Entertaining the Troops

I am the luckiest girl in the world. Know why? As soon as I finished my last final I got the amazing task of getting our place ready for the in-laws. I know, I know you would all LOVE to trade places with me. Especially those of you who have been to our darling little apartment and been banned from the guest room area which had never been unpacked/cleaned since I moved in. Basically it had turned into a place where we threw things. Opening the door itself was quite an ordeal, and now we were going to have people sleeping there???????

I cleaned, swept, vacuumed, mopped, shined, unpacked, and killed anything living or growing that got in my way and after 2 1/2 days the place was spotless. Really, the Queen could have come over and been impressed. And that my friends was the easy part, because now that the place was presentable I had to feed the circus that was coming to town, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law, and their two children.

Cooking for children is a little trickier than your average adult. Your average adult will nod politely and mmmm and ahhhh over food as the discretely push it to the edges of the plate, or a napkin, or a nearby ficus. Children on the other hand, have no problem telling you flat out "I don't like this." So I put on my thinking cap and came up with..........Barbeque Pork? Jon quickly jumped in to the rescue and suggested pizza. He's a genius, no really, he is. Pizza would be perfect! Kids love it and they can even help make it, and I'd make something that even the adults would enjoy and since we're kinda healthy eaters, I wanted to ensure it wasn't going to light.

This is probably a good time to introduce one of my all time favorite Kitchen Friends, my "All New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook." She has never failed me, and she didn't this time either. My neice and I made the Quick Pizza Margherita with fresh pizza dough from Trader Joes. The verdict? The kids loooooved it. My neice thought it was great even though she doesn't like tomatoes, although she did say the crust was her favorite part. Her brother tried to put an entire slice in his mouth at once. Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law were equally impressed, and Jon? Well Jon helped himself to 6 slices. A success!!!!!

Cooking Light's Quick Pizza Margherita

Ingredients:

2 packages pizza dough (the recipe calls for refrigerated crusts, but I like fresh dough better)

2 tspns EVOO

1 garlic clove, halved

8 plum tomatoes, sliced thin

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tspn basalmic vinegar

1 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

salt pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Roll out dough onto 2 baking sheets covered with cooking spray. Pat each into a 13x11 inch rectangle. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove crusts from oven and brush with 1/2 tspn oil and rub with cut side of garlic. (baking the dough before topping it keeps the crust crisp)

3. Arrange tomato slices on crusts leaving 1/2 inch border. Sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake for 12 minutes or until cheese melts and crust is golden.

4. Combine 1 tspn oil and vinegar, stirring with a whisk. Sprinkle pizzas evenly with sliced basil, salt, and pepper. Drizzle vinegar mixture evenly over pizza. Cut each pizza into 8 rectangles.