Make it Yourself Monday- Pizza

We make pizza around here A LOT, and it's one of the ways we save a bunch of money. Since we make it several times a week, I've experimented with many different crust and sauce recipes. This week we tried a new crust, Tammy's Matzah Pizza Crust. I didn't change anything besides mixing whole wheat flour in for part of the flour. I'm a total thin crust girl, and I loved it.

Just mix up and knead the dough (I used my hands, although next time I'll use the bread machine) and roll it out flat. I used a plate to cut it into individual pizzas.

The picture doesn't show it, but you need to prick the dough with a fork. Then pre bake for 7 minutes on 375.

Add sauce (maybe I'll post my homemade pizza sauce for next weeks MIYM- could I possibly post two weeks in a ROW?!), cheese and toppings. Although I'll be totally honest- the sauce on this pizza was from a leftover jar of spaghetti sauce that needed to be used up.

Bake until the edges get golden brown. I ended up needing to broil for just a minute to fully cook the onions.

I have no picture of the finished pizzas, but the boys in my house seemed to approve.

Visit Eat From Your Pantry for more homemade inspiration.

Watch Our Garden Grow- Harvesting Strawberries!

Our strawberry plants have begun producing juicy, red strawberries!

Each morning Jack and I head outside to see what strawberries on our plants are ready to be picked (and eaten- they rarely make it inside!). I'm a beginner at the whole gardening thing, but here's what I do know about picking strawberries...

- Pick strawberries when they are a deep red color (they won't really ripen off the plant like some other fruits).

- To prevent bruising snap the stem above the berry.

- Handle strawberries carefully, as they bruise easily.

Make it Yourself Monday- Cheese Crackers

We love our Goldfish around here... but not only are they expensive, they're full of preservatives that probably aren't the best for my kiddos. So, I adapted this recipe for Crispy Cheese Crackers from Laura at Heavenly homemakers to suit our tastes and also to make puffy crackers rather than crispy ones. :)

Wheat Cheese Crackers

1 cup whole wheat flour*

1/2 t sea salt

4 T cold butter, cut into pieces

1.5 C shredded cheddar cheese

4 T water (or as much needed to make a smooth dough ball)

In a food processor pulse flour and salt to combine. Add butter and cheese and pulse until crumbly.

Add water a little at a time and pulse until a ball of dough forms (this takes a few minutes).

Place dough in refrigerator for an hour or so (this helps them puff up more, I've read).

Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment or wax paper until it's about 1/8" thick. I'm very bad at this and my edges are always paper thin, and therefore very... crispy. :) Cut into squares with a pizza cutter or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.

Transfer to baking sheet, and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown). Turn the oven off and let sit for 30 minutes or so. When cool, break apart.

Here the stars I made for something later this week.

 

*In one batch I used 1/2 unbleached all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat, in the other I used all whole wheat. Other than the darker color, I couldn't tell a difference.

My toddler loves these, and, quite frankly , so do I!

Check out Eat From Your Pantry to see other ideas of things you can make yourself!

My apron

I finally finished a project I've been wanting to do FOREVER- an apron! I didn't use a pattern, just looked at lots of aprons online and decided what I wanted mine to look like!

I made pleats for the first time ever, edged the top with bias tape I made, and lined the bottom with an old towel for easy hand wiping.

I must say, there's little to make you feel more domestic than wearing an apron while you cook.

Seafood Bisque

A few weeks ago I got an intense craving for oh so yummy, but not so good for you, seafood bisque. I happened to be in the grocery store to pick up something, and I did something I don't often allow myself- splurged and bought the seafood for the soup right there on the spot! I love me some creamy soup.

This is one of my favorite things that I remember my dad making when I was growing up- and I still request it on Christmas Day whenever we're with my parents for Christmas. I don't know his exact recipe, but I think this is pretty close.

I made a BIG pot, so I'd have plenty to heat up for leftover lunches this week. :-)

And without delay...

Papa Jack's Seafood Bisque (as remembered by Tori)

2 Cans Cream of _____ Soup (or you can make your own!)

1 1/2 C Chicken Stock

2 C Milk

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 t minced garlic

6 oz each Crab, Shrimp, Scallops (or whatever you have/ whatever your spouse will eat :)

Salt and Pepper to taste

I didn't get a good picture, so you'll just have to trust me that it was great! Even Jack ate some, and he's not really a soup kind of kid.

Beginning our spring garden

This is the first year that I'll get to have a garden. Last year I wanted to, but I was pretty pregnant and tired, so I just did some window box plants. I'm so excited, but a little scared that I might flop. I'm starting most of our plants from seeds, and figure they're pretty cheap, so if they don't grow, at least I can buy plants later.

I took the boys to pick up supplies for our garden the other day. I had intended to use a tutorial I found to make newspaper seed pots, but then I just broke down and bought a big jiffy pot planter. Jack saw this Veggie Tales planter set that he liked, so I bought him his very own little garden (it helped that I had a $10 off of $20 K-Mart coupon and I was close but not quite at the $20 mark). He LOVED planting his very own seeds, and has been very attentive- and maybe a little TOO enthusiastic about watering and checking for "baby planties!"

I was very impressed with K-Mart's selection of seeds, by the way. I was able to get mostly heirloom varieties of my favorite veggies. So far I've planted sugar snap peas, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, lavender, thyme, basil, oregano, chives, and parsley. I used an egg carton for some of my herbs. I have a few other varieties of seeds that will either be planted into the ground, or planted indoors later to be hot weather plants. So maybe I'll get around to making those newspaper pots after all. Jack planted a variety of wide flowers, sunflowers, lavender and a tiny strawberry plant- we'll see on that one. :)

Hopefully I'll be able to share lots of good news about our garden adventuring this year.

Mikey's Favorite Noodle Soup

My husband's favorite soup used to be kind of an enigma to me. But now I've been making it for a few years, and I've come to realize it's the perfect pantry meal- pretty much anything you can It's basically mashed potatoes with soup over it.

Here's what I do. I can't really write a recipe, because it's never done the same way twice. Take whatever cooked, shredded or chopped meat you have on hand, add it to some simmering broth, and throw in cooked pasta and some veggies. I think Mike would love it if I'd leave out the veggies, but I love him too much to do that. :-) Then, layer the soup over hot mashed potatoes in a bowl.

I have to say, it's yummy. Who knew soup over potatoes would actually be good?! This time I used shredded chicken and turkey, because I didn't have enough of just one. I also used chicken broth and ham stock I had frozen, along with a random assortment of veggies.

How do you do noodle soup?