Homemade Pizza

PIZZA, PIZZA!

Yum! We LOVE to make homemade pizza in our house and it is so much fun to put whatever YOU want on your pizza and make it personalized to you. My favorite is black olives, pineapple, Canadian bacon, and mushrooms. I also like to add green bell pepper but we didn't have any. We make our own pie crust as well. I use Bobby Flay's recipe for pizza crust. Once the dough has risen and I have split it for us, here's what I do:

First roll out pizza dough to whatever thickness you like (I like thin crust)

Top the crust with pizza sauce. I like Classico's line of pizza sauces.

Then I like to add a light layer of cheese (I add more after toppings are on)

Then comes your toppings! Here I've added Canadian bacon.

Then fresh mushrooms

Then pineapple slices and black olives and sprinkle a bit of Italian seasonings (and a bit of garlic powder if you like garlic)

Finally, top pizza with more mozzarella!

We have this AMAZING contraption that peels your pizza off of the counter and onto your pizza stone. Seriously, without this thing, we would be stuck with pizza on the counter instead of in our bellies ;) 

You can order one here.

We then cook our pizza on a pizza stone on our bbq grill. Let the stone warm up before you put your pizza on it (about 5 mins over med-high heat). Then put your pizza on the stone and let cook (oh, add corn meal to the stone just before you place your pizza on it. This will prevent it from sticking). There is no time here, just keep an eye on it and pull it off when it starts bubbling and edges get a bit brown. Take it off the stone with a large stainless steel spatula and place on a cutting board to slice. 

Enjoy your pizza!! Happy cooking!

Thank You Notes

Jen Hatmaker's book For the Love is so incredible on so many levels! I am not yet finished with it but I tell you what, my favorite chapters are her "Thank-You Notes" chapters. You know, like Jimmy Fallon's late night skits that he does where he thanks random items/things. Here's one of hers (that I have to agree with):

"Thank you, Daylight Savings Time, for making people wax on about the wonder of an extra hour of sleep, only to serve as an especially depressing reminder to parents that kids don't care about farmers and harvests and extra hours of daylight. I enjoy my kids standing at my bedside at 4:30 a.m. like creepy, wide-awake Children of the Corn. Naptimes are also jacked, so there's that. With all due respect-ish, A Tired Mom." (pg. 51 For the Love, Hatmaker)

How right-on-the-mark is that?!? I mean, really?!?! So for today's blog, let's share our funny, unusual, amusing thank you's. Here are a few of mine:

Thank you, Pee Pad Mattress Cover, for your glorious stretchy, plastic-y, saving grace. You are a little plastic wonder that saves my toddlers mattress from becoming a yellow crime-scene. Without you, I would be broke, and my child would be sleeping on a trash bag. 

Thank you, My Trusty, Daily-Wearing White Hat (if you know me, you know this hat!), for your ability to contain my crazy frizzy hot-mess of hair. You can make me look like I'm about to go workout, when really I am just going to the mailbox. You are worn everywhere...mall, grocery store, church (not on Sunday, of course!), around the house doing nothing...and everywhere in between. Thank you, trusty hat!

Thank you, UPS/FedEx/Any Package Delivery Service, for always conveniently dropping off packages and ringing the doorbell as soon as my child falls asleep for his nap. And it is not your fault. It's not because of you my child wakes up. You don't know that you have just unleashed the fury of my obnoxious barking dog (who will never, NEVER stop barking) at you for ringing the doorbell. Oh, yes, my 'Do not knock or ring the doorbell' paper note held up with Scotch tape has fallen off and blown to Timbuktu and I just keep forgetting to replace it. I'll do that now....

What are some of your thank-you notes? I would love to post them in another blog post!! Comment below and THANK YOU! :)

Penne Pasta with Portobello Mushrooms

This dish is light, flavorful, and just downright delicious! My 2.5 year old liked it and so did my hubby....so that's saying a lot! ;)
My goal the last few weeks have been to incorporate new and different foods and keep everything "clean." I have three cookbooks that I am pulling from and some of them I am adjusting and making it work for our family (and budget!). 

