Sometimes you just want pizza. Okay, most of the time I just want pizza. So when Judy (a.k.a. “Mom”) told me on Monday that she was thinking of making pizza for lunch on Tuesday, I was excited to hear it. She planned on using ingredients left over from last year’s harvest, plus a few things we had on hand in the pantry.

Then Mom told me she was going to use some frozen naan for the crusts. Now, there’s nothing wrong with naan pizza crusts (Andy calls it “naanza”), and it’s perfectly understandable that Mom would want to cut down on kitchen prep time during our busy workday — March is a hectic time of year for us! Still, I knew I wanted freshly made dough, and I knew it fell on me to make it if it was going to happen at all.

Basic pizza dough is pretty straightforward and easy to make. I’m personally a fan of Mark Bittman’s recipe which makes four generously-sized individual pizzas. For me, the only tough part about making pizza dough is forming the crust into anything resembling an actual shape (see image above). Since this is the least important factor to me when it comes to the final pizza product, I only worry about fitting it on the baking sheet while also keeping the crust thickness relatively even. No one has ever complained to me about their amoeba shaped pizza.

Mom had some frozen sauce that she had made with last year’s tomato and garlic harvest, and we simmered it for much of the morning to thicken it up a bit. I added a healthy dose of dried oregano (also last year’s harvest) and a bit of salt and other spices to liven it up.

We also had one of last year’s red onions, some mushrooms (store-bought), a jar of artichoke hearts, some black truffle oil (for drizzling), and a variety of cheeses which Noel (a.k.a. Dad) kindly shredded for us. All of these toppings were conveniently on hand with the exception of a little bit of chèvre that I had Dad pick up at our local grocery while he was out running errands. Look, I really like chèvre on my pizza, and I won’t apologize for that. Dad, on the other hand, had no desire for either goat cheese or artichokes on his pizza, so his was heavier on mushrooms and onions. We baked the pizzas at 475°F for 12 minutes, but I think next time I’ll bump the oven up to 500°F since I like a really crisp crust.

Our Tuesday pizza lunch was a hit, and Mom informed me I was welcome to make pizza anytime.