Fast Food Friday: Mini Pizzas

I've come up with a new idea for Friday posts, Fast Food Fridays. I figure that many other mommas, like myself, are always in search of healthy, but quickly prepared foods to feed our children and ourselves! I have never been a fabulous cook...I'm good, make some decent meals and get a little bit creative every once in a while...but I'm simple. I've never been one to fuss with gourmet ingredients or steps in preparation. There are WAY too many other things going on in my life for that.

I regularly revert back to what my high-school student council advisor called the KISS method...Keep It Simple Stupid...I know that last "S" word is not one that we mommas use in our houses, so we'll keep that part to ourselves, but you get the point!

Since becoming a mom I find myself trying to find more and more simple and easy, sometimes fun, things to make for meals...crock pot foods, things with fewer ingredients, and if the "total time" in a recipe says more than 40 minutes, count me out most days.

So anyway, here is my first "Fast Food Friday" entry: Mini Pizzas

This is an idea that I give Ava total credit for. Last night we were making homemade pizza. We had rolled out the dough (pre-bought from Wegmans-whole wheat I might add!) and Ella had thrown cookie cutters all over the floor an hour earlier. Ava grabbed one of the cookie cutters, got up on her chair next to the counter and was about to cut shapes out of the dough.

My first impulse was, "No! Ava, we can't do that."

Then...

"Hmmm. Ava, that's a great idea!"

With my help we used the cookie cutters to cut out two stars and one Christmas tree from the dough, and then rolled out the rest to make our pizza. Ava and I added sauce and cheese to her creations and stuck them in the oven. So fun! See pictures below.

 I have to say, I think this works better with bigger cutters...like the one's you see in the store for cutting shapes out of sandwiches, but for the first time around it was a lot of fun and Ava thought it was pretty cool too. These days I find that anytime I can allow Ava to have some ownership in choosing or preparing her meals, she is much more likely to make an investment in eating them and if you have a toddler you know how many battles that can account for.