Starting a New Family Tradition: Pizza Night!

Our new baby is due to arrive in about 6 weeks or so and we've been spending more Friday nights at home. Mostly because our weeks are packed full with errands, projects for the new house, getting together with friends, and date nights. We're wrapping up our 4-week Monday night Lamaze and Birth Prep class this coming Monday. We have 3 baby showers coming up in the next couple weeks so life is busy! The last few Friday nights our date nights have been at home watching movies and making homemade pizza in our new convection oven! Last week Aaron told me that our homemade pizza was better than takeout and he wants me to make more of it. What a sweetheart! Tonight, after a quick trip to my local Trader Joe's, I made this pepperoni and olive pizza, Caesar salad, and pear slices to round out the meal.

Tonight, I told Aaron that we have a new Berkey Family tradition brewing - Friday Pizza Night! I had visions tonight of making pizza as a family with the kids. I can see our daughter standing on a step-stool placing the ingredients on the pizza while I coach her. Aaron likes to slice the pizza. Back in our condo, I made lots of pizza from scratch using my KitchenAid stand mixer. That last few Friday's, I've made our pizza using the Trader Joe's pizza dough in a bag. You buy the dough ball and then roll it out at home. I like that the dough is not made with funky ingredients or hydrogenated oils and even better that it's $.99! I plan to make the dough from scratch again when I get in my groove.

How I made it:
- Preheat the oven, according to package instructions (mine was 350 and I used the convection oven setting). Roll out the dough on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Coat the pizza pan with cooking spray. Place the rolled out dough on the coated pizza pan. Use a fork to make small holes on the dough.
- Prebake the dough for 8 minutes.
- Pull out the pizza dough and add your sauce, cheese, and toppings.
- Bake for another 11-12 minutes until the pizza is golden and bubbly.
- Place pizza on a flat surface and cut it into slices.

**While the pizza baking, I make my green salad and slice the fruit. The entire process only takes about 30 minutes!

I think pizza has the power to bring a family together! Kids and parents alike love pizza! And the toppings and possibilities are endless! You can use fresh tomato slices, spinach, canadian bacon, proscuitto, basil, olives, chicken breast, pepperoni...anything! Think of all the fun you can have when you have a themed pizza and make food art!

Making your own pizza is fun and it saves you money. No need to wait endlessly for the pizza delivery on a busy Friday night. And you can ensure the quality of ingredients and nutritional value by making it at home.

So here's the birth of our Berkey Friday Pizza tradition. Your tradition doesn't have to be pizza, but my point is that traditions are the fabric of our memory. You can start a tradition with friends and have it grow into family in the future. Traditions with friends and family are healthy because of the emotional bond and trust you feel when you perform them over time. It really gives you that warm, cozy feeling inside when you can share a common tradition with your loved ones!