The 4th of July always reminds me of summertime gathering and grilling. But instead of the typical BBQ, how fun would it be to have a Grilled Pizza Bar where everyone could make their own personal pizzas? Today, I've partnered with Whole Foods Market for another grilling shoot as part of our summer grilling series, bringing you a little 4th of July inspiration--a low-key Backyard Grilled Pizza Bar and Root Beer Floats. As with our Father's Day shoot, we had some friends over (thanks Eric, Susana, Nico and Mateo!) to help us build pizzas and make root beer floats for kids AND adults (hello, alcoholic root beer and bitters!).
I wanted everything to be easy and low-key. Whole Foods Market made it super easy to pull together everything I needed for the pizza bar, from my favorite refrigerated multi-grain pizza dough to the frozen grilled corn to the jarred pesto sauce. To be honest, everything but the tomato sauce and vegan cashew cream was premade! We followed these easy directions on How to Grill Pizza from the Whole Foods website.
I put ingredients in muffin tins so the kids could easily see all their options--surprisingly, Theo chose grilled corn to put on his pizza! Everyone was encouraged to get creative. It was fun and funny to see the dough take form--some were rectangular and others were the shape of Montana and Texas. Some of the pizzas we made included:
- Heirloom Tomatoes and Pesto
- Wild Mushrooms and Goat Cheese (my personal fave!)
- Fresh Mozzarella, Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil and Lemon Zest
- Olives and Spicy Vegan Cashew Cream (recently discovered the magic of cashew cream!)
- Zucchini, Corn and Lime Zest
- Turkey Pepperoni and Wild Mushrooms
The root beer floats for kids and adults were a hit as were the sangrias in the cutest bottles. I consulted with Dan, a cocktail expert at Whole Foods Market Gilman, on the best way to make an alcoholic root beer. His recommendations were spot on not to mention the packaging! He also recommended these amazing sangrias! Here's a list:
- Root Sellers Row Hard Root Beer
- 5 by 5 Tonics Co. Barrel-Aged Vanilla Bitters
- Lolea Sangria with cut up organic peaches
Whole Foods bagged organic kale salad! Easy!
Every time I make any kind of pizza, I brush garlic olive oil on it when it comes out hot. A tip I learned from Cheeseboard.
Ummm, luckily Theo was making his own personal pizza!
Those lashes!
Lucas LOVES tomatoes!
Happy 4th of July weekend!
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Special thanks to Whole Foods Market for sponsoring this post. All content, ideas, and words are my own.