Start a Tradition – Making Weekly Homemade Pizza
A week or so before the accident, Joe and I decided to make a major change in our finances. Our goals are to build up an emergency fund of at least three month’s salary (how apropos given that we’d need such a fund just a week later!), start putting more money into retirement savings, and spend less each month.
Given these new financial priorities, we decided to cut out our restaurant habit. We have been known to go out or order in four times a week – or more – between lunches with friends, breakfasts with Grandma and Pappy, and assorted “hey! We’ve got nothing to eat!” outings.
We always stick to kid-friendly places, and we don’t usually have an extravagent meal, but the bills were adding up to hundreds of dollars per month.
We thought that the transition would be easier if we integrated inexpensive, fun food traditions instead of just saying, “We’re not going out to eat, period.”
Thus, a new tradition was born – Friday night pizza. I have talked with Amy from Mom Advice about her family’s Friday night pizza a few times.
Friday night pizza works for Amy because her whole family knows what to expect, and they experiment with all different kinds of crusts and toppings. It’s predictable, but it doesn’t become boring.
Amy makes her pizza crust from scratch, mixes it in her bread machine, rolls it out, and bakes it.It’s a very inexpensive meal (especially if the pizza is meatless), and it’s a fun meal for the whole family.
Last Friday, Joe used one of Amy’s recipes (cut in half) to make a BBQ pork pizza. Soon, we’re also going to try Amy’s Pizza Hut copycat recipe and her herbed pizza dough.
Homemade BBQ Pork Pizza
- 1 uncooked* pizza crust
- Pulled pork, left over from our Spicy Pulled Pork made the day before, coarsely chopped
- Jack Daniel’s Original BBQ Sauce
- 16 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- Olive oil
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Saute the mushrooms and onion for three to four minutes. Add garlic, and continue cooking until onions are translucent and mushrooms have softened slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 400. Roll the crust out onto a pizza stone.
- Spread BBQ sauce over the pizza crust, leaving a 1″ ring at the edge without sauce. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over top. My family likes lots of cheese, so Joe made sure all of the BBQ sauce was covered. Next, sprinkle that mushrooms, onions, and garlic over top of the cheese, then the pork. Finish with another sprinkle of shredded cheddar.
- Bake the pizza at 400 for about twenty minutes, or until the edges are browned and the center is crispy.
- Cut and enjoy!
*One of my Twitter followers suggested prebaking the crust, just until it is golden and begins to crisp. I’m going to try that next time.
Happily submitted to Share my Recipe Sunday, Mouthwatering Mondays, Homemaking Monday, Making a Happy Home Monday, Make Something Monday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Tuesday Toot, Tasty Tuesday, Tackle It Tuesday, and Talk About Tuesday
