Pita Bread Pizzas and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original)

Simmering minced garlic in olive oil.

Sauce ingredients just placed in the pot.

The prepared sauce.

Our pizzas ready for the oven!

Pizzas fresh out of the oven!

So... it seems that brodays are now going to be Sundays. Just a fine way to start/end the week. We began our evening with a trip to, you guessed it, Publix. We choose Publix because they have the best selection of ingredients and the best quality of ingredients. Also, the staff at Publix are just delightful. Well, where was I? Right, we made our usual trip to Publix with our list of ingredients:

Pita bread, your choice of toppings (we chose Italian pork sausage, habaneros, fetta cheese, tomatoes, red onion, and Italian 6 cheese blend), 6 fresh tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, fresh or dried basil and oregano, and salt.

This evening's Dinner Bromantic was a little different from ones in the past. See, Lance needed a hair cut. So I took Lance to his barber and dropped him off, he got a ride home and I came and got him later from his place. While he was gone I got started on the pizza sauce and cooking the sausage.

Before you start the sauce get a frying pan on medium high heat with your sausage in with a few tablespoons of water. Cover the pan and cook on each side for about 10 minutes.

For the sauce:

- Quarter and seed your tomatoes, then puree them in the food processor or blender

- Finely chop about half a cup of fresh basil and half a cup of fresh oregano.

- Mince 3 cloves of garlic

- Cover the bottom of your sauce pan with a thin layer of olive oil and the 3 cloves of minced garlic.

- Turn the burner on medium high heat.

- Simmer until garlic becomes soft.

- Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and salt to taste.

- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and stir occasionally for 30 minutes.

The sauce should change from a pink color to a dark red. That should tell you it's good to go.

For the rest:

- Preheat the over to 400 degrees.

- Sauce your pita and add the toppings you desire.

- Top with cheese and place directly on oven rack (makes for a crispier crust).

- Bake until cheese is melted 5 to 10 minutes.

Pop in some Turtle Power and enjoy!

Our analysis:

Lance: "On the first bite you definitely get the nice flavor of the homemade sauce. The pita is toasted perfectly. There is a great crunch with each bite. The habanero may be a little too over powering for the rest of the toppings. We may want to use a different pepper next time. Perhaps a banana or red hot chili. All around it's a great dish, and I'd have to say our easiest yet."

Jeremy: "I agree Lance. All the flavors come together quite nicely. I definitely want to stay away from habaneros for a while. I think maybe next time, I should use maybe just a tablespoon of olive oil for the sauce. This is definitely worth having again."

Special thanks to The Barefoot Contessa who inspired this dish. I saw pita bread pizza on her show a few years ago and always wanted to try it.

Another special thanks to: http://inmykitchengarden.blogspot.com/2006/09/another-less-fuss-more-flavor.html for giving me the basic ingredients for the sauce.