It's a ...Family Tradition

Do you know that old Hank Williams Jr. song, Family Tradition?  Well, I've got a family tradition too.  It's not quite as exciting as Hank's, but it's a heck of a lot tastier.   What is mine you ask?  Pizza.  mmmm.  Hot, crusty, cheesy, chewy pizza.  Our tradition has been a kind of evolution, of sorts.   For as long as I can remember Friday night has been dedicated to pizza at home.  Way back when, lets say 15 years 20 years, well it's been a long time, my family and I would head across the street, literally across the street, for the shopping.  The first stop...Chef Boyardee, all in one "make it yourself" pizza kit.

We also picked up some green peppers, onion, and green olives.  Oh we were living large.  We would come home, my parents would crank up NPR and the stove.  In that order.  TO THIS DAY, I can't hear the theme song of NPR's All Things Considered, without craving that Chef Boyardee goodness.




As time passed, we got an itch to be a little more adventurous. We evolved from the box o'pizza, to a much more classy bag of instant pizza crust.  Something like Martha White.

Somehow, between not being right out of a box, and actually having to buy sauce separately we felt like we were moving up in the world.  Well it wasn't too long after that when we really put our big girl panties on and attempted the ultimate feat...made from scratch, homemade, pizza dough.  Oh my gosh.  We were the talk of the town. You think I'm kidding?  No.  The town paper actually wrote an article about us.  There wasn't much news in this town mind you, but true story none-the-less.  It wasn't long before we were experimenting with pizza peels, quarry tiles in the oven, homemade pizza sauces, there was even talk about making our own mozzarella.  We haven't gotten there yet.  Yes, we were pizza making monsters.  We were searching for challenges, begging for obstacles.  We had a hunger that couldn't be satisfied.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

What do you get when you cross a five pound bag of flour, 18 pie crusts, and 9 ecstatic 11 year olds???...Flour Power like you have never seen it! Today's cooking adventure?  I did a birthday party at Dinner Savvy and the theme was PIE. Pizza Pie. Apple Pie. Cherry Pie. Oh and a throw in a few garlic knots for fun.
First, there was dough...

                              

The girls were dying for an appetizer, so we whipped up a batch of garlic knots.                                                   

Finally it's time to prepare the first pie... 

You can bet, that with 11 year olds, when they get free reign with a ball of pizza dough, boring, traditional circles you will not find...Mickey Mouse?  A teddy bear?

This is serious work...

And we send them to the ovens.

The girls take a break and decorate some aprons.

Now for...DESSERT PIES!

The finished product.  Most people would be ready for a nap after all this food.  I can safely say that was not the case today.  Nothing ends a day of cooking fun like a game of hide and seek in the kitchen.  Oh yeah, we did.