there were two things i was certain of when i got engaged
the guy i was going to marry
and that there would be mason jars at my wedding
lots of them
everything else seemed to fall into place
around all the mason jars of course
...and then came baby...



Monday, November 7, 2011

hungry monday: homemade pizza date night


before

after

date nights are a necessity for new parents. although, just because they're a necessity does NOT mean they're easy to come by. when we can't find a sitter, the hubs and i try to at the least carve some time out for ourselves at home (without the little guy grabbing all our attention).*

last friday, after we got the nugget to sleep, we hit the kitchen to make our own pizzas. as we're both half irish & half italian, the pizza-making naturally turned it into a competition. the friendly rivalry, paired with some delicious red wine, made for a really great evening. to be honest, even before the baby, leaving the house on a friday night after a long week felt like a chore. i highly recommend a little pizza bake-off to spice up an evening at home with your better half, good friends, and even your kids.

here's what we did to make our yummy pies, but the great thing about making a pizza is that you can be creative! we cheated and bought pre-made dough, but next time i might be adventurous & try this delicious recipe or this cornmeal crust recipe. also, we cooked our pies on baking sheets, but a pizza stone is supposed to work wonders.

step 1. set out dough to rise (for our pre-made dough we gave it 20 minutes)
step 2. preheat oven to 425 degrees
step 3. roll out dough
step 4. drizzle dough with extra virgin olive oil
step 5. ladle tomato sauce on dough (i went with pureed tomatoes this time, but chunky would be delish too!)
step 6. sprinkle shredded mozzarella generously
step 7. layer additional toppings (i went with red onions & pepperoni)
step 8. sip some wine
step 9: bake for 20-30 minutes (i like my crust crispy so i kept it in the whole 30 minutes, but start checking at 20 mins)
step 10: eat, compare & drink more wine

enjoy! any other fun stay-at-home date night suggestions??

*that's nearly impossible as he is so effin cute

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