Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Last Sunday marked my mom and dad's 29th wedding anniversary. I always enjoy getting my entire family over so this was a great excuse to make a cake and celebrate the two people that brought us all together. I was originally going to just make a cake, which then turned into ordering pizza. Then dad said, "But Jess, your pizza is so much better than any pizza you can buy." So we made pizza.

     I first tried this pizza recipe from my Cooking Light book for some friends from work this past summer.  It was easy to make and really tasty so I have since made it a few more times.  You can adapt the recipe to include your favorite toppings.  This time I made variations using turkey bacon, zucchini, plum tomatoes, cannellini beans, spinach, and fresh mozzarella.

Ingredients:
Cornmeal
Store bough pizza dough from the refrigerated section
salt and pepper
 olive oil
your favorite pizza toppings

    Begin by placing parchment paper over large baking sheets (you can even use masking tape to hold it down if needed) and sprinkle with a spoonful of cornmeal.  Roll out your pizza dough into whatever shape makes you happy.  This is hard for me, luckily I had my Grandma over to help!  Next add your ingredients, minus any cheese, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Next bake in the oven (on 400 F) for about 20-25 minutes or until it begins to turn golden brown.  Add the fresh mozzarella and cook for about 5 more minutes.  Take out of the oven and drizzle with olive oil.  Cut and serve.

     I wanted to try a new cake and I wanted it to be BIG...it looks more impressive. So I went to the bhg.com and came up with a Pecan-Laced German Chocolate Cake. I always like to boast when my desserts are "made from scratch." Even though everyone was very stuffed with pizza, everyone was happy to try the end result-even Jax who dug right in!