Sugarpalooza 2011

       

            As the mother of boys, I feel like I spend an awful lot of time in the role of enforcer: “do your homework”, “no horsing around in the living room”, “flush!”, “eat with your mouth closed”. Sometimes it seems like I am so busy setting boundaries and doing what needs to be done that I forget to enjoy time with them and just have fun. And really, what’s the point of having little boys if you don’t get to have fun?

            Some time ago we hatched an idea of making dessert pizzas with my best friend Julie. Children will forget to wear a hat when it’s 10º out, they’ll forget to wash their hands, and they’ll forget to put their toys away. They will not, however, forget the promise of a giant sugar fest. After being hounded reminded a few times, I set a date, invited Julie and started preparing for “make your own dessert pizza night”.

            First I made giant cookie dough “pizza crusts” using Nestlé’s Toll House cookie recipe (without the chocolate chips). I divided the dough into five large cookies and baked them for about ten minutes. Don’t over bake because they’ll be going back in the oven later. Then I gathered “sauces” (raspberry jam, strawberry jam, and caramel), “cheeses” (white chocolate chips & mini marshmallows), and toppings such as pepperoni and sausage (mini peanut butter cups & Rolos), and anchovies (Swedish Fish).

The chefs at work.

            After each of us made the perfect pizza I popped them back into a 250º oven until they were all melty and gooey.

Their creations.

            Then we argued briefly about how much pizza each kid could eat. Fortunately, this is serious sugar and the boys surrendered after a half a pizza each.

A not-so-flattering picture of all of us.

            I’m posting this today to remind myself to spend some time having fun with my kids as we have yet another snow day. How many days until spring?