15 in 3: Dinner 8 Homemade Pizza and Fresh Pineapple

Welcome to the eighth installment of 15 in 3!  This is the place I am sharing my 15 favorite dinners over the next 3 weeks.  Stay tuned for easy homemade dinner recipes containing lots of whole foods, minimal processed ingredients, and straight forward recipes with everyday healthy ingredients.  Some posts will contain bonus breakfast and snack ideas.  Happy cooking!

Dinner 8:  Homemade Pizza and Fresh Pineapple

Pictured is the thick crust pizza.  I was so quick to enjoy my pizza last night that I forgot to take a picture!

I have posted this recipe before.  You can find the recipes for the sauce, the crust, and the pizza here. 

After the pork loin fiasco, this homemade pizza is a little piece of heaven.  I actually like this pizza better than take-out, although maybe I've always liked homemade pizza better than take-out.  What I don't like is that it takes longer to make homemade pizza!  

Time Saving Measures:

1)  The sauce recipe makes enough for 8 servings, so I always freeze half of it.  If you made the sauce last week for lasagna, you can use the other half tonight for pizza!  

I know this doesn't work for everyone's family size, but I'm so glad it works for us right now.  It's so easy to make a four serving meal, 2 for dinner and 2 for the next day's lunch.

2)  You don't have to roll out the pizza dough.  I always did this back in the U.S. when I had both a round pizza stone and a rolling pin, but here I just spray the pan with oil and use my hands to make the dough evenly cover the bottom of the pan.  It works just as well and I don't have to mess with more flour and a rolling pin.

3)  I trial-and-errored my way through learning how to get dough to rise.  Turn the oven on up to 400 degrees F for a couple of minutes, then turn it off.  Put a bowl or large glass of steaming hot water in the oven, followed by the bowl of dough, and close the door.  You should have nicely risen dough in 20-30 minutes.

Waist Saving Measure:

The original pizza recipe, when cut into eight slices, is 310 calories per slice.  I usually have two slices, so this gets a little high on calories, especially if you have anything on the side with your pizza.  

Last night, I tried this recipe with a thinner crust (half of the crust recipe).  It turned out great, and wasn't too thin.  This method, when cut into eight slices, is 234 calories per slice.  I was so hungry from walking four miles (to and from the base) and doing Zumba yesterday that I ate three slices, and enjoyed my pineapple while the pizza was baking!!

Two slices of thinner crust pizza + one cup of fresh pineapple chunks = 550 calories.

Enjoy!