Saturday Night- PIZZA Night!

Pizza Night !
I've been looking forward to pizza night because I love pizza! I am including a recipe for pizza dough, which makes enough for 3 pizzas. The pizza recipe I have listed below is caramelized onion and sauteed pepper pizza. However, I would encourage you to experiment with the other 2 pizzas you make and get creative with your toppings! You can also just add some tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan and go Margherita, which is always delicious. Just make sure you assemble the pizza right before it goes into the oven. Because I had a perfect Margerita pizza assembled and waiting on the counter for about 5 minutes. Then, when I went to transfer the dough onto the cookie sheet, it was a disaster because the moisture from the sauce had seeped into the dough and it turned into mush when I tried to move it!

Pizza Dough (makes enough for three pizzas)
This recipe is from "Every Day with Rachael Ray", (or www.rachaelraymag.com) recipe by Teri Tsang

One 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
4 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

1. Place 1 1/2 cups warm water(110 degrees) in a medium bowl. Stir in the yeast and sugar and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour and the salt. Make a well in the center, pour in the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon; the dough will feel sticky and elastic. Transfer to a floured work surface and dust with some of the remaining flour. Knead for 7 to 8 minutes, adding flour a little at a time as necessary until the dough is smooth and springy. Wash and dry the bowl, then lightly grease with oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cut into thirds; wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until ready to use.

Caramelized Onion and Sauteed Pepper Pizza
1/3 pizza dough from above recipe
Olive Oil
3 med. sweet onions, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, any color, thinly sliced
3/4 tsp. Dried thyme
Leftover diced tomatoes from 15 oz. can (left from Meal #5)
3 Tbls Parmesan Cheese

1) Warm 2 Tbls olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the onions and stir to coat with oil. Add dried thyme and stir in. Lower heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, very soft, and sweet.
2) In another small skillet, warm 2 Tbls olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute peppers about 5 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Put onions and peppers aside to cool off a bit.
3) Preheat the oven to 500°. Invert a baking sheet on a work surface and cover it with a sheet of parchment paper. Stretch the pizza dough to fit the parchment paper. This is much easier to do if the dough has been refrigerated for a little while (at least 15 minutes).
4) Sprinkle with dough with the parmesan cheese, then spread the onions across in an even layer, leaving a little bit of a crust at the edges. Scatter the peppers evenly over the onions, then place the tomatoes in an even layer over that.
5) Bake 8-10 minutes until the crust is golden. Use the same baking method for your other pizzas. Some sources suggest preheating a separate cookie sheet in the oven and transferring the pizza (and parchment paper it's prepared on) onto the preheated cookie sheet and baking it that way. See what works best for you! Have fun!