Good Food Friday

Since we usually watch a movie and have pizza on Fridays, I thought I'd post this simple pizza dough recipe. (Yes, sometimes we make our pizza instead of just ordering it)

1 Tbs yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup warm water
-------------------
2 3/4 cup flour (more if needed)
2 Tbs vegetable oil (Chris likes it with olive oil too)
3/4 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the water. Combine the other ingredients in a bowl. Add the yeast mixture. Add flour if you need it for a nice soft dough. Knead everything for 5 minutes until it's nice and elastic. Let it rise for 10 minutes.
Spread into TWO pizza pans or one cookie sheet/jelly roll pan

For sauce, Chris says to water down tomato paste, but I just use a can of tomato sauce then add a TINY bit of garlic salt, oregano, basil, brown sugar, pepper and salt to taste.

Add your choice of cheese and toppings and then bake at 425 for 25 minutes.
Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.

Now for a nice (true)story to go along with the pizza recipe. I like the call it "The Miracle of the Pizza"
We once signed up to fee the elders and we decided to make pizza for them. They called and said they were currently in a three-some and would that still be fine. We said it would. Then, as we were making the pizza, the elders called again and said they'd cancel dinner if we wanted because they were on splits with another three-some so there would be six of them for dinner. Since this recipe is so easy, we decided we could whip up another pepperoni in no time. The elder I spoke with was very apologetic and everything, but we said it'd be fine.
I forgot to take into account how MUCH young 19 year old boys eat. I was pretty worried when they all started taking six slices each. But, to my amazement, we had plenty of pizza for everyone and we even had leftovers! A miracle, I say.
It was really cool to have six spiritually high boys in our home--we could feel the spirit radiating from their suits.
I'm not promising any miracles to you if you make this dough, but you never know!
Enjoy!

Soccer

Elle started soccer today. They even get little uniforms to wear--complete with socks! It was very cute. I forgot my camera today, but I'll bring it next time.

And while I'm on the subject of Elle, here's an Elleism:
The other week, I went to brush Elle's teeth and she told me she had already done it herself. I reminded her that she would also need a fluoride pill. "Oh, I already got myself a pill too" she informed me. I was a little shocked since the bottle had a child proof cap. when I asked her how she got one she said, "I just looked on the top and read the directions!"
I guess child proof doesn't work very well if you know how to read!

Back in the saddle again

I'm back to the blog now. We had a great time in Utah even though we came back with colds.
Here's our trip at a glance.

The highlights were
*carpooling with the VanDykes
*the crazy weather when we saw seven + cars off the road.
* Elle's dart gun fight with Derek
* playing with Liz and pal
* touring temple square with our friends
* Connor and Elle's "date" at BYU-- they sat at a table together.
* snow enjoyed mostly at a distance and only a little bit up close
* the drive-through Little Caesars--you could pick up a pizza through a window--so cool!
and pizza with our friends
* nail painting, talking, Nintendo dogging at the Larsen's
*relaxing at both Grandma's
*coloring easter eggs and hunting for them four times
*the children's museum and dinner with Jason and Stephanie and family
* seeing two people riding horses in the MIDDLE of the street (seriously!)
* the beautiful landscape on the drive including a cool cave thing in St. George and the St. George Temple
It was loads of fun!! We got back just in time for Easter. And Elle did wear her Easter dress.

Good Food Friday

It's everyone favorite time! Recipe Day!

Today's recipe is Chicken with parmesan, garlic and herb crust
makes 4.

1 garlic clove, peeled (duh--are there recipes that call for it un-peeled?)
1/4 cup fresh parsley (cilantro works nicely too)
2 slices whole wheat bread
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (1 oz)
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
black pepper
4 chicken breasts
4 tsp Dijon mustard(I usually use more than that)

Heat oven to 400. Lightly coat a medium baking dish with vegetable cooking spray. Mince the garlic in a food processor, then add the parsley and pulse until combined (about 15 sec.). Add the bread, Parmesan, oil, salt and pepper. Pulse until well combined. Arrange chicken in the baking dish. Spread with the mustard, then pat the crumbs on top.
Bake until cooked though, 20-25 min.


BAD food Friday

Our choir director made this deadly and easy caramel popcorn for us. I made it for New Year's Eve, but I used 1 batch of air popped pop corn.

1 bag microwave popcorn popped (or 1 batch of air popped)
1/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup brown sugar
9 large marshmallows

Butter the sides of a bowl then add all the ingredients except popcorn. Microwave all ingredients for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave 1 more minute. Pour in popcorn and stir it all up.
Yummy but deadly.

Elle's Easter Dress (maybe)

Kristen and I went to Target today. I mentioned that I wanted to get an Easter Dress for Elle, so we "oohed" and "ahed" in the little girl's section and found this cute dress and shrug for under $40! Now we just need Chris' approval.
That's why the tags are still on in all the shots--he's kinda picky that way. He refused to let me even think about a frilly Easter dress for her. Hopefully, he'll like it. I thought I'd better take some pictures just in case.
In this first shot, Elle is doing her "model" pose she told me. I don't know where she came up with it, but it works!

Then I told her that Connor was hoping to dance with her at a wedding we're going to soon.
She decided to try out some dance moves in the dress.
Here's her "I'm being spun by Connor" move.


























Then her Slow dancing pose. "And I'd put my hand on his shoulder and he'd put his hand on MY shoulder!*giggle giggle*"














And finally, here's her "I'm being dipped by Connor."
I wasn't fast enough to catch the end result of the imaginary dip--apparently he dropped her, and she landed on the floor. :)
*sigh* They grow up so fast!

Good Food Friday

It's a little late, but here's my recipe for today: Crepe sandwiches!
I used two recipes from the wonderful cookbook that one of my wonderful sister-in-law gave us

I cut up chicken and marinated it with their Caribbean Marinade for about 1 hour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 c minced fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Then I made their recipe for crepes
1 cup (it's supposed to be hole but it wasn't) milk
1 cup flour
2 eggs
6 Tbs water
3 Tbs melted butter plus some for the pan
1/2 tsp salt
(I added 1 Tbs sugar)
Beat all ingredients in food processor or blender for 4 seconds. Pu bater in covered container for 2 hours.

Then I cut up some peppers and onions for the inside.
They turned out so yummy!
We also some with fresh strawberries, powdered sugar and chocolate chips for dessert :)

Random

Here's a couple random pictures for your viewing pleasure since I haven't posted for a while.


Elle wanted to try a typing website we had heard about, so we did, and it works great!











I made this for my primary class one Sunday:
3. Use an object lesson (see “Object Lessons,”TNGC, 164) to show how to recognize the Spirit. Prepare a “box with socks” by cutting two holes, about three inches (8 cm) in diameter and about six inches (15 cm) apart, in the bottom of a box. The box should be large enough to allow a child to put his or her hands in it, but small enough to be held up for the Primary to see. Line the holes with the cut-off tops of two old socks. Staple these in place, being sure that the staple ends go into the box so they will not scratch anyone. Lining the holes with socks will prevent the child from seeing through the holes.

We did this activity for FHE on the next Monday, then Chris decided to be creative with it.





IN OTHER NEWS: Elle finished her Wednesday homework on Tuesday, so I decided to take her to Disneyland. It took a half hour longer than usual to get there, so we only spent an hour in each park. (Sad, huh? I bet you feel so sad for us :) On the upside, there weren't any lines! It was fun, but I probably won't go at that time again.