easy and healthy homemade pizza dough

I just have to share with you my homemade pizza dough recipe and the trick I recently learned to make it even easier.

I found this pizza dough recipe back in college when I started trying to eat healthier and in the years since we have made many, many pizzas using this recipe.

All you need is flour (we use white whole wheat flour), yeast (I’ve used all kinds and it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s rapid rise, specifically for pizza, etc.), water, salt (although I can’t even tell a difference when we don’t use it), and oil (the recipe says olive oil but you can use whatever).

ingredients

Dissolve the yeast into water.

Add oil and salt.

Add flour.   Mix.

Up until a year ago, we would then have to just plunge our hands in and mix and knead the dough until it was all mixed in.  This was an effective, although somewhat messy and time consuming, method.  Last year for Christmas I got my fabulous pink KitchenAid mixer.  It came with a bread dough hook so the next time we made pizza dough we decided to try it out.  Wow.  That thing is like magic!  You just put in the flour, fire up the mixer, walk away, and let it do it’s thing.  About two minutes later, your dough is done!  Amazing.  I know today is not Works for me Wednesday, but using the KitchenAid to mix my bread dough definitely works for me.

Anyway once the mixer is done mixing the dough, or you are done mixing the dough if you did it by hand, cover it and let it sit for about five minutes.

Spread a little oil on your pan and lightly cover with flour.

Spread your dough out on the pan.  This takes a little time so be patient.  Ignore my crazy veiny hands.

Then just top with your desired toppings, cook, and enjoy!  Tonight my side had mozzarella cheese, green pepper, and banana pepper.  Michael’s side had mozzarella cheese, colby jack cheese, bacon, and green pepper.  We use Ragu pizza sauce.

Recipe:

3 – 3.5 cups flour (mine usually takes about 3 cups, but it varies)

1 package yeast

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

1 TBS olive oil (or any oil, I used canola)

Dissolve the yeast in the water.  Add the other ingredients.  Add enough flour to make a soft dough (you want your dough not to be sticky to the touch).  Knead for about 5 minutes.  Cover and let rest 5 minutes.  Lightly oil one 14 inch pizza pan or two 13 inch pizza pans (I just use a cookie sheet).  Sprinkle with flour.  Form dough in a smooth ball and roll out or pat with your hands to fit the pan.  Spoon on sauce and add toppings.

The recipe says to bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned, but we’ve found that baking at 350 for about 30 minutes makes a perfect (for us) pizza.

Another fun trick is to get disposable pie plates and let everyone make their own little personal pizzas.  Just make the dough as usual but let each person spread it in their pan, put on their desired toppings, and bake.  We did this once with some friends and it worked really well.

speaking of purses

Yesterday I showed you my very first sewing project, which happened to be a purse.

As much fun as it was to make and as proud of it as I am, this can’t be my everyday purse – it just isn’t big enough.  For the past almost two years, this purse has been my everyday purse.

I adore this purse.  I bought it at the Coach outlet store two Christmases ago and I’ve carried it ever since.  It holds tons of stuff and I love that.  The fact that it is pink doesn’t hurt at all either.

In either my Glamour or Marie Claire magazines they always feature a celebrity and show what all is in her purse.  I think it is so fun to see what other people carry around so I’m going to do the same.

All this stuff is usually inside my purse.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we…

bajillions of pens, markers, and pencils and my iPhone headphones

camera case (usually with camera in it, but obviously not right now since I was taking the picture!), Love Spell lotion, and a black raspberry vanilla lotion bar

Love Spell is the lotion and perfume I have worn since high school; it’s my favorite scent and I love it.  The lotion bar is by Jordan Essentials and I bought it at The Christmas Sampler in Springfield last year; it looks like a bar of soap and you rub your hand over it like you would soap but it’s actually lotion.  It makes your hands really soft.

gum, USB drive, bobby pins, hairbrush/mirror, post it notes, one earring (who knows where the other one is?), and chapstick – I usually use Burt’s Bees but I ran out recently and I had gotten this one as a free sample so I’m using it for now

bag of beauty products – hand sanitizer, Tide to Go pen (I’m so messy!), lots of lipsticks and lipglosses (my main lipstick right now is a free sample of Clinique’s different lipstick in Think Bronze and my main lip gloss is Bath and Body Works Mentha Lip Tint in Rose Shimmer), emergency eyeliner, bug bite medicine, ponytail holders, and tweezers (I’m a little obsessive with eyebrow plucking) – ya know, the basics

iPhone, a puzzle game, checkbook, notebook (where I write down ideas for my blog posts), nail clipper set, and sunglasses (for my poor little sensitive eyes)

Vera Bradley wallet, calendar, and way too many receipts, papers, and cards

Like I said before, I absolutely love this purse and would carry it forever if I could.  Unfortunately it is starting to show its age and it’s looking a little dingy, especially on the handles.  If anyone knows a safe way to clean my purse I would love to hear it!

