Chichen-itza Pizza!

Sorry. That is the name of one of The Backyardigans episodes that Zachariah has been watching here recently. Its kinda stuck in my head.

Ok, so we are a pizza loving family. We have pizza and movie night once a week and it is something that all of us have started looking forward to (Zachariah especially)! But we quickly found that frozen pizza's are just so dang expensive for such a small amount. And we aren't about to order pizza every week, because those are even MORE expensive. So we decided to make our own.

I call it our "almost homemade pizza". I think it is the closest thing to homemade pizza you will have without making your own dough. And I am going to do that sometime soon, but right now this does just fine.

You need a baking sheet. I use stoneware because it is pretty much the best thing ever. Everything cooks so perfectly. I have never ever had anything burn! I have a stoneware pizza stone, muffin pan, bar pan and a baking sheet. Ah-mazing.

Next comes the almost homemade dough. Pillsbury's pizza crust in a tube. I mean, it doesn't get any easier than this folks.

Then you will need pizza sauce (about 3/4 cup),

A handful of pepperoni's (or your topping of choice)

And a cup or two of shredded cheese.

From here on out you pretty much follow the directions on the Pillsbury can, so technically I could just stop the post now. But I am desperately needing to procrastinate some housework, so I think I will keep going, even though we have now reached the common sense stuff. :)

Roll out the dough onto the cookie sheet.

I like to roll the edges up a bit to create a crust around the whole pizza. I think I would be lost if I had to hold a piece of pizza without the outside crust.

Pop it in a preheated oven for five minutes. (The oven temperature will depend on the type of crust you have.) When you take it out it will be nice and puffy. Not browned at all, just puffy.

Now pour 1/2 a cup or so of sauce onto the warm pizza crust.

Spread it around and add more if necessary. I think I ended up using close to 3/4 cup of sauce, but that definitely depends on your preference.

Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over the top of the sauce. We are a divided family. Z and I like mozzarella AND cheddar cheese on our pizza, but Daniel prefers straight up mozzarella. So we do both!

Now throw some pepperoni's on top of the cheese and you are set!

Pop it in the oven for 10-12 minutes

And pull it out when the crust is a nice golden brown and the cheese is completely melted.

Does this not look delish? Tastier pizza with less preservatives and for half the cost of a frozen pizza?

Yes, please. :)