Quick "Crazy Crust" Pizza

Last night I really wanted pizza but did not want to spend the money on delivery. Lets face it, by the time you pay tax, delivery fee and a tip for the driver, you could have bought three pizzas for carryout or stocked your freezer with DiGiorno, Tombstone, or Totinos pizzas from the grocery store. 

 

I've been going through my recipe box using recipes I've never tried or have not used in quite a while.  Fast food is convenient for sure but it is not always healthy or gentle on the monthly food budget. So if you have about an hour to spare - you can have pizza at the cost of a few pennies - maybe nickels and dimes.

 

This recipe makes up about one 12-14" crust which is enough for 2-4 people depending on whether you have a pizza monster. A pizza monster is cousin to the cookie monster.

 

Ingredients for the crust can be mixed up in the time it takes your oven to preheat to 425 degrees (give or take depending on how hot/cold your oven runs).

 

1 cup of flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 eggs

2/3 cup of milk

 

I also added 1 tsp. of McCormick Perfect Pinch Garlic & Herb seasoning into the dough mix.

I would think you could substitute a blend of Italian seasonings (rosemary, thyme, basil, etc.) if you did not want just oregano. Experiment.

 

Combine the crust ingredients in a large bowl. The mix will be runny like cake batter so the pan you use must have definite sides. I have a round pizza pan with about a 1/2" lip. If you only have a rectangular cookie sheet - use it.

 

The cookie sheet should be greased and floured.

 

Bake the crust in the oven at 425 degrees on the low rack for 20-30 minutes or until the edges turn brown. You can lift it a little towards the end to make sure you are also getting a nice golden color on the bottom.

 

 The crust will appear bubbly - don't worry about trying to "pop" the bubbles. Once you take it out of the oven to add sauce and cheese, the bubbles will deflate almost entirely.

For the sauce I used what little spaghetti sauce I had left in a jar.  It does not take a lot of sauce. You will want to spread it out to the edge but not all the way to the edge, maybe about 1/4 to 1/2" from the edge. Sprinkle your cheese (your choice) over the sauce and pop back into the oven for about 10-15 minutes on the low rack in the oven. Remove, cut and serve.

 

My oven is sensitive - or rather - my smoke detector is sensitive. So I put my sauced and cheesed pizza on the middle rack for about 8 minutes to melt the cheese. Then I set the oven on broil for about 3 minutes to get the top of the cheese a little golden. If you broil, keep checking on it. It can go from golden to burnt in a matter of seconds.

One additional thing I did to the edge of the crust - I sprinkled garlic powder on the edges before putting it back in the oven. Once it came out with the cheese all gooey and melted, I brushed the edge with butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

 

All in all, the pizza was very tasty.  The crust edges were nice and crispy but the rest was maybe a tad chewy.  This could be a result of baking it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (my oven is not typical).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinnamon Rolls Part Deux

So I thought I would write a follow up post once I tried out the frozen portion of dough.

I seriously think these turned out even better than the ones I baked up over the weekend.

There were a few things I did which may be helpful. First, I took the frozen dough out and put it in the refrigerator for a little while. I was not sure my knife would slice through the frozen dough, so I let it thaw just a little.


When I sliced the dough, I made my slices a little larger, maybe a full inch to inch and a quarter. I put them in the round pan spaced equidistant and then let them sit out for about 10 minutes to let the dough lose a little more of the chill. Then I baked them up at 425 degrees for about 11-13 minutes until they're a little golden brown on the edges and you can smell that cinnamon goodness.

 

I still had some leftover cream cheese frosting in the fridge so I did not have to deal with making more.  The dough and the icing work up so nicely that you could have cinnamon rolls for breakfast during the busy week. Take the dough out the night before so all you have to do in the morning is slice, rest and bake!

Something hot, fresh and homemade for you, your family or take them in to the office for your coworkers!

Cinnamon Rolls!!!

Who wants cinnamon rolls?  

Cinnamon rolls that can give Cinnabon a run for their money?

 

Cinnamon rolls that you can freeze the dough and bake up only what you need?

 

Have I got a recipe for you!

 

I've had this recipe for a few decades since my freshman year in Home Economics and have only baked these a handful of times. 

 

This past weekend I made some and they turned out better than I remember.

The ingredients you will need for the dough:

 

1 package of yeast (I used rapid rise)   1 tsp. salt

¼ Cup warm water                             ½ Cup of shortening

2 ½ Cups of flour                                1 Cup of buttermilk

1/3 Cup of sugar                                ¼ Cup melted butter

1 TBSP baking powder          1 Cup brown sugar (I used dark)

½ tsp. baking soda                              1 TBSP cinnamon

 

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let proof.

• Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender and cut in shortening.

• Add buttermilk and yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring with a fork until well blended.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.

• Put on a floured surface/board and knead – sprinkle more flour if dough is sticky.

• Roll dough out to a 12x18 rectangle and baste top with the melted butter.

• Sprinkle with the brown sugar & cinnamon mix, covering to the edges.

• Roll the dough in a jelly roll fashion from the longest edge (18” side) and wrap in cling wrap.

• Let the dough rest/chill for a little while in the refrigerator so it will firm up a little before slicing.

• Slice into 1” and place on baking sheet or in a round pan.

• Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes  (every oven is different – so adjust accordingly)

This should yield about 1 ½ dozens.

