Crowdpleasers: Tug-of-Peace

Rumor has it that some Ann Arbor schools are renaming the field day classic tug-of-war. As to not promote violence, it will henceforth be known as tug-of-peace. Can't make this stuff up. In a town where I feel vaguely guilty for being both white and heterosexual, this is but icing on the cake.

Also, we were at the Farmer's Market on St. Patrick's Day and a (I'm guessing) 12-year-old boy informed us that the (deeelicious) donuts we were eating "probably weren't organic." My tongue still hurts from biting it so hard. Really, kid? I was certain those kelly-green jimmies were made of kale.

Last Sunday we were ~~suffering through~~ enjoying a family dinner and after several firm admonishments to the boys Carter looked at me and said, "THIS is a tug-of-peace." Indeed. Family dinners happen for us, all four of us, maybe 2x a week. Hey, we're not dinneralovestory.com (although I love every recipe they post). Carter's usually gone during the week and even when he's in town he rarely gets home before 6:30. So we've got Fridays and Sundays. (Saturdays we either go out or make something decidedly un-kid friendly, and with cocktails, after the boys go to bed.)

Good manners continue to be an issue. Lord, at this point I'd settle for acceptable manners. I swear one of them waits until seated to - ahem - toot. Then he tips his fake hat and lowers his voice and says, "Thank you. Thankyouverymuch." Sometimes he adds, "I'll be here all week." It is horrifically rude and also incredibly hard to not laugh. If he adds, "Don't forget to tip your waitress" to the routine I will be a goner.

Because making the boys not behave as though they're raised by wolves is somewhat exhausting, we never serve anything too crazy for dinner. A struggle about what to eat is the last thing we need. The battle? She's been picked. One thing that's always a hit is homemade pizza. We usually make two: one basic tomato, basil and mozzarella, and one that uses what we've got around. In recent past these have included caramelized onions and blue cheese, sausage and green olives and, last night, asparagus and prosciutto.

I've tried loads of different crusts, but have settled on the one below. The original recipe here came from that magnificent B Martha Stewart. This is enough dough for 4 baking sheet-sized pizzas. It also freezes nicely.

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

3 Teaspoons Yeast
1 1/4 Cups Warm Water
3 3/4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1 1/2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

In a large bowl or mixer bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water and let sit until foamy, 5-10 minutes. Add the rest of ingredients slowly and mix until dough forms. If using a mixer, let mix on low speed for another 5 minutes. If not, knead dough for 5 minutes. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise 1-2 hours. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Put what you're not going to use in a zip-loc and freeze.

Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.

We prefer thin pizza, so I use a rolling pin to create an even thinness.

With sauce and mozzarella. I've made my own sauce with San Marzano tomatoes, but honestly I couldn't taste much of a difference. Bottled sauce is right by me.