powder, and a couple dashes of pepper, then a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese. I stirred it thoroughly with a fork and spread it onto the crusts with a spatula.

After the crusts were covered with sauce, we added a layer of thin-sliced mozzarella, which Mom had brought home from the deli.

One pizza was topped with fresh roma (plum) tomatoes (sliced into circles), basil, and some grated romano cheese.

The other pizza was topped with broccoli (cut into bite-size pieces and steamed in the microwave for about 3 minutes to soften it up), diced sweet red peppers, and diced chicken breast. (I cooked the chicken from raw, about 1o minutes in the microwave, flipping and checking repeatedly.) On top of all that, I spread an 8 ounce bag of pizza-blend shredded cheese (in this case, the mix was mozzarella with cheddar).

To review, the layers were as follows: Crust-->Sauce-->sliced mozzarella-->meat and veggie toppings-->shredded/grated cheese.

Then we baked the pizza for 15 more minutes. Both pizzas came out gorgeous and tasted delicious!