Homemade Pizza

Dang I am STUFFED!!! Lunch today was homemade pizza and, honestly, I have NO desire whatsoever to ever eat at a pizza place again when homemade tastes way better!( And is so much CHEAPER, HEALTHIER) I use a couple of different recipes for our pizza. For the dough, I like the one in the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. It is easy-peasy.
PIZZA DOUGH

Mix 1 tsp. of yeast (or half a packet) into 1 1/2 c. warm water. Let sit so the yeast can dissolve. In the bowl of your mixer, combine 4 c. flour (I use hard white wheat) and 1 tsp. salt. Turn on mixer to low and drizzle in 1/3 c. olive oil. Once oil is incorporated, add the yeast/water mixture to the flour/oil mixture and combine until the dough forms a ball. Drizzle a little bit of oil in a large bowl. Smoosh it around a bit and dump the dough into it, turning to coat the top. You can now do 1 of 2 things. If you aren't going to make your pizza today, you can put some plastic wrap on top of the dough and place the bowl in the fridge for up to 2 days. If you are ready to make your pizza today, cover the bowl with a damp towel and set it in a warm place for an hour or 2 to rise. (It will not rise as high as bread dough).(If you are just now pulling your dough out of the fridge it may need an extra 30-45 mins of rising time.) Once the dough has risen a bit, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 large pizzas so divide dough in half. Sprinkle just a bit of olive oil on 2 cookie sheets and rub it all over to keep the dough from adhering like concrete to it. Take 1/2 of the dough and stretch it out on the pan with your fingers until it is nice and thin and covering almost the entire pan (or as much as it will cover). Do the same with the other half of the dough on the other pan. I like to sprinkle just a little bit of powdered garlic over the dough because I LOVE garlic!!! Once you have the dough stretched out you can get really creative. You can make sauce or not. I made a tomato sauce to go on ours. This recipe is from Heavenly Homemakers and is way simple.
TOMATO SAUCE

1 can Tomato Sauce (about 2 cups)
2 tsp. Dried Basil
1 tsp. Dried Oregano
1  tsp. Powdered Garlic
1/2 tsp. Salt

Stir all the ingredients together and smear as much or as little as you like over the top of the dough. Now add WHATEVER you want! Meat, veggies (I like to saute veggies a bit to soften them before I put them on the pizza), cheese. Do whatever will make your family fall on their knees praising you as the pizza queen.
For today's pizza, I sauteed some thinly sliced onions, green peppers and mushrooms and topped them with mozzarella. If there had been more than 4 slices of pepperoni left in the fridge, it would have found its way to the pizza too but, alas, my pepperoni stash has been severely pilfered.
Once you get all the toppings you like, stick your pizzas in the oven for about 10-15 mins. (Rotate pans half way thru to get them all cooked evenly).
This is what could be awaiting you:

Yum! My mouth just waters looking at it :)

I Love Homeschooling

When I say I love homeschooling, what I mean to say is I REALLY love homeschooling! Anyone who knew me 3 years ago would probably be shocked at that statement. I had never been known for my...ummm...love of being home. That is, until 3 years ago when The Almighty was tired of my not listening to Him and He spoke JUST A BIT LOUDER if you get my drift. I never had anything against those who stayed home, teaching their kids, taking care of their homes and cooking like, all the time. I just wasn't one of them. I enjoyed working and being out of the house. Then He changed me. It started with homeschooling. I had been feeling it for awhile and had been seriously trying to ignore it. I had no interest in being home all day, schooling my kids. (I know, bad mommie. Stick with me though). I finally had to give in because when God calls you to do something, for pete's sake JUST DO IT! It started with going to a homeschool conference led by a very sweet family, the Maxwell's. Little by little, I started to come around and hubby said if I hated it, we could always send them back to the private school they were in. Okay. I picked a cirriculum and ordered it. It came in and I installed it on the 2 new laptops I ordered for the twins. The day came when we decided we would start school. Then the weirdest thing happened. Every doubt that had been holding on for dear life in my head...vanished! All of it. Homeschooling felt as natural a thing to do as breathing does. From that day on, I have been a changed person. My most favorite place to be is...in my home with my husband and my kids around me all day long. I never tire of having them with me. I crave it. My husband started working from home less than a year later. He is now right across the driveway during the day. Able to eat lunch with us when the phones aren't crazy, able to answer questions or solve problems. Able to BE with his family. Over the last 3 years, I have gone from what I was before, career woman, relying on others to educate my children, avoider of being home for any length of time, to a woman who realizes that everything that will ever be important to me begins right here in my home. I am the influence on my children, not a stranger. I am the one responsible for preparing them for life on their own and with their future families. I am responsible for instilling in them everything God has been putting on my heart to do all along. My only regret is that I couldn't hear what God wanted from me (because I wasn't listening) when my older children were young. I feel that if they had had the kind of upbringing that their younger brother and sister are having, that maybe life would have been just a bit different for them. But then again, maybe that was God's plan after all.

