3 Cheese Pizza for Food n Flix and a Year of Pizza Challenge

This month's pick for Food n Flix was chosen by Deb from Kahakai Kitchen.  Food n Flix is a very neat club where each month a group of us watch a chosen film and get inspired to create a dish to share on our blog posts.  It is a lot of fun and you should join us.

This month's film was Pieces of April and you have the entire month of November to watch it and get inspired so what are you waiting for??!!

This movie was a comedy, but a dark comedy.  I laughed and I cried.  I cringed and wanted to take April in my arms and assure her that she was worthy of love.  I tried to put myself into her mother's shoes but could not.  April's mother, Joy, is suffering from cancer, has had her breasts removed, is undergoing chemotherapy and is very sick.  It was hard to know if she was angry and hateful because of her condition or if she had always been hateful and angry.  One thing we do know is that April has always felt rejected by her mother which led her to many bad decisions in her teen and early adult years.  The only member of the family who seems to not have given up on her is her father. 

 

April, in an attempt to make amends, invites the family to Thanksgiving dinner.  This leads to many funny moments....like April attempting to mash raw potatoes before cooking. Frustrating moments....like the oven not working and April being unable to get it repaired due to the Holiday. Touching moments....like neighbors who had never before met her going out of their way to be helpful.  The movie does have a happy ending though and it was a worthwhile movie to watch during the Holiday season.  I rented it from the local library.

Needless to say, there was tons of food and food references in this movie.  Mostly Thanksgiving fare, but not all Thanksgiving fare.  There were neighbors who helped to roast the Turkey, neighbors who taught April the taste difference between canned and homemade cranberry sauce and April's endearing attempts to make all the traditional holiday foods in an attempt to prove to her family that she is not worthless and has made "something" of herself.  One of my favorite parts of the movie was when April and her boyfriend were stuffing the turkey.  They made a stuffing using the gizzards and neck of the turkey along with boxed stuffing mix.  They then place a whole onion in the cavity, stuffed the dressing into the cavity with the onion and then crammed whole pieces of celery into the cavity with the stuffing.  They then cut off the celery stalks that were hanging out and trussed the Turkey beautifully.

It is November and we are all going to be making tons of Thanksgiving food so this is an easy movie with which to be inspired but I kept my eyes peeled for those things that were not necessarily Thanksgiving foods.  The family stopped at Krispy Kreme for donuts and I thought, briefly, about making some for this month's recipe but then April opened her refrigerator and there lying on a shelf was an open box of half eaten pizza.

This provided not only my inspiration from the film but it took care of my November pizza for my Year of Pizza Challenge.  A double win.....Life is good!!!

Three Cheese Pizza

1 pizza crust, homemade or store bought
3/4 c. pizza sauce, homemade or store bought
4 thin slices of Provolone cheese
toppings of your choice (I used mushrooms, ham and red onion)
1 c. Mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

Place a pizza stone in oven and preheat to 400*.  Roll out your crust to the desired shape and thickness.  Place on a pizza peel that has been sprinkled with corn meal. (Alternately you can place pizza dough on a cookie sheet or pizza pan).  Spread sauce over dough to 1/2" from the edge.  Place the slices of Provolone over the sauce.  Sprinkle your desired toppings, if any, over the Provolone cheese.  Sprinkle the Mozzarella and Parmesan over the toppings.  Slide from peel onto hot stone and bake for 15 minutes or until toppings are cooked through and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.  (It may take pizza a bit longer to bake if on a cookie sheet)  Print Recipe

One year ago--St. Jude