Mandy and Jace

I was amazed at how easy this recipe was. I was kind of nervous to make this because I have never made any kind of dough or bread before but it was so easy that I’m ready to take on more. This recipe made enough dough to cut it in half and make one thin crust pizza and freeze the rest for later. Half of the dough was more than enough for the two of us but if you’re serving a family you will probably need to use the whole thing. I found this recipe on a website called cozy kitchen.

First, mix the warm water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl until the yeast is dissolved. Then, let it sit for 10 minutes to let the yeast activate. Add the olive oil, and honey and stir until the honey dissolves. Add the flour and salt.

Mix until a dough ball forms.

Pour the dough out onto a floured, flat surface and knead the dough into a smooth ball.

Place the kneaded dough into a GREASED bowl, (I forgot to grease mine and it was a pain to get out) cover with a damp towel, and put it in a warm place for 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.

Turn the dough onto a floured flat surface and roll it out to your desired thickness and size.

Then put it on a sheet pan or pizza stone and top with whatever your heart desires.

Pizza dough
adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 packet dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the warm water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl until the yeast is dissolved. Then let it sit for 10 minutes to let the yeast activate. Add the olive oil, and honey and stir until the honey dissolves. Add the flour and salt. Mix until a dough ball forms.
Pour the dough out onto a floured, flat surface and knead the dough into a smooth ball. Place the kneaded dough into a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and put it in a warm place for 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
Turn the dough onto a floured flat surface and roll it out to your desired thickness and size. Transfer the dough to a sheet pan or pizza stone and top with desired toppings.

We had a great Christmas this year! Jace and I take turns every year on who’s family we spend Christmas with and this year was my families turn. So we stayed here in Midland. This was our second Christmas as a married couple and we wanted to have a special day just for ourselves, so on Christmas eve we slept in and had a day to do what we wanted. We got up late and made breakfast burritos for brunch then watched movies and relaxed all day. You know it’s a good day when you don’t get out of your pajamas!
Christmas day we got up and made our tasty turkey. I love our turkey! It is the juiciest, tastiest turkey you have ever tasted.

After the turkey was ready we went to my parents house for lunch and gifts. Lunch was amazing and I ate more starch than I’ve eaten in about 6 months and I think I gained all twelve pounds that I’ve lost back but it was SO good. Next was gifts and there were a mountain of them to open.

My favorite gift was our new macbook pro, in which Jace promply whisked away, opened it up and worked his magic to make it a MEGA MACHINE.

After we opened gifts we all went to see Sherlock Holmes and then Jace and I went home. We had great plans to have a romantic steak dinner that evening but we were so stuffed from lunch and popcorn at the movies that we just had leftovers.

Now all the decorations are put up for the year and I am back on my diet, but I have wonderful memories of this Christmas that will last a lifetime. You can see the rest of our photos here.

Can you believe this year is almost over? It seems like just yesterday we were toasting to 2009. It has been a great year and I’m excited to see what’s to come in 2010.

I think we are almost back on a normal eating schedule, finally. Here’s what I have planned for this week.
Tonight: cheese steak sandwiches
Tuesday: Sautéed chicken with pasta and marinara sauce
Wednesday: Clean out the fridge night! Eat whatever you can find that’s still good.
Thursday: Not sure yet. It depends on how long it takes us to close the books at my work.

That’s as far as I’ve got. Hope you all have a great week and be safe on New Year’s!

Happy eating!

I just realized it is Tuesday and I was going to do this yesterday but I suddenly became very sick and couldn’t get off the couch to even get my laptop much less put a couple of words together and write a post. No, yesterday was not a fun day and I don’t recommend anyone getting a stomach bug the week of Christmas. I was met a work this morning by cakes and doughnuts and everything my stomach needs to revolt against me. But, I am feeling much better today and hopefully by tomorrow I can enjoy all of the amazing Christmas goodies we are going to have.
I don’t have much of a meal plan this week because we do have several more Christmas and birthday parties but here’s what i’ve got.

Tuesday: big, fat hand crafted hamburgers and sweet potato fries for Jace and whatever my stomach will allow me to eat.
Wednesday: out to dinner for dad’s birthday
Thursday: grilled chicken and mashed potatoes
Friday: Christmas!

We are making the turkey this year and I’m so excited. Our turkey should win awards if you ask me. I am also making my first pumpkin pie. I will be sure to take lots of photos and put them up if it turns out ok. If you don’t see photos then you will know that it went very badly and I don’t want to talk about pumpkin pie ever again.

Also, Saturday I made pizza dough from scratch and it was so good. I’ll get that recipe up very soon.

Happy eating!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the meal planning posts will probably be pretty light until after the first of the year. We have so much going on with parties and dinners that we probably won’t be eating at home very much this month. I don’t really mind though because that means we will be spending time with our wonderful friends and family. I will still post some photos and a few recipes though, so don’t stop checking in.