Homemade Pizza!!

When Krista was first born she was "colicky."  We took her to the Dr. who was assigned to us because she was ALWAYS crying & we started to find blood in her stools. The Dr. glanced at her diaper, handed it back to me & told me to quit smoking around the baby. I don’t smoke. My husband doesn’t smoke. Nobody around us smoked. Yet at every visit the Dr. told us to quit smoking around the baby. Ugh. I tried nursing Krista. Breast is Best! And all of that. It was so terribly painful to have Krista latch onto me the proceed to head-butt me while grinding her gums, arching her back then then grind herself off of me to scream. We switched to feeding her formula for all of our sakes. She improved. Slightly. We changed doctors. We still had issues with Krista’s colic. Pretty sure we didn’t win the Neighbor of the Year award that year as Tanner, Uncle Dan & I took turns walking laps around our house & yard the first several months of Krista’s life. Finally our new Dr. took Krista’s still bloody stool sample & had it tested. Krista had a “Dairy Protein Intolerance.” Okay. What exactly is that? It meant that the flanges in her digestive system weren’t completely developed & that the proteins in dairy products, aka milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, cream, & anything cooked with any of these products, were tearing up her digestive tract & causing her lots of pain. Solution? New formula. Soy based. And no dairy of any sort until her flanges were fully developed. Somewhere around the age of 3years old. Yea! We could always tell when somebody fed Krista a Gold Fish in Nursery, or in Sacrament Meeting because she would spend about 2 days screaming trying to get it through her system. We became very cautious parents to say the least!

Then, Brianna came along in mid-2002 J. We were so excited! Then she started the screaming, head-butting, gum-grinding routine.  We knew what it meant, so we made an appointment right away with our new & quickly becoming favorite doctor.  We looked into & tried pretty much every formula that was formulated for “lactose intolerance” but they all had that darn protein in them that was tearing up the poor baby’s digestive system. We even tried this really nasty one that was $30 a can & would need 2-3 cans a week. Oh, and insurance, & AHCCCS wouldn’t cover the cost. My husband was a student at ASU, 9/11 had just passed & there was a hiring freeze, & I was at home with the babies. So, after LOTS & LOTS of prayers, we talked to Dr. again & she walked me through rebuilding my milk supply & laid out an incredibly strict “trial & error” diet plan for me to be able to feed Brianna. I’ve never lost weight so fast! And the screaming subsided!

While Tanner was working part-time at ASU & going to school there as well, he was also delivering pizza for Domino’s Pizza in the evenings & on weekends.  He had a tendency to bring home pizza on occasion. We found that I couldn’t eat their regular crust, but I COULD eat their thin crust! So, before long, I was pretty much addicted to their thin crust, no cheese, meat-lover’s pizza. Remember this was before wifi…..& we did have internet, just it was dial-up….& not always reliable or cheap….I LOVE my cookbooks! I have several! I was always on the hunt for recipes I could have while nursing that wouldn’t land me in the bathtub with a screaming baby trying to help her relax to pass gas & stools. Although the bath time helped, it isn’t the most fun or appealing thing to sit in toilet-water in the bathtub….just saying! Tanner & I both enjoy our pizza! So our hunt was for a fantastic crust recipe that would meet his deep dish desires & that could be rolled out thin enough for me to not be overwhelmed with all the fluffy crust.  Then we found it! It only took about 9 months of weekly pizza making to find it! Then the hunt for the right seasoned sauce began. And we needed to figure out how to buy pepperoni in bulk. Weekly pizza makes for LOTS of pepperoni! Sam’s Club became our friend. It still is our friend! Pepperoni in bulk, yea!! So, instead of spending Tanner’s well earned income on take-out, we refined our own pizza making skills. We even came into a fantastic & simple sauce recipe that I’ve been able to buy ingredients in bulk & bottle for later use! We were on a roll!

By the time Deandra came along at the end of 2003, of course having the same issues & another difficulty of soy intolerance, we had pretty much perfected our pizza making skills that accommodated both Tanner’s tastes as well as mine—minus the cheeses & any possible soy products.  Which made snuggling colicky babies so much more enjoyable!! And now in 2018, we are still having weekly homemade pizza movie nights –sometimes more often- & I bottle the sauce, & we occasionally share it with family, friends & teachers along with a Pizza Crust Mix (all the dry ingredients of the dough) with instructions. What can I say? We LOVE our pizza! Everyone in our house has taken turns making the dough, yes, even the youngest who is now 6, enjoys making & decorating our pizzas. If you ever want to join us for a pizza night, just let us know!!  Or, here’s our recipes ;-)

Pizza Crust
1 ¼ cup warm water	1 ½ tps. Yeast
½ tsp. salt	1 Tbs. sugar
¼ cup olive oil	3-3 1/2 cups flour
I prefer the dump & mix method.  Add all ingredients into a medium mixing bowl & mix well. Let rise for 30-45 minutes till double in size. Beat down & roll out on cornmeal surface to desired thickness. This recipe makes 1-18” pizza crust, or if you prefer the thin & deep dishes, divide into 3rds using 1/3 for a 8-9” deep dish & the remaining 2/3rds for a 18” thin crust.  Top with desired sauce, cheeses & toppings. Bake at 425* for 13-15 minutes. Enjoy while hot!!!

Pizza Sauce
8 oz tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes	1 ½ tsp. dried Oregano
1 ½ tsp. dried Basil	1 ½ tsp. dried onion pieces
Ground black pepper & garlic to taste
Bring all ingredients to a boil over low-medium heat in small sauce pan.  Boil for 10-12 minute. Fantastic for pizza & bread-sticks!

 Well, what can I say? We take pizza pretty seriously around here!