Since I’m single and I do not want to bake up all the rolls at once, I sliced off enough to fit in a round pan with about ½ inch between rolls so they have room to expand (and they will expand). The rest of the log I wrapped back up, put in a freezer Ziploc bag and placed in the freezer.

 

The cream cheese frosting is made up from 4 ingredients and very easy to whip up: softened cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla and confectioners sugar.

 

For an 8oz. package of cream cheese, it calls for 1/2 Cup of butter, 2-3 cups of confectioners (powdered) sugar and 1 tsp. of vanilla.

 

To make a smaller batch of frosting, use 2-3 oz. of cream cheese, 2-3 TBSP of butter, 1/4 tsp vanilla and powdered sugar. I think I used about 1/2 cup.

 

• Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature so it is easier to cream together (with either a fork or a mixer).
• Add vanilla
• Add enough powdered sugar so that the frosting is not runny but is also not stiff. I may have added about ½ cup or so.
• You will want to frost the cinnamon rolls after they’ve had a chance to cool quite a bit but are still a touch warm. The frosting will melt a little but not much – we like this. We like this a lot.
   
  
   
   

 



When you want to bake up the frozen dough you will want to let the dough thaw a little bit. It may be easier to cut the dough frozen and then place on a baking sheet or round pan to thaw for about 15-20 minutes and then bake as directed.

 

 

Seasons of the Unemployed.

So, I’ve been in the search for a new job now for almost two months. This season has been a little frustrating in part because I do not have graduate school to keep me fully occupied as I did over a year ago when I was in the same boat.  

To keep myself occupied while I search, I’ve brought my plants back from the brink of certain death.  I now have an explosion of Snapdragon sprouts and not enough containers as they grow. Anyone care to adopt several?

       

I’ve worked on several knit and crochet projects, designed a couple of scarves and done a little painting. In addition to all the crafting and gardening I’ve had time for a little more baking. This week I made cinnamon rolls with a cream cheese frosting that can give Cinnabon a run for their money. That will be in my next post.

I do not think I will retire. Ever. I like being busy, having some semblance of structure or routine. I manage time more wisely when life is somewhat hectic (not stressful, mind you). Is this a season I need to learn how to manage my time while there are absolutely NO demands on it from other sources?  Maybe it's time to get more serious about writing. Maybe it is a whole lot of things both internally and externally that need to shift in this downtime.

 

 

I love this spicy peanut sauce.  It is super easy to make and requires NO cooking!! It is also vegan friendly.

 

You can serve it as a dip with chicken satay (or other dipping items) and as a sauce over pasta.

I like to increase the recipe so it's a quick go-to when you want a break from regular spaghetti. Grab some vegetables to sauté or stir-fry, boil some pasta, heat up the sauce and toss it all together!

 

1/3 c. hot water

1/3 c. peanut butter

2 tsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

2 cloves crushed (or minced) garlic

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 scallions, finely chopped

 

Combine all the ingredients, adding the hot water last, and whisk until the peanut butter is completely incorporated.  Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

 

Fear the Spear

Sports Illustrated has ranked Chief Osceola and Renegade as the #1 mascot in all college football and I may be biased as an alumna of Florida State University, but I have to agree.

 

The tradition at Florida State University of Chief Osceola planting his spear into the ground on home games started in 1978 and may have its origins from an old Florida legend.

 

  

Legend that suggests Osceola stabbed a treaty with his hunting knife as a declaration of war against the US government when they were attempting the removal of Indians from Florida. There is not a record of this actually happening although there are drawings depicting the incident.

 

 

 

In 1835 the ambush and murder of an important chief, Charley Emaltha, was attributed to Osceola and a band of Mikasukis. They would be suspected in future events for any acts of violence not easily explained. And this is how legends get started.  

 

So the next time you catch an FSU home game whether it be on TV or live at Doak Campbell Stadium, just remember when Chief Osceola plants the spear on Bobby Bowden Field, the Seminoles are declaring war on their opponent.

 

GO SEMINOLES!!

 

** I am not a historian but the legend does put an interesting twist on the FSU tradition. **

 

 

 

The Unmarked Path

"Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip." Psalm 17:5

I recently spent a weekend out in the wilderness and desert of Joshua Tree National Park for a class in my Masters program. I really did not know what to expect other than some generalized statements about activities like hiking, rock climbing, and rappelling.


I'm use to hiking trails being marked out by color for distance or degree of difficulty. We started out on a sandy trail a little ways from the rocks and I thought that was all the hike was going to be. Then we started to climb over some rocks. The people who were ahead kept going higher and sometimes disappeared from sight. Every time we reached a flat area, the guides took us higher. I kept saying "Are you serious?!".


There were many places where I needed assistance from one of the guys to help me get up to the next boulder. It wasn't apparent as we were climbing just how high we were going because we could not see the end point. Going up was quite a challenge but coming back down was even more of a challenge. From this perspective you could now see how steep the climb was. Many times I wondered if I was really going down the same boulders I just climbed moments earlier because they looked so different.


My assumptions about the hike are much like how we want life to be. We want the path we are supposed to take clearly marked so we know just how far we're going and how difficult (or easy) it will be to finish. But God leads us up an unmarked path where we can only see the few steps ahead so that we have to rely on Him, have faith, and not be able to rely on our own strength or ability to reason.