If you are feeling that God wants you to do something, please just do it or you WILL miss out on the blessings that He is waiting to give you. Even if you are scared, trust Him. He always knows what is best for us and rarely ever do know what is best for us..

Cinnamon Bread French Toast

One of the byproducts of trying to find bread recipes I love is that I have loaves of not-quite-what-I-am looking-for bread to play with. One of my favorite ways to use them up is french toast. I had 2 loaves of cinnamon bread in the freezer from my Christmas baking that I thought would make a pretty good breakfast. I sliced both loaves up about an inch thick.

Then I mixed up a couple of eggs, some milk, vanilla and cinnamon

I coated the bread and put them into my cast iron skillet. Dontcha love cast iron skillets? I sure do. I finally learned not to turn the heat way up because, once it gets hot, it STAYS hot for a very looooooong time!
Anyway, I cooked them on both sides till they were nice and crispy on the outside.

And ....Voila!!!

Okay, there was a lot more of this but, doggone it, I was hungry!
I did have a few pieces left to put in the freezer for future breakfasts. I love having homemade freezer food ready to pop into the toaster oven or microwave!

Reward for waking up...

I was outside the other morning, just before dawn, finishing up the morning chores. I was about to walk back in the house when I glanced up at the sky and saw this:

and this too....

God really knows how to impress a girl!
This is the view from the back (used to be the front but the previous owners did away with the driveway and turned it into the back of the house. Go figure) of my house. Where I sit in the living room, doing my morning Bible reading, I can watch the sun come up and every time, it takes my breath away.

 I am not, naturally, a morning person. I do not 'enjoy' getting out of bed before the rooster crows, but there is something to be said about getting an early start on things. Living on a farm, an early start is a requirement! There are animals to be fed and, during growing season, garden work to be done. Middle Georgia is not known for its mild summer temps, either, so the earlier you get started the better! But during the winter, things slow just a bit and I get to enjoy watching the world wake up. A fresh, new start where anything is possible. Thank you God for giving me this reward.

Candle Wax Fire Starters

Since it is the season for fireplaces, I thought I would share a recipe for fire starters that I have been using. For the life of me, I cannot remember where I got the original 'recipe' from. I would never claim someone else's work as my own but I am going to share it with you and give credit to whomever posted this on her blog and gave me a wonderful idea. We used to buy starter logs but, at $20 for 6 logs, it just got to be too expensive. Then my husband would hold one of those long lighters to lightard wood and get it going that way but it got to be expensive buying new lighters all the time so this idea came along and I thought "What the heck?". I had everything on hand so I made a dozen of them and boy, do they work GOOD! Hubby was so impressed with them. All you do is light one, stick it under the wood and watch your flames come to life.

You'll need 3 simple household items:

Old candles or broken crayons (with paper removed)
Paper egg carton (do NOT use styrofoam)
Dryer Lint

Take your egg carton and cut off the lid. Then put a small amount of dryer lint in each hole.

