I finally found a successful and delicious pizza recipe. I referenced it a month ago in my menu plan. It's from The Simple Dollar, and the dough itself is actually vegan. Before finding this recipe I had purchased packages of yeast instead of a bottle. One package of yeast can actually make a double batch of this pizza dough recipe. I decided it wouldn't hurt to have extra dough; I could always freeze it for the following week. I also elected to do the slow-rise method and wrapped my pizza dough in saran wrap before putting it in the fridge. As is evident by the picture, dough can rise in cold. In fact, the dough grew out of the saran wrap twice! When I shared this with my mom and at work, most people were stunned that the dough could rise in the fridge. The fact that it does so makes pizza an even easier weeknight meal. The hard thing is remembering to take the dough out of the freezer before I leave for work so it will be defrosted 10 hours later. Come to think of it, a harder thing is making sure I don't overcook the crust before I put the toppings on (which I did the first time around) or undercook the crust (as I did the second time around) I've decided it might be safer to make two smaller crusts in the future.

The first pizza was basic with fresh tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella. The second pizza was absolutely amazing with the items I just pulled out of the cabinets and fridge. I topped my last pizza with asparagus, black olives, fresh minced garlic, thinly sliced onions, pine nuts, Italian Herb breaded vegetarian chicken patties from MorningStar Farms (cut into strips), spaghetti sauce, and fresh mozzarella cheese. That was by far my favorite topping combination and will likely continue to be.