Have I Shared My Christmas Gift?

I don't think I ever mentioned what my awesome husband got me for Christmas. I know that was a long time ago now, but I just used it for the very first time tonight.

I got this:

No, it's not a snow shovel. It's a pizza flipper. For a grill. It's a testament to how much my husband loves me. The first time I tried grilling pizza, I burned it horribly. The second time, I thought I knew what I was doing, and then couldn't get it turned with my double spatula thing going. It's like flipping a giant pancake. Hint: you've got to flip the dough mid-way through cooking, and THEN add toppings. For those of you who are still new at this. Unless I'm the last one to figure out how to grill pizza, in which case just laugh along at me.

So anyway, every time I grill pizza, it pretty much is a flop. The family has gotten to the point where they're all "please don't grill pizza anymore." And if I do, they're all, "mom's grilling pizza. It's fend-for-yourself night again." I feel the love. And yet, in an effort to help me improve my pizza grilling, Sam bought me that oversized flipper. It's too fun for words.

It also came with a pizza stone, but that wasn't completely necessary. And after dinner was made, eaten, and cleaned up after, I read the directions. That stone is really to cook grocery store pizzas on. Good to know that they're now an option as well. I made my own dough, however.

Once it started to bubble up, I knew it was read to be flipped.

There are hardly words to describe how fun it is to flip a pizza crust that large without having to worry about the two-spatula technique failing you.

I added toppings, and closed the lid to let it cook.

Ignore the huge ball of cheese on the back there. It's hard to get under the top rack without burning your hand. Bear in mind that I'm a klutz. In hind sight, however, I should have turned the pizza with my giant flipper. I'm still learning here, clearly.

When it starts to brown on top, it's done. Turning every so often to allow for even baking is a good thing.

And then, just because I could, I used my giant flipper to transfer that pizza onto another stone that wasn't 400 degrees so that we could serve from it without risk of burns. Plus it's another opportunity to use my giant flipper.

So yes, today is the first day that I used my Christmas present. But it was definitely worth the wait.