.homemade pizza.

Okay. Okay. Okay.
I'm super excited because this is my first cooking blog post.
We'll call it Cooking with Meg.
For now. Because I need to come up with something more creative.
Just for your information, cooking + me = an adventure.
You never know what's going to happen.
And after this experience, I realized I really really need to work on my food photography skills.  Plus photography makes cooking even more fun.

Alright y'all.  Here we go.
Let me introduce to you the simple yet scrumptious :: McIlvaine family pizza.
It's my fav.  And homemade pizza is 100x better than anything else.

First off.  The pizza sauce.
It's SO easy to make.

Prep time: 10 minutes.

You'll need::

1 8oz. can of tomato sauce
1 6oz. can of tomato paste
1/2 cup of ketchup
{I use the Hunts brand for these}

Then you'll need these::

1 tsp. of basil
1 tsp. of oregano
1/4 tsp. of garlic powder
1/8 tsp. of pepper

Now that's what the recipe calls for, but who follows a recipe these days??
I just add ingredients until it tastes delicious.
And I'm telling you..this pizza sauce is yummy.

 Laney calls this her "dainty stir".

I could just sit there and eat it out of the bowl.
Does that make me weird?  Maybe.  Most likely. Moving on.

So now you're done with the first step.
On to the pizza making.
You'll want a medium sized mixing bowl.

Add::

1 cup of regular flour
3/4 cup of whole wheat flour
{we try to be 3/4 healthy in this house}
1 tablespoon of yeast {rapid rise yeast is best to use}
{or if you are using packets, you'll just need one}

Put these ingredients in your mixing bowl.

Then warm 3/4 cup of water for 50ish seconds in the handy dandy microwave.

Add the water to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Then knead the dough until it is not too sticky.

Once you have finished kneading the dough, set a towel over the mixing bowl.
Let the dough rise for 30-40 minutes.
{it should almost double in size}
You could go ahead and preheat the oven to 425 degrees at this point.

Then get out your baking sheet.  Round. Square. Rectangular.  It doesn't matter.
Coat it with a little vegetable oil or olive oil so the dough won't stick to it.
Then spread the dough on the pan like so::

Throw it in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.

 Take it out of the oven.

 Spread on the pizza sauce.
{you will use about 1/2 cup of sauce. freeze the rest for later}

Then it's time for the toppings!!
I'm a cheese, pepperoni, and mushroom girl.
No extra silliness for me. Thank you.

 Once you have added all the toppings you desire, toss the pizza back in the oven for 7 more minutes.

Take your finished pizza out of the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
Then slice and serve.