As many of you may have heard, I used to introduce myself as ‘Blah-gee-tsa. Sounds like pizza.” Yes, it’s funny, but I started doing this as a half joke to not only get people to pronounce my first name somewhat correctly, but to make fun of the fact that I ate a lot of pizza when I was a kid. Nowadays, I rarely use that intro, but I still like my pizza.
Ever have a moment when your kitchen is perfectly clean or you don’t feel like chopping and dropping ingredients into a pot? I had that sort of night this weekend. My boyfriend and I decided to make a quick frozen pizza (keep reading this article for tips on making a REAL pizza) so we shuffled ourselves over to Jewel to peruse the frozen food section. You think picking up a plain, frozen pizza is easy these days? I beg to differ.
Purchasing a frozen ‘zza that is both healthy (sans the 5 ingredients I’ve been avoiding these days) and suits my boyfriend and me is a feat. Throw in the endless brands in the grocery aisle, and you can be standing there, freezing and reading ingredients all day. That’s where I come in. From cheese dripping on my stove, crusts that didn’t turn out right, burnt edges or disgusting cheese, I’ve tried everything.
Living in Chicago, there are many local companies famous for making pizza and now, distribute their pies nationally. Two of those brands are Connie’s and Home Run Inn. If you’ve been to a White Sox (let's bow our heads in silence on this past season's performance) game, you may know of the pizza race on the big screen for a chance to use a $3.00 coupon off of a Connie’s pizza. To my boyfriend’s dismay, I picked up Connie’s about two weeks ago at Jewel. Connie’s is a Chicago staple and the pizza is sold everywhere – my beau never liked it and told me it wasn’t good pizza. He grew up near the original Connie’s and to this day, won’t eat go near it. After my own sampling, I agreed with him. Connie’s Pizza just doesn’t do it for me. Kudos for being a local Chicago franchise, but I’m not a fan.
Imagine my surprise when we picked up a sausage and pepperoni frozen Home Run Inn pizza the other night. The crust wasn’t too thin, the cheese melted perfectly and the sauce has this crazy, zesty tang. For the first time, I raced Michael to the oven for seconds (I lost) and vowed to buy Home Run Inn pizza whenever I have a craving for frozen pizza. The ingredients are all natural to boot. Want to experience fresh Home Run Inn pizza? No problem! Go visit their restaurants all over Chicagoland – the location on Archer is their newest.
Pizza Tip: Make the dough yourself with your own toppings. I recently purchased a pizza stone and every homemade pizza I made on this thing turned out terrific – at a fraction of the baking time. Preheat the stone in the oven at 500 degrees, pop in your prepared pie and watch the magic happen. The stone also works for frozen pizzas - it's also fun to use the wooden paddle to swoosh the pizza in and out of the oven:). Bon Appetite!
