Pizza Sauce

Pizza and Parties seem to go together when you have kids. It’s something they all like, well except for one kid, but we banned him from our house. “What you don’t like pizza? Get out!  And never come back!” Just kidding we would never say that to a kid, I was tempted though. I have to admit I was a bit freaked out by a kid that won’t eat pizza, but he is a good kid, so we let him stick around.
Back to the pizza party we have four kids and most of our friends have at least three so if we have one family over there’s twelve, two families we are potentially pushing twenty I know my math skills are impeccable! We could order pizza out, but I have found it more fun and easier to please adults and kids if I do a pizza bar. I make all the mini pizza crusts ahead of time. Then I cut up everything imaginable that a human would put on their pizza. I whip up a batch of my super-duper easy pizza sauce. I ask the dinner guests to bring a nice leafy green salad or a dessert. And then it’s a party!

Pizza dough – preheat oven to 450.

This is the dough that I buy in my grocers freezer section. Sometimes I make my own and I will give you that easy bread machine recipe another day. For now go buy some, it’s vert good and easier.

Cut dough into fourths or sixths depending on how small you want your pizzas. If you are having a lot of little kiddos I would do sixth, adults and older kids fouths work.

Now you can just put a bit of olive oil on your hands and gradually work it into a pizza round from the middle out, be gentle, not too aggressive you will just rip it and spend all your time patching your holey pizza doughs.

Now place those babies on a cookie sheets and bake for 5 minutes you just want them to begin to bake, this makes for a crispier crust. It also saves time later when everyone gets there you are not taking the time to stretch out the dough.

Look at all those nice blank canvases, waiting for your friends to get all creative on them! I usually do this a day ahead of time. Any crusts that are left over I freeze to pull out whenever, and make a quick pizza or flat bread.

TOPPINGS
Now I have to admit, this looks a bit lame. I usually have a few more. It depends on the crowd. If I have more adults then I do more fun toppings, if its more kids like it was this night I could have just stuck ham and pepperonis out there.

Here is a list to help you with ideas if you need…sausage (already browned), hamburger(already browned), diced ham, roasted chicken, pepperoni, red/green pepper, onions, broccoli, fresh basil, tomatoes, mushrooms, pineapple, olives, roast garlic, mozzarella cheese, Mexican blend cheese. The sky is the limit! I also put a jar of my favorite Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue sauce out there, for crazies like myself that like a barbecue chicken pizza.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza = first barbecue sauce, then chicken, red pepper, onions, Mexican blend of cheese or pepper jack is good too! YOWza I love this pizza!

So there it is the party in action. I line it up on my bar. Salad, crusts, sauces, toppings at the end the pans to put them on and into the ovens at 450 degrees. If its summer these are also fantastic on the grill!

I usually bake up some bread sticks using one of the pizza doughs, to keep the hungry natives quiet while their pizzas are baking. Just take the dough, brush a couple tablespoons of melted butter on there, sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese bake until brown and bubbly, cut into strips and serve as people are making their pizzas.

I hope you have fun with this party. It is ALWAYS a hit with our family and friends, I have done this meal no less than a dozen times, with anywhere from 10 to 25 people. It’s easy to do nearly everything ahead of time, so there is no stress and less mess the day of!
ENJOY!