Recipe for easy to make pizza, with all the toppings

Have you ever dreamed about eating a pizza, custom made for your individial taste? Have you ever considered making a pizza at home? Our easy-to-follow recipe will produce a delicious, New York style homemade pizza that you and your family will love.

Special tools: Pizza pan or cookie sheet, grill; I prefer to use my George Foreman Grill
Preparation time: About 35 minutes
Cooking time: About 8 to 10 minutes
Yield: 6 regular or 4 generous servings

1 Pre-made pizza crust, 12" (14-oz) we prefer Boboli, "Original Pizza Crust"

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
2 Cans, 14-1/2 oz each, S&W brand "Ready Cut Tomatoes," diced with garlic; see text
2 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
1/4 teaspoon basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt to taste; about 1/2 teaspoon

Suggested toppings:
2 Large Italian sausage links, grilled and diced
1/2 pound country-style sausage, grilled and crumbled
2 cups, shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 can, 2-1/4 oz, sliced olives
2 mushrooms, any variety, diced; about 1/2 cup
2 Anaheim chili peppers, diced
2 tomatoes, diced; we prefer fresh, firm Roma variety
1 cup white onion, diced

Combine tomatoes, garlic, cumin, oregano, marjoram, Italian seasoning, basil and salt in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat into a smooth sauce, stirring regularly for about 12 minutes. I usually prepare the sauce the day before and refrigerate it overnight, as it will keep in the refrigerator in a covered container for several days. The sauce works best if refrigerated, but if you're rushed for time, you can apply it to the pizza crust if the sauce is at room temperature.

Photo: Country-style sausage and Italian sausage, cooking on my George Foreman Grill, on our kitchen island.

Heat George Foreman Grill to operating temperature. Place Italian sausage links and country-style sausage on grill, close grill over, and grill until attractive grill marks appear; about 5 minutes. Remove from grill and reserve. When cool to touch, dice links and crumble country sausage.

Heat conventional oven to a temperature of 400 degrees. While oven is heating, dice chili peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion; place on plate for easy access. Place olives and cheese on plate. Allow oven to reach 400 degrees before placing sauce and condiments on pizza crust. The idea is to cook it quickly; if you don't the crust will probably be soggy, which is not a desirable characteristic in a pizza.

When oven reaches desired temperature, place pizza crust on a cookie sheet, or if you have it in your kitchen inventory, a pizza pan. Spread the sauce on the crust, applying evenly, then top with the shredded Mozzarella cheese. Place diced Italian sausage, crumbled country-style sausage, olives, mushrooms, chili peppers, tomatoes and onion slices on top of the sausage and cheese topped pizza. Place in oven immediately. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges of pizza crust blacken, and toppings start to darken. Serve immediately.

Photo: Here are most of the ingredients needed to make a delicious pizza. Not shown are the mushrooms and the crumbled country-style sausage, as there wasn't enough room on the plate.

Your family, especially your young children, will be dazzled and amazed to see you make pizza at home, and they'll really enjoy the results of your endeavor.

Suggested Toppings, are... well... my favorite toppings. Pizza to Italians is sort of like enchiladas are to Mexicans, in that you take what you have and you forge your meal around your on-hand ingredients. So the bottom line is to use what you have, substitute, substitute, and substitute some more.

If you're a reader of my web pages, you can ascertain that I love Mexico, and I love Mexican food, so my recipes include a Mexican-style pizza. This recipe is NOT AUTHENTIC TO MEXICO, (pizzas are hard to find in Mexico, especially good pizza, but they do exist...), as it's just something that I've come up with to give a pizza a south-of-the-border taste. Mexican pizza is another story, which is not within the scope of this recipe, so if you want to go south, here are the changes in condiments and sauce, to my basic pizza menu:

Photo: Doesn't this look good? My delicious pizza, still hot from the oven. Mmmmmm good!

* Use my basic SALSA ROJA recipe for the pizza sauce
* Replace Mozzarella cheese with shredded Mexican four-cheese blend, or other shredded Mexican cheese
* Substitute 1 pound of Mexican chorizo sausage to replace the aforementioned varieties of sausage
* Use 3 fresh jalapeño peppers, diced, in place of the Anaheim chili peppers
* In Mexico, corn is placed on the pizza, but I omit it on the pizzas that I make at home
* All other ingredients are the same

If you want a good pizza, you should keep in mind that you should:

* Prepare your sauce in advance; preferably the day before, and refrigerate it until you use it
* Grill the sausage in advance; it can be grilled several days in advance, then stored properly in a refrigerator
* Pre-heat your conventional oven to operating temperature of 400 degrees
* After you're applied the sauce and toppings, place your pizza into the over immediately, otherwise the crust will get soggy. You want your crust to be crispy!

Go ahead and take the plunge, make your own pizza at home. You'll be glad you did...

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