How To Make A Pizza Bar

Summer days stretch out long and lazy, and often I don’t really feel bothered to cook. Some of that could be attributed to the fact that my kitchen is hot and I don’t want to stand by a stove heating it up even more, but mostly I’m just feeling lazy.  The other day I remembered I had homemade pita breads in my freezer, and whipped them up into personal sized pizzas for dinner-which allowed each of us to choose our own toppings.

This can be done with your kids and pitas from the market.  We choose Greek pitas, which are thicker and softer than the pocketed kind, which are drier and more for stuffing things into. An advantage with a dinner like this is that you can set up your own “make-a-pizza” bar with all the toppings you want to offer, and the kids can make their own. Some suggestions:

• Greek pita breads (allow 1 or 2 per person, depending on size and appetites)
• Pizza sauce
• Mozzarella, plus other cheeses to your liking: some suggestions are feta, blue cheese, Cheddar, and fresh parmesan
• Thinly sliced sweet peppers, mushrooms, green onions, red onions
• Seeded and thinly sliced tomatoes
• Garlic cloves (one per pita pizza), peeled and thinly sliced
• Black olives
• Sundried tomatoes
• Favorite meats; sliced ham, pepperoni, or cooked and crumbled bacon

  Pre-heat oven to 450 F.

  Place everything out and let people top their own pizzas, then place on a baking sheet and set in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, watching carefully. You don’t want the bottoms to burn!

  Remove, slice, and serve. How’s that for easy?