pizza parlor

It never fails... I start thinking about giving away an old, unused toy, and the children discover a freshly creative way of playing with it and I lose my resolve. The play kitchen has sat unused in Liesl's closet for months, but over the weekend it made a reappearance as the counter and kitchen for their pretend pizza parlor. We were the customers - the menus were elaborate - they had so much fun.

So of course the logical next step was to  make real pizza from scratch - yeast, flour, salt and water; canned tomatoes and herbs; fresh mozzarella and parmesan; assorted toppings. I've made pizza before but the children haven't helped much, so I was excited to have their enthusiastic attention. We made the dough first thing on Monday morning, let it rise all day, and then everyone got their own personal ball of dough to shape and stretch and top and bake.

Liesl went for tomato sauce, three cheeses, olives, and spinach.

Sebastian wanted tomato sauce, heaps of mozzarella, and spinach.

This is Steve's, who had three different pizzas on one medium-sized pie crust (indecisive?).
Mine is not pictured, but had butternut squash, brussels sprouts, spinach, olives, and chevre - it was absolutely delicious. Everyone was happy and pleased with themselves. :)