Cheapskate Pizza

Allan and I luuuurve pizza. We've tried a lot of pizzas already, from different places from seedy ones from Greenwich to more expensive ones from Yellow Cab and Dominos and those yummy trying-to-stay-afloat ones like Magoo's (I'm convincing him to do CPK more often, but he finds those CPK pizzas too snobbish). So I decided to make my own pizza, just to satisfy my craving. It had to be cheap, you see, because I really didn't have the patience to splurge on a single pizza's ingredients AND have to cook it.

I just realized (!!!) that it really tastes like kiddie food. Since it's so easy to do, you can do this with your child, little brother or the kid you're babysitting. It's fun! I was thinking a while ago, that if I had a party for my kid, it would be nice to have a little pizza party: they load their own pizzas (and if you're really an overachiever, you can have them make the dough, too) and you pop the pizzas in a toaster oven for less than ten minutes. Nice bonding opportunity.

Anyway! Cheapskate pizza (and the prices of the ingredients so we know how cheap it is):

Ingredients:

A pack of pre-made frozen pizza dough

-I bought Mr. Pullman's brand @ Php37.00 for a pack of six thick crust pies 4" in diameter . There are more fancy schmancy ones made of whole wheat flour, but what the heck. Mr. Pullman is cheaper (tastes good, too).

1 70g sachet tomato paste (Php 15.00)

1 can of pineapple chunks/tidbits (Php 23.00)

1 small white onion, diced (Php 8.00)

1 bell pepper, diced (Php 5.00)

1 small can meat loaf, diced (Php 10.00)

-You can use hotdogs or vienna sausage or ham or salami or whatever meat, or no meat at all. This can vary the price.

3 baon packs of cheese, crumbled/grated/diced (Php 28.00)

Sugar and salt

Olive oil, butter or margarine

Procedure:

1. Spread oil/butter/margarine on both sides of the dough. Prevents the dough from sticking later on when you bake them. Set aside.

2. Prepare the tomato base. Squeeze out the paste into a small bowl and add a little (maybe 1-2 Tbsp) hot water, to make it a little runny. Should have consistency of oatmeal. Add 1/2 Tbsp of sugar and a pinch of salt. This will take away the acidic edge of the tomato paste. You can add more/less sugar and/or salt.

3. Spread more or less a tablespoon of the tomato base on each pie. Load it up with toppings. Put cheese last.

4. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the bottom is crunchy.

Serves 6 for only Php 98.00 or less if you skip the meat. Less fat, sodium and cholesterol than regular establishment pizzas. If you want to stretch this more (while making it healthier), use Pita bread.