Pizza (cue the Homer Simpson drool)

I have a thing for pizza. It's probably my favorite food, I could eat it every day, and sometimes do. It's affordable, has all the food groups (grain, dairy, vegetable) and is easy. I'll even eat frozen pizza on occasion, and Elios has a special place in my heart.

Being from Long Island, I can be a bit of a pizza snob. I've never been to Chicago, I've heard it's a wonderful city, but deep dish pizza is not a pizza. I can't even do Pizza Hut. I need a thin crust that you could fold, smooth flavorful sauce (not too much), and plenty of cheese. A bubble on top is a bonus prize.

Mike and I have two types of pizza that we make at home. The first is a caramelized onion, walnut, and goat cheese pizza on a beer crust. This is the only crust I will attempt, and it's great for dinner along with a salad, or cut up small as an appetizer. Caramelized onions are a big thing in our kitchen, Mike makes a huge pot of them and we used them in so many dishes. Our second pizza staple is a traditional pie. Wegman's has a whole wheat dough that we use. We top it first with the onions, then sauce, then cheese. On one half we sprinkle browned crumbled sausage, the other half gets sauteed portobello mushrooms. I usually have a stomach ache after because I can't stop eating it.

My whole point of this post is that I found our new favorite local pizza parlor. We tried OIP (Original Italian Pizza) at the Taste of Syracuse festival. I felt like I bought a slice at a place in NYC. The true test was when I pulled back the cheese and looked at the crust. When it looks mottled and moonlike, it's a go. So much so that we got two pies, one for the fridge, one for the freezer.