Photostory Friday and Homemade Pizza

A couple of weeks ago, we had a playdate at a pizza place near our house and the girls fell in looooove with making their own pizzas. So last Saturday, the girls convinced me into looking up a recipe for pizza dough and making our own pizzas at home. The dough was super easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand.

I set the girls up with their dough and they quickly got to work!

"Whatsa matta wit you mama? My pizza looks great!"

(Alyssa went with the non-traditional blob-shaped pizza.)

Giggles McGee (a.k.a. Makena) attempting to go for the triple-the-cheese pizza

Alyssa's finished product

(She decided to add olives as a topping just to make sure I didn't get her pizza mixed up with the other two)

I forgot to get a picture of Riley's pizza masterpiece which turned out to be just cheesy bread since she didn't want sauce, but I do have photo evidence of the mess she made with the flour. Good thing it was bath night.

Pizza Dough Recipe
1 package active dry yeast (2 teaspoons)

1 cup warm water (105° to 115°, no more)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus a little for coating

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside and follow the instructions below for the method you choose.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the olive oil and yeast mixture into it. Stir until it begins to form a ball, then turn it out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for about 4 or 5 minutes.

3. Lightly oil the ball and the inside of a large glass bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. For better crust, punch down the dough, reshape into a ball and let it rise again. You can refrigerate or freeze the dough at this point.

4. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions, about 6 ounces each. Roll each portion into a ball, then, working on a lightly floured surface, stretch the dough and work it with your fingers or a rolling pin to form an 8-inch circle. The outer edge of the circle should be a little thicker than the body, forming a rim. Add toppings.

5. Transfer to a pizza pan or pizza stone. Bake in a 500° pre-heated oven until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 10 to 13 minutes, or perhaps a little longer if your oven does not reach 500°. (I cooked our pizzas at 450 degrees for 13-15 minutes and it came out perfect).

Now go make some pizza! You can thank me later :)

Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

The Easter Bunny and Lemon Bars

The girls had their Easter party at school this week, and although the egg hunt was rained out (BOO), the Easter bunny was able to make an appearance. A mother of another student volunteered to dress up for the kids. Think she was hot in there? To top it off, she couldn't see anything out of that bunny head so the teachers had to lead her around to make sure she didn't trample any kids!

So with bunny ears on their heads and big smiles, the girls hopped up on her lap for a picture. The chocolate bunny that she gave them afterwards was an added bonus.

We have another Easter picnic in our community on Saturday and our mom's group is in charge of baking goodies to sell. So, I decided to make one of my all-time favorite desserts for the occasion and I will share the recipe with you. So yummy!

Lemon Bars

Crust
2 sticks of melted butter
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar

Topping
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1/3 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

**Mix together well**

Mix ingredients for the crust together and press into a 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Pour topping mixture over the crust and bake for another 25 minutes. When done baking, sprinkle powdered sugar on top while still warm. Let cool for a few hours and then cut into bars.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Photostory Friday and Little cooks in the kitchen

The girls LOVE to make a huge mess in the kitchen cook with me any chance they get! I try to find opportunities for them to help me as much as I can, even if it is just pouring a cup of water into a bowl for me.

So, I thought I would share the recipe for the muffins we will be making this weekend. This is another one of my childhood favorites, Bran Muffins. These aren't your ordinary, dry, extra healthy bran muffins. Think moist and sweet and fattening....Yummy!

Here's what you need.....now this is for a big batch of muffins. My mom must have been feeding an army. You can easily cut this recipe in half.

One 15 ounce box of Raisen Bran (7 cups)

5 cups of flour-wheat or white

3 cups of sugar

5 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

2 tsp. salt

1 cup canola oil

a quart of buttermilk

2 cups of nuts (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together into a bowl and scoop into muffin pans. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Christmas tradition...the greatest muffins ever!

My mom was a great cook and she loved to bake. One of my favorite memories is eating these melt-in-your-mouth muffins on Christmas morning. My mom would wake up early to make them for us so that they were hot out of the oven just in time to open presents.

They are easy to make and SO delicious!

French Puffs

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup of milk

Cream together shortening, 1/2 cup of sugar, and egg. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add milk and the flour mixture to the shortening and mix well. (I use an electric mixer).

Grease muffin cups and fill them 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

For the topping, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. of cinammon in a bowl. Melt 1/2 cup of butter. When the muffins come out of the oven, roll them in the melted butter and then roll them in the cinammon-sugar mixture. Serve them hot!

Christmas Cookies

It's time for holiday baking and I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes.

Mexican Wedding Cakes--yummy!

(a.k.a. Russian Tea Cakes)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups of butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

1 cup of finely chopped nuts ( I use pecans or walnuts)

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together powdered sugar, butter and vanilla.

Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees.

Roll cookies in powdered sugar while warm.

Cool completely on wire rack (about 30 minutes).

Once the cookies are cool, roll them in powdered sugar again.

This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies so you can easily cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch.

Ladybugs and Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

I had to share one last picture of my ladybugs that I snapped last night. I consider it a successful picture when all 3 are looking at the camera and 2/3 are smiling! Notice the plastic pumpkins that they have to collect their candy in. After Alyssa's fit on Thursday morning, I found these at Safeway for $2.00 each. I'm hoping next year they will be in love with the super cute personalized bags that were lovingly given to them as a 1st birthday gift.

So we are off to a playdate today with Auntie Jessica and The boys next door, Auntie Ly and her kiddos and some old friends from highschool and their kids. It should be lots of Halloween Hangover fun! I was in charge of making sugar cookies that the kids could decorate and I wanted to share this fantastic recipe. Trust me, you will not be able to eat just one cookie.

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter
3 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups flour



Combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond extract, vanilla and egg yolk. Blend well. Stir in flour and mix well ( I use an electric hand mixer). Chill dough overnight ( I put my dough in foil).

When you are ready to bake, take dough out of the refirgerator or freezer and allow it to soften. Roll out dough with rolling pin. (Use flour on hands, cutting board, and rolling pin to prevent dough from sticking to surface) and cut out cookies using your favorite cookie cutters.
Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes.

Photostory Friday and Monkey Munch

Recently, a fellow blogging mom coordinated a recipe exchange over email and I happily participated since I am always up for new meal ideas. Of course, the first recipe I decided to make was filled with chocolate and other sugary goodness. I do have my priorities! A big thanks to Ashley for including me in this exchange (her blog is private so I'm not linking you to her).

This is very easy to make and your kids can help too!

Monkey Munch (a.k.a. Puppy Chow)

Serves: 6-8
9 cups Chex cereal (Rice or Corn)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter**

1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

**I used almond butter instead of peanut butter because one of my girls is allergic to peanuts and it still tasted great!

Directions:
Put cereal in large bowl. In a small cooking pot, melt chocolate chips,
peanut butter, and butter on low to medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over Chex cereal, put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat. Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool.

Riley found another use for the powdered sugar!

"Whatchu talkin' bout mama?"

Makena--giving me attitude

My 3 monkeys making a total mess on my kitchen floor while waiting for the monkey munch to cool.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Holiday baking

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is bake cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. Before the girls were born, my sister-in-law and I would set aside an entire Saturday and bake all day long. Now that the girls are here, I will bake a batch of cookies at night after they go to bed.

This is one of my favorite memories of my mom. She would bake cookies and package them up on pretty Christmas trays and wrap them in cellophane and give them away to her co-workers or friends. The cookie stash was kept in the freezer so they would last and we always knew where to look if we wanted a treat.

My mom passed away 15 years ago when I was just seventeen years old. She battled Leukemia for a year before having a stroke and leaving us much too early. Christmas was one of her favorite times of the year.

She would have been so proud of her granddaughters.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom...her senior picture before she graduated high school.

I've started my Christmas baking this week. Magic cookie bars, sugar cookies and butter spritz cookies have been the first on the list. Makena fussed about going to bed tonight, so she was able to stay up a little later and watch the cookies in the oven.

Magic cookie bars have to be one of my favorite treats. They are SO easy to make and SO tasty. I usually make 2 batches of these every year!

1 stick of butter, melted
1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup of flaked coconut
1 cup of chopped nuts

In a 13x9 dish, sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter and mix them together. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the dish for the crust.
Pour can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust.
Top with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Let cool and then cut into bars.

***You can add more chocolate chips if you’d like. I have added peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips to the recipe for even more sugary goodness***

What are your favorite Christmas cookies? I'm always interested to hear what other people bake and love to exchange recipes!

Feeling a little crafty!

After reading one of my favorite triplet blogs this morning, I was inspired to make some homemade playdough for the girls. After all, we know that the same old toys and the same old routine gets boring after awhile right? So after whipping up a batch of blue playdough, we brought the girls outside to test it out. It was a hit with the kiddos and even better, I feel just a tad bit crafty.

Evan (BF Jess's son) came over to play with us!

As usual, Alyssa, wanders off to do her own thing while the rest of us played. She did wander back over to us eventually.

Here is the playdough recipe I used

1cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 cup water

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp food color

Mix all ingredients in a pan over low heat

Stir for approx. 7-10 minutes

Mixture will start to thicken

Take out of the pan just before it looks ready (it will be slightly too moist)

Cool for 10 minutes