Dinner with Friends

We had a friend and his two adorable girls over for dinner. We thought making pizza together would be a fun activity to do with all the kids.

I picked up two balls of large pizza dough from Little Cesars Pizza (only two bucks for both!). I looked at the grocery store for dough, but wasn't impressed by the selection. I took one of the balls of dough and cut it into 4 pieces, and rolled each piece out for the kids. I thought it would be fun for each of the girls to have their own dough round to decorate.  I rolled the other piece of dough into one large size pizza for the adults.

For toppings, I did sliced olives, pepperoni, canadian bacon, fresh tomatoes, onions, basil, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, diced orange and red peppers, artichoke hearts, pizza sauce, dried basil and oregano, fresh garlic and olive oil. I prepped all of the ingredients beforehand, placed them in clear plastic bowls and covered them with plastic wrap. When the guest arrive, the adults had a cocktail hour and the kids played and then we all gathered in the kitchen to make our pizzas.

The kids decorated their pizzas first and we baked them while the adults made theirs. After we put on every topping available, I brushed our crust with a garlic butter and baked it at 475 degrees until the crust was golden brown and the cheese was bubbly.

The pizzas turned out amazing! The kids loved theirs and the adults devoured the large pizza like nothing. I've tried stored bought pizza crust, but I think the secret is picking up some fresh dough from your local pizzeria or a market like Whole Foods (I believe they offer whole wheat dough too!).

Making pizza was a fun way to enjoy an evening with our friends and all of the kids. Everyone got to participate and it was nice to have an activity that we could all do together. Along with the pizza, I served a simple tossed salad and sliced fresh fruit.