Day 2: What do I do with 20 pounds of tomatoes?

  Smoked Mozzarella, Swiss cheese, Gruyere, Onion and Basil Pizza. 

 So... when I was at my momma's house the other day, along with all the tomatoes we picked that day, she handed one bag of tomatoes to me with specific directions.

"Karen, these lovelies were picked a week ago and have to be used immediately or they'll go bad."
"Yes, Momma."

Execute new plan. Clock is ticking.

I decide to make a sauce. Okay, good, but pasta sauce sounds so safe. What haven't I done? Pizza! I've never made a homemade pizza! Pizza dough and all.
I relay this brilliance to my six year old while we are shopping. Clearly, he will be thrilled to make pizza dough from scratch with his momma! We will bond and share a memory forever.

"Hey Buddy, just one more store and we can go home and make pizza dough!"
"Mom, I'm not that psyched about it but I'll help if you need me."

Bubble popped, I still need to use these tomatoes. Go!

I blanch the tomatoes. Blanch = Putting them in a pot of boiling water for one minute then transferring them to pot of ice water for one minute. The skin literally falls off.) Remove skin, top and any weird bits.

 I add some onion from our lovely neighbor's garden. Then add some chopped fresh garlic, fresh basil, dried oregano, herbs de Provence, salt, pepper, olive oil and...whatever else strikes your fancy.

Once that cooked for awhile, I get out the immersion blender and use it. (I totally get what guys see in power tools.)  I keet cooking the sauce and start on the pizza dough.

I look to the experts and randomly pick Bobby Flay's recipe. It seems easy and he knows what he's doing.

Instead of dividing it in two, I divide the dough into four.  

 I  put a little cornmeal on the pan then, pound the first crust out for my little guy. 

Pour sauce on top.

Add four different cheeses. 

(Why not?)

15 minutes later. 

Success! 

My little guy said it was the best pizza ever.

(Of course, at six, he's a master manipulator and knows how to play me...but it was good!) 

The next one is for me. 

I take one of the 4 balls of dough and split in in half again. 

I store the rest of the dough in the fridge. 

I put parchment paper down, then the cornmeal, then put the dough on top. 

I add sauce, swiss, gruyere, and smoked mozzarella cheese, onion and fresh basil. 

Well... it was mine...until Hubby nabbed it. 

Oh well, there's always tomorrow. 

Enjoy!