Pizza Pizza

For Thursday Night's Meal we had some delicious pizza. :)

I wasn't sure if I made it correctly and was a little hesitant to make the pizza because James is known for his pizza. I could tell it was a little hard for him having me make the meal that night using my recipes and not using his, but I've just been wanting to try out some new recipes.

One thing I haven't liked about pizza dough is that it takes a lot of time to make because you have to wait for the dough to rise, etc. So when I spotted this fast and easy pizza dough recipe I thought we'd give it a try.

Quick and Easy Pizza Dough

We really liked the pizza dough. I think next time around we'll add more spices to the pizza dough to give it a little flavor, but both James and I really enjoyed it and it heated up well for leftovers. It is definitely a keeper. Also, 2-1/4 tsp. yeast = (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast.

Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

and here is the pizza sauce recipe we made to go with it from Mel's Kitchen Cafe:

The Best Pizza Sauce

*Makes enough for 2 16-18 inch pizzas

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and blend until desired consistency. All the seasonings can be modified depending on taste – add what you like!

We only had bay leaves (basil leaves?) so James crumbled them up in the pizza sauce. I think next time we'll get petite diced tomatoes (they were a little too much for our taste) and just go the usual dried basil route. Other than that it was DELISH!

As a treat for that morning's breakfast I also made this delicious treat. :) I love cinnamon rolls, and am pretty picky about them. James made the "bake in half an hour" rhodes rolls ones, and they were as expected - disgusting. Bleh. So I was pretty bummed that I didn't get cinnamon rolls for Christmas. I was really excited to stumble across this recipe because you don't have to wait a long time for it to be ready/bake, and it is pretty easy to cook. It was DELICIOUS. I don't think I'll wait for cinnamon rolls again after this great breakfast cake.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Cake:
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 - 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

CINNAMON FILLING:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 TBS flour
1 TBS cinnamon

GLAZE:
2 Cups powdered sugar
5 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Into your stand mixer, or large mixing bowl put 3 C flour, 1/4 t salt, 1 C sugar, 4 t baking powder, 2 eggs and 2 t vanilla. Pour the 1 1/2 C milk over the other ingredients and mix well.

2. While the mixer is still running slowly add the 1/2 C melted butter. Mix just until combined.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread the batter out evenly in the pan.

4. To make the cinnamon filling use a small bowl and a wooden spoon to combine 1 C softened butter, 1 C brown sugar, 2 T flour and 1 T cinnamon.

5. Drop the cinnamon filling by spoonfuls onto the cake batter.

6. Take a butter knife and drag it through both the cinnamon and cake batter layers, making a pretty marble effect.

7. Bake this baby at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. In a small mixing bowl whisk together 2 C powdered sugar, 5 T milk and 1 t vanilla. Pour the glaze over the warm cinnamon cake. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Sloppy Joes, Slop Sloppy Joes

Weds. night we had Sloppy Joes and Baked Parmesan Zucchini planned. That didn't work out (We thought we were missing an ingredient), so we ended up eating raw baby carrots with our sloppy joes and potato crowns instead.

Here is the recipe I tried, found from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

The Best Sloppy Joes

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 ½ pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
8 to 12 potato rolls

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Drain the grease off the meat and onions. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. You can make the sloppy joe meat up to 2 days in advance and reheat it over low heat or in the microwave.

Wrap the rolls in aluminum foil and warm in the oven for about 10 minutes. Serve the sloppy joes hot with the warmed rolls.

*Freezable Meals: The leftover sloppy joes can be frozen. I store it in a freezer-safe container and then thaw in the refrigerator prior to serving. I reheat on medium-low heat in a saucepan on the stove.

Here are my little guinea pigs. :)

What was the general consensus?



Thumbs up. Yay!

As far as Sloppy Joes go, this was very, very good. I particularly liked it with the warmed up, soft rolls. I kind of feel that the carrots weren't enough vegetables, but what can ya do. Next time. We also substituted soy sauce for watered down Worcestershire sauce and it worked great.

Stay tuned for our next day's attempt of meals: Cinnamon Roll cake for breakfast, and homemade pizza for dinner.

A Week of Cooking

Many of you know I'm not a big cook. :) I don't enjoy it, I find it bothersome, and would much rather save time warming up something in the microwave or oven then cut things, stir things, drizzle things, etc.

However, one of my new years goals is to try and be a better cook. Mostly it comes out of necessity. James still doesn't manage to get home many nights until 7 at night, and I want our kids to start winding down by 7:30 - so that means mom needs to cook.

