Friday, September 28, 2012

Not enough hands...

I needed to bag & 'ribbon' a bunch of cookies....but I was home all alone and I really needed an extra pair of hands to hold the bags so I could tie the ribbon on...what to do?








Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pizza 101

I stopped by Trader Joe's...grabbed some of their yummy pizza dough ($1.19 per ball).  It's ready to go and super easy.  It's also available in wheat.
How to make a yummy pizza at home:
Make your sauce by mixing an 8oz. can of tomato sauce with a 6 oz. can of paste.
We like ours sweet, so I add 4 Tbsp. of sugar. (I have since switched to sugar substitute)  This is enough sauce to make 2 pizzas. Leftover sauce can be refrigerated.
Notice there is no spice in the sauce?  That is added in the building of the pizza.
Build your pizza...
Crust - sauce - dried basil - vegis - pre-cooked meat (hamburger, canadian bacon, sausage, etc.)  shredded mozzarella - pepperoni - bacon - oregano
The best pan is the large round aluminum pan with holes in the bottom (of course, you'll have to roll the dough on the table)...or a pampered chef stone.
Warm the pizza crust to room temp for 20 minutes and then stretch, roll, push it out to fill your pan.
Spread sauce as thick or as thin as you like.  Sprinkle to taste with dried basil, or fresh if you have it.
Lay out your vegis, meat, then top with shredded mozzarella, or fresh if you have it.  Add any pepperoni and or bacon.  (Sam's carries a gold bag of Hormel real bacon 'bits' that lasts forever in the freezer and is great for salads, pizzas, potato skins, baked beans, green beans, etc.)  Sprinkle to taste with dried oregano.
I used less than 1 ball of dough to make this (on a Pampered Chef stone):
my own little personal pan pizza - with fresh grape tomatoes.
Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes - rotate the pan - bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
Watch it the last couple minutes, so you don't burn it.
No time to run for pizza dough?
Make personal pizzas with flour tortillas for a super thin crust or use pitas for a thicker crust.
Added 12/3/23 Try this super easy thin crust

https://www.plainchicken.com/st-louis-style-pizza/

1 1/4c. Flour / ½ t salt / ½ t baking powder

2 t olive oil / 1 t corn syrup

½ c warm water

Roll very thin

Poke w fork, prebake 5min @450, flip. If you're not using the crust right away, bake the other side for a couple more minutes. Cool, wrap and save for a couple days. If you are using it, build your pizza (see above) with the cooked side down. It'll be super easy to handle.