Here's the link for the recipe. Also listed below:

Ingredients:
4 quarts water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shelled frozen edamame
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cups brown rice penne or macaroni
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 to 3 large Portobello mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 cup Roma tomatoes, chopped and drained
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Mushrooms are easy to clean. Simply remove the stalk and lift the outer skin from the cap using a small paring knife. It peels off readily. Slice the caps into quarter-inch pieces.
2. In a large saucepan bring about 4 cups of water to a full boil. Add a pinch of salt. Drop he frozen edamame into the boiling water and cook until the beans turn bright green. Immediately life them out of the boiling water with slotted spoon. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
3. In the still-boiling water add 2 Tbsp olive oil and the penne and cook al dente. Drain the penne, leaving behind about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Put the penne back into the saucepan and cover.
4. Toast the sesame seeds by placing in a small skillet and cooking until fragrant. 
5. In a large nonstick skillet heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until they become soft. Add the minced garlic and rice wine vinegar. Stir. Cover and let cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. 
6. Place edamame in skillet along with tomatoes and herbs. Heat through. Pour mushroom mixture in a pot with penne. Add sea salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Place pasted in heated serving dish.

Now I changed this up a bit. First off, I swapped the edamame for peas and steamed those in a separate small pot while the pasta was cooking (time saver!). I also used gluten-free quinoa pasta instead of brown rice pasta. I LOVE the flavor of the quinoa pasta! I also didn't have any sesame seeds, so I omitted that. I added chicken as well, marinated in Italian dressing. I topped our dishes with a bit of parmesan cheese as well. It was so delicious!!! I hope you enjoy! 

*Note...when cooking, turn on 'Italian Cooking Music' on Pandora...soooo much more fun!! ;) 

Source:The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook

All Things Halloween

Now that I am a week late on posting this, here are some fun things we did for Halloween:

First of all, Troy was a dinosaur for Halloween and he had soooo much fun "rawring" (is that how you would spell that?!?!) like a dinosaur. His grandparents came to town for the weekend and we loved having them here for trick-or-treating. Troy was a champ! He tried stopping a few times to eat the candy that he got, but we were able to rally and finish our route! He was scared of a few costumes and would cry out and hid, but otherwise he had a lot of fun!

Here Troy is with his Grandpa! <3

Our first-ever carved pumpkin! I traced out the face and my hubby (being who my hubby is) carved it with an air saw!

Turned out pretty cute!

Here we are, just starting the fun!

And after!

Earlier in the week, during our homeschool preschool lessons, we created ghost footprints. Thanks to Pintrest for the idea! I wish I had done this on a canvas! Maybe next year Ill pull this out and just frame it and make a different one on canvas next year.

Troy is also very into Daniel Tiger, so when I was at Target, I bought this cute Halloween Daniel Tiger book. I also incorporated this book into our lessons for the week. You can also get this book on Amazon. 

Troy and his friend helped me to make my favorite Pumpkin Bread as well! They loved helping to mix the ingredients, crack the eggs, and of course, EAT IT! I will post that recipe soon and link it up here. 

While Troy's grandparents were here, I also made pumpkin cinnamon rolls, recipe courtesy of Mix and Match Mama. It was delicious!!! I didn't use nearly as much of the sugar mixture and will cut back on the amount of the pumpkin puree next time, but oh my goodness...it was delicious!! Thanks Shay for the recipe! Go follow her if you haven't! She recently spoke at my MOPS meeting and was fabulous! She has all sorts of great recipe ideas and super cute outfit posts! 

What did you do for Halloween? Post pics and comments! I love reading them!!

Boots!!!

I have a new favorite thing...my boots!! I have NEVER owned a pair of authentic cowboy boots and finally splurged and got my first pair a couple of weeks ago (born and raised in Texas...so let's take a  moment and raise your cowboy hats to the fact that I now own my own pair after 32 years!)! Y'all, I am ob-sessed with these adorable boots!! I got them from The Boot Barn (to which my 2.5 year old laughed at..."Me: I'm going to pick up my new boots from The Boot Barn!" Son: "A barn?" Me: "No, a Boot Barn." Troy: "Hehe, that's silly!") Anyway, they are Ariat brand, and I think it's the Alabama Western Boots.

