Pizza Night

Friday nights are typically pizza nights at our house. This is the recipe I've been using lately because it's so quick and easy (and tasty!). (Adapted from America's Test Kitchen)

Crust:

2 1/3 c. all-purpose four (or a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flours)

½ t. salt

1 pkg. instant yeast (2 ¼ t.)

¾ c. warm skim milk

2 T. olive oil

2 t. sugar

Heat oven to 200 degrees F, then turn off.

Mix flour, salt, and yeast in bowl of mixer.  Combine warm milk, olive oil, and sugar and add to dry ingredients with mixer on low speed.   Increase speed to medium-slow and knead till smooth and shiny.  Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl.  Cover and proof in warm oven (turned off) for 30 minutes.

When dough has risen 30 minutes, remove from oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Sauce:

1 T. olive (or canola) oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

While dough is rising, add minced garlic to olive oil in cold pan.  Cook on low 2 minutes.  Stir in crushed tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 15-30 minutes, until thickened.

Pizza:

4-6 T. olive oil, for pans

4 oz. pepperoni

3 c. mozzarella cheese

Place 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil in each of two 9” round cake pans with 2” sides.  Divide dough in two.  Roll a piece of dough into a 7” circle.  Drape on knuckles and gently pull into a bigger circle of dough that is thinner in the center than the edges, about 9 ½ “.  Place in one oiled pan.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Cover pans and let dough rise a bit.

Working in batches if necessary, pre-cook about 4 oz. pepperoni (20-25 slices per pizza) in microwave, placing slices on a plate between paper towels, for 30 seconds.

For each pizza, spread 2/3 c. sauce within ½” of edge of crust (freeze leftover sauce for later).  Top sauce with 1 ½ c. mozzarella cheese and half of the pepperoni.

Bake  in preheated oven for 20 minutes.  (Bake on bottom rack for a darker, crispier crust.)  Cool in pan 1 minute then remove pizzas to a wire rack to cool further.  Slice and serve.

The Help

In an effort to have a whine-free dinner, I told Benjamin he could help me make a dinner of his choosing.  I can't say for certain that it was whine-free, but I think he enjoyed helping me make the sauce for our spaghetti.  Of course Rhett and Lucy couldn't be left out of the action.

Bathtub Art

 With a forecast of major snow heading our way, Paul opted to take our 4-wheel-drive vehicle to work, just in case.  Since that's the car I usually drive the boys' car seats were inside, leaving us home bound for the day.  Something I really need to work on is being more creative with activities for the boys at home.  I too often fall back on PBS Kids games online for lack of better ideas.  But knowing we'd be home all day, and also that I couldn't remember the last time either child was bathed, I pulled this idea out of the cache in my brain (and my crafty bookmarks folder) and tried it out.  It was an overall success, but I'll tweak the recipe next time.

 

Can you tell what the boys' favorite colors are?

Cleanup was simple (even though I still had to do most of it) and even left the tub a bit cleaner than before (definitely a plus).

The basic recipe in the link is this:  Mix 2 T. cornstarch and 1/4 c. liquid dish soap with a few drops of food coloring until smooth.  Then add 2-3 T. water and start painting.  Next time I'll leave out the water so the paint stays on the walls, or add only a tiny amount if it needs it.

Suggestions for other indoor (hopefully non-messy/non-baking) activities would be greatly appreciated!  (I have come to just admit the fact that I have almost zero patience for cooking with small children.  Maybe I'll be better when they're 12.)

Celebrating the 4th (on the 3rd)

We have some serious July catch-up to do.  I guess it has been a busier-than-usual month for us.

For starters, we had a little 4th of July get-together at our house on the day before the actual holiday.  Our friends Nate and Cassie Katschke and Andrew and Jennilyn Hall came over with their kids (5.9 in all, plus our 2) for some hot dogs and other good summertime food.  I think we all had a good time in spite of the blazing sun (which we worried wouldn't show up until about an hour before the party when the clouds finally parted).

Our menu included homemade root beer, which is something of a tradition in the Duersch family for holidays like this one.  If you haven't tried it, you should so it sometime in your life (or sometime this summer) because it's super easy and a fun addition to a picnic.  You can get root beer concentrate at the grocery store (I remember the stores in Utah being loaded with the stuff during the summer), but don't worry about the instructions on the box.  Do this instead:

In a 5-gallon water jug mix about 2.5 gallons water, 5 lbs. sugar, and root beer concentrate.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Then start adding about 5 lbs. of dry ice to the jug.  Ultimately you want to add another 2.5 gallons of water, but we've learned (and re-learned) over the years that if you add all the water at once the dry ice action causes major spillage over the top.  So let the dry ice do its thing before you add the rest of the water.  Pretty soon, with the dry ice bubbling away, you'll end up with nice, cold, fizzy root beer!

