"Home-made" Pizza

Some of us love pizza, some of us don't... but we eat what's put on the table.

We've discovered the joy of making our own pizza... don't get too excited, I still buy pre-made crust. Our favorite is this... and I wish it came it whole wheat... I do want to try to make my own crust, but in the meantime we'll stick with this. (Best price Winco $1.58)

I topped it with 1/2 cup of sauce (I used Classico red sauce).

Pre-shredded Mozzarella and Colby Jack Cheese.

Half the pizza I covered in pepperoni.

The other half I covered in mild italian sausage (precooked... I used the pampered chef meat tool to get it nice crumbled) and black olives (which Pepe chopped for me using the pampered chef food chopper).

Baked for 13 minutes on my pizza stone and it was fabulous! The entire pizza was gone :)

We had a green salad made with butter-leaf lettuce, cucumber, red pepper and avocado.

A scrumptious family meal for a few dollars and a lot of taste and fun.

In a jam?

We've had non-summer like weather, which pushed strawberry season way, way back.

But, I finally have my flat of strawberries and that means... jam time.

Last year I made raspberry jam and no one in my family liked it. I liked it, but I ended up giving it away as gifts. (Which was fine, because who doesn't like a homemade gift that you can eat?)

Phinneous likes strawberry jam... (but now he tells me he only likes Smucker$ -- what?)

Looks good, huh?!?!??!

Summer Menu Planning by Pepe

Edited to add photos!








Pepe is bored... third day of summer and he's bored. Of course it is because that little brother headed off to a friends house and the friend he called couldn't come over. After entertaining himself for quite awhile he finally announced it.... I'M BORED!

I suggested that he plan our dinner menu for the week. He looked at me curiously and said...

1. tortellini
2. ravioli
3. spaghetti
4. lasagna
5. pasta salad

Ha! He's funny... and he loves pasta. All kidding aside, I pointed out the cookbooks and told him to find something. I also mentioned that Giada's (Dad's girlfriend) cookbook would have pasta dishes as she is Italian. He came back with dinner and dessert...

from Giada -- (he put sticky notes on the pages for me)
Cheese Tortellini in Light Broth

from The Great American Cookbook -- (more sticky notes)
Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Next assignment -- create a shopping list.
WHAT?
I explained how to do it... go through the ingredient list and decide what we don't have and write it down.
DONE.

I guess we're headed to the store in a few minutes... since I'm out of tortellini ;)

I wonder what's on the menu for tomorrow night?

Quick, quick and EASY

With our busy schedule and my will to eat healthy I heard about a quick dinner prep idea and I tried it and loved it!

Chicken... how many ways can you eat chicken?

My problem is that my chicken is usually frozen when I want to use it. So, at the beginning of the week (or when you have time), take the chicken out of the freezer (I had boneless, skinless thighs) and let defrost while you run errands or teach a preK class. When you arrive home, plug in the crock pot and rinse (a must do for me) the chicken and dump it in the crock pot. Set it to HIGH and let cook while you run children to practices (I didn't add any seasoning or water -- chicken was still slightly frozen as I want to use the chicken in different recipes.)

When you return home, exhausted (having been frustrated with the children, consoling a huge tantrum and generally just being a Mom) your chicken is finished and smells great. I then used my huge slotted spoon and removed the chicken from the broth and placed it into a glass dish. I used a spoon and fork to shred all of it.

At this point I was starving... the kids were fed, but I was not. I had cooked a yam in the microwave and I decided to top it with some of my shredded chicken. I added some salt and paprika to it and it was DELICIOUS. I was sooooo happy.

Now, my chicken is shredded and in the refer ready for my next quick meal... which will be Thursday when two more children have practice. This time I'm prepared!