pizza

17 Friday Night Homemade Pizza Recipes to Make This Fall

Pizza is the ultimate gathering food, and these 17 homemade pizza recipes are the best reason to forget all about delivery and make yours at home instead.

Raise your hand if you love pizza. Anyone? Everyone? YES, indeed, everyone! Ok, good.

It seems like Fridays are a popular pizza-prep night, but then come the weekend there’s all the football games, and then Sunday turns into Monday and how easy is it to whip together a homemade pizza pie to cure those Monday night blues?

Pizza fits into every day.

Pizza is universally appealing, and not just because we’re all trying to capture the perfectly Instagrammable cheese pull. (BTW, have you seen the new Instagram-worthy pizza pop-up museum for us perfectly crusty diehards?)

It’s the ultimate delivery vehicle for innovative flavor combinations, complimentary textures, and beyond-infinite varieties suitable to any diet or taste preference—and season.

That’s why I’ve put together this list of pizza night faves for fall, plus a few FoodieCrush favorites that’ll make you forget all about dialing up to order your delivery-style pizza, and make it at home instead. continue to the recipe… about 17 Friday Night Homemade Pizza Recipes to Make This Fall

Mozzarella and Tomato Caprese Flatbread

This caprese flatbread recipe is an easy way to take advantage of the best of the season’s fresh tomatoes, basil, and of course mozzarella, making it the perfect appetizer bite or as an easy vegetarian dinner.

Head to the farmers market this time of year and you’ll see everyone around freaking out over the bulbous beauty of the heirloom tomatoes and just-off-the-vine-still-warm-from-the-sunshine beefsteaks.

I think they’re lovely too. But my fave tomato this time of year are the sweet cherry tomatoes I can pop straight in my mouth like candy.

Awwwww, who am I kidding? I love these baby tomatoes any time of year.

A few weeks ago I photographed the new winter menu of one of my favorite clients, Deer Valley Resort in Park City, UT. If you haven’t yet been to Park City and Deer Valley, it’s a destination to put on your bucket list, not only for winter skiing, but truly any time of the year.

This time around we shot photos for the new menu items for their low-key bar and restaurant The Brass Tag. But where does that name come from? Back in the day aka around 1890, the silver boom was huge in Park City and local miners would hang a brass tag before entering the silver mines to work. When the day was done, if there was tag still hanging on the board, it was time to start a search for the miner. Think of it as the low-tech GPS system of yesteryear.

This easy to make caprese-style flatbread pizza was just one of the items we shot that day, and after looking at it through the lens, and then taking a bite (okay, maybe more), I knew it was something you guys would love to make at home.

continue to the recipe… about Mozzarella and Tomato Caprese Flatbread

Stuffed Zucchini Hasselback Pepperoni Pizza Style

Stuffed zucchini takes on a whole new look when it’s cut hasselback-style then stuffed with pepperoni pizza fixins’ for an easy, healthy, all-in-one 6-ingredient meal or pull-apart appetizer.

For most every backyard farmers the question isn’t how to grow zucchini, it’s what to do with it all once the harvest begins. These guys are prolific!

So what are some ways to use up all that zucchini? Stuffed zucchini is likely one of the first recipes on your idea list.

But how about this…how about we make the method even simpler and forgo the scoop and hollow method and simply slice these bad boys hasselback-style instead?

They’re ripe for the stuffing, so let’s get slicing.

continue to the recipe… about Stuffed Zucchini Hasselback Pepperoni Pizza Style

Truffled Mushroom Pizza

A simple mushroom and cheese pizza gets an upscale twist with truffled mushrooms and a light arugula salad topping one of the easiest homemade pizza doughs you can make.

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that pizza is the quintessential meal. It crosses all boundaries and pleases people of all ages and gender. And with nearly every culture cultivating its own version of the classic pizza pie, it doesn’t matter if you’re a drunk at 2 a.m. college student, a family ordering it for Friday night, or a high society maven who serves it as a dainty appetizer, if you like food it’s likely you’re a pizza pie fan.