A few tips:

If you forget to add the sugar and try to add it after the dry ice, it will make your root beer go flat.

Don't put the lid on all the way unless you're looking to make a dry ice-root beer bomb.

If you can, use a really long spoon to stir it a bit so the dry ice doesn't clog up the dispensing spout (this happens to us all the time).

Have some empty, clean soda bottles handy to fill with leftover root beer that you can send home with people.  Five gallons of root beer is a lot.

We also brought out the bocce set and had a fun time with that.  The boys especially, as evidenced here.

We had homemade strawberry and vanilla ice creams as well.

And the Halls so kindly supplied the fireworks.  Some kids were less thrilled than others with the show (ahem, Rhett), but it was definitely fun.

We're so glad to have such great friends and even more grateful for the awesome country we live in.

Playing catch-up: Paul's birthday

Paul's 27th birthday was May 1. He got this awesome, handy, pain-in-the-neck-to-put-together wheelbarrow. The boys had endless fun riding in it, despite their sober expressions. (Paul is fielding birthday phone calls.)



Paul requests carrot cake for his birthday every year. My latest go-to carrot cake recipe is this one from the Pioneer Woman. I make some changes to it, so here is my version.

Carrot Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
(I bet some whole wheat flour would work well in this)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups finely grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans. I like to cut circles of wax paper the same size as the pans and stick them in the bottom after I grease it. Then I grease the wax paper and flour the whole thing. Do this, and you'll never tear out the bottom of your cake again when you try to get it out of the pan.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil, applesauce and eggs. In another bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in carrots. Pour into pans and bake for 25-30 minutes (possibly a little longer).

The original recipe didn't list a temperature or very specific cooking times, so I've tried to write down the times as I've made the recipe on different occasions. I think 25-30 minutes is pretty accurate for the 9-inch rounds, and 24 minutes worked well for cupcakes (this recipe makes about 2 dozen). If I remember right an 8-inch square pan (1/2 the batter) baked for 30 minutes or so, give or take. Hope that helps if you decide to try it!

This recipe turns out a light, moist, totally delicious cake, unlike some that are heavy with oil.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 pound powdered sugar (4-4 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, then beat in powdered sugar. Frost cake when it has cooled completely.

After trying this for the first time, Paul commented on how perfect the frosting was, hinting that this is how I should make it all the time in the future.

Making and Baking for Christmas

Things are busy at our house these days. I know we're not unique. I'm sure some people would roll their eyes at our busyness. Mostly my mind feels busy as I try to make sure I don't forget anything.

I've been sort of checking things off of a mental list (which really isn't a list at all, but just a mess of things I try to get done as I think of them, while trying to finish the thing I thought of before that, and the thing I forgot about yesterday).

First, sew Christmas stockings.

I wanted to make stockings last year. We decided they would be more meaningful (and cheaper) than if we bought one for each potential member of our family (I like uniformity in my stockings). But I was still a major sewing novice last Christmas and I had no real idea how to make stockings, and only a vague idea of what I wanted them to look like. I stressed over it for a while, and almost tried to just do it, but didn't because I didn't want to waste time, or the fabric I had carefully picked out, on stockings I would hate. I wanted to have a plan. I wanted to know that they would be just the stockings I would want to hang up every Christmas for the rest of my life.

I'm glad I waited because in the past year I have graduated from "sewing novice" to "fairly confident sewer," thanks to the help and tutelage of some very sewing-savvy ladies (Terri Booth and Melissa Jensen in particular), a myriad of ideas and tutorials on the internet (my favorite blogging sewer is Dana of Made), and a good deal of practice.

So having learned some basic principles of constructing things out of fabric and thread in the past year, I set out this week to make our family's Christmas stockings. I traced one of our old $1 stockings from the Christmas after we were married to get the shape I wanted, narrowed it a bit (less stocking to stuff), and got to work using the instructions from a stocking pattern book I got from the library. I do want to say, though, that even though I used the instructions, I could have done without them thanks to the things I learned this year from doing other projects.

