Pumpkin Patch Time!

Here we are at the pumpkin patch for the year. We had such a great time. We went to a new one for us this year in Mesa. They had a bounce house, a tractor pull along train, and some mega-bikes that you pedal. Noah loved those, and I was so impressed that he could even reach the pedal. And they were really heavy too. He's now my little super hero. I couldn't get Hannah out of the bounce house, even when Noah tackled her down with a WWF move! And before we left, Noah got to pick out a giant pumpkin to take home.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Here it is - my most favorite pizza recipe ever. It's a Bosch cookbook recipe, but if you don't have a Bosch mixer, you can half the recipe and use your kitchen aid. You might have to knead the dough longer. It keeps for about a week in a greased ziplock, and I take out small handfuls to make my piadini's. Let me know your pizza experiences with this recipe.  Oh, and it makes fabulous breadsticks too.

Pizza Dough
3 cups hot water (115 degrees)
2 Tbsp honey
6-8 cups wheat or white flour.
1 Tbsp Saf yeast
1 Tbsp salt

Put water, honey and 3 cups of flour in mixer bowl. Mix until paste consistency. Add yeast and salt. Add additional flour quickly 1 cup at a time only until mixture pulls away from sides of bowl. You may not need to add entire amount of flour.

If using all white flour, knead 5 min. If half white half wheat flour, knead 8 min. if all wheat flour, knead 10 mins.

Roll out dough and bake at 500 degrees.




Breadsticks
Pinch off dough and roll into rectangle. Cut into wide strips. Place on greased or parchment paper coverd pan. Allow to rise until double in size. Bake at 500 degrees for about 7 mins until lightly browned. Melt butter and garlic and brush on tops of cooked bread sticks. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. YUM. 

Piadini - what is that, you say?

Delicious, is what it is! I think it’s Italian. Ask any of my college friends, and they will know exactly what it is. :) One of my favorite lunches I make often at home. I love to make home made pizza dough in my Bosch mixer. The best mixer I've ever owned. I keep what I don't use in a zip lock in the fridge and just grab a small handful of dough for lunch. I roll it out and grill it on my grill pan on my gas stove with just a spray or coat of olive oil, I also like to sprinkle a little garlic powder and some shredded mozz or parm cheese on the top of the pizza. I don't grill it until it's stiff and crispy, just a bit so I can still fold it. Then I make a mixed greens salad with balsamic and olive oil. Then when the dough is done, I top my pizza break with my salad, add some tomatoes and some more parm cheese on top. Then I fold and eat! YUM! If any one is interested in the pizza dough recipe, let me know. You can even use Trader Joe's pizza dough.

Camping Season OPEN!

I'm back....blogging that is.. :)
We just went camping for the first time as a family this past weekend. What a great time we all had. We were cold at night, muddy and dirty in the day time, wet from the pouring rain! But what a wonderful time we had. No arguing, or fighting with the kids, and no complaining either. Food was great too. Nice and smokey from the fire. Can't wait to go again. We'd do it all over again next weekend if we could. :) Maybe we will. Here are a couple pictures.

There was a dinoasur heading toward our camp. Rarrr! (what's that smudge spot on the photo, you ask? yes, that's probably from Hannah licking the lense when I wasn't looking)

The boys playing a nice game of "bones".

The girls playing nicely. Get her, Hannah!

 Drying the chairs off after our mega rain storm.

Cheeeeeese!

Hannah going to fetch some water?!? :)

Stirring the fire! That pesky dinosaur came wandering back into camp again.

Buckle up - it's going to be a long day!

I don't need no marshmallows!

out of date~

yes, we are out of date on our blog! i will blog very soon about our recent family events.
one that i can mention now is that Noah is finally, yes FINALLY using the potty! so in celebration, I'm going to throw him a "potty party" - birthday cake and all. :) party TBA.

Gingerbread House -Family Magic!

Last night Brad and Noah constructed our, first-time-ever, family gingerbread house. We bought the kit from Trader Joe's. Brad, the engineer, put the walls together, then Noah added the decorations, with the help from Brad and the picture on the front of the box. Then i did all the "fancy" icicle work. I think Hannah wanted in on some of the action too, but she didn't get too far. We had a lot of fun playing with our food. Everyone should do one of these with their kids!
Ta-Da!

Breakfast Tofu Scramble Recipe

I love using tofu in my cooking. One of my favorite recipes is my breakfast tofu scramble. This is how it goes. I use a seasoning blend from my favorite store called "21 Seasoning Salute". You can also add eggs. But then it wouldn't be vegan anymore.

Ingredients:
Tofu - Firm style
Onions - diced small
Turmeric spice - enough to make the scramble yellow
Salt & pepper - to taste
21 Seasoning Salute - to taste

Directions:
First I chop up some onions and get them in the pan with some coconut oil. You can use any oil you like. When the onions are soft i add the tofu. In a separate bowl I mash or crumble the tofu and place in the pan with the onions. I then add the turmeric and mix it up really good so that the turmeric gets cooked through and the tofu is heated. Add salt, pepper and seasoning blend, if you prefer. I often like to eat it with fresh avocado and sliced tomatoes. Enjoy!