To say our family loves pizza might be an understatement. If you ask my husband what he wants to eat, the answer will always be steak, tacos, or pizza.
The original recipe is set up to make two crusts, which you can freeze as a ball of dough. That works fine, except sometimes we decide we want to eat a pizza around dinner time (or for a late night snack), and we don’t have four hours for the crust to thaw on the counter. So I started experimenting.
First, I wanted to see if we could roll the crusts out ahead of time, and freeze them flat in the freezer.
Yes, it works! Here’s how I do it!
Line a jelly roll pan or circular pan (the same one you’ll later use to bake the pizzas) with parchment paper
Flatten the dough to the shape of the pan
Put the whole thing in the freezer (I wouldn’t recommend freezing a pizza stone, so if you use one of those, find something else flat to freeze your crust on)
Once the crust is frozen, remove the pan, and wrap the crust with saran wrap.
To bake, simply unwrap and flip the crust onto the pan.
How I bake it as a frozen crust.
If you’re putting the pizza in the oven right out of the freezer (after topping it with all of your yummy favorites), bake at 425°F for 18 minutes. This allows the pizza dough to come to the right temperature without heating up too quickly. Otherwise you’ll end up with a burnt bottom and a doughy middle!
How I make it a thin crust.
If you’re looking for a thinner crust, you can split Crystal’s recipe into three crusts. The method is the same, but the baking times change slightly. To bake right away right after you mix the dough, bake at 450°F for 10-12 minutes. To bake right away from frozen, bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.
These baking times and temperatures are based on my oven, which cooks a little bit hotter than the temperature it says. You might need to adjust a bit according to your oven, but once you figure it out, you’re all set for easy frozen pizzas!
I like to freeze a few of these crusts, a batch of homemade pizza sauce (which makes enough for 3 pizzas), and a few containers of toppings. With all that done ahead of time, all I have to do is pull out a crust, defrost the sauce and toppings in the microwave, and top with shredded cheese. The whole process takes about 5 minutes — perfect for a busy weeknight dinner!
Katy is a pastor’s wife in northern Iowa. You can find her blogging about food, crafts, life with four kids, and even the occasional craft project at Kate’s Great Crafts.
I just had to share these pictures of when we went and got free Haagen-Dazs ice cream back in 2008! Wow… how these girlies have grown. And their mommy looks like she may have acquired a few new wrinkles since this picture was taken.
So yesterday wasn’t as productive as I was hoping.
It started out well, though…
Since I’ve been sick this weekend, I’ve had trouble sleeping, so I woke up around 4 a.m. and just got up and stayed up.
I started the Diffuser going with OnGuard. Took my vitamins. Made some coffee. And sat down to read my Bible and catch up on emails and blogging work.
I got a lot of work done in those few hours before the rest of the family woke up. When the kids got up, I made sausage, berries, and fried eggs for breakfast and then we sat down to eat and do our morning school.
Once we were finished, I cleaned up the kitchen while the kids got ready, did their morning chores, and then got started in on their independent school.
I had planned to take a shower and get some more housework done, but around this time, I started to really feel icky again. So Jesse took over and I went back to bed (he’s been out of town more than he’s been home recently, so I was very grateful that I could actually go back to bed today!)
He washed the girls hair and then they came in to have me fix it. Should I confess that I didn’t even get out of bed to fix their hair? I just propped up the pillows and they sat on the edge of the bed while I fixed it.
And then he fed the kids and took them out to ice skating lessons, swimming lessons, and baseball practice while I tried to get some work done while resting. I had trouble focusing, but I ended up getting most of my list done.
After my list was mostly finished, I got up and made myself some Throat Coat tea, switched the laundry from the washer to the dryer, and then I folded some laundry, and worked on my talks/slides for the Arlington Homeschool Conference.
Jesse and the kids arrived home and we ate dinner, cleaned up the house, and then I headed to bed for an early bedtime.
I was so grateful to wake up feeling somewhat better today — and I finally had the energy to tackle Silas and Kathrynne’s clothes.
Kathrynne helped me go through her clothes and I was shocked how many clothes she actually has since she re-wears the same things over and over again.
And I went through Silas’ clothes — with a little input from him, too.
I organized both of their drawers in a similar way as Kaitlynn’s and gave them strict instructions that they are to keep them this way and make sure to fold and put away laundry in this order to simplify things.
It feels so good to have pared down some of their clothes — especially since I haven’t done this since we moved here a year ago!
How was YOUR day yesterday? Did you get any cleaning or organizing done? Is everyone well at your house? I hope so!
So, I told you that April was a hard month — and that was also reflected in the fact that I didn’t post many weekly goals. In all honesty, I was just in survival mode for a few weeks and had to focus on necessities.
There are seasons of life when it’s like that and so long as it’s just a short season and not a lifestyle, sometimes you just have to power through, pray for grace and strength, and stick to the basics.
Gratefully, most of the hard and stretching things that we were dealing with all at once have subsided and things are back to more of a quiet rhythm here again… and I am so very grateful!
As a result, I’m ready to jump back into goal-setting again!
This week's goals:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. Take Silas on a special one-on-one outing for his birthday.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Go through Kathrynne and Silas’ clothes & get rid of what no longer fits them.
6. Listen to at least two inspiring audios/podcasts while working/driving.
Local Ministry/Hospitality/Friendship Goals
7. Get caught up on thank you note writing.
8. Finish reading a friend's manuscript & writing an endorsement for it.
Business Goals
9. Outline/write 3 substantive blog posts for next week.
10. Finish tweaking my presentations/slides for the Arlington Homeschool Conference this weekend.
What are your goals for this week? I'd love to have you share your progress on last week's goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you've blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let's cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
