Papa John's

Tuesday morning, it was nice and cool when I took the trash out at 6:30 AM. It wasn't supposed to get too hot today, but still, no rain!

I got home and changed clothes. The cats were waiting for their treats, but I decided to do something a little different. The last couple of dry Purina Cat Chows bags I had bought had a sample "Fancy Feast" cat food can in them. So, I opened one and spit it into two saucers. I presented them to the cats. Scruffy went ape-shit and woofed his down. Caley, on the other hand, took a sniff, turned up her nose and walked away.

I offered her the regular cat treat, while Scruffy chowed down on her saucer (if he throws up, I'll kill him!) I started my chores and the first thing I did was water all the front container gardens.

I am sick to death of fried chicken and mashed potatoes (though I wouldn't mind more of those fried potato cakes like Fran used to make, lol!) so, I looked at leftovers. I still have a lot of the pitted Kalamata olives from the Greek Pasta Salad (but not any lettuce, so a Greek Salad is out). I have a ton of fresh tomatoes, but I am sick of them in all of the various ways I've eaten them so far (I wish I would have bought one of those "starter kits" for home canning!)

Suddenly, it dawned on me: pizza! So, I made the dough with that recipe I found that used all-purpose flour. While it was rising, I combined about three different recipes to make the CaptainK pizza sauce. Here's what I did:

I took one 16 ounce can of tomato sauce and put that in a small sauce pan. To it I added: a handful of minced, dried onion, a teaspoon of salt, a 1/8 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of dried marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. I added about one ounce of water, whisked it up and brought it to a boil. I turned in on simmer and let it get happy and reduce for about one-half an hour.

With the dough in an oiled bowl and that in the oven with the oven light on to rise (a trick Luanne taught me) I went out back. I put the square sprinkler on in the raised bed garden and went to ease my cramped fingers (I kneaded the dough for eight minutes, you see) with a spirited game of horseshoes. It went much quicker tonight, with five ringers, two leaners and a raft of one pointers. In the end, though, Red won again, 13 to 9 in about 20 minutes. Come on, Carla or Jake! I am ready for ya!

Meanwhile, back inside and at the floured cutting board. I split the dough in half and made one 12-inch round pizza. I added my pizza sauce and then some chopped Kalamata olives, fresh garlic, chopped red onion, a diced green pepper I'd picked on the way inside and sliced tomatoes. I topped that with shredded mozzarella cheese and then some shredded Parmesan cheese. The first pizza went into the oven at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes (until the cheese and the crust were golden brown. I took it out and took a picture BEFORE I cut into it (learned my lesson the last time, lol).

I re-hit the pizza stone with some cornmeal. I must have got a little adventurous with the cornmeal, as, while the second pizza was baking, both fire detectors went off, the ladies screaming "Fire! Fire!" Soon, the second one came out and I cut up the first. I took three pieces on a paper plate into the bedroom and watched two taped cooking show. I cut up the other pizza and stuck it all in the fridge in a big baggie in between shows. I went to bed at 10:30 PM.