Contrary to popular belief, I don’t just bake in my kitchen. Somehow, I manage to feed myself 3 main meals that don’t consist of these sticky chocolate cookies or this chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake. But you will rarely find me plugging away on here about dinner. Why?

Because my dinners aren’t magnificent nor epic dishes. Sometimes I simply roast some salmon, or make some eggs, or fry some tofu. And folks, these are not the type of meals that I believe you’d be interested in anyways, right? My philosophy towards dinner consists of these three principles:

1. It should be fast. Normally, by the time I get home, my stomach has started to eat the inner lining of itself and I start to feel a little faint so slaving away for hours on end when I get home would probably not be a wise idea.

2. It needs to be healthy. I recently got more health-conscious throughout the past year which resulted in a 30 lb drop. (Good muffin top, hello new pants!). I don’t want a heavy dinner that will rest on my hips and in my stomach for long periods of time so my last meal of the night must be both light and yet satisfying.

3. Simplicity is of the utmost importance. Look, I am willing to spend hours studying advanced techinques when it comes to baking, but complicated dinners that could result in an inedible meal thrown in the trash is not acceptable.

One of the main reasons why I enjoy Giada de Laurentiis is because most of her recipes encompass all of these three principles. Regardless of your personal attitudes about the girl, her dinners are far more reliable than others and she uses a wide range of flavors and ingredients that entice both your eye and your mouth. A year ago, I saw her make this Margherita pizza on the Today show and thought to myself, when you finally start to make homemade pizza, that is the recipe you should use. Fast, simple, and easy.

If you’ve never made pizza dough on your own, you are nuts. It’s practically fail-proof and the end result is so delicious you’ll be slapping your forehead as you wonder why you’ve never tried this before. There is something almost poetic about the way fresh dough feels as you roll it out, and the way it smells the minute you take it out of the oven. I’ll spare you the haiku but you get the picture.

This dough was done in a flash, literally. I prepped it the night before, let it stay in the oven, and the next night I had a wonderful canvas to start working on for my pizza. Staying on track with my philosophy on dinner, my favorite kinds of pizza range from veggie topped ones to simple cheese pizza.

What makes margherita pizza my ultimate go-to is the combination of the sweet tomatoes with the salty mozzarella. You can add prosciutto if you want, but I like the meatless version. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes on hand, you can use the organic canned kind, but try to find the low sodium ones as they allow you to control the amount of salt.

This recipe produces a great basic dough that you can build off of. I made mine thin and dusted some cornmeal on the baking sheet prior to produce a crispy crust. The dough was thin enough that it quickly gave way to the salty cheeses on top but I imagine that this dough would make a nice thick pizza as well. I’m already eying this onion pizza and these pizza calzones the next time I make a batch. In fact, I just tried roasting some eggplant with topped them on my pizza dough with Parmesan cheese scattered everywhere. Screw Round-table, I’m opening up my own pizzeria now.

Pizza Margherita (Cheese Pizza)
from Giada de Laurentiis
Active Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
2 (8-ounce) pieces of homemade or purchased pizza dough, recipe follows
3/4 cup homemade or purchased marinara sauce
1 1/3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 paper-thin slices prosciutto, optional
4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Directions:

Position one oven rack in the center and the second rack on the bottom of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle the cornmeal over 2 rimless baking sheets. Roll out each piece of pizza dough into a 10- to 11-inch round. Transfer 1 dough to each prepared baking sheet.

Spoon the marinara sauce over the dough, dividing equaling and leaving a 1-inch border around each pizza. Sprinkle the cheeses over the sauce. Bake the pizzas until the crusts are crisp and brown on the bottom and the cheese is melted on top, rotating the baking sheets half way through baking, about 15 minutes. Lay the prosciutto slices over the pizzas, if using. Sprinkle the basil over the pizzas, then cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 8 servings

Pizza Dough
from Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:

Mix the warm water and yeast in a small bowl to blend. Let stand until the yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Mix the flour and salt in a food processor to blend. Blend in the oil. With the machine running, add the yeast mixture and blend just until the dough forms. Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm draft-free area until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 hour. Punch the down dough and form into ball. (The dough can be used immediately or stored airtight in the refrigerator for 1 day.

Yield: Makes 1 16-ounce ball of pizza dough