Upside Down Grilled Pizza Family Fun!

On August 17th I attended a Bloglove event hosted by Chris Ann & Kristen of LoveFeast Table. It was amazing! You can read more about it here. Among the bloggers who attended was one brave dad blogger. I am sure you have heard of him, Rob's website is  "Cooking for Dads". I did not get the pleasure of getting to speak to him myself...but I did take the time to look him up after the fact. I immediately became enamored with this recipe for Upside Down Grilled Pizza.

As soon as I watched his video I knew I had to make this recipe! On this past Sunday everybody in our family handed in our cell phones after church. We unplugged the computer and turned the TV off! It was our last peaceful day as a family alone before the ratrace of school was to begin Monday morning. We all took a nap, then played this board game called "Argue"...which was really fun...then the kids went downstairs to hang out while James & I began to cook. The original plan was to include them in the actual cooking, however, after playing our new game...James & I needed a bit of time to recoup after the yelling of the game. So, onward we went cooking up a storm!

We watched Rob's video together...my husband scoffed a bit at the thought of getting pulled into something related to blogging (it just isn't his thing)...then we went to the kitchen to prepare. We first made the dough. We followed Rob's recipe but with one slight variation, we used whole wheat unbleached flour. I was leary of the texture that was turning out but we continued with the cooking. My husband still kind of reluctant...started to take over this whole project more and more as we went on.

While we waited for our dough to rise, we hung out in the kitchen together thinking of new concoctions. We invented a wonderful new stuffed mushroom which I will soon be making again and blogging about! Seriously, SO good! We talked, we laughed, we flirted a little. (sorry mom...but I have to blog the whole truth, right?) There is something really flirty about getting into the kitchen and cooking a new, fun recipe together with your spouse. When it is cooked out of fun instead of nourishment necessity there is a certain relaxation about it then allows you to just loosen up and enjoy the process of cooking.

James got so into the process that he took over the dough rolling, or shall I say dough throwing process! Before us getting married, James was the manager of a local pizza restaurant for 3 years, which is where he learned his mad dough throwing skills.

So, please...enjoy our ameteur video. Ignore my wheezing laugh...and the 5 minutes it took me to figure out how many more pizza's we had to make after the first one was done. OR...you could just turn the sound off all together and not listen to me and just watch the video. Alright already...here it is:

Ok, now that that is over...moving on to the toppings.

We varied the toppings a bit for our family. For 3 out of 5 pizzas we started with feta cheese, sun dried tomato pesto, sun dried tomato's, grilled chicken, olives and just a tad of regular pizza sauce.

For the other 2 picky eaters we did just feta, pizza sauce, and chicken.

End result:

Aside from the crust on a couple of them being slightly charred...they were delicious! We used the same amount of ingredients that Rob suggested for his crust...and we were able to get 4 regular size and one mini pizza for baby! Everybody was full and everybody was satisfied. We had fun eating this pizza! My husband ended up "eating" his words because he thought this recipe was fantastic! Don't you love when mama is right? I know I do. Humbly of course. ahem.

Thank you Rob for sharing your recipe and by adding a little fun to our family night!

Being Catered to

Yes, I will have to admit, being catered to is nice. However, recently I had the opportunity to be the caterer. No...it wasn't just a normal day at home where I cater to my families every need. This time it was a catered dinner for a class our company put on. We hired a speaker to come in and teach about customer service. Along with our employees, we also had another cleaning business join in. In all, there were 17 people in attendance.

I have never catered publically...for money. Sure, I have had more people that than at my home, but this was different. These were people that I didn't know, well....I know some of them...but I will admit, our business is growing to the point where I don't even know all of our employees.

I planned a lasagna dinner. The menu included:

Salad & garlic bread,

The salad was just a general lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, almond slices, & crouton salad. Good ol' frozen bread thawed and cooked.

Then it was Meat Lasagna & Veggie Lasagna

 I don't just do the "open can add meat, cheese, and noodles" lasagna. I like to add fresh real ingredients and make the flavors my own. I did not follow any certain recipe.