Therefore, meet my new purse

I didn’t know it was possible, but I think it’s actually bigger than my pink purse (yay – more room for more stuff!).

I knew it was probably time for a new purse but I just wasn’t ready to give up ‘ole pinky or start looking for something new.  However, yesterday I was at the new Burkes Outlet in Springfield (sort of like a TJ Maxx but smaller – check it out if you’re in Springfield) and I spotted this purse.  I “tried it on” and knew it was the perfect new fall purse.  I may go back to my pink one someday if I ever clean it, but for now this is my new bag.

(P.S. I got some other great stuff at Burkes yesterday and racked up at Goodwill – so happy!)

look what I made

My purse is done!  I am so proud of my very first sewing machine project.

If time is money then I could have bought a super nice designer bag for all the time I spent on this little ‘ole thing, but I felt like I learned a lot about sewing and I feel really satisfied after making something new and useful.  I don’t think making purses is going to be my way of making the big bucks, but it was fun and I will definitely sew something again.

Scentsy {Works for me Wednesday}

Last year I had an issue with a student who did not smell very good.  We weren’t allowed to burn candles at school but I needed something to help combat the smell so I decided I would try out Scentsy.  Scentsy is basically scented wax that you melt in a warmer and it produces a smell like a candle but with no flame.  Much safer for school.

My friend Jonie sells Scentsy so I was able to order a warmer and some fragrances from her.  I got this cute Doodlebug warmer since my classroom is mostly pink.

It definitely helped my classroom out and I got tons of compliments on how good my room smelled.  When I would change scents the kids would go crazy trying to determine what the new smell was.

Some of my (and the students) favorite scents are black raspberry vanilla, mochadoodle, sugar cookie, and cranberry muffin (can you see a theme?  I like bakery-related stuff).  Black raspberry vanilla is the best.

Scentsy works for me! (linking up to Works for me Wednesday)

Here’s the Scentsy website if you want to see more.

 

PR bound

Ok, maybe I’m not quite ready for Project Runway, but I can now sew a basic straight line with my sewing machine.  Mom thinks that the best way to learn is to jump in all the way so not only have I practiced sewing on scrap fabric, I am also learning how to pin, cut, and sew a pattern by making a purse.  We found a pattern and some fabric in the attic and I’m attempting my first real sewing project.  I still have to cut and do the actual sewing but here’s what I’ve got so far.  I’ll share the finished purse later.

I tried a new hairstyle today and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I used Kayley’s tutorial and it was surprisingly easy.  Check it out.  Maybe if I can’t be a designer on PR I can be one of the hairstylists.  Or maybe just remain a devoted fan.  I definitely can’t be a hair photographer ’cause these hair photos stink…sorry!

 

 

Have a fantastic Tuesday!  Are you watching the Biggest Loser tonight?  I sure am.

I’m still here

But with nothing interesting to say.

I’m staying with my parents while Michael is at training.

I haven’t gotten out of my jammies all day and don’t intend to.

Most of my day has been spent working on grad school assignments and looking for jobs.  Also napping.  And drinking apple cider.  And looking at pictures of us from when we were little.  Silly.

My newest blog crush is Kayley from Sidewalk Ready.  I just discovered her blog recently via Pinterest (duh, where else?) and I think she is fashion fantabulous.  I’m jealous of her super cool outfits.  And her awesome hair.  Check her out.

Speaking of hair, I tried to do my hair like this last night for church

source found via Pinterest

It wasn’t quite as cute as the picture and pieces kept falling out but it was fun to try.  I’ll do it again.  Maybe I’ll even post pictures but it’s kinda hard to take pictures of the back of your own head, ya know?  I know because I tried to last night.  Fail.

Someday when I decided to wash and/or brush my hair again, I’m going to learn how to twist my bangs using this tutorial, also found via my love Pinterest.

I might try to learn how to use my sewing machine tonight.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

What’s new with you?

moving day

We’re all moved in and mostly unpacked.  Yesterday morning the movers came and unloaded all our stuff.  These guys are champs!  I guess they have to be since it’s their job, but I was just so impressed with how quickly and easily they were able to unload.  I was also quite impressed with the way they backed the semi up to our townhouse – it was an ordeal to make that turn and back in!
Everything went pretty smooth except for when the locksmith came to change the locks.  He took the knob off the door and took it to the car; not knowing this one of the movers shut the door to get a piece of furniture up the stairs and the door latched.  After a little finagling Michael got it open again.  That was a fun adventure.

Once they got the majority of the stuff unloaded we were able to start unpacking boxed and putting stuff away.  We were able to get almost everything except for the guest room/office done last night.  Unfortunately we don’t have room for a lot of our stuff from our house and the stuff from my classroom so we sent Mom home with her SUV full, Michael’s parents came last night and got a truck full, we’re taking a truck load tonight, and we have a little bit more to take home later.  All of the stuff that had to be stored sat out in the parking lot until we loaded all the vehicles last night; I’m sure that looked attractive to the neighbors!

Today we unpacked and put away most of the guest room.  Two of the movers came back this morning to put the mirrors on the dressers and unpack the boxes, but since we had unpacked so much last night they just had to help unpack the guest room.  The guest room is jam packed since we’re combining everything we had in the office and guest room in our old house, plus there isn’t room in the master closet for all our clothes so all of Michael’s stuff and some of mine has to go in the guest room as well.  We’ve found places for most of it but the walls are basically lined with stuff.

The Internet people came again today to fix our Internet since it didn’t work after they hooked it up yesterday.  Yay for Internet.

Pretty much all we have left is to put up pictures and curtains.  I’m so happy that we’ve been able to get this much done so far!

no heat curls

I’ve spoken of my addiction love for Pinterestbefore.  I just get so many cool ideas from there!  One thing I’ve been seeing are these curly hairstyles that claim to be easy and heatless (seen here, here, and YouTube tutorial here).  You just use a stretchy headband and tuck your hair into to a certain way, sleep on it, and voila – curls!  I was skeptical but I decided to give it a try.  I watched the YouTube video, but since all our stuff is boxed up I didn’t have any headband things to use I didn’t think I could try it yet.  Luckily (unluckily?) I found this fantastically awesome 80s style UCSC sweatband of Michael’s at his parents house.  It’s way thicker than what the girls I’ve seen have used, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

I wrapped my hair like she showed in the video (looking fab, I know…) but was too tired to notice how bad my pictures were turning out.  This post has much better pictures of how it should look.

I slept on it, and this morning…

A little flat on top, but not bad for my first try (and with a huge headband, no less).

Since today is moving day and having glam curly hair would be a little impractical, I just threw it up into a ponytail.  I love a curly ponytail but don’t love spending forever curling my hair – this is a great solution!

This was so easy peasy.  It took less than 5 minutes last night to curl the hair around the headband.  Definitely a repeat (maybe with a different headband though).

Sometime I want to try curling my hair this way using a sock (also found via Pinterest), but I don’t think my hair is long enough yet.  It also looks easy and quick (and heatless!).

P.S. The movers should be here any minute!  The townhouse is all clean and ready for our stuff

our new pad

Pictures of our townhouse from tonight.  No way all our stuff is going to fit, so we certainly have an adventure on our hands tomorrow.  But in the words of the great Tim Gunn (the man, not the fish) we’ll “make it work!”

view from just inside the front door – living room on right, stairs on left, kitchen straight ahead

living room – love the wood (fake, but still pretty)

stairs

coat closet (this is a more accurate picture of the wall color than the pictures above – it looks very yellow in the first few)

little bathroom under the stairs

closet and pantry in kitchen

more kitchen

kitchen again

laundry “room”

looking from kitchen to the front door

stairs, linen closet at the top

bedroom #1 (master bedroom)

bedroom #2 (guest room/office/random stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere else)

upstairs bathroom – between the two rooms

back down we go

Can’t wait to start decorating!

random musings

A few random thoughts and pictures from the past few days.

On Tuesday, Mom came to visit and we went to the Peddler’s Mall (I might have mentioned once or twice how much I love it).  We found all kinds of good things, such as:

My last name was Bowers, for those of you who didn’t know me pre-marriage.  Therefore, Mom’s last name is still Bowers.  So we loved this and had to buy it.

I love love love this dresser!  I am totally going paint one like this someday!

Also, Mom helped us figure out how to finally attach the mirror to the dresser in the guest room…after having lived here over a year…and two days before it was time to move.  Silly us.  Looks much better now.

Wednesday morning was my last class at our fantastic gym {sad face}.  I’m going to miss all my gym friends so much.

It rained super lots Wednesday.  Fortunately the movers packed all day Wednesday so they didn’t have to be out in the rain much.  I was feeling a little cranky when I went out in the rain to get supper, but then I saw this beautiful rainbow and it was a good reminder of God’s love.  My problems didn’t seem like such a big deal.

This was basically our m.o. all day Wednesday.  We camped out in the reading nook out of the way of the movers, I worked on one big ‘ole grad school assignment that took me most of the day (with breaks for Facebook, blogging, and Pinterest of course), Michael did computer stuff, Tim Gunn swam around happily.

I got to pick up my plate from The Mad Potter.  I love how it turned out.

Wednesday night we said goodbye to our friends at church, which was sad but we’ll be back next weekend for Steve and Noelle’s wedding and Julie’s baby shower so it wasn’t as sad as it might have been. Still sad though.

After church we stopped by Kohl’s (who knew it was open ’til 11?) to get Michael some new work pants.  I took pictures of myself to pass the time.

Thursday morning we indulged in some Spalding’s donuts before the movers came to load up the million boxes.

A bajillion boxes Thursday morning.

And now (Thursday afternoon), we’re off to Bowling Green!  Pray for safe travels.  Goodbye, Lexington.  We love you!