Bring the Illi-noise!

Illinois: my birthplace, home of the Chicago Bears and the Willis Tower.

Mom and dad lived in Illinois for six years, and I was born in the fourth year they were living out there. We moved to Iowa to be closer to family since both sets of my grandparents live in MN. Since I was two when we moved, I don’t remember much but I have seen just about every picture and video mom can hunt down.

Since then we have visited a few times to see friends. The most recent time we went to Chicago, my Mom wanted to see an exhibit of the Terracotta Warriors at the Field Museum. Of course we had to pay Sue the T-rex and her fellow exhibits a visit.

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Deep dish pizza rocked my Iowan socks.

Alright, enough about me and my childhood, we better get back on track. While we were exploring recipes, my parents suggested some of their favorites while we lived there. Italian beef sandwiches, which is shredded beef with pepperoncinis and Italian seasoning, was one of the meals we considered. But since Chicago is known for the deep dish pizza, we had to try it.

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Doughn't it look good?

We started with the homemade crust. We stirred, kneaded, and chilled. Next, it was time to roll it out. To make sure it fit inside of the pan, we used the rolling pin to measure the width and height. I will say, for a crust, it was surprisingly complex.

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I wish I had a bacon tree.

After the crust was done, we put it in a cake pan and added in layers of Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Then came the meats: pepperoni, sausage, and bacon. Some traditional deep dish pizzas call for a whole sausage patty but we decided to go more of a meat lover's style.

The recipe included steps for a sauce but we decided to use our own homemade pizza sauce. Our sauce is more appreciated since we used our homegrown tomatoes to make it.

In the oven it went for 35 minutes.

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May the King reign supreme!

It was absolutely amazing!!! The pizza was definitely a hit. I think that this meal has earned its way into our regular family menu and top slot of the States on My Plate meals so far.

Want to try it yourself? We used this recipe: Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza.

Will another meal take the crown? Check back next week to find out!