Recipe Friday: Homemade Pizza

When asked the question "If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?" My answer is always pizza. I love the variety that you get with having pizza. One of my favorite things to grill on our barbeque in the summer time is pizza. I just found this recipe for Italian-Style pizza crust and I am excited to try it out on the grill. Its still a bit chilly outside so I won't be grilling this one. I have looked long and hard for a good pizza crust recipe. All of the ones I have tried have tasted really yeasty. But this one was delicious and didn't have much of a yest taste!!! I also I have added pictures of the process. I didn't think of taking pictures until after I had already made the crust so that is why there aren't any pictures of the crust making. Not to mention, it was a bit messy.

Italian-Style Pizza Crust

1 packet active dry yeast

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1. Dissolve yeast in water in a large bowl.

2. Mix in half the flour then add sugar, salt, and oil.

3. Add flour until the dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl.

4. Take dough out of the bowl and kneed for 10 minutes (or until smooth and springy) on a lightly floured surface.

5. Place dough in a oiled bowl. Turn dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 20 minutes.

6. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours but no longer than 48 hours.

To make pizza: 
Choose your toppings. 

I like to do Margarita which is olive oil for the sauce, sliced roma tomatoes, chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper, fresh mozzarella cheese topped with basil.

I also like Chicken Pesto which is pesto sauce spread on the crust, chopped chicken, red onions, artichoke hearts, sliced roma tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella cheese.
You really can put anything on a pizza... all kinds of meats, veggies, you can even do a dessert pizza topped with your favorite goodies. Have fun and experiment with different toppings.

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F and move one of the racks to the lowest position.

2. Grease a cookie sheet or 12 inch pizza pan with oil. Press dough into 12 inch circle using floured fingers. Press dough from center to edge so the edge is slightly thicker than the center.

3. Spread the sauce out then put on the toppings

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool for a few minutes allowing cheese to set. Cut and enjoy!!!

Happy Cooking!

Its that time again...

Gosh. I am horrible at updating this thing. I actually try to sit down once a week to update my blog, but I end up looking at everyone else's latest posts and by the time I'm done with that someone is needing my attention. Today I was driving home from my in-laws thinking I should really give everyone an update on our lives and I was thinking about starting this out by saying "I've been really busy lately and thats why I haven't updated..." But really that would just be a lie. Although I have my hands full most days, I have plenty of time to update you all. The truth is, I always want a picture to post and I am horrible at taking pictures. My parents asked me to stop sending pictures from my phone (because of the poor quality) and making the time to take pictures with an actual camera. I have yet to take a picture with my camera... oops. Hopefully I'll start tomorrow.. haha. 


As for an update on our lives... Gideon is busy as ever. He is becoming more and more mobile, although not crawling yet. Last week he started getting into the crawling position from sitting up. Which, he is sitting up totally unassisted and has been for about a month. He will just sit on the rug and play and laugh. The rug we have in the living room is wool so its not to inviting to lay or sit on, so we always put down a blanket so its more comfortable for him. The blanket we use is actually a full size quilt. Its not anything special so it works great for him to use. We will sit him down there with all of his toys and after just a few minutes he will have gathered the entire blanket into his lap. It is the funniest thing. 

He clearly thinks he is funny too!

Another big development for Gideon is that he is fully sleeping through the night... and not just the 5-6 hour window, but a full 11-12 hours. It is the best thing ever. Even a month and a half ago, I thought I would never get my sleep back. But then one day I was talking to a friend who really encouraged me to let Gideon cry it out at night. She said it was the best thing she ever did for her daughter. So we waited for a weekend where we could sleep all day if needed and let Gideon cry himself back to sleep. It only took us two days and he had figured it out. I am a new momma. It is so great to get uninterrupted sleep. I was feeling so defeated every day because I was just so tired in the mornings after waking up multiple times a night. As of Saturday he has been waking up at least once a night because he is getting his top teeth. One of the teeth cut through part way yesterday and then disappeared. But I've heard this is totally normal. Hopefully we will be back on schedule in no time. Here are some cute pictures of Gideon sleeping...

oh the positions he sleeps in...

I love this one because his little feet were crossed. (We have the sweetest ultrasound picture at 20 weeks of just his feet crossed over each other!)

A man's gotta have have his binkies... He's "biwinning" as my sweet husband would say #tigersblood

I have also been busy and overwhelmed in the kitchen as well because I decided to make all of Gideon's food. I was totally gung-ho in the beginning but I am losing steam. Its obviously not hard to cook and puree food, but it is pretty time consuming. Not to mention a lot of pressure to make sure that the food reaches the right temp while cooking and then again as it cools. Man oh man, and add on top of all of that figuring out what to make, how much to make, when to replenish my stock pile of food, what to buy in jars.. the list goes on and on. I'm not totally discouraged yet, I am saving so much money by doing it this way. That is enough to keep me motivated. Plus I have a good friend who made her own baby food and gave me some pointers yesterday. So heres to hoping I can get my act together.

So here is one last picture of Gideon doing naked push-ups... this kid loves to be naked. He will take all the chances he can to be free....

just living the dream...