Second one down, pass it around...

Tonight marked night number two of eight days of pizza; while we started later than we'd like, (10 o'clock pm to be exact) the show went on as planned. Ryan was up to bat and ready to hit a home-run; unfortunately, it turned out to be more of a single than the smash-hit he'd hoped for. Ryan decided to make a baked ziti pizza, which I lovingly nicknamed "plain pasta pizza". The pizza lacked seasoning which was unfortunate as I believe it would have been at least a double had there been a pinch more salt & pepper. (Okay, I'll stop with the baseball references). It was slightly undercooked but not in a way where it was inedible. Ryan started by putting a pot of water on the stove on high heat with a pinch of salt. While waiting for the water to start boiling, Ryan spread the dough across the pizza stone. Once the water was in full boil, he added 7oz. of penne pasta into it. Afterward, Ryan took a can of pizza sauce and put it in a small saucepan on low heat on top of the stove. While letting the sauce warm up, Ryan decided to add a few spices to the mix including freshly ground sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, oregano leaves, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley flakes- stirring frequently to avoid any burning of the sauce. Meanwhile, Ryan set the oven to preheat to 550 degrees.





With 5 minutes left on the timer, Ryan began to grow anxious. When the timer went off he instantly grabbed the pot of pasta, and slung it into our cheap, purple, plastic colander. Once the water was drained from the pasta, he poured the penne back into the pot, adding 7oz of ricotta cheese, 3oz of mozzarella, and the pizza sauce and stirred them together thoroughly. Once stirred to his satisfaction- Ryan flooded the pizza dough with red sauced, cheesy goodness; he sprinkled a handful of mozzarella & parmesan cheese atop and placed it into the oven carefully. After waiting what seemed like days (12 minutes really) the timer went off. As he grasped onto the stone with our oven mitt, a warm wind of sweet smelling air danced its way under my nose- this was it; day two of eight. As we sat down to eat Ryan's Frankenstein of a pizza, I looked up at him and remembered why I loved him so much, because he was a great cook. No, I'm just kidding- I love him for his money too. ;) Anyways, like I said before- the seasoning was a little off, the dough a little underdone, but with a little tweaking here & there, this pizza could have without a doubt been the home-run hero Ryan only dreamed of. Check back in tomorrow night to see what happens when pizza stops being dinner & starts getting chocolate- my dessert pizza awaits! :)

Stay fired-up!