a go-to recipe: homemade veggie pizza

Pizza is a staple around this house.  I love making it because it's easy, tastes amazing, and you can just use whatever you have on hand for toppings.

Something I recently started doing was making my own dough, and let me tell you, it is worth it.  I've used refrigerated crusts, bags where you add the water, and even frozen crusts from our local dough factory and none of them compare to having it freshly made in your kitchen.  (And it's not that hard!)

Here's what you need to do:

 

Combine a packet of instant or RapidRise yeast (found in the baking aisle), 1 c. hot water, 2 t. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and a few shakes of salt into a Kitchen Aid mixer bowl.  (Just use a regular bowl if you don't have a mixer).  Stir.

 

Add 2 1/2 cups of flour, stir with a wooden spoon.

 

Place some EVOO at the bottom of your mixer bowl.  Use the dough hook on your mixer and knead for 5 minutes at speed level 4.  If you don't have a mixer, you'll have to knead the dough by hand (have fun).

 

 

Put more EVOO at the bottom of your bowl, covering dough on both sides.  Cover bowl with a towel and let sit for 20 minutes to allow the dough to rise.  Preheat your oven to 425°.

 

Flour your countertop as well as the dough and roll out to your desrired size/shape.  I couldn't find my rolling pin (ehem, Patrick) so I just did the whole pizza-chef-stretch-thing and it worked fine!

 

 

For all my pizzas (and a million other things), I use my Pampered Chef large bar pan, but you can use whatever pan/stone you like.  Put a good amount of EVOO on the bottom to prevent sticking, press in your dough, and put more EVOO on top! 

 

For the particular veggie pizza that I made, I also added some dried basil & oregano at this point.  Bake for 10 minutes.

 

 

Slice your vegetables - the key is to slice them very thin so they get good and soft in the oven.  I used zucchini, red onion and plum tomatoes.

 

When your dough is ready, cover it with your cheese (I used a combination of cheddar & mozzarella).  Then add your veggies, and cover with a little bit more cheese, seasoning and EVOO.

 

Bake 10 more minutes.

 

Now if you like your crust soft, just plan to be finished at this point.  But if you like your crust a little crunchy like the the restaurants make it, keep the pizza in the oven and turn your broiler on to high for just 2 or 3 minutes.  It makes a huge difference - your cheese and crust will turn golden brown, making it pizza perfection. 

 

Bon appetit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there are male chefs, right? shoutout to Bobby Flay

Most of Patrick's current toys are from his birthday that took place six months ago.  In baby time that's like six years ago.  Since I have this week off (Easter break - woot woot!) Patrick and I headed to Toys R Shit to get something amazing for him.  Like, I was willing to spend $100.  That seems like a lot, but if you have ever bought a toy you know that it hardly gets you anywhere.

I was considering one of those stand-up kitchens where there's a fridge and plastic pots and spatulas and stuff.  I knew it would be expensive, but did you know that there is one that costs over $200?  It's a beast.  There are also a bunch of crummy cheap ones, even as cheap as $35.  Here were our choices, from lowest price to highest price.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cupcake stand is a joke (especially for a boy) so the cheap one was out.  And the deluxe one?  I didn't have enough money.  It seemed overboard.  Honestly, the one I wanted was the creative cooks but I still didn't have enough money $160 seemed extreme.  SO, we went with the Legacy.  I wanted to make sure he could make coffee like Daddy does and that we could practice recycling (HAHA) and both were accomplished $130 later. 

 

Can't wait to see his face when he sees it put together tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

happy easter!

The Lord is RISEN! 

 

 

Of all the holidays, Easter is my absolute favorite, along with the three days before (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Vigil Saturday).   

 

Have you been watching The Bible on the History channel?  It's become such a hit, becoming part of pop culture.  They've even talked about it on E! News which is awesome (finally something with some value...ehm Kim & Kanye's baby).  Jeff and I have watched all the episodes (in pieces) - who can stay up until 10 these days?!  Not us!  I keep begging him to get DVR so we can watch some of these shows earlier in the evenings.  Anyways, I'm thinking about purchasing the DVD set for Jeff for Father's Day, then it could be something we could watch every Lent.

 

So back to Easter.  What a bust.  No Easter bunny.  No Easter baskets.  No sear sucker vest and newsboy cap for Patrick.  No Mass.  No egg hunt at Grandma's house.  All because of the sickies!

 

First Patrick, then Jeff, then me. 

 

I feel like I've been inducted into true motherhood.  The one where you're puked on by your child (remember spit up?  that's a joke), you take care of him all night long, get everything sanitized and washed in scorching hot water the next day, THEN YOUR HUSBAND STARTS PUKING.  And it starts all over again!

 

Seriously you guys, it's been a rough few days around here.  I'm just glad it's over.  Well, I'm still only functioning at about 80%, but Moms have to suck it up.

 

And I am beyond sad that I missed getting us all dressed up and heading to church to celebrate this beautiful day.  Oh well, we will just celebrate next weekend!

 

Have a BLESSED Easter with your loved ones!!

 

 

 

 

aden + anais

 

Obsessed!  Obsessed!  Aden + Anais are the best blankets.  Or swaddles.  Or nursing covers.  Or sun covers.  Or burp cloths.  I used these things constantly when Patrick was a wee one; even up until he was a year old I was still carrying them in his diaper bag.

 

I didn't just stop at the swaddles, I even bought their mum + bub skincare which I was in love with for some time.

I swaddled Patrick until he was about two months old, but it seemed like I was up all night re-swaddling him.  Now look at what they have!

 

the easy swaddle
 

First of all, it's adorable (they have more prints).  Second of all, it's made of muslin which makes you feel like the Virgin Mary did when she wrapped up Jesus.  Third of all, you don't have to wrap and re-wrap the swaddle any longer.  Amazing. 

Since Patrick is quickly becoming the size of Shaquille O'Neal (and he's still using a newborn blanket), I really want a couple of these.

classic dream blankets

If you're going to a baby shower, these are super gifts that the Mama won't return.  And trust me, Mamas return a lot of stuff.