Reservations are now open for our annual pizza and wine fundraiser! For several years I have been partnering with my good friend Sam Allen to host a pizza and wine fundraiser. Sam is the wrestling coach in our school, and was lamenting on how hard it is to come up with original fundraising ideas, especially something that didn’t require our students to sell a certain number of tickets or products to family and neighbors. (Parents who are reading this are nodding and sighing i

For the past 20+ years, I have provided pizzas for a birthday party for my good friend Jeremy. The first year it was held in his bachelor apartment for a handful of friends. His "I don't cook much" kitchen lacked, among other things, olive oil, a cutting board and a rolling pin (we improvised with an empty wine bottle) but the evening was such a success that the tradition continued and expanded. Jeremy now hosts the party in his comfortable home with his wife Angie (who sets

Got a bushel of garden tomatoes? Make a big ol' batch of pizza sauce! Ingredients About 25 pounds fresh tomatoes (enough to produce 2 gallons puree) 4 (12 oz) cans of tomato paste 1 Tbs. minced fresh thyme 1 Tbs. minced fresh basil 2 Tbs. minced fresh chives 2 Tbs. minced fresh oregano 4 cloves of garlic, minced extra fine ½ tsp. black pepper ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese ¼ cup granulated sugar (optional) 1 to 2 tsp. salt (optional) Directions Remove stems, skins and seeds fr

As many of you know, I am offering bread baking classes in the kitchen of our monastery guest facility, the Bethany House. Saturday I taught a class in braided loaves to a 7th-grader-to-be and she ROCKED it! We did a slab braid, a crown braid and a lattice braid with ham and cheese. Afterwards we made fresh butter and she gave me a little violin concert. Special thanks to mom and dad for taking such great pictures. Check out the slide show! Then Sunday I had an engaged couple

Makes about 1½ cups 3 cups fresh basil leaves, lightly packed 2/3 cup shelled and roasted pistachios 3 cloves of garlic ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese or Conestrato ½ to ¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Place the basil, pistachios, garlic and Parmesan cheese in the food processor and pulse until a paste forms—nuts should be finely chopped. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until pesto has the desired consistency. I like to l

---When I use this as a sauce for pizza, I use large slices of portabella mushrooms and thin slices of red onion, topped with Muenster or baby Swiss Cheese. Spinach Pesto Makes 1½ cups Ingredients 4 cups washed, torn spinach leaves, stems removed, well packed, about 6 ounces 3 garlic cloves ½ cup walnuts or pistachio nuts, toasted 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 3 oz. grated Romano Pecorino cheese Juice of ½ lemon Salt and pepper to taste Directions Place 2 cups of spinach

Par-bake a few crusts for the freezer! Par-Baked Crusts A par-baked crust is made with the same dough as the other pizzas in this book, although the more moist Italian-style dough tends to keep from drying out in the process. Sometimes I’ll make American-style dough with a little extra water and turn the whole batch into par-baked crusts. Since the crusts are essentially baked twice, a wet dough helps prevent an overly dry crust. Form the crust according to the directions a

Making pizza dough at home is worth the effort! Basic American Pizza Crust Makes two 12”-14” medium-thick crusts, or three smaller ones. 1 pkg. active dry yeast 1 tsp. brown sugar ¾ cup warm water ½ cup cold milk 1 tsp. salt 2 Tbs. olive oil 3½ to 4 cups bread flour (or all-purpose) In a medium size bowl, stir to dissolve yeast and brown sugar in warm water; let stand for about five minutes. Stir in cold milk, salt and olive oil. One cup at a time, add 3 cups of flour,