Cheese Pizza Just For Kids? Think Again!

No matter how you slice it, Americans consume about 100 acres of pizza each day, according to the National Association of Pizza Operators and Pizza Today. This translates to an average of 7.7 pounds of that delicious, stringy mozzarella cheese topping, per person, each year.

However, if you go to many pizzerias, cheese pizza is generally last on the list of pizza offerings right above the kids menu. But wait? cheese pizza can be much more than just that frozen cardboard crust, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese that we grew up with! 

Cheese has become as elegant and as much of a reason to have a party as the reason to serve it at the party! From cheese platters, flights of cheese tastings, and now pizza whether served at home or ordered in restaurants, cheese has become a category of its own. Fresh mozzarella, homemade ricotta, and mascarpone, the list gets richer in flavor and profile. Smoked, aged, brined, and infused are all techniques making cheese pizza the perfect beginning of a dinner party or the special ending to a meal.

Have you tried adding feta to the basic margarita pizza? The added zip from the briny cheese provides that generally missed taste and pungency found in ?cheese pizza?. Or try adding dollops of mascarpone and berries to a sweet-crust dessert pizza and drizzle it with a balsamic reduction.  These types of cheese choices and parings will have you ordering from the bottom of the list more frequently!

A warning of caution: While these pizza offerings may have you not wanting to waste a morsel; most cheeses here are still full fat and can increase your waist if not careful. Choose to order a vegetable pizza and save the calories for dessert or add one of these ?select? cheeses on a small pie, not the super size version. There is truly nothing more comforting than warm, gooey, bubbly, strings and globs of cheese?but be sure to add a bit of balance into those delicious creamy bites.