Set on a piece of wax paper (I forgot to do this and wound up with wax all over my counter). Then
take a small pot and fill about 1/2 way with water. Set it on the stove to heat. Once water is hot (mine was boiling) put a heavy glass jar (I used one that had come with a candle in it) and stick all the candles/crayons in the pot and let the water melt the wax.

This time I was using a good sized pillar candle so it took at least 30 minutes to melt down. Stir every once in awhile to break the wax down. Once wax is all melted, CAREFULLY take the jar out of the pot. The first time I used my jar lifter from my canner but this time I used 2 oven mitts. This way seemed to work much better and I had more control over the jar. Pour the melted wax over the lint but don't over fill or it will run all over the place (don't ask).

Let them sit on the counter to harden. Once they are hard, cut them apart like so.

Keep them near the fireplace and when you want a nice fire, just light the corner and stick them under your wood.

*NOTE*
How many you get will depend on how much wax you use. This pillar candle was almost new (yikes!) and it made enough for 36 lil' starters.

Soaked Whole Wheat Bread

 I have been searching for a sandwich bread recipe that I love. Ohhhh, I think this is it! I have made it a couple of times, changing things a bit and, today, I think I have achieved success. The original recipe comes from Shaye at The Elliott Homestead. Please check out her blog. It is AMAZING and her writing is so much fun. Anyway, I had to change the recipe a bit because the original calls for more flour than my mixer can handle. Here is my version:

SOAKED WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

5 1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour-You will add up to 2 more cups on baking day (I use White Whole Wheat)

1/2  C. Cultured Buttermilk

1 1/2 C. Warm Water

1 C. Oats (old fashioned)

1/2 C. Honey

1/3 C. Melted Coconut Oil or Butter

The afternoon before you want to bake, do the following:

Combine the ingredients in the bowl of your mixer. Cover with a damp cloth (I cheat and use a damp paper towel) and plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

Baking Day:

Combine the following in a small bowl-

1/2 C. Warm water

1 tsp. Honey

2 1/2 Tbsp. Dry Active yeast

(If you are looking at Shaye's recipe, you will notice that I didn't make changes to this part of the recipe. I have found that leaving this the same as the original makes the bread rise much better than cutting the amounts in half)

Let this sit for about 5 minutes until nice and foamy.

Add yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix until all combined. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sea Salt and mix it in. Add more flour if needed to make the dough come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Let mixer do the kneading work for you for about 5 minutes.  Dump out dough into a large bowl that has been oiled all over. Turn dough over to oil the top. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size. Punch dough down and turn over. Cover and let rise a second time until doubled, about 30 minutes. Punch down again and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf and put in oiled baking pans. Let rise for another 30 minutes until doubled and then put in a preheated to 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

*NOTE*

I have kinda large loaf pans so I only get 2 loaves. If you have regular sized loaf pans you can divide the dough into 3 loaves.   This recipe is being shared at Frugally Sustainable.



Crispy Cheddar Chicken

This recipe is from Jimmie at Onceamonthmom.com. I changed it a bit to suit my tastes.

5-6 Chicken breasts, skinless/boneless
1 sleeve Ritz Whole Wheat crackers, crushed
1/2 c. Milk
1 1/2 c. Shredded Cheese
1 tsp. Dried Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (I make my own)
4 tbsp. Sour Cream
1 tbsp. Butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray and set aside. Pour the milk into a shallow bowl. Mix the cheese and crackers in another shallow bowl. Dip chicken in milk and then dredge in cracker/cheese mixture. (I have very little luck getting the mixture to stick to the chicken so I get what I can on them and, at the end, I put whatever is left over the top of the chicken). Place chicken in pan. Once all chicken is coated and remaining mixture is placed on the chicken, salt and pepper (or any other seasonings you like) the chicken and cover with foil and cook for 35 minutes. Remove foil and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of cooking, pour soup, sour cream and butter in a small saucepan and cook over med. heat until heated through. Once chicken is finished cooking, plate it up and serve it with the sauce over the top.

This is being shared at The Prairie Homestead Blog Hop