Even when it's bad, it's good... pizza.

There are times I get on this kick where I tell myself that I'm going to make everything from scratch.  From my condiments, to my drinks, to my spices.  And, it can be done.  Just not by me.  You may not know this about me, but I'm not a wealthy woman of leisure.  There is nothing wrong with a little semi-homemade recipe now and then. 
When I say semi-homemade I don't mean the Sandra Lee version where she takes processed food and mixes it with other processed food and it costs more than it would have if she had made from scratch and also takes more time. (Please don't diagram that sentence.) I'm talking about semi-homemade that doesn't break your bank, doesn't suck up your time, and doesn't hurt your health.
You know what's good to eat? Pizza.  You know what's easy to make? Pizza. You know what takes less than 30 minutes to put on the table? Scrambled eggs.  Seriously, those are like 5-7 minutes tops.  But, also pizza.
One of the great things about pizza is that you can put just about anything on it.  I have put shrimp, shredded brussel sprouts, basil, ground beef, whatever feels right to me at the time and the pizza just goes with the flow. Also, you don't need anything fancy.  Did your apartment come with an oven? You can make pizza! Do you have a baking sheet?  You can make pizza! Do you have hands? You can help me clean my apartment!
Now, you can make the dough from scratch.  I have done it, and it doesn't take much time.  But, you can also get tasty pre-made dough from Trader Joe's for $1.19.  There are other places that make dough, but Trader Joe's is my favorite.
The recipe today is not written in stone.  This is just how I usually throw a pizza together. 

Ingredients:
1 bag of Trader Joe's brand pizza dough (Not the wheat dough.  If you love your family stay away from the wheat dough.)
1 small can of plum tomatoes diced, chopped, or whole (You can use any type of tomato, I'm just a fan of the plum.)
1/2 cup of fresh basil
1 clove of garlic
Mozzarella cheese
Red pepper flake
Salt

Four (4) servings

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. 

1. Take the pizza dough out of the refrigerator.  It needs to warm up for about 20 minutes.  Cold pizza dough is not very pliable.

2. Drain as much of the tomato juice off as possible (Save this juice for another recipe. Possibly, to use with tomato paste instead of water.) 

Don't stare! The tomatoes are naked!

2. Put tomatoes, basil, garlic, and red pepper flake in your food processor. Or blend with your hand blender.  If you don't have either of these, you can also chop everything up by hand. Drain off the excess water and add more red pepper flake and salt to taste.

3. Cut up your mozzarella. Don't eat too much of it while it is sitting helplessly on the plate.  You still have to get it on the pizza.

"Sweet mystery of life! At last, I've found you!"

 4. Turn out your dough onto a floured surface.  Knead it a couple of times then start stretching it.

 5. Oil your baking sheet and shape your dough into a generalized pizza shape on it.

Pizza-shaped.

6. Spoon your sauce onto your dough, leaving the edges sauce-free.  

Nail polish: Sugar Daddy by Essie.

 7. Arrange your mozzarella on top of the sauce (Stop eating the mozzarella!), and put oil on the sauce free-edges.  I put butter on mine.

I get so little use out of my pastry brush that I break it out whenever I can.

In a weird artistic moment, I drizzled butter over the whole pizza.  I can't explain it.

 8. Throw that bad boy in the oven for about 10 minutes!  That's an expression.  Please don't throw things.  Be a grown-up.

The bad boy.

9. Ten minutes is a guesstimate (spell-check says that's a real word).  Use your nose.  If you smell something burning, check on it.

10. Voila! You are now a pizza chef!