Neapolitan Pizza, Four Reasons I Rarely Stray

I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about pizza toppings. The President could be on television warning of an asteroid destined to destroy earth and I'd still be contemplating Thai basil and coconut curry pie. So why then, is what you see here...sauce, garlic, basil and cheese...the pizza I end up making 90% of the time?

Here's four reasons:

1) Kids. With their love of pizza came a world devoid of toppings. What was once just my husband and me dishing out our favorites... sausage, peppers, onions, ham...is now a family of four...two pint sized ones who wont even touch their slice if they suspect close contact with an onion.

2) No time for frivolity. I could be staring down a bounty of fresh mushrooms, roasted peppers, leafy spinach and farm fresh bacon, but the understanding that homemade pizza is in my immediate future renders those laborious ingredients (in need of peeling, rinsing, slicing and dicing) time bandits - plain and simple.

3) Analysis Paralysis. While dreaming up unique pizza toppings, I begin imagining flavor combinations that simply shouldn't go together...the likes of tuna, cheese, mint and lemon. Thankfully, I have yet to act on any impure thoughts and instead (to the delight of all) revert back to my "safe place" of tomato, basil, garlic and cheese.

4) A lover of all things classic. Like the little black dress, Huckleberry Finn, The Beatles White Album and the BLT...with the classic *Neapolitan Pizza, you simply can not go wrong!

SOME FACTS:
*My pizza here did not adhere to all the following...but amazing nonetheless!

To call a pizza a true Neapolitan pizza, one must adhere to the guidelines outlined by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, based in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza. According to their rules, an authentic Neapolitan pizza must be:

•Cooked in a wood-fired oven. Gas, coal, and electric ovens do not qualify.

•Only fresh, high quality ingredients such as San Marzano tomatoes, 00 flour, fresh mozzarella, and other high quality toppings may be used.

•The dough must be formed by hand, be no more than an eighth of an inch thick, and should be cooked for approximately 90 seconds at temperatures over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. (SOURCE: suite101.com)