Homemade Pizza

Some years ago, well, 4 to be exact....when we moved to Belle and our only Pizza option was Pizza Hut, which is good, but limited and we never have agreed on a crust option, we went to homemade pizza. We had made it on occasion before, but when we were in Spearfish we usually just ordered Papa John's (best pizza ever), or got Papa Murphy's take & bake. Also, to feed a family of 5 at the time, it was fairly expensive to order out, then there became 6. We can make two extra large pizzas at home for around a few bucks. Can't beat that.

We recently purchased a Ninja & have been experimenting with it's many uses. One of the things we really wanted to try was the dough feature. My first experiment was a cookie recipe out of the the recipe book that came with the Ninja. The dough was yummy but the cookies were an epic fail. 

For my second attempt, I knew I wanted to try pizza dough. It had been a while since I had made the dough homemade as I don't like to wait for it to rise and sometimes have consistency issues. NOT with this recipe. 




It rises in less than an hour and is very pliable  It turned out the consistency of hand tossed. The flavor was pretty good too. The only thing I wish I would have done differently was to bake the crust alone for a few minutes before adding sauce & toppings. I normally do this so the crust cooks evenly, unlike that gooey in the middle, brown on the edges that tends to happen when you pile on the goodies. I got in a bit of a hurry, excited to try this new recipe out and forgot to to do this. It still worked out, just had to lower the oven temp and go a little longer. 

We (the boys) made a 1/2 pepperoni & 1/2 cheese for them. They were a little disappointed that it wasn't their favorite ham & pineapple, but ate it up anyway. Pride in ownership goes a long ways. 


Jakers really liked it...

Then for Wayne & I, buffalo chicken. I like to use ranch as a base sauce on mine, then mix 2 cans of chicken with a quarter cup of Frank's sauce, spread it over the top, followed by a layer of cheese and another layer of Franks swirled across the top. SUPER YUMMY. 

When we make our pizza, it's