I found a site called SayMmm.com, which essentially is an online meal planning site. It lets you plan out dinners, lunches, breakfasts, snacks, etc. - which is nice when you are counting calories (or your husband's calories since I'm not supposed to diet while nursing). It also lets you link recipes that you find online, and you just have to click on the day and meal and it brings you to the site. You can also type up recipes if you like, but I'd rather just look at them if I already have a hard copy version.

This is fun for me too because James is always telling me I need to branch out and try cooking new things. There are definite staples in our house that I make and I'm sure they get pretty boring after a while. :)

Anyways, I thought I would share some of the recipes I've been trying out and letting you know whether they were worth cooking or not. :)

This week I thought I'd try out some recipes that Mel's Kitchen Cafe swears are her "best" recipes. Basically, if you don't have time to sift through the recipes she just gives you the ones she likes the best. I thought it was a smart idea, and I thought I'd try out them out.

Tuesday:

Best Banana Bread - I made this last night for breakfast this morning and Jack already ate the entire top part of it off yesterday before I could cut a slice. It's all gone by today (Weds afternoon). I agree with her - the best Banana bread I've had. It's light both in color and on the stomach, and I really enjoyed the flavor. I'm already planning to make it again in a few days hehe.

The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup - Even James, who does not like broccoli or soup (espeically combined) said it was a good meal. I only used half an onion and the regular shredded cheddar/monteray package from Costco, and it still came out tasting great. If you normally like broccoli cheese soup this is definitely the best I've had.

The Best Drop Biscuits - Made these to go along with the soup. I really liked them. They seemed a little on the bitter/salty side, but were still yummy and I used the leftover buttermilk from the banana bread with it and it measured perfectly.

Repeat: Rognon Photography Wedding Special

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Check out more information at our photography site.

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Post a link on your blog or on facebook and if we get any referrals the links count as an additional $10 towards your gift certificate. (So a link on a blog AND facebook mean an additional $20 on your gift certificate) Pretty cool, right?

Video Dedicated to My Sisters Wendy and Jeanette

Midnight Meanderings

I am waiting for my FTP system to upload all my work for the day. My husband is asleep snoring on the couch, and James Bond is playing on the TV. I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, and yet I know it will still take me a good half an hour before I can wind down and fall asleep once I am laying in bed. I used to try my best to read my scriptures in the morning, but now I grab my wonderful i-phone and just read my scriptures on there while I try to go to sleep.

Last night, at 2:30 am to be exact, I read from this past April conference's talks. A few of them really caught my attention. There was one concerning Mothers and Daughters, and another one about how mothers need to teach their children. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day activities and schedules that it can be really hard for me to remember that I am responsible for teaching my children.

Does anyone have any good tips/ideas/links to good baby/toddler teaching ideas? I literally have no time to research it myself unless I want to stay up until 3 - which I don't want to do. I hear Elena stirring in the other room, so I hope this FTP system hurries up so I can go in.

Also, again - any good tips for keeping the house clean? My friend told me to make it a priority to do the dishes every night before I go to bed, but... It's 2 am and I don't want to spend another 40 minutes cleaning dishes from the day. I would do them as soon as I am done using them, but I really don't see how. It's lucky that I can squeeze in time to even make breakfast, lunch, dinner - little less get my kids to be patient enough with me to spend time cleaning up. I really do believe keeping up with kids and a house is a full time job. SERIOUSLY! Working/Student moms are seriously incredible to me. I only work maybe 20 hours a week and I am barely keeping it together.

I actually hired a cleaning lady to come and clean our apartment last week. It stayed clean maybe 4 days. Now its back to what I consider chaos to be.

I HATE laundry. It is even worse than dishes. It always consumes everything. It never is done. Either they are all clean and don't get put away, or they are all dirty and I have to clean them. I also am one of those horrible people who cannot put clothes that I have worn in the dirty clothes if they aren't actually "dirty", but if I put them away in the dresser it wakes my baby up - so soon my "clean" clothes become piles in my room, which my husband likes to add to, and before I know it we are living in a crazy laundry pile bedroom. Ugghh.

Yay, my blogs finally posted. I am signing off for the day. Good night. I don't think I will wake up to my 5am alarm clock... (sigh)

Why Mothers Need Their Sleep

James found me laughing my head off at this video. All you mothers out there will know exactly why. :)