Pizza night

Increasingly my mother has lost the desire to cook, her condition growing progressively worse year after year.  Her anxiety increases her inability to make decisions on her own, and the pain in her hands means working with her hands can range anywhere from annoying to uncomfortable to . . . well, painful.

To help out, I decided to cook for her on occasion.  I didn't ask for permission --- with the way she belabors the smallest of her own decisions, I didn't want her to endure another such episode.  I decided for her.  Mother has a number of food restrictions (that's a really long story that I don't want to get into here), so I had to be a little creative.  And as it turned out, I needed an extra measure of creativity because some items that I thought would be in my mother's kitchen turned out to be AWOL.  So I had to make some last minute course corrections.  But everything turned out fine, as you'll see in a moment.

I decided to make personal pizzas for everyone, with each person getting a unique flavor to cater his or her unique preferences.  For Mother, that would be chicken mushroom spinach.  For Dad, it's BBQ chicken.  And for me, I felt like chicken Hawaiian.

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Mother's Chicken Mushroom Spinach

First, I started with a pre-made crust.  I can make my own crust from scratch, but the pre-made shells just made prep less hassle for everyone.  It also encourages my mother to make this again on her own if she wants (again, because it's less hassle).  As you can tell from the photo, the lighting wasn't the best.  Then again, neither was the camera in my phone.

Next, I added the sauce.  Given the toppings on Mother's pizza (plus my Mother's aversion to tomato), I selected a three-cheese Alfredo sauce. (That reminds me --- I need to make some pasta and use up the rest of the jar.)

I added the toppings.  I used grilled chicken that I chopped into cube-like chunks.  I then filled the remaining spaces with sliced mushrooms and chopped spinach, two of my mother's favorite things to eat.

I add the cheese last.  I know many people add the cheese and then the toppings, but doing it that way allows some of the toppings to come off after baking.  By adding the cheese after the toppings, I in essence create a net that holds the toppings to the surface of the pie.  This feature becomes especially important when cutting after baking.

Although I intended on using only my mother's fake cheese, she requested a combination with real Mozzarella.  I obliged her.  (For those who don't know, my mother thinks she has a dairy allergy, so she regularly eats dairy substitutes like Daiya Mozzarella cheese substitute, made from tapioca and other ingredients.  But I wonder now if she isn't loosening up a bit on her dairy allergy thinking; after all, she did ask for a bit of real cheese to be mixed with her fake cheese.)

After baking at 450̊F for 11 minutes, this beautiful pie resulted.  I let it cool on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes before cutting.

Dad's BBQ Chicken ... er, I mean, Chicken Hawaiian

I soon learned that Mother had no BBQ sauce in her fridge or pantry.  Greatly surprised yet undaunted, I surveyed my options for ingredients and saw I had enough to make two of what I would be making for myself.  So I changed plans, starting by adding pizza sauce on a pre-made crust, which I then sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese.

I used the same grilled chicken cut into chunks that I used on Mother's pizza.  But in the spaces in between I placed sliced ham (from deli meat --- another hassle-reducing technique) and pineapple chunks.

For this pizza (and mine also), I used only real Mozzarella cheese and sprinkled some parsley for added flavor.  Normally I use a combination of cheeses, like Gouda and a little cheddar in addition to the Mozzarella, but I was running behind and decided to forgo certain formalities.

After baking at 450̊F for 11 minutes, this thing of beauty exited the oven.  After letting it cool for a couple of minutes, I cut it into quarters.

I then repeated the process for myself.  Of course, I tiered the production in order to reduce the overall time of preparation.  While Mother's pizza was cooking, I made Dad's.  Then I baked Dad's while making mine.  Then I made mine.  Overall prep time for all three pies was about 40 minutes.

The aftermath

Mother really enjoyed her pizza, which made me happy.  She couldn't stop talking about good it tasted to her.  Part of that results from me pulling her out of her routine; I made her something different using ingredients that she enjoys eating.  Regardless, it's always good to hear praise, especially when it's earned.

My dad enjoyed his pizza also.  He's not one to rave, so I never expected that.  But it was still good to hear he enjoyed it.

I of course enjoyed mine, made just like my dad's with two exceptions: I had a little extra herb for a little extra flavor and extra sauce.  I never liked extra sauce that much as a teenager, but for some reason my palette has shifted in this direction.  Not only does extra sauce enhance the flavor of the pie while it's fresh, but it improves leftovers also.

Yes, that's totally true.  What do you do with leftovers?  You put them in the fridge. which environment actually dehydrates your food.  For leftover pizza, that means a reduction in sauce.  Removing water from sauce thickens it; remove enough water and you replace the sauce with a rather thin paste of solids, which for most sauces, pizza sauce included, isn't much.  Having extra sauce on your pizza means your leftover pizza still has some sauce on it after sitting in the fridge.

All in all, I was happy with what I made and happy that others were happy with it.  The only question now is what I will make next.