Pizza Crust Recipe

As requested, here is the recipe I used for the pizza we made recently. It's from Allrecipes.com.

Some things I did:

Minced a few garlic cloves and soaked them in olive oil with some Italian seasoning. I used this to oil my pan and brushed it on the outer edge of the crust during the last few minutes of baking.

Also, I added all of the flour during the first part of mixing (I do mine in a Kitchen Aid) because the dough is so sticky. At the end I don't bother putting the dough on the counter (it would never come off). I put it directly into my oiled pizza pan and press it out by hand after sprinkling more flour on top. It is super sticky to work with, so whatever works for you - do it!

The first time we made this we used all of the dough to make one pizza and it was super fatty... the second time we made a personal for Robert and pressed the dough a little thinner for our bigger pizza. I think we liked that better. I think this crust would be super awesome with some seasoning added to the dough as well (Italian, or something garlic), but I haven't tried that yet. Maybe this week since Alex wants to have pizza - AGAIN!

Good Luck and Enjoy!!

Jay's Signature Crust Pizza

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the brown sugar and yeast in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it. Bake pizza in the preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Baby Spoiler, Food, and Laundry Fun

Last week we did more of our usual with the addition of one very exciting appointment. We were finally able to answer the question that's been plaguing our minds: Boy or Girl?

We're having a...

GIRL!!

Check out our cutie pie...

For a more accurate report - the tech said that the baby wasn't being very cooperative. He/She wouldn't uncross their legs so she could get "the money shot". The tech ventured to say she was almost certain it was a girl. She didn't see anything that would indicate a boy. She offered to see me again in a couple of weeks to confirm the gender - and I am going to take her up on her offer... but I'm feeling like the verdict will be the same based on everything we've felt up to this point.

In other, less exciting news... this week we've been experimenting with more recipes...

Twice Baked Potatoes. These were really good, but they were such a pain to put together. We won't be making them again. It's just as easy to make the yummy potato guts and skip the putting it back into the skin. Pretty to look at, annoying and time consuming to make.

Main dish: Ribs! I was having a serious barbecue rib craving and decided to try making them at home. The ribs did come out really tender and tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't know that "chili sauce" and "Vietnamese chili sauce" were two different things - so these were really spicy. Almost to the point of being inedible. And almost to the point of causing flaming rocket poop.

We tried lots of other new recipes too - but I'd rather talk about Robert.

Tonight we realized how helpful our son is. Alex brought in laundry to fold and Robert was kind enough to help... at least in the form of comic relief.

He's discovered the joy of flopping into a laundry pile (much like a pile of leaves). He did it over and over again for a good 20 minutes. It was really cute and made us really happy to see him enjoying something so simple. I wish we were better at that. Here are way too many pictures documenting his joy.

In the end he belly-flopped onto the bare ground (Ouch!) and lost interest, but it was cute while it lasted.

... now on to another week!

Rediscovering the Kitchen

We did pretty much nothing for Halloween, so a Halloween post will have to wait for another year...

A couple weeks back Alex and I (mostly me) committed ourselves to doing a weekly meal plan. I'm so tired of running to the store multiple times a week for one ingredient and we were eating out way too much. So, as much as I love going out, we've been eating in for the last week and a half. In an effort to stay committed to a meal plan, I've been trying a new recipe every day. Some were suggestions from friends. Most were from Allrecipes.com, my favorite cooking website. Honestly, we have had some AMAZING dinners. I have yet to figure out if we're really saving any money by eating this way, but either way it's been nice to good to cook again... and learn some new recipes. Here is our favorite so far:

Souvlaki

Ingredients

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano

3 cloves garlic, crushed

4 lbs. pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 green bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces

Skewers

Directions

1. In a large glass bowl, mix together lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano, and garlic; add pork, onions, and green peppers, and stir to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
2. Preheat grill for medium-high heat. Thread pork, peppers, and onions onto skewers.
3. Lightly oil grate. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or to desired doneness, turning skewers frequently for even cooking.

We made ours with chicken and grilled the skewers in the oven - 375 for 20 minutes (10 minutes each side). When they were done we put them in pitas with romaine lettuce, tomato and this sauce I had leftover from fish tacos:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 lime, juiced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 tsp. minced capers

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried dill weed

1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

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It was a very quiet meal since both of us were too busy stuffing our faces to chat. Alex and I don't agree much, but we both thought this was the best meal we had eaten in awhile. So good that we are having it again this week. : )

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the Souvlaki, but here is last night's pizza. Also good, but I wasn't really craving it when I made it.

The crust was super annoying to work with, but turned out good in the end.

Maybe a little too good. It was definitely a super fatty deep dish.

Anyway, that's what we're up to. Robert is still doing more of the same - watching Sesame Street.