Making pizza at home is one of life’s simple pleasures. At home you have complete control of what tops your pie and make it your choice to keep it super simple, or load on all the fixins’. Mushroom and cheese pizza is always a favorite of mine. I like to keep my pies simple, but simple certainly does not mean boring.

Sure, I like my mushroom pizza topped with simple ingredients, but I like my ingredients fancied up with an upscale twist.

Say hello to my truffled mushroom pizza.

continue to the recipe… about Truffled Mushroom Pizza

Pesto Pizza with Balsamic Chicken and Peaches

This pizza gets its savory wings thanks to a fresh, green pesto and thinly sliced balsamic chicken that goes with summer’s best, sweet peaches and provolone to create a pizza that’s worth every bite.

With peaches at their peak, there’s plenty of ways to savor them besides smoothies (although this one is GRAND), my grandma’s peach and blackberry cobbler, and even as a balsamic-ed topping for grilled pork chops.

But one of my new favorite peach recipes comes from FoodieCrush contributor Hayley of the blog Seven Day Weekend. She sent me this recipe a year ago, and with seasonal peaches in their prime, it’s due time she shares it with you too. Take it away Hayley!

There are very few things I could eat every day without getting tired of them. Pizza is one of those foods, only I don’t eat it every day, because unfortunately I don’t have the resilient and forgiving metabolism of Chrissy Teigen (and her cookbook is great!).

For a long time now, my go-to pizza toppings have been pepperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers. But that’s comfy pizza—the kind you eat too many slices of, in your pajamas, on the couch, after a long day. Or even more likely, after a long night.

When I want fancy pizza though, I always welcome deviations. I try to embrace what’s in season. Sometimes it’s a white pie with bacon, potatoes, Swiss chard, and rosemary in the fall, or garlicky, lemony roasted broccoli with Italian sausage and goat cheese in the winter.

But one of my favorite slices is a summery one, inspired by a pizza I had several years ago at a cute little café in Raleigh, N.C., called Zest.

continue to the recipe… about Pesto Pizza with Balsamic Chicken and Peaches

Garlic Butter Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

These easy, from scratch garlic-slathered pizza dough bites are stuffed with cheese and mini pepperoni, then baked for an appetizer everyone at the party will love.

This post is in partnership with DeLallo Foods

One of the earliest recipes I shared here on le bloggity blog was for little nuggets of garlic joy called Killer Garlic Rolls, inspired by a popular restaurant in our old neighborhood of Marina del Rey in California.

Those rolls. Pure love right there.

Today they’ve provided a nod of inspiration to this recipe for stuffed pizza rolls that are bathed in a simlilar garlic and herb butter—and bursting with a cheesy pepperoni pop.

These rolls. Pure love right here X 10.continue to the recipe… about Garlic Butter Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Sheet Pan BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza

The key to this irresistible sheet pan pizza with three kinds of cheese is a second rise of the crust in the pan for an easy, fool-proof, crowd favorite.

I had forgotten all about it until I pulled it out for my Smudge and her cousins to bake frozen cookie dough cookies with their grandpa.

I didn’t remember until I saw the lines etched in the “non-stick” glaze of the nearly non-existent-lip-of-a-cookie-sheet posturing as a baking sheet.

That cookie sheet. It had memories. My memories.

These are the lines of my youth that were made with a pizza cutter, or possibly a very sharp knife some 35+ years ago, separating pizza slices for this toe-headed blonde and my pig-tailed little sister. Back when my mom was a hard-working, self-employed teacher who had to get dinner on the table and knew what kids would actually eat.

Those lines are testament that homemade pizza then is not like homemade pizza today.

Then, there were no baking peels.

No ceramic pizza stones to preheat in the oven.

No fancy displays of perfectly round perfection, or shaggy, “rustic”-labeled looking pizzas meant to make misshapen pizza pies look perfectly acceptable because, hey! They’re real.

