Grilled pizza

It's high time we put out another recipe review. This time, daddy is taking the reins and bringing ya'll the good stuff. For the record, momma and BB helped a lot in the creation of this masterpiece but daddy got to play with the fire. Yes, that's right, it's time to review one of our favorite, and most versatile, recipe's: grilled pizzas!

Yesterday, you read about our trip to Amazement Square.  Well what you didn't read was that after Amazement Square we promptly locked our keys in the car with it running. Thankfully, Noah was outside of the car with us so we got to settle into some family bonding time in the Sheetz parking lot while we waited for AAA. Thankfully, grandma and grandpa had recently renewed our membership in the lovely, and lifesaving, service.

Once we finally made it home, we were HUNGRY! It had been a long day full of fun and excitement as well as a small dash of frustration. We turned to a stand-by recipe, the grilled pizza I keep talking so much about. It is super easy and super quick to prepare.

Here's how we made ours, there's some suggestions at the end for variations.

Ingredients:

• Aluminum foil
• Cooking spray (we used olive oil spray)
• One can of pre-made pizza crust
• Your favorite pesto sauce
• Ricotta cheese (8 oz tub)
• One bag of shredded pizza topping cheese
• One container of feta

First, lay out a sheet of aluminum foil onto a cookie sheet. This will be an important piece of foil in the steps to come. Coat the foil sheet with your cooking spray. Go ahead and fire up your grill. You'll want it nice and hot for the pizzas.

Next, pop the pizza crust open. If your household is anything like ours, this can be an ordeal. I always have to pop it and usually Lyndsie has to go in the other room. She hates it for some reason! Lay the pizza crust flat on the aluminum foil and then use a pizza cutter to cut the crust into six pieces of more or less the same size.

Next, flatten your six pieces out thin. You'll want to flatten them almost to the point of being able to see through the dough. The crust pieces will likely grow significantly in size on the cookie sheet as you do this. Have a few pieces of aluminum foil in reserve to have as secondary homes for the growing pizza deliciousness.

After this, it's time to head outside to the grill. Transfer the entire foil assemblage to the lowest grill rack. Now comes the really hard part, wait! You will notice the cooking spray turning funny colors in some places. The crust will likely begin to turn colors too at the edges. This is all very normal. Don't go poking at your crust!

Patience. This is a crucial time in the life of your precious baby pizza.

Once the middle of your pizzas begin to firm up, gently lift the edge of your crust using your grill utensils. You should see a more or less cooked crust staring back at you. Obviously, if you see dough burnt to a crisp, you've gone too far. If your dough won't separate from the foil, you haven't ventured far enough into the land known as done-zo.

Here comes the tricky part, you have to make a decision as to whether or not you are feeling brave. For our most recent version of the pizza, we were not. If you are feeling cowardly like we were, you'll take the half-cooked crust back into the house to flip them over and begin the topping process. You can do all of this right on the aluminum foil once you transfer it back to your cookie sheet.

If you're feeling adventurous, grab a grill spatula and flip the crust over and directly onto the grill rack itself. This may take some maneuvering to get the foil out of the way but the taste is worth the slight risk of burns. It is far tastier to go for the brave option and drop the crust straight onto the rack.

If you have managed to make the flip without burning yourself, minimal cussing (don't let the kids hear!) and without dropping anything down into the all consuming fire, it's time to top those bad boys. As I mentioned before, we did this step inside to avoid the added anxiety of my carnival fire tricks in the back yard. If you choose the inside topping option, kids get to help! I don't recommend letting kids help top if you choose the grill option. One final note about the grill topping option: move quickly. Your crust still needs to cook on the bottom but it won't take long. You'll want time on the grill post-topping for our next step and dawdling on the topping step will make for some extra crispy crust.

We topped ours with pesto sauce, ricotta cheese (mixed with garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder to taste), mixed shredded pizza cheese, and feta cheese. In case you couldn't tell, we like cheese pizza. We are, after all, good vegetarians.

Our delicious cheese, cheese, and more cheese pizzas back on the grill after topping!

Once you've topped the pizza, close the lid and let the heat do its job. You'll be simultaneously cooking the rest of the crust and melting all of the toppings together into one delectable pile of goodness.

Keep an eye, or more clearly a nose towards your pizzas. The bottoms will get crispy quickly. Once you begin to notice a faint smell of doneness (AKA burning), it's time to check on those bad boys. We have found that a little crisp on the outside of your pizza adds a good flavor profile. Anything more than a little though and the flavor is overshadowed by the pizza's resemblance to a hockey puck.

Once everything has melted together, take it off the grill and serve!

Noah enjoying his yummy pizza!

The sky's the limits on this winning recipe. Here are some ideas for variations. Some we've tried, some we look forward to trying someday, some we've provided just for those special carnivores in our lives.

• Pepperoni and cheese with a marinara sauce
• Peppers, onions, taco sauce, ground beef (or vegetarian substitute)
• Barbecue sauce, onions, ground beef (or vegetarian substitute), cheddar cheese
• Garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, rosemary. It's a delicious bread appetizer!
• Cook the crust as stated but don't top. Instead, put a variety of dips together for your home-cooked flat bread! Try hummus, pesto, marinara, or tzatziki.

I couldn't resist showing off Noah's handsome church outfit. Note: he's back in his picture spot!