Bring Your Family Together With Pizza Night

How do you carve out time to be sure that your family has plenty of time to spend time together? It seems to be difficult for today’s family and for good reason. With busy work schedules, kid’s extracurricular activities and the responsibilities of taking care of a household, it is hard to carve out time for just about anything. Family time isn’t just anything though, it is the most important thing for your family during any season of life. Kids need their parents to be involved in their lives in more ways than just as a taxi driver (you know you feel like that sometimes).

We always like to make sure to sit down as a family and eat dinner together several times per week. We talk about the things that are going on in life and the day to day of work and school. It has helped us to be a stronger family unit and it’s a good way to slow life down a little bit to remember what it’s all about. This family dinner time is precious to us. Most of the time we enjoy a homemade meal that has been cooking in the slow cooker all day, sometimes we order takeout, but I like to expand on it once a week and bring the entire family into the preparation process. We all cook together!

The nights that the entire family preps dinner is my favorite night of the week for several reasons:

• We all contribute to the meal, both in deciding what to cook and helping to prepare.
• It’s less work for mom and dad when we get help.
• The kids’ are learning cooking skills, which will be needed as they grow up.
• It’s just a lot of fun.

Our recent favorite meal to cook as a family is pizza. Let me just say this now, if you have never made homemade pizza, you are missing out! Homemade pizza is so much more delicious than delivery or takeout. You can create your own flavors and add as much or as little of each ingredient as you choose.

Before I go on and on about my favorite pizza recipes and must-have pizza tools, I wanted to mention that February 9th is National Pizza Day, so basically it is required that we enjoy pizza then, right?

Now, before you start getting ready to become a dough tossing, pie creating pizza whiz, you have got to get yourself a Pizza Stone. Seriously, pizza is just not the same if you cook it any other way.

We have several stones to choose from, all of them great, but each one with its own benefits:

• superstone® bbq pizza stone - this superstone® has a natural grooved surface for even heat distribution and a fire-proof finish, perfect for making pizza on the grill in the summertime or anytime! the superstone® bbq pizza stone can also be used in any conventional or convection oven, giving this stone the most versatility. the unglazed superstone® stoneware pulls moisture from the dough, resulting in a super crispy and delicious crust. the superstone® bbq pizza stone has a glazed rim and easy-to-carry handles. recipe booklet included. measures 14.5" diameter plus handles. includes recipes.
• superstone® sicilian pizza stone - this stone's shape and depth is perfect for rustic and sicilian style pizzas. also try breads, pretzels, cookies, and other dough-based treats. unglazed stoneware with glazed rim and silicone handle grips. recipe booklet included. measures 15.75" long x 10.75" wide .75" deep plus handles.
• 15" round superstone® baking stone with rack - our superstone® baking stone duplicates the effects of a professional pizzeria oven. the stone absorbs moisture, creating a crispy pizza crust! the round shape is great for a traditional-style pizza. also try breads, pretzels, cookies, and anything else that uses dough on your superstone®. we're sure you'll think it's "super!". to clean, simply scrub under hot water -- do not use soap. superstone® measures 15" diameter. 16" with the rack. includes recipes.
• rectangular superstone® baking stone- our superstone® baking stone replicates the effects of a professional pizzeria oven. the stone absorbs moisture, creating a crispy pizza crust! the rectangular shape is great for a sicilian-style pizza. also great for cookies, pretzels and anything with a dough! to clean, simply scrub under hot water -- do not use soap. superstone® measures 13" wide x 15" long. with rack, it measures 17" long. includes recipes.

Be sure to check out the pizza section of our store to find lots more great pizza tools, like cutters, spatulas and more.

If you already have your stone, you are ready to go! Here are a couple of recipes that will help to make sure you have a fabulous family pizza night.

Pizza dough. Yes, you can use store bought, but that’s not nearly as fun. This homemade pizza dough is easy to make and tastes great!

Pizza sauce. Again, you can buy a can of pre-made pizza sauce, but I love making my own.

traditional chicago-style deep dish pizza. If you love a good Chicago style pizza, you are going to love this recipe!

MARGHERITA PIZZA. This MARGHERITA PIZZA from My Heavenly Recipes is hands down one of my favorites.

Honestly, you can create just about any kind of pizza you can imagine and with the kids helping to decide, you may end up doing just that. :)

Also, don't forget to check out Pinterest for more Pizza recipes (and follow us while you are at it!).

If you are ready to order your pizza stone and start the beginning of your love of pizza baking, you can save 10% right now on any of our pizza stones. Just use promo code 10PIZZASTONE at checkout and save. This deal is valid 02/02 through 02/08.