By September. Brayden started third grade. He's seven, almost eight, and school continues to be a social event that happens to include academics. His grades are solid — B average, which I'll take, because Brayden is not an academic and I'm not going to pretend he is. He's a people person. He knows every kid in the school. He knows every teacher's name. He knows the janitor, the lunch lady, the bus driver. He makes friends the way I make biscuits: instinctively, in large quantities, without measuring.
Harper is in first grade. She's five, reading at a fourth-grade level, and her teacher sent home a note that said, "Harper has finished all the first-grade reading materials. Could you send her with books from home?" I'm sending my daughter to school with her own books because the school doesn't have enough for her. The girl is five and she has outpaced the curriculum. I don't know whether to be proud or worried. Both. I'm both.
Wyatt is three, almost four, and starting pre-K at the church preschool. He goes three mornings. He doesn't talk much at school but his teacher says he paints. Every day, he paints. Not Biscuit anymore (well, sometimes Biscuit) — now he paints the garden, the kitchen, the backyard. His paintings are brown and green and occasionally red (tomatoes, I think). He paints the world as he sees it: warm, earthy, full of things that grow. The paintings come home and go on the fridge, next to Brayden's drawings and Harper's test scores and the whiteboard that still says "20K" and the photos and the evidence. The fridge is the family museum. The fridge tells the whole story.
Three kids, three lunchboxes, five mornings a week — the math alone is enough to break you. With Brayden needing something that could survive a backpack, Harper needing something she could eat fast before she got back to her book, and Wyatt heading off with his little pre-K bag looking so heartbreakingly proud of himself, I wanted one recipe that covered all of them. Broccoli pizza was the answer: make it Sunday, slice it cold, and let the fridge — our family museum, our command center — do the rest of the work.
Broccoli Pizza
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 18 min | Total Time: 38 min | Servings: 8 slices
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough, store-bought or homemade, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- Cornmeal or flour, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Place a baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 475°F (245°C) for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Blanch the broccoli. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook for 90 seconds, then drain and pat completely dry with a clean towel. Set aside.
- Make the garlic oil. In a small bowl, stir together 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the minced garlic. Set aside.
- Stretch the dough. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll the pizza dough into a 12-inch round. Dust a sheet of parchment paper with cornmeal and place the dough on top.
- Top the pizza. Brush the dough evenly with the garlic oil, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Scatter the mozzarella over the surface, then distribute the broccoli florets evenly on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Drizzle the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over the broccoli.
- Bake. Carefully slide the parchment with the pizza onto the preheated baking sheet or stone. Bake for 15–18 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling with lightly browned spots.
- Cool and slice. Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces. Serve warm, or cool completely before packing into lunchboxes.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 245 | Protein: 11g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 420mg