In one pan I started simmering chopped Roma tomatoes, fresh chives, oregano, parsley, garlic, sea salt, and cracked pepper. While that Simmered I started another pan. In it I sauteed red pepper, green pepper, mushrooms, garlic, shredded carrots, white onions in olive oil. I then combined the contents of the two pans, and added 2 jars of Ragu sauce. I don't remember which flavor I chose, I think it was chopped tomato, garlic, olive oil flavor...or something to that effect. I let that all simmer and marinate together for awhile. Then I boiled the lasagna noodles. I put together the veggie pan first. Layers went like this:

1. Little bit of sauce on bottom of pan

2. Noodles

3. Hefty layer of sauce

4. Shredded mozzerella cheese (I use almost an entire bag PER LAYER!)

5. Noodles

6. I took a peeler and peel a green zucchinni in long thin layers...so I had long peels. I layed them out straight in a hefty layer of zucchinni.

7. I combined a container of cottage cheese & french onion dip (not the powder, the actual pre-made dip) for the seventh layer

8. Noodles

9. Hefty layer of sauce.

10. Shredded mozzerella cheese

11. Noodles

12. Light layer of sauce.

13. Chunks of real mozzerella cheese that comes in the big slab.

14. Shredded Mexican Cheese for the top.

15. Fresh parsley sprinkled over the top.

Holy moly...15 layers! eek!

When I ate the veggie lasagna, it was so hearty that I didn't even miss the meat!

For the Meat Lasagna I just took the leftover sauce, added 2 lbs of cooked ground beef, added another 2 jars of sauce.

 I left out the layer of zucchinni from the Meat Lasagna.

Then came dessert. I came upon this recipe from Shannon, another bloggy friend that I have actually met in the real life....and now consider to be a dear friend. After I read this blogpost, I immediately tried her recipe. The first time I made them, I just did the straight to-the-point classic brownie. But this time I made them...I changed it up a bit. I added Nestle Chocolate chunks and drizzled melted white chocolate over the top. They were so heavy, rich, delicious. Definitely calls for a large glass of ice cold milk to follow.

Best of all, inspired by my friends at Love Feast Table I chose to "Love Bomb" a friend. After I was done catering this lunch, I quickly dropped off 3 of the largest brownies, the ones from the middle of the pan (the best I think) to my friend Sue. She is an audiologist at the hospital, and works in a basement office with no windows 40 hours a week. While I know she loves her job, I know she loves brownies more... It was fun to surprise her and to make someone unexpectedly happy. I know the unexpected gifts are my favorite.

Speaking of gifts....my new bloggy friend Amanda did a post recently declaring that March 3rd should now be considered "National Help a Pregnant Lady Day". While....us bloggers declaring a holiday probably doesn't give us the right to call it a national holiday...we think it should be. Join the Facebook page, and we will help remind you this Wednesday to help our a pregnant friend.  Join in the fun! And if you do...be sure to come back and tell us what you did to help a friend out!

Nameless Muffins

Today I made random muffins from scratch, without a recipe. I started adding stuff...and couldn't stop. The following items are what I grabbed and threw in:

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 cup of multi-grain oatmeal

1 egg

about 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce

a little more than a dash of cinnamon

about 1/2 cup flax meal

approx 1 Tablespoon of flax oil

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of baking powder

about 1 cup of flour (would have preferred to use whole wheat flour)

pinch of Morton light salt

1/2 cup of Splenda 1/2 sugar blend

a squeeze of honey

a spoonful of Nutella

About 5 shredded baby carrots

a dash of pure vanilla extract

Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.

Mixed it all together. Put them in greased muffin liners in a muffin pan. Sprinkled a little sugar and coconut over the tops of the muffins. Baked for about 15 to 20 minutes. It made 12 full size muffins.

The outcome...they were good! The ultimate test taste pass was when Xavier liked them! He, of course, is the pickiest eater of all times. He can sniff out onions, garlic, and "green things" in food from a mile away.

If and when I try them again, I may replace the shredded carrots for shredded zucchini.

This picture was taken with my camera phone, so not the greatest.

If you make them, or something similar...let me know!

Oh...and...I need a name for my invention. Any suggestions?