End of Summer Garden Pizza

What’s better than a delicious, home-cooked meal with fresh ingredients straight from the garden?  Besides one where the kitchen cleans itself afterward, the answer would be a meal that your Mama cooked and graciously invited you over for.  
Luckily for my completely spoiled self, this is a weekly occurrence for me.

My Mama loves to cook, and she’s darn good at it.
She has always been the one to host our family dinners and holiday get-togethers.
I can remember Thanksgiving meals when 40+ people would cram in and sit wherever they could find a spot.   A football game was our background noise, pecan pies were being cranked out at record speed, men were straggling in from hunting, and there were probably unsupervised children somewhere cutting each others hair {I’m looking at you, Corie}.
Her home is our gathering place.
You always know there’s food in the fridge and a great glass of wine to go with it.

Mama doesn’t just like to cook, she likes to experiment.  She grew up with meager rations and learned to create unique and mouthwatering meals with whatever ingredients she had on hand.  One of my favorite meals growing up was her homemade pizza, because you never knew what would be thrown on there.  She once made a chicken and grape pizza that the men in our family wrinkled their noses at, then asked for seconds of.

It was my Mama that inspired my end of the summer garden pizza.
A delicious mishmash of all the plants in our garden that are throwing out the last few bits of nourishment before they give way to the cooler weather.
There’s no science to this recipe, just me looking around my messy kitchen and wondering what in the world I’m going to feed the hungry boys who keep opening the fridge in the hopes that dinner will appear.
I’ve tried it boys, no such luck.

End of Summer Garden Pizza

Crust

You’ll need:

• 1 packet active dry yeast 
• 1 cup very warm water
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar or honey
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400°F 
2. Dissolve yeast in the warm water and allow it a few minutes to get all frothy. 
3. Combine all ingredients and knead briefly.
4. Form into two balls (or one if you like a thicker crust).
5. Pat with oil and cover, then set aside to rise for at least 30 minutes.
6. Press the dough into greased pans, wetting fingers for easy spreading.  If you have a baking stone, you can form your own crust depending on the crust size and thickness you desire.
7. Bake for 10 minutes

P.S.  I won’t judge you if you buy a pizza crust.  Do what you gotta do Mama!

Toppings

Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?  All them fixin’s.

I warned you that this was a thrown together dinner….I grabbed all of the veggies on the counter and went to work.

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 8-12 okra, sliced lengthwise
• 1 summer squash
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3-5 fresh Roma tomatoes, cut into rounds
• mozzarella cheese, cut into rounds
• 1 cup diced, cooked chicken
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

1. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and sauté until translucent.
3. Add squash and okra.  I like to cook it on a higher heat to get those tasty, crispy browned edges.
4. Add tomatoes last and cook for about 2 more minutes.
5. Remove from heat.

There’s really not a science to the next part, folks…

Drizzle the crust with remaining olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, spread vegetable mixture evenly over crust, add chunks of chicken, and top with rounds of mozzarella.    You can top with a little extra salt, pepper, and garlic powder.     Pop this in the oven at 400°F for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and crust is golden, and voilà! 

You’ve managed to pull together yet another meal for the starving boy who has been asking for cereal for the last 10 minutes and pitching a fit when denied. 
Pull it together Dustin, no fruity pebbles for you right now! 
Can’t you see that I’ve been watching the Five Marys Farm on Instagram slaving over dinner?!