Aloha Pizza -- Taco Tuesday Held, and So Did We

Spring in San Diego — basically February in the rest of the country. Ryan was on duty at Miramar. Standard week.

Caleb, 7, wants to be a firefighter still. Has not deviated. Hazel, 3, chaos incarnate. Put a peanut butter sandwich in the DVD player Wednesday. Showed zero remorse.

Taco Tuesday. The kids' favorite. Ground beef, hard shells, the works.

Ryan came home from work. Dinner was on the stove. The basics held.

The kitchen counter has a chip in it from someone before us. Some military housing thing. I have stopped asking what. The chip is fine. The whole kitchen is provisional. We are renting from Uncle Sam.

I unpacked another box from storage Tuesday afternoon. Three years on this base and I am still finding things I packed in Twentynine Palms. Military-wife archeology — every box is a layer of geological history. I found a ceramic dish from Lejeune still wrapped in newspaper from 2020.

Donna sent a recipe card in the mail this week. She has been doing this for years. The recipes go in the binder. The binder is full. The newest one is for a green bean casserole that uses fresh green beans and fried shallots and which I will absolutely make for the next holiday.

The Friday before-school morning was chaos. Three kids, two backpacks, one missing shoe. We all made it to the bus. I drank cold coffee at nine AM because that's when I sat down. Standard.

Caleb watched the firefighters at a school visit Wednesday and came home buzzing. He is going to be one. I have known this since he was four. Some kids tell you who they are early.

I read the blog comments at the kitchen table with my coffee. A young spouse in Lejeune emailed me about deployment cooking. I wrote her back at length. I told her about the freezer. I told her about Donna. I told her she would survive. I sent her three of Donna's recipes.

Caleb's school had a fundraiser this week. I baked cookies because I always bake cookies. The cookies were the standard chocolate chip. They sold out in twenty minutes. I am the cookie mom of this PTO and I have stopped fighting it.

Ryan went to his counselor Wednesday. He always comes home calmer. I am calm too, just from him being calm. The man Torres was killed with — Ryan calls his wife twice a year on Torres's birthday and the anniversary. The military widows are their own community.

Wednesday morning meal prep — Sunday afternoon, hours of containers. The freezer is full. The future-me thanks present-me. Donna taught me this routine. Donna's freezer was always full. Donna saved her sanity with quart bags labeled in Sharpie.

Dad called. He has been gardening. He is sending zucchini updates again. The PTSD is managed. He talks more than he used to. He is becoming his own version of healed, which I did not think was possible at fourteen.

The kids' soccer game was Saturday morning. The other parents brought oranges and Capri Suns. I brought a thermos of coffee for myself and a folding chair I bought at Target three years ago that has been to four duty stations now. The chair is a more loyal companion than some of my friends.

I made a casserole for a neighbor whose husband is deployed. I dropped it off. She cried. I told her, eat the casserole, baby. The food is the saying. The casserole was a mostly-frozen tater-tot situation that took fifteen minutes of effort and six months of practice to perfect.

Taco Tuesday carried us this week — it almost always does — but Caleb came home from that school firefighter visit so wound up that I filed away a mental note to do something a little celebratory on the weekend, something the kids would actually cheer for at the table. Aloha Pizza is exactly that: fast, a little ridiculous, sweet and savory in the way that seven-year-olds and chaos-three-year-olds both inexplicably love. It’s the kind of dinner that doesn’t require much from me at the end of a full week — and after cold coffee, a casserole drop-off, and a missing shoe, that’s exactly what I needed.

Aloha Pizza

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made pizza dough (store-bought, 16 oz) or 1 pre-baked pizza crust
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce or tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup diced ham (about 4 oz)
• 3/4 cup pineapple chunks, well-drained and patted dry
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• Fresh basil or chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Set oven to 425°F. If using raw dough, lightly grease a 12-inch pizza pan or baking sheet with olive oil.
2. Prepare the crust. Roll or press dough onto the pan into a 12-inch round. Brush the edges lightly with olive oil and dust with garlic powder. If using a pre-baked crust, place directly on the rack or pan.
3. Add sauce. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the crust, leaving about a 3/4-inch border around the edge.
4. Layer toppings. Sprinkle half the mozzarella over the sauce. Distribute the ham, pineapple chunks, red onion, and bell pepper evenly. Top with the remaining mozzarella.
5. Bake. Bake for 13—15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust edges are golden brown. If using raw dough, check at 14 minutes; pre-baked crusts are typically done at 12 minutes.
6. Finish and serve. Remove from oven and let rest for 2 minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes and fresh herbs if using. Cut into 8 slices and serve hot.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 21g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 890mg