Instead, we had baking sheet pans (more likely called cookie sheets because what else did you use them for??) to make large, square pizzas for the whole family to devour.

That’s how you knew it was homemade.

Back when pizza was hip to be square.

continue to the recipe… about Sheet Pan BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza

Cheesy Sausage Pizza Bread

Mozzarella cheese and sausage are stuffed into rolled pizza dough and baked for an easy appetizer or main meal that’s always a crowd pleaser.

Today’s recipe is in honor of a sweet cheesy baby, and no, I’m not talking about myself again.

Instead, we’re celebrating the impending arrival of a sweet new baby for one of my favorite food bloggers (I wrote about her in this list of 5 Food Bloggers I’m Following Now), Sarah of Snixy Kitchen.

Sarah is a true food lover. Her two cats are even named Artichoke and Aioli, so it comes as no surprise that the new addition to her family has been nicknamed #CheesyBabyGirl.

She’s a woman after my own heart.

So in honor of this new cheesebaby, and the fact that today is National Cheese Lovers Day (ironic? I think not!) I’ve created a recipe for you today that does indeed contain cheese. Ooey, gooey mozzarella cheese.

Plus sausage.

And garlic.

And spinach, because heaven forbid I should cook anything that doesn’t have a spate of color in it.

continue to the recipe… about Cheesy Sausage Pizza Bread

How to Make Fried Pizza ala Pizza Fritta

These individual pillowy fried pizzas are perfect for entertaining. Lightly fry the dough in olive oil before melting some cheese, then have your guests add their own favorite toppings.

This recipe is one in my year long series of posts sponsored by DeLallo Foods, and just one more reason you’ll be craving pizza for your next meal.

This is the part where you look at the recipe title and question, “Fried pizza? Why would I need to fry pizza?”

You’re right. Nobody HAS to fry pizza. I mean, there are lots of foods that are just as good baked instead of fried. Chicken. Doughnuts. Onion rings and french fries. But when you think about it, I mean really speak truth that stems from your taste buds instead of your brain cells, you’ll probably admit that the fried version is the lip-smackingly favored version.

And guess what? Pizza is no different.

I hadn’t really ever thought about fried pizza until my recent trip to Pittsburgh to visit DeLallo Foods and their Italian Marketplace (read more about my trip here.)

One of the meals that stole the show was one of the simplest. Little pillowy pizzas called Pizza Fritta, or fried pizza to you and me.

continue to the recipe… about How to Make Fried Pizza ala Pizza Fritta

Grilled Flatbread with Peaches and Arugula Pesto Plus 10 Flatbread Recipes to Make Now

Store bought flatbread is the base to summer’s favorite flavors: juicy grilled peaches and a bright pesto that make for a fast appetizer or main meal.

Once in a while this gal’s gotta let her man take over the reigns in the kitchen. Actually, I ask and I plead. He is usually more than happy to abide.

Earlier in the day we’d gone to lunch and he’d helped me with some brainstorming for new recipes for a project I’m working on. More on that soon (it’s gonna be good!). Once we got home, his creative juices were still going strong so I put his creative foodie cravings to task.

“What should we make with this arugula pesto?” I asked.

Apparently, like me, he’s been feeling the gravitational pull toward eating seasonal, and he went straight for the peaches.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Flatbread with Peaches and Arugula Pesto Plus 10 Flatbread Recipes to Make Now

Charred Corn with Rosemary Grilled Pizza and Crushing On Naturally Ella

Sweet grilled corn, fresh rosemary, mozzarella and gorgonzola mingle together on an easy homemade pizza dough that’s grilled for maximum flavor and a perfect char.

There was a spate of about 6 months when I went vegetarian. My reason? I was in hopes of gaining clarity and focus on how my body felt and how my mind clicked. Paying attention to what goes into my body and how it affects me on every level was great place for me to start.

I’m not sure that I remember what bumped me off the vegetarian train. Most likely I was lured by something from the grill that I’d simply been missing on my plate and far from the fresh flavors of this charred corn grilled pizza recipe I’m sharing today.

Since then, my habit of eating more greens and whole foods going strong and thus, I follow a lot of food bloggers who espouse the vegetarian lifestyle.

One of those bloggers is Erin Alderson, the whole foods force behind the vegetarian blog Naturally Ella and the author and photographer of The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen.

So how did Erin find her vegetarian roots? It came down to a life changing event when her father suffered a massive heart attack. Discovering this was a path that ran in her family,Erin began questioning her own eating habits and her road to vegetarianism—and her food blog—began.continue to the recipe… about Charred Corn with Rosemary Grilled Pizza and Crushing On Naturally Ella

Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza

This easy to make flatbread pizza features ribbons of sweet potato and a tangle of caramelized onions overtop a bed of ricotta cheese, and gets finished with fresh herbs and feta. Enjoy as an appetizer or a main meal.

Some people (meat loving carnivores) get hung up on the illusion there must be a meat protein in a meal to make it “real”. I’m looking at you, husband.

This pizza just bunked that notion.

It also bunked the notion that a pizza has to be round. Or that it needs a sauce. No, no, no, it doesn’t. Your taste buds can’t tell what free-form shape delivery system of food starts as and with so many layers of flavor you’ll never miss a messy sauce.

Shortcuts like store-bought naan and caramelized onions that are made before hand take the work out of cooking this meal.

Welcome to Monday pizza night ala Meatless Monday that comes together in a hurry. And greetings to loving every minute of it.continue to the recipe… about Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Maple Apples, Blue Cheese and Bacon Pizza

This pizza started out as sushi. Well, sort of.

After getting my roots done this week (just in the nick of time) I hit the bookstore to try and find the latest issue of my favorite foodie inspiration Donna Hay magazine (to no avail) and ended up soaking in a few other publications (rags) instead. Mila and Ashton had their baby! Get ripped abs in 10 easy steps! Theresa and Joe go to jail! Celebrity beach bodies gone wrong! Who wore it best? For sure, she did!

Ugh, why did I wander away from the food magazines?

Afterward, I walked over to Whole Foods to cure my craving for lunch-on-the-go-sushi. Instead, I left with a new craving and all of the makings for this pizza.

continue to the recipe… about Maple Apples, Blue Cheese and Bacon Pizza

Pesto Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella and Perfect Pizza at Home

I’m a visual learner. I’m the original demographic for DIY and how-to videos. Lucky for me, and others like me, there’s Craftsy.

This post is part of my on-going partnership with Craftsy, to share what I’ve learned from their online classes. This time around we’re talking and teaching pizza. And bonus, this class that has an Italian classic fare is FREE.

This free Craftsy class is taught by master baker Peter Reinhart who shares the ins and outs, stretches and punches of Perfect Pizza at Home. It made a fab base for my Pesto Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella. I used the pesto recipe Reinhart shares in the class to compliment my first harvest of my garden’s Supersweet 100 baby tomatoes (yes, they are THAT sweet!) and fresh mozzarella from the farmer’s market.

So let’s get down to it and talk about what I like about this Perfect Pizza.

continue to the recipe… about Pesto Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella and Perfect Pizza at Home

Berry With Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza

This light and easy-to-make pizza is topped with salty prosciutto, juicy strawberries, and raspberries, creamy ricotta, and fresh arugula, and is perfect for warm spring or summer brunches or dinners!

Pizza. It’s what’s for dinner. Although in this case, it could be mistaken for breakfast. And definitely lunch. Ah heck, let’s not let any of our favorite feasts feel left out. Brunch, you’re invited too.

A doughy base. That’s always a good start. I like this recipe from Ina. But I’m not ashamed to buy it from the store either. Whole Foods and Trader Joes are great places to start. In fact, after hitting the grocery store for the goods for this pizza I nearly stayed on the freeway and skipped my exit so I could detour to the closest Whole Foods for store bought dough-soon-to-be-crust instead of making my own.

But I told myself to buck up and just go home and get cooking.

So I did. And then came the case of the missing dough hook.

continue to the recipe… about Berry With Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza

Chicken Pot Pie Pizza

Chicken Pot Pie could quite possibly take the lead in the race for my favorite meal ever. Three different times I’ve started a blog post to share my favorite comfort food, to cook and photograph my traditional Chicken Pot Pie recipe.

And each time it doesn’t happen.

Because it just isn’t perfect enough to take a picture of. Or ~~I’m~~ my family is too dang hungry to wait for a picture to be taken of the final result and we end up destroying the flaky crust with our digging for pot pie gold forks. Those are the reasons I’ve yet to post my Chicken Pot Pie on the bloggity blog.

I’m going to have to make an extra effort to work on that. And that’s why this traditional recipe just found a brand new vessel to take for a test drive.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken Pot Pie Pizza

Pizza Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms to Feed a Child and Nourish a Mind

There are so many reasons to eat well in this world. For the fortunate—those that have a paycheck to spend and nutritious food nearby to invest that paycheck in—there are many opportunities to do so.

But for some life doesn’t work that way. There isn’t a paycheck. Sometimes there isn’t even a store. And others to provide for you? That could very possibly be out of the question too.

For adults in this situation it can become a circular battle that just keeps spinning out of control. For an adult who isn’t sure of where their next meal is coming from, at least they can be hopeful that there is a way out and work toward that goal.

But what about the children? Children who don’t have access to food? Kids who are forever hungry. Starving even. Those little faces who have no control over where or if they’ll be eating today, tomorrow or next week? Can you imagine how scared they must feel? How overwhelming it must be to simply. not. know.

Today I’m asking that you join me in making a change in the lives of those that go hungry. I’m challenging you to join me in donating just $10 to The Lunchbox Fund to provide lunch for 100 school children for one year. A lunch that could possibly be there only meal of the day.

continue to the recipe… about Pizza Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms to Feed a Child and Nourish a Mind

Crushing on Catherine McCord of Weelicious and Stuffed Pizza Rolls

Former model and T.V. host, Catherine McCord is not your typical Hollywood housewife. While she has traveled the world, and even the cat-walk (hello Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Victoria Secret), she has roots and healthy beliefs for the whole family that run deep in the food world.

As the creator of the super popular blog Weelicious, Catherine has followed up on her first cookbook Weelicious: 140 Fast Fresh and Easy Recipes with even more recipes of delicious food for kids in Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals. To celebrate, you’ll be able to take a beat from our latest crush and give your kids a healthy, and deliciously unique spin on the lunchbox routine with recipes created from your own copy of this tasty book for yourself.

Catherine grew up Louisville, KY and thanks her parents and her grandparents for her understanding of the impact food has on a person’s health and well-being. She was taught to respect food and now is passing that along to her own kids – think top model gone model mom.

If the “secret to having it all” does exist, Catherine has it. And lucky for us, she’s all about sharing what she knows, and what she loves. That’s where Weelicious.com comes into play. Like in these cheesy, broccoli spiked Stuffed Pizza Rolls. Did I mention she’s sneaky too?

continue to the recipe… about Crushing on Catherine McCord of Weelicious and Stuffed Pizza Rolls

Red Potato, Sausage and Rosemary Fontina Pizza and a Farm Tour

Farm Cred. Yep, I got it. I earned it. Farm credibility.

I dug up potatoes, I rode in a John Deere tractor. I tasted a potato chip made from a batch of potatoes that would later that day become a Classic Lay’s Potato Chip to be shipped to a store for happy snackers to munch on the very next day.

I thought that was you.

And I dreamed about ways to cook, bake and eat red potatoes. Like in a potato and sausage pizza.

The only thing I didn’t do on my trip to Black Gold Farms was leave a high school sweetheart broken hearted enough to write a good old country song about me. Maybe next time around.

Being a girl from Utah, you’d think that at some point during my years I’d have crossed the state line to Idaho to partake of potato digging there. I must admit, as my neighboring state, I’ve always thought potatoes were farmed pretty much exclusively in I-da-hoe.

Oh no. Not so my friends.

I discovered this truth when I was getting dirty in Missouri with a group of other friendly food bloggers, in the potato fields worked by the 4th generation, family-owned and operated Black Gold Farms.

Founded 85 years ago by Hallie Halverson and now run by his children and their children, Black Gold Farms is the largest supplier of potatoes to the largest potato chip company in the U.S., Lay’s Potato Chips.

Black Gold Farms also provide table-stock potatoes, the kind you see at the grocery store, the beautiful little red potatoes that are so amazing roasted or boiled and coated in butter.

Or sliced paper thin and layered on pizza with sausage and rosemary. That’s the real deal.

continue to the recipe… about Red Potato, Sausage and Rosemary Fontina Pizza and a Farm Tour

Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread and Friday Faves

There may be a war breaking out around here soon. I’m not talking about a world war, just a war at my house.

It doesn’t center around who’s done or didn’t do the dishes or who wouldn’t just get out of the car to ask for directions or even who took the last piece of my Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread.

No, this is a serious one. And it’s sort of my fault. But maaayyybe, by design.

I’d been threatening to do it for about a year thanks to the dirth of boringness that appeared before my eyeballs. And finally it happened.

A few months ago we cancelled our Direct TV. Okay, they disconnected it.

See, ‘someone’ rented a movie and since I have all of the bills on autopay and my husband gets the email notifications because we don’t get paper statements (because we’re oh-so ‘green’ like that), and I was out of town and wasn’t missing the TV so didn’t really pay heed to his requests to get the dang bill paid, a running tally of about $8 bucks caused our traditional viewing habits to bite the dust.

No more Today Show with their pseudo journalism and fakey friendships to wake up to. No more late night bantering back at the TV with Dave. And no more Food Network or Real Housewives. Since that was about the extent of my television viewing habits, especially given the lameness that is produced and titled “Must Watch Summer TV”, we decided we’d rather not.

continue to the recipe… about Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread and Friday Faves

Chicken Tzatziki Pizza

I’m always keeping an eye out for a nugget of inspiration to create a new recipe, whether it’s from a local restaurant, a TV show, old family favorites or from definitely from friends.

So when my intern and I were working last week, talking shop about design, food and our never ending to-do list, we realized it was time for lunch. Over lunch is when she shared an idea for a recipe that her friend had mentioned to her, and she was having some major cravings.

Chicken Tzatziki Pizza.continue to the recipe… about Chicken Tzatziki Pizza

Pumpkin and Fried Sage Flatbread plus 5 Savory Pumpkin Recipes

Sometimes you just don’t have time to create a complicated meal. And sometimes you have the time and just don’t want to.

Today was one of those days.

Last week Smudge and I picked up a few sugar pumpkins at the farmer’s market, both for decoration and to cook with. She isn’t so sure she’s ready to relinquish her babies—Bob, Harry and Babycakes—to me and my menu making plans just. quite. yet.

So I had to be stealthy and cagey to sacrifice the pumpkins to the oven gods to create a roasted, creamy, orange base for the simplest pizza I’ve ever made.continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin and Fried Sage Flatbread plus 5 Savory Pumpkin Recipes

Killer Garlic Rolls and New Ways to Use Pizza Dough

We love making our homemade pizza, I mean what better meal is there to involve everyone in the family? In the summertime we do it on the grill, in the winter we throw it in the oven, toasted on a hot stone with a sprinkle of cornmeal to crust up the bottom oh so right.

But wait, how did this happen? We have leftover pizza dough? “Hmmm,” me thinks. Let’s give some Killer Garlic Rolls a try.

continue to the recipe… about Killer Garlic Rolls and New Ways to Use Pizza Dough