2/26/07

Sick/Snow Day




I did not go to work today because Anthony has been throwing up. (Also, I have no cooking to report on because I had stomach flu all weekend as well.)

So I let Abigail and Andrew enjoy the freshly fallen snow. They thought it was fun making snow angels because they have never made these before. (Poor, sick Anthony is sleeping and could not enjoy the new snow.)

2/23/07

Pizza


Pizza Tips:

Use unbleached all-purpose flour (this makes it more stretchy and makes the crust chewy, yet, soft)

I like to make the pizza dough 2-3 days before I make pizza and keep it in the fridge. This give the dough a nice flavor.

1 lb flour, 1 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp yeast, approx 10 oz. water - Form in cuisinart and then let rise 2-3 hours. Punch down and store a large tupperware bowl to allow for expansion. I also place a small amount of plastic wrap directly on the dough even though you use a lid, so that a crust does not form.

If you use the refrigerator method, divide the dough in thirds when you take it out of the fridge and push down slightly on a floured surface. Cover. Let rest and come closer to room temp before stretching/forming. (30 min)

Work with a smaller pizza - the pizzas above are about 10-11 inches diameter. I made three of these with one pizza dough recipe (1 lb of flour) If your pizza is smaller it will be easier to form and transfer into the oven.

Don't overload with toppings - too many toppings=soggy crust.

Use a mix of cheeses - today I used Mozz (mostly), then on top of the toppings I sprinkled Romano and Asiago. Parmesan is also good. Suz premixes all of her cheeses and uses her 4-cheese blend for all Italian cooking.

Both flour and cornmeal on the peal will help the pizza slide onto the stone.

Oven needs to be at 500 degrees - preheat with the stone in for at least 45 min. Don not take the stone out of the oven.

Place end of peel towards back of stone and very slowly and gently wiggle the pizza off. (That way your toppings won't all fall off and get burned on the pizza stone.)

After you remove your pizza from the oven with the peel - transfer immediately to a cooling rack. This will help the bottom crust to stay crisp and not get soggy.


Here is the Pizza Sauce recipe:

14 oz. diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 T. oil

1 t. salt

½ t. basil

1 T. brown sugar

½ t. marjoram

½ t. thyme

½ t. oregano

¼ t. garlic powder

Blend in cuisinart
If you double this, you'll have to use a blender or vitamix - this is too much liquid for the cuisinart, unless you do two batches.

Simmer about 20 minutes on low to enhance flavor.

I always double this amount and divide the whole thing into thirds. If you double it, then 1/3 of the doubled recipe is about perfect for a regular batch of pizza 2-3 pizzas. I freeze the other two portions separately to use the next two times I make pizza.

I go this recipe originally from Alison, who got it from Emily (i think). The original recipe did not contain sugar and did not say anything about simmering. Suz was the first to add sugar to make the sauce a little sweeter like Little Ceasers. Last year, I came accross this same recipe (almost exactly) in a Top Secret Recipe Cookbook for a clone of Little Ceasers Pizza Sauce. That is where I got the idea to simmer the sauce for better flavor

I was thinking it might be nice to make a big batch of pizza seasoning: equal portions of basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, 1/2 portion of garlic powder, and double portion of salt. you could add sugar to this, too, but not brown. Then when you go to make pizza sauce, you would just add 1 Tbsp + 1/4 tsp of the mix to one can of tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 T. sugar and 1 T. olive oil.

What do you think?

2/22/07

Anthony


Anthony is 17 months old. He is very funny and keeps us busy. Today he was very quiet for a long time and I found him re-arranging the pantry and he had dumped out half a box of potato flakes. He is beginning to talk a lot. He loves his daddy best, but he likes to call Daddy, Mommy. Anthony is the biggest BYU fan in the family. One of his first words was football and he walks around the house clapping his hands and begging us to sing the fight song. He likes to wave his fist and say "Ra, ra, ra, ra, ra." He loves his big brother and sister and follows them all over. He is finally feeling ok after about a week of feeling awful with an ear infection. : (

Andrew


Andrew is 2 years old and is always very busy doing something. He loves to help mom with with whatever projects she is working on, especially making chocolate chip bagels. He is just starting to go pee on the toilet - a fact he is very proud of (but we'll probably wait until summer to fully graduate him to big-boy underwear.) He just barely got rid of his beloved binkies by stuffing them into a cute monkey at the BuildaBear Workshop. He was so cute and excited to do that. Andrew loves batman, spiderman, buzz lightyear, and BYU football and basketball.

Abby


Abby is such a sweetheart. She is very smart and thoughtful. Although she may seem shy at first, she is a very sweet and her cousins and friends that know her well love to be around her. She has an amazing imagination and can keep herself easily entertained even if she has to play with her fingers and pretend they are a family. Abigail is in preschool and dance. She loves both. She loves her little brothers and is very protective of them.

Hello

Welcome to my blog, bloggers!

Lets hope I find time to keep this up.

Here is our most recent picture from our fun California trip.