when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie

We've started a new family tradition over the past few months--make your own pizza night!

My girls love. it. That's an understatement. This afternoon when I started making the pizza dough, Helena said "Wait, is it make your own pizza night? MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA NIGHT!!! YESSS!!!!!"

Fridays are fun, because we always have cookies for an after school snack and now we have the messiest dinner ever--and that means the most fun, right?

I make the dough and let the girls roll/pat it into whatever shape they want, brush it with olive oil, and poke it with a fork. Then after the crusts get baked, we all load on the toppings!

Taking a picture of a three year old going crazy with a rolling pin is no easy feat!

Some favorite toppings: pepperoni, tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and green peppers. Oh, and lots of mozzarella cheese, of course!

Mamma mia! Tempe took this picture of Jason putting the finishing touches on his pizza.

I love making something as simple as dinner into an event that my kids look forward to all week. I know our Friday nights as a family are short lived, but I am so happy that for now my kids love nothing more than spending their evenings as a family!

the best pizza in the world

Chicago style deep-dish pizza
(recipe from America's Test Kitchen)
3 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cup water
3 tbs melted butter + 4 tbs softened butter
garlic powder + Parmesan cheese

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast; mix on low until fully combined. With mixer running, add water and melted butter. Increase speed to medium and knead 5 minutes or until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the bowl. (And as a side note here, this dough is so easy to make. Other doughs are sometimes hard to determine exactly how much flour you need, but this one comes together so easily and beautifully every time.)
2. Cover the bowl and let rise for 45-60 minutes.
3. Now you're going to laminate the dough. After the dough has risen, roll it out into a large rectangle. Smear the softened butter alllllllll over it, then sprinkle garlic powder and Parmesan cheese to taste. Starting at the short end of the rectangle, roll up tightly in a cylinder (like you're making cinnamon rolls). Using your rolling pin, flatten the cylinder into another rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half and fold each section of dough into thirds to form a ball. You can also freeze one or both dough balls at this point.
4. Refrigerate dough balls for another 45-60 minutes. This allows the butter to chill and makes the crust super flaky and full of little layers of buttery dough. 
5. After the laminated dough has chilled, roll each ball into a 13-inch disk. Pu the dough into a round cake pan and press into corners and up sides. Top however you like! I love all kinds of pizza, but this one is best with straight up mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. I don't even make my own sauce--Prego straight out of the can. You can assemble this pizza beforehand and refrigerate unti you're ready to bake it.
6. Bake at 425 for 20-30 minutes; let rest at least 10 minutes before cutting.
Enjoy!