I LOVE them! When I bought them they were on sale for $99! You can get them online here. 

My outfit:

Top: Target

Purse: Target, not available online that I can find

Scarf: Gift, not sure where

Boots: Ariat

Jeans: Forever 21

Do you own a pair of boots? I'd love to see them below in the comments!!

Have a blessed Sunday Y'ALL! :)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day - What It Means to Me

Today is a day to remember the babies who are now in Heaven with Our Great Lord. What does this day mean to me? Well, I had an early miscarriage at the beginning of summer and still think about how far along I would be right now. I probably wouldn't have even known I was pregnant if I hadn't been getting blood work and found out early. But as soon as the nurse called to tell me that I was pregnant, I was elated! I was so excited to tell family and tell sweet son that he was going to be a big brother. We kinda hesitated at first to tell anyone as early as we did because we wanted to make it as close to the second trimester before telling. Though I am glad we did. It wouldn't have made it any easier if we had kept it a secret. Either we would have gone through the pain and heartache alone, or with friends and family who would lift us up and pray for us. 
I do not share this for sympathy and really hesitate sharing at all because this is such a personal thing. Though it has been weighing on my heart recently and I think the Holy Spirit is pushing me to share for those who are struggling or feeling that they are alone. I felt alone when it happened, but once I started talking about it to friends and family, I was far from alone. It saddened me to find out that so many of my friends and family members had lost babies and had pregnancies that ended far too early. I am thankful to them who told me their stories and shared their journey with me. I pray for them and pray for those of you who are struggling in silence. I am still struggling. I yearn for another little baby to hold and snuggle and to one day see Troy playing with. Even though I want to control the situation, I know I can't. It is up to the Lord. He will answer my prayers when it is time, His time. And if not, then I know there is a reason. He has a plan that is greater than mine and I am learning to let go and let God take the wheel. It is hard! wink emoticon But I pray that if you are going though this, God IS in control and He will provide. He will give you comfort and help you. Please lean on Him and be grateful for everyday that we have on the earth. We are only here for a short time, so use it to glorify Him.

As soon as I found out, I got this shirt and took a picture as a way to announce our pregnant to family and friends. And this is how I told my husband and in-laws :) I love this picture and it saddens me that our son no longer needs to wear it. I pray that one day, he will get to wear it again :) 

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Making My Own Deodorant

After talking with my close friend, she told me about her homemade deodorant that she wears all the time. I have to admit, at first I was kind of skeptical. Does it work? Will I stink? Will I sweat a ton? Why make it in the first place?

After chatting with her some more, I looked up the ingredients in my deodorant and did some research. Did you know that your deodorant has aluminum in it and that you are putting it on one of the most fragile parts of your body?!? I sure didn't! I did a little digging and found that some research has linked over-the-counter deodorants to cancer. Now here comes my husband…"Well everything causes cancer!" Yes, yes..I know!! But, if I can make a change to lessen my chance of getting cancer, then by gosh (yes, I really did just say that), I am going to do it! So I took to the recipe that my friend used and make my own deodorant! Follow this link for the recipe. At first I did the second recipe that did not call for the double boiler. It did not work out so well (image below is of the first recipe). So I attempted the first recipe with the double boiler and it turned out much better. I did, however, add a ton more of the powders. I couldn't tell you exactly how much, but I want to say it was at least double. I like the consistency of the double boiler recipe much for than the other one. To answer my skeptical questions above: yes, it works! No, I do not stink! I do not sweat a ton but I do sweat. The key is that this is a deodorant, not an anti-persperant. You will sweat, like you should, but it will not stink.

While I was at it, being all 'healthy crafty', I decided to make my own toothpaste (recipe from Wellness Mama). Well, I used it for maybe a week and couldn't stand it. I didn't add the optional items (Grapefruit Seed Extract and myrrh extract). I also didn't add sugar because I thought that was crazy…add sugar to my toothpaste! Well, I should have! It tasted HORRIBLE!! I would like to try it again but this time I may make a different recipe. Wellness Mama has a few others on her site and once I make one, Ill let you know!