I started DawnsRecipes.com one year ago today. That’s not to say I didn’t have a recipe blog before then. I just didn’t have one with an easy-to-remember URL. It didn’t always have such nice pictures with the recipes, and there was no commentary at all. It was basically just my recipe collection in an internet accessible format. I did migrate all those recipes to this site at the onset, and I’m going through them as I have the time to add the missing pictures and commentary.

Today I’m doing something a little different. I’d invited my dad over for lunch last weekend and wanted to make something special without going overboard. These pizzas definitely fit the bill. Between serving these and the bread pudding, he said it was like father’s day. I started out with homemade pizza dough and sauce, then I wrote out a list of all the different toppings I had for us to choose from. I had everything ready to go when my dad arrived. The dough had been partially cooked and laid out on trays, meats for toppings had been grilled, vegetables cut, etc. At that point it was a matter of topping the pizzas and putting them back in the oven for 5 minutes.

I’ll be posting the recipes for the dough and the sauce tonight. Here are the different topping combinations we wound up with (all of them start with margherita sauce and mozzarella):

The Pastore
The first photo shows a pizza inspired by a local pizzeria called Pastore. Their signature pizza, named after the restaurant, is topped with sausage (I used hot Italian), pine nuts, ricotta cheese and carmelized onions before it’s baked. As soon as it comes out of the oven, fresh basil is added. The steam rising off the pizza softens it a bit without it getting too dark and unattractive. This is an absolutely amazing combination! It is by far my favorite pizza.

Chicken and Veggies
This pizza was all my dad’s suggestions: sliced tomato, broccoli, bell peppers and grilled chicken. I don’t think sliced tomatoes are used often enough as a pizza topping. If you have well ripened tomatoes, this is a great way to show them off.

Hamburg, Bacon and Peppers
I had some hamburgers leftover from a cookout, so I threw those on the grill and cut them up for a topping selection. My dad suggested the hamburg and peppers for this one, and my husband insisted on the bacon. (Any frequent readers of this blog will not be surprised by that!)

It was very hard for any of us to save room for dessert after all this, but we somehow managed to fit it in. If you have a favorite way to top your pizza, I’d love to read your comments about it!

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