Welcome to our Simple, Sustainable & Fun Family Dinners series! At SHF, we know planning your family dinner menu for the week can be stressful and we want to help you with that process. Over the next 7 weeks we will be highlighting a Family Dinner that you can implement in your kitchen any night of the week that everyone in your family is sure to love!
We thought we should kick-off this series with one of our favorites: Make Your Own Pizzas!
Family Bonding
Aside from being Simple, Sustainable & Fun, Make Your Own Pizzas are a bonding experience for any family. Even the youngest of children will love putting their own pizza together. Spreading the sauce, sprinkling the cheese, putting on the toppings…everyone can be involved and talk about his/her topping choices as you go. Older children can participate by helping chop and prep ingredients like peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. And your aspiring gourmand can tap into her creative side by coming up with unique toppings and flavor combinations that add to interesting dinner conversations.
Lots of Options
There are so many ways to make this meal simple for YOU! Here are some of our favorite ingredient options:
- Crust: English Muffins, Boboli (or other pre-made pizza crust), refrigerated pizza dough (Trader Joe’s makes a great one), frozen crust (can even come in Gluten-Free options like cauliflower or butternut squash)
- Sauce: the options for jarred sauce are endless…and you can even find high-quality and organic options; refrigerated options are available as well, including pesto sauce (or try the Vegan Pesto from Trader Joe’s for a vegan alternative that we love!)
- Cheese: pre-shredded mozzarella for the win! Or get fancy and try a different variety of pre-shredded cheese
- Veggies: onions, carrot coins, pre-sliced mushrooms, sliced black olives, canned pineapple chunks
- Meats: pepperoni, salami, pre-cut chicken, rotisserie chicken, prosciutto
- Leftovers: What do you have left over from the week you can re-purpose and toss on your pizzas? This option may lead to a new family favorite you were never expecting!
Quick & Easy: Perfect for the In Demand Woman
When you get home after a long day of doing all the things you have to do, the last thing you want to do is cook a fancy meal. Make Your Own Pizzas help take the load off of you to do all the dinner prep and it can be ready in under 30 minutes so your hangry kids can eat and be happy again!
There are so many possibilities to this family dinner favorite that it can make a regular appearance in your household every week and your family will still love it every time!
Directions for our Favorite English Muffin Pizza:
- Split English muffins
- Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian dried herbs (oregano and basil or an Italian herb blend are our favorites)
- Spoon on and spread your favorite sauce
- Sprinkle with cheese
- Add toppings
- Sprinkle with more cheese if desired
- Bake in a 450°F oven until the cheese is bubbling and starts to brown (approx. 10 minutes)
- Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy!
