THIS POST IS A PART OF A 31 DAY SERIES TO INVITE OUR KIDS INTO THE KITCHEN. FIND THE REST OF THE SERIES HERE.
I feel like it’s been so long since I have written a post! Even though I have not had much time (or energy) to sit down and edit photos and write, we have still been enjoying a little time together in the kitchen.
A good friend suggested a post about making personal pizzas with kids, and I realized that this is something we have never tried before. Sure, we make pizzas for a meal every week or so. But I have never given my kids their own portion to build a pizza just for them.
We had such a good time making pizzas together– even my toddler joined in the fun and made her own pizza with a little help!
Making/preparing the dough and toppings before I called everyone to the kitchen was essential to keeping the experience fun and stress-free. The kids were invited once everything was laid out and ready. Because, as you know, little kids don’t usually wait patiently, especially when there is something fun to be done.
The dough is the simple thin-crust pizza dough which we use pretty much exclusively for our pizzas at home. (Find the recipe here). It requires little to no rising time and is so easy to mix together. (Of course, if you’d rather not make a dough, you could use tortillas or sliced bagels. But trust me when I say this dough is very easy to make!)
I doubled the recipe, and then divided the dough in half. From one half, I made three pieces– one for each of my kids. From the other half, I made two pieces– one for myself and one for my husband.
Most of our homemade pizzas are made from whatever toppings and sauces we have on hand. When I had a lot of greens wilting in my fridge, a pesto and ricotta pizza was created. Our undying love for bacon and creamy sauces led to a family favorite– bacon alfredo pizza.
When we made these personal pizzas, we had some marinara on hand in the fridge so that was the obvious choice for our sauce. I crisped up a few pieces of bacon and then sautéed onions, peppers, and mushrooms separately in the drippings for a few minutes. Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan, sliced tomatoes, and kalamata olives rounded out the toppings bar.
Each person was given a sheet of parchment paper and a portion of dough. If you do not have much room to work in your kitchen, a tabletop would be another easy place to gather around.
To make spreading the dough easier, we all rubbed a small pinch of soft butter on our fingertips before pushing out the dough. I tried to let the kids do as much on their own as possible. Even when it meant letting my eldest apply his sauce and cheese very sparingly, while my younger son was quite liberal with his cheese application. My husband helped my daughter since I was a bit occupied with the camera.
As soon as the pizzas were ready, into the hot oven they went to bake for about 6-7 minutes. The results were delicious!
My occasionally-selective-eater daughter gobbled hers up in a hurry. Which just goes to show how getting kids involved in the process of preparing foods helps make everyone more hungry and ready to try new things!
Have you made personal pizzas with your kids?
What are your family’s favorite toppings?
Find the rest of the Kids in the Kitchen posts on the series page.
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Anna {This Perfect Mess} says
Totally trying this! So fun!
Lisa says
Yay Anna!
Kimberly Johnson says
So fun!! Making pizzas is one of my kiddos favorites things to help with in the kitchen. I guess there’s just something about adding all those different toppings 😉 And can I just say….your eldest looks….well….ANCIENT! I feel like I can see what he’ll look like at 10 in this picture! How did they get so grown up??
Heidi says
I have made personal pizzas with kids I babysit. We used English muffins, though 🙂