Homemade Pizza (Pepperoni & Sausage)

I got a hankering for pizza last week and rather than spend money at Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa Murphy’s or Marco’s, I decided to make my own. Since I’ve been working with sourdough starter, I found this recipe for a sourdough crust. By using bread flour, it made a nice, thin crust that was crisp and crunchy. All purpose flour would made a softer crust. 

Next, I opened a can of tomato paste and an 8 oz can of sauce. I seasoned with some frozen onions buzzed fine in the food processor and added fresh oregano, basil, and parsley from my garden along with some dried thyme and a pinch of cayenne. I added some water to the sauce to thin it a bit and spread half on the crust, freezing the rest for next time.

Ordinarily, I use an Italian shredded cheese blend but since I already had some Colby Jack on hand, I used that, putting down a layer of cheese, then some green pepper and onions, then a second layer of cheese. Lastly, I added the pepperoni and some fried Italian sausage. It made for a heavy pie!

But boy, was it good! And since so many of the ingredients were already in the kitchen, it cost a fraction of a delivery pizza!

Gooseberry Pie

Walt made a shared favorite of ours today, gooseberry pie. If you've never tried gooseberries, they're very tart, almost lemony. This is just the recipe off the can of Oregon gooseberries, but it's a good one!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3 Tbl cornstarch

⅛ tsp salt

2 cans gooseberries, drained w/ 1 cup syrup reserved

1 Tbl butter

Pastry for 9-inch double crust

In a saucepan, stir together the reserved gooseberry syrup, cornstarch, salt and half of the sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened. Remove from heat. Gently stir in the remaining sugar, butter and the drained gooseberries. Pour into pastry lined pie plate.

Add top crust or lattice top, then seal edges securely

Bake 15 minutes at 425°; finish backing at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Because I'm a mild diabetic, Walt cut the sugar in half and used half artificial sweetner for me, to keep the sugar down. Even so, I usually cut a small piece.