Jazzing Up Store-Bought Pizza

Even though I'm an enthusiastic home cook, some nights I just don't want to make dinner from scratch. (Like the night the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to watch, not cook!) For those occasions, I keep a couple of packaged pizzas in the freezer and some tricks up my sleeve.

First off, truffle-scented olive oil:

A tiny drizzle of this intensely flavored nectar is enough to totally transform any frozen pizza. Bake the pizza as usual, then drip or drizzle a teaspoon or two over the pizza, right after you take it out of the oven. Heaven!

Second, fresh herbs. I am so happy to finally have a potted herb garden right outside my kitchen. I love fresh basil sliced thin and sprinkled over a cooked pizza. But experiment; you might like fresh chopped chives, marjoram, oregano, or lemon balm:

Basil, I've learned, goes to flower quickly. I like to let some of it flower, because the bees adore it so. And gardeners love and appreciate bees.

Other choices to dress up a frozen pizza: caramelized onions, slices of roasted red peppers (make them yourself or get them out of a jar), sliced black or Kalamata olives, or super-thin slices of raw bell pepper or zucchini.

Use your imagination! The sky's the limit!

But for me, truffle oil and fresh basil are the best, quickest, and most readily available way to jazz up store-bought pizza.

Well, that and maybe a glass of chilled white wine. Yummmmmmmm!