Pizza Kit

I said I would post more details on the little pizza kits I made for Christmas, so here it is!

Each kit was wrapped in a simple tie-top muslin bag and included a mini spatula, a hot pad, and a pizza sauce mix. This made a nice lightweight gift that I could mail to the relatives that I have no idea what they would like or use! The hot pad was made from a pattern in Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule, and was quick to make and inexpensive because it only needs scraps of fabric. I made one for myself as well, and it is now my favorite hot pad - it is the perfect size, the rounded shape means no corners poking into your food, and it is so cute!


The pizza sauce mix was also quick and frugal! By buying spices in the bulk department, each sauce mix was probably only about $1 (or less) to make. I used the recipe in the Tightwad Gazette, which is as follows:

1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper
These spices are to be mixed with an 8-oz can of tomato sauce, and it makes our favorite pizza sauce. The recipe states it fits a 12-14" pizza, but I must use light sauce, because I have found it to go probably twice as far as that.

I was able to find nice ziploc bags in the bead section at Michael's in the 4"x6" size, which was perfect for holding the mix! (These can also be found online)

I multiplied the recipe by 12 - here it is to make it easier:
1/4 cup basil
1/4 cup oregano
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper

I mixed these together in a bowl, then scooped it into the bag. Then I stapled a little instruction card to the bag.


A tip: With the garlic powder, try to find one that is more of a granule than a powder. I have found that powders tend to get hard, and I used a powder in my test batch of sauce mix, and the mix got hard in the jar. It tasted fine, but it doesn't look as nice when you have to break up the spices! I find that the granules don't tend to harden together.

This made such a simple but useful gift, and I have found the pizza sauce mix a very handy thing to keep around my home as well! I can whip up some fresh pizza sauce in no time at all!