So here they are, the first four stockings. Call me traditional, call me boring, whatever you want. I know these look just like a hundred other red and white, furry-cuffed stockings out there. But I have never been one who could embrace the latest decorating trend knowing that it will be out of style in a few years. (Hence, why there aren't many decorations in our house. Yet.) There are lots of cute ideas and things out there, but I'm not going to invest our money in it only to have to buy or make the newest fashion next year. I want to love it and want to keep it forever before I buy it. So that's why I went with these stockings. And also because the red and white, furry kind is what I grew up with. Basic. Traditional. Not trendy, but something that should stand the test of time.

They're made out of wool felt and some sort of silky, velvety faux fur, and lined with this "believe" fabric, which I really like. If anyone reading this wants some good instructions for making a cuffed and lined stocking like this, I'd be happy to pass them along. It was really pretty easy. Although I did have to rip out part of the seam and re-attach the loop on every single one, not matter how hard I tried to get it right the first time.

If you've read this far, I'm impressed.

Another thing to check off the mental list was the Relief Society Christmas celebration and cookie exchange.

I decided to make some cookies that we always made at Christmas time when I was growing up. We never had them any other time of year, and I can't remember a year when we didn't make them back home. I haven't made them for myself for a couple of years because Paul told me that they were "not his favorite" (code for "I don't really like them"). The RS cookie exchanged seemed like a perfect reason to make them again.

I made them Wednesday in preparation for the activity on Thursday. Twenty-five cookies total, and I only needed to bring twenty-four. Perfect! I could eat number twenty-five and take the other two dozen to the party. I could enjoy my cookie, and Paul wouldn't have to have any.

We were about to sit down to dinner on Wednesday evening after Paul came home from work. I happened to glance to where I had left the cookies on top of the washing machine and noticed a hole in the middle of the group!

Lovey! Did you sniggle a cookie?!

Maybe...

You only took one, right? (As I'm thinking to myself, "That was my cookie!)

(Long pause)

You took two??

(Guilty face)

Ah! I'm supposed to take twenty-four cookies, and now there are only twenty-three! Now I have to make a whole new batch! (All in a very lovingly frustrated voice.)

So of course I had to go to the store to buy the one ingredient I had used up in making the first batch. But I got to have more than one of a memory-laden cookie, and now I know that Paul does like them! (But only at Christmas time, he says. Which is fine because that's when you're supposed to make them.)

Butter Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/8 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 Tablespoon anise extract
2 1/8 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/6 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
whole cloves
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Beat butter with sugar until fluffy in a large bowl. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, and anise. Sift flour and baking powder into butter-sugar mixture; stir until well blended. Stir in almonds and chill 1 hour.

Shape into 1" balls using about 1 Tablespoon dough for each cookie. (If dough sticks, lightly flour palms of hands.) Stud each cookie with a single clove. Arrange on ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart. Bake in 350 degree oven 15 minutes or until cookies are a very light sand color. Remove from oven and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar while hot. Remove carefully from cookie sheet with spatula.

Makes about two dozen cookies. Or less if your husband is a sniggler.

Sugar Cookie Sniggler

A couple of weeks ago I made some sugar cookies to take to a baby shower. Of course, both boys were eager to sample what was being made. Rhett was a bit more persistent than Benjamin, though. It didn't take long for him to discover the powdered sugar goodness coating my work surface.


A few people at the shower asked for the recipe, so here it is. I found out last weekend that the recipe comes from my mother-in-law's college roommate. Not that you need to know that, but I've been wondering myself.

Kathy's Soft Sugar Cookies

2/3 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. milk
3 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Dissolve baking soda in milk and blend. Add vanilla. Sit flour and salt; add gradually to mixture. Chill. Roll about 1/8" thick and bake on a greased cookie sheet @ 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The dough is very sticky, so sometimes I add a tiny bit more flour, but mostly it's important to chill it for a long time. Mine was in the fridge for several hours (or maybe overnight, I can't remember). Then I roll it out on powdered sugar. This time I also tried keeping the cut-out cookies in the fridge for a few minutes, and I think that helped them keep their shape in the oven. Oh, and I do mine a little thicker than 1/8".

Creamy White Frosting
(From Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1 c. shortening
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. lemon, orange, or almond extract (I used almond)
4 1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar (about 1 pound)
3 to 4 T. milk

In a medium mixing bowl beat shortening, vanilla, and extract with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Slowly add half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar and enough remaining milk to reach spreading consistency.

When I used this for Benjamin's birthday cake I used 1/2 c. margarine and 1/2 c. shortening. For the cookies I used 1 c. butter. I liked both ways, and I think both would be better than just shortening. I frosted 30-35 cookies (about 4") with this recipe.