Pizza! Pizza!

In the past month we have made a couple of different pizzas, and two of them were just too yummy not to mention.  Up first: veggie pizza!  After we mastered the focaccia bread, the kids started asking if we could make pizza with it.  Genna had also been asking if we could try making our own pesto, so we decided to tackle both at the same time.  For the focaccia pizza crust, we just rolled it out on a larger pan so it would be thinner, and baked it for about 7 minutes prior to topping it.  For the pesto, we just mixed fresh basil, olive oil, and parmesan cheese.  (no pine nuts, I just didn't know with Isaac)  No measurements to share, we just tossed and blended until it looked and tasted right.  We then covered our pizza with slightly steamed broccoli and shredded carrots.  To top it off we sprinkled the whole thing with feta and baked it for another 7 minutes.  It was fantastic!  The kids devoured it!  There was only one slice left for Jeremy when he came home, and he too had only positive remarks about it.  (I thought it was rather funny that he said he didn't expect it would be nearly as good as it was considering it was loaded with veggies)  It is one that is certainly on our list of approved dinners now.


The second pizza we made was a fruit pizza.  I know lots of people make these, but I had never done it with my kids.  Thanks to Maui Mandy though and her wonderful sugar cookie bar recipe, which I will post at the end, we ended up with a fantastic dessert.  We made the sugar cookies, and when it was all cool, topped it with some cream cheese that had been mixed with a little vanilla and sugar, and then loaded up the fresh fruit. (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and kiwi)    I had doubled the cookie recipe, so we ended up with extra that we happily saved for breakfast the next day. Yum!


Maui Mandy's sugar cookies:  I just have to say how much I love this recipe.  I almost always have the ingredients on hand, and from the time you start to the time you are eating is only about 20  minutes!  When you have a house full of kids anxiously waiting for a sweet treat, the less time it takes, the better!  Here you go, enjoy!

3/4 C sugar
1/3 C margarine, butter (softened) or shortening. I used butter.
1/3 C oil
1 Tbls milk
1-2 tsp almond extract (the secret yummy ingredient!)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C flour
1 Tbls sugar (for top)


Heat oven to 375 degrees.
In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, oil, milk, almond extract and egg ... until light and fluffy.
Stir in baking powder, salt and flour ... blend well.
Spread evenly in ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan (I used a larger stoneware bar pan).
Sprinkle with 1 Tbls sugar (and sprinkles if desired ... which we do!).
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool 5 minutes.
Cut into and serve.