Pizza doesn’t have to come from a box

The other day, as I was making dinner, my son wandered into the kitchen, took a look at potatoes bubbling on the stove and said: 'You know what we haven't had in a while? Pizza.”

He's lucky I didn't throw the chicken I was trimming at him.

We have not had pizza in a while because we have not had dinner out (or ordered in) in nearly a month. I meant it when I said I was going to get out of my same old dinner routine and try new recipes. I made several dishes out of a recent issue of Taste of Home. I cleaned out my Pinterest recipe board by making eight of the chicken meals I had pinned (five of which I will make again). I even got out a cookbook to try the recipes I had marked with a sticky note long ago.

We've had everything from pesto chicken roll-ups and Ragu Bolognese to slow cooker pot roast and stuffed pork chops. The dishwasher runs every night because it's filled with dirty plates and cups, and I'm not running out for a sandwich in the middle of the workday because there are plenty of leftovers for lunch.

Yet the boy wants pizza. Granted, he's a teenager.

Pizza is life to a teenager. He's going overseas this summer on a trip that includes several days in Italy. If he thinks he loves pizza now, I can't wait to hear his thoughts after eating in Tuscany and Rome. Until then, being an awesome mom, we had pizza for dinner the other night. Of course, it was homemade pizza - four cheese for the boy and his sister, vegetable for my husband and me.

I wouldn't say my son rolled his eyes when I yelled, 'Pizza” and pulled the food from the oven instead of a cardboard box, but there was a knowing smirk that I took to mean, 'Well played, Mom.”

BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

1 cup warm (110 degrees) water

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 cups bleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, sugar and 1 tablespoon oil and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough still is slightly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Source: Emeril Lagasse's Emeril Live on www.foodnetwork.com