Simple Saturdays: Make-it-Yourself Pizza

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Of course there's work (this for Tanya and this for Jason) and school for the girls. And then there's theatre. Olivia and Miranda have been in rehearsal almost every night this month. Olivia plays Helen Keller in a production of the Miracle Worker at ACTA in February.

And Miranda appears in both Red Mountain Theatre's Showcase and Virginia Samford Theatre's Children of Eden in February.

Needless to say they've both been working very hard, and our normal cooking routine has been turned upside down like a pineapple cake.

Saturday they had the night off, and we decided to take it easy in the kitchen as well. Enter the stressed parents' solution to picky eaters: the Make-it-Yourself Pizza. We made two.

A veggie (just brush store-bought crust with olive oil, then add the toppings of your choice. We used stuff in the fridge -- garlic, spinach, red peppers, onions, feta):

And cheese:

Ohhh, and don't forget the beer (Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA).(ignore the limpid cilantro - it's headed to the compost bin)

Since Tanya overcooked the pizza ("hey... I meant for it to have a very, um, rigid crust!"), the beer was the saving grace on this Simple Saturday.

Want some ideas for decorating your own Pizza? Check here for everything from traditional (California Pizza) to jazzed up (BBQ Chicken Pizza) to exotic (Squid??!?).

What kinds of pizzas do you like to make? Share your recipes in the comments box. We'd love to hear from you (there are plenty of Simple Saturdays in our future!)