How to Have a Perfect Pizza Night

Thank you to Outside Table for gifting me your Pizza Night Set in celebration of National Pizza Day!

We are a weekly pizza night kind of family. We started way back when our oldest was little and have been going strong for at least 10 years. Even before that, when I was a kid, we had TGIF nights where we would watch the lineup on ABC (IYKYK) and eat Domino’s Pizza or Tombstone. (I still get cravings for a good Tombstone pizza from time to time…) These days, I prefer to make our pizza dough from scratch and top it with a few simple things we all love.

No matter how pizza night happens, it is always a relief to have one night decided week after week so there is one less decision that needs to be made. When Outside Table offered to send me their Pizza Night Set, I was thrilled to say yes! Anything to make our pizza experience more delicious while also supporting a small business (Ken & Heidi are so kind- they sent the nicest handwritten card along with my set) gets a big, enthusiastic YES from me.

Today just happens to be National Pizza Day, making it the perfect time for me to share some tips on how to have a perfect pizza night AND introduce you to Outside Table’s Pizza Night Set! Here we go…

Outside Table Pizza Night Set

First of all, an important announcement: you can purchase the Outside Table Pizza Night Set at an amazing discount TODAY ONLY (February 9, 2022). Rather than the typical $45, you can get this set of two sauces and two spice mixes for $16.99. After today, you can still purchase for the full price.

Here is what comes in the set:

• (2) 9.5oz jars of Pizza Night Sauce
  (organic, small-batch, 0g. sugar)

• (1) 3.2oz Pizza Thyme Spice
  (organic, savory Italian mixture, fresh herbs, peppery punch)

• (1) 5oz savory-sweet Friday Fennel Spice
  (organic, savor-sweet fennel blend, herbal finish)

Let me just say that the fresh flavor of the sauce is perfect. I used it on a cheese pizza with a sprinkle of the Pizza Thyme Spice and WOW was it good. My oldest may have eaten half a pizza after school yesterday when I was done taking photos.

Tips for a Perfect Pizza Night

1. Dough: find a store-bought dough you love OR a recipe you love. I use a couple of dough recipes on repeat depending on how much I’ve planned ahead: In Jennie’s Kitchen, King Arthur Flour, Baking Steel. Give yourself time and make an extra batch to stick in your freezer. Your future self will thank you!

2. Get a pizza stone. Or don’t. I know- confusing, right? But hear me out: don’t try to make a pizza meant for a stone if you don’t have one. Just don’t. You will be disappointed and no one wants that on Pizza Night, am I right? Instead, focus on the tools you have and try some recipes on for size to see what you enjoy making and your family enjoys eating. You can find great recipes for skillet pizza, sheet pan pizza, grilled pizza, or, if you have one, pizza on a stone.

3. Ingredients. They matter. Make them fresh and high quality. Outside Table’s pizza sauce and seasonings are really lovely. They add tons of flavor while maintaining the ease I want for our weekly pizza nights. I used the Pizza Thyme seasoning and just sprinkled it on our cooked pie and it woke up an otherwise super basic cheese pizza.

4. One pizza, four sections. In our family, we have two kids. One who loves pizza sauce and pepperoni and one who loves bread and a little cheese. Instead of making different pizzas for everyone, I’ll make one big sheet pan pizza and give it 3-4 sections with different toppings to please the whole family!

5. Relax. Pizza night is supposed to be fun! If you’re not into making your own crust, grocery stores have some really delicious offerings these days (I bought one form Lunds & Byerlys the other day that was perfect) so you can always simplify. The point is to make something beautiful and delicious for your family without feeling frazzled in the process.

Those are my go-to tips! Do you have any pointers to share? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below! Let’s help each other have a successful pizza night, shall we?

French Bread Pizza + Basil

Growing up, my family and I enjoyed pizzas most Friday nights. We would gather in the TV room, my sister and I on the emerald green carpet and my parents on the two-person sofa, watching Family Matters, Boy Meets World and Step-by-Step. We would laugh until we cried, not always at the corny sitcoms but at the jokes we made with each other. I still love spending time with my parents and sister like that. I doubt that will ever change. My hope, deep in my heart, is that I can help create similar memories for my family. The kind of memories that make us all remember that we are blessed to be able to act like the crazy, weird people we are without shame. I think French bread pizza might be the answer.

Sprinkling Cheese

Prepared French Bread Pizzas

This is one of the easiest meals that I routinely make for dinner. Lately, it has been appearing on the dinner table once a week, usually on the nights when I know Brad will be working late. Any time I see some nice French bread at the grocery store, I go ahead and buy it so I can put it in the freezer for the next French bread pizza night. Then there's shredded mozzarella cheese, which I try to keep around always, and pizza sauce. This may surprise some of you, but I use store-bought pizza sauce. Sometimes that's just the way to go. For sanity's sake.

French Bread Pizza

From start to finish, these pizzas take barely 10 minutes to put together and there are hardly any dishes to clean up afterwards. One of my favorite things about meals like this is that they act like a blank canvas. You can add vegetables that need to be used up, like broccoli florets or baby spinach, or leftover roast chicken. You can be as creative or as simple as you like. The classic combination of sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil never gets old in my opinion, and I often sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of my pizza. Or hot sauce. Lots of delicious hot sauce.

Having friends over for dinner? Why not make a variety of toppings available so everyone can make their own French bread pizzas? Pizza and beer cannot be a bad thing for a party.

I've been thinking about why pizza nights are always so much fun and I think I know the answer. It's because no one has to spend a ton of time preparing food, doing dishes, or generally stressing over what to have for dinner. Everyone is relaxed and happy. I may not be right about many things, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about that.

French Bread Pizza + Basil

Makes 4 Servings

• 1 loaf sourdough French bread
• 1 cup pizza sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• course salt
• 1 garlic clove
• fresh basil, chopped or cut into strips
• red pepper flakes, to taste

1. Begin by preheating the broiler.
2. Cut the bread in half the short way, then cut each half again as though you were going to make a sandwich. Brush the cut sides with the olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Place the bread on a baking sheet and put under the broiler until the bread is lightly golden. Rub the cut sides of the bread with the garlic clove.
3. Next, spoon some pizza sauce on each piece of bread then sprinkle with the cheese. Return to the oven under the broiler and, watching closely, cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
4. Sprinkle the cooked pizza with fresh basil and red pepper flakes. Serve and enjoy!