father’s day dinner homemade pizza recipe.

By guest mom Vanessa Brown.

“Don’t dumb down your kids’ food” is a motto we live by. Sure, we do fun kiddie snacks but we don’t change our dinner menu to fit the “kid palette.” This is in part due to my marrying a food snob but it is also in part due to the frustration while being a nanny for seven years and only feeding the kids three things: chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and pizza. I still remember the day I tried to have the kids help me make homemade chicken fingers–oh the tears! They were mortified! When I had kids I knew I could not and would not deal with that so I made a decision to not “dumb down” our food or recipes or get stuck in a rut of making four different meals every dinnertime.

My husband loves to cook and my girls stand on a chair beside us as we prepare our meals together. Most of the time in our home is spent together in our kitchen. This is where they feel safe and loved, where they can open up and chatter and feel a part of a family. I can see their self-confidence blossom as they create their own food masterpieces and I can feel our relationships strengthen. We love to play music as we cook, stop to do a few dance moves and get back to work.

We read books or make art as we wait for things to rise, marinate or cook. The girls and I put a lot of time into our annual Father’s Day dinner because their daddy looks forward to every Father’s Day. We drive to a special store in downtown Salt Lake City to buy the freshest highest-quality ingredients and it is sure worth it!

Grilled Pizza

1. Buy dough from your favorite local pizzeria and stretch it out to desired size. Season both sides with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Get your “pizza top” ready to go; you have to be fast when grilling pizza! Some of our favorite combos are:

• Fresh mozzarella, Fontina, crisp bacon/pancetta/prosciutto/Serrano, freshly shredded Parmesan on top of an Alfredo base
• Fresh mozzarella, smoked Gouda, thinly sliced red onion, sliced grilled chicken, Foresail shredded Parmesan cheese on top of a duck sauce/BBQ sauce base
• Fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions, lots of Parmesan cheese on top of a fresh basil marina sauce
• Fresh mozzarella, sharp cheddar, pepperoni or sausage on top of a strong garlic marina sauce

3. Create and have your sauce ready.We love to use fresh or canned Alfredo sauce, fresh or canned marina sauce, sun dried tomato pesto, regular pesto, and one of our favorites–a mix of duck sauce and BBQ sauce.

4. Get your grill ready and rub the racks with olive oil. “Grill” one side of the pizza dough and flip it over. As quickly as you can, put on your sauce, throw on your toppings (I usually have them all combined in a Tupperware) and drizzle the end result with a bit of olive oil. Shut the lid. It will be ready in a couple minutes when the cheese is melted and bottom is just a bit crisp.

Note: Taking it off can be the hardest thing; it is a two-person job using two spatulas each but it is worth it!

5. Transfer it to a pizza stone or cookie tray. 6. Keep warm in the oven until other pizzas are ready and everyone is ready to eat!

Flourless Chocolate Cake (recipe and image courtesy of Tyler Florence and Food Network)

Ingredients *
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces *
1 stick unsalted butter* *
9 large eggs, separated *
3/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon *
2 cups heavy cream, cold *
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about one inch of simmering water until melted.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs–this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate–then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture. Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 20 to 25 minutes.

Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan. While the cake is cooking, whip the cream until it becomes light and fluffy. Serve at room temperature dusted with confectioners’ sugar and topped with whipped cream.

Allison

Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!