This Sunday will be one of the biggest pizza delivery days of the year, but if you want to give the delivery guy a break and really impress your guests, try this recipe for grilled pizza.  It's easy!

I've been making this grilled pizza recipe for a long time, and I'm addicted so I thought I'd share.  This pizza love affair started several years ago when I bought a Weber grill and it came with a recipe book full of things to put on the grates besides burgers, hot dogs, and steaks.  This pizza recipe was one of them, and it's tweak-able so we can insert our own shortcuts and favorites.

For the dough:  You can make it from scratch with warm water, yeast, and flour, but it's so much easier just to buy it at the store.  I've done it both ways, and for the big football party this weekend I'm voting for the store-bought shortcut to save some time and leave more space for watching the bands perform during the pregame.  Any store-bought dough will work, as long as it's stretchy.  Just make sure you get it out of the fridge and let it rest about 30 minutes before you're ready to grill.

Sauce:  You choose.  It could be olive oil and garlic salt, tomato sauce, or no sauce at all.

Toppings:  Again, you choose.  My daughters love strips of bacon with a few cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.  You could do pepperoni and cheese, sausage, veggie, pesto and tomato, or anything you want.  Just make sure any meat is cooked before you add it to the pizza crust at the grill.

And that leads to an essential tip!  Make sure all of the ingredients are chopped or cooked and neatly piled up on a cutting board, and ready to go before you put the crust on the grill.  Once the crust is on the grates, the timing has to be just right and you've got to be quick about the assembly process.  Prep in the kitchen will reduce stress at the grill.

Let the grill heat up for about 10 minutes to 375-400 degrees, with the burners on medium. Stretch out the pizza crust into an imperfect rectangle because it's better if it looks a little rustic, and put that on the grill grates.  Close the lid and let it cook for 5-7 minutes, then flip it.  Once it's flipped, add the toppings right away and close the lid again.  Bake the pizza until the base no longer sticks which could be 5 to 14 minutes.

Then sneak off and have a private moment polishing off the whole pizza by yourself.  OR, share it with your party guests and then make six more.

It's fun for the kids to get involved in the process, and it will probably impress your buds too, who think the grill is just for chicken and steak and an ocassional ear of corn.  Try it!  You'll might just impress yourself too.

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