I live for pizza. I am pretty sure it is genetic. Something from my dad. Mom limited him to once a week when we were kids. Saturday night was pizza night. It goes without saying that it was homemade. I don't recall ever ordering pizza from anywhere. With six kids and plenty of extras that was never in the budget. Pizza night was one of the reasons I never really cared to hit the town on the weekends. I'd miss the pizza and the people that seemed to gravitate toward it.
Now my folks have pizza on Sunday nights. They pick it up from Papa Murphy's on the way home from church and (gasp) eat it in their bed while they watch T.V. There are so many things about that that seem foreign and removed from how my folks were when I was a kid.
1. People eat supper on Sunday nights? As a kid I thought that was why popcorn was invented.
2. You can buy pizza?
3. We didn't watch T.V. when we were kids. The T.V. was kept in the closet and only saw the light of day every 4 years when the Olympics were airing.
4. Eating in bed?! The only thing that makes sense on this one is that Mom washes sheets on Mondays. We weren't even allowed crackers in bed if we had the flu.
Anyway, now that I make the rules we have pizza as many times a week as my conscience will allow. I can find any number of ways to justify this. I freshly grind the wheat to make the crust. I grow the tomatoes to make the sauce. I put hamburger on with the pepperoni and bacon. I add zucchini when it is in season. It is practically health food as it covers all the food groups.
This week the kids and I made 68 quarts of spaghetti/pizza sauce. This may sound like a lot until you take into consideration that it is our version of fast food. If I haven't thought far enough in advance about the next meal I can grab a jar and have pizza or spaghetti ready in a flash.
We had 20 tomato plants this year, mostly a Roma called Big Mama. They are big and meaty. Aptly named... The recipe I use comes from an older lady in our first church as a married couple. I don't recall how I came to be the recipient of such a prize as we lived in an apartment at the time and had no garden or even the ambition for one. At the time I lacked even the desire to produce little people that would need a supply of healthful nourishment. Forward 14 years to find the Lord has blessed me with both! Thanks for letting the Lord use you, Linda.
Spaghetti/Pizza Sauce
4 cups onion chopped (I use a food processor)
2/3 cup veggie oil (I just pour in some)
24 large tomatoes
8 beef bouillon cubes
8 tsp basil
4 tsp oregano4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 12 oz cans tomato paste
-Blanch tomatoes to remove skins and run meats through blender. Add tomato and all other ingredients to a heavy kettle and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour or until thick. Can be frozen or canned in hot water bath processed for 20 minutes. makes 7 1/2 pints.
I quadruple the recipe using 3 gallons of blended tomato in my 20 quart stock pot. I end up with 16-18 quarts per batch.
This is the second recipe she evidently thought every newlywed must have. Perhaps I will take this one to the potluck this Wednesday as Harvest Baptist Church celebrates 7 years...
Elephant Stew
1 sack of flour
1 sack of salt
1 can pepper
cooking oil
1 rabbit
1 elephant
-Cut elephant in chunks and coat with salt and pepper. Brown in hot oil and place in large containers and bake in 325 oven for 48 hours. serves 3,800. If you are expecting a larger crowd put in the rabbit. Don't do this unless it is necessary as most people don't like hare in their stew! (This from the same "straight laced" little old Dutch lady who once served us "dirt" dessert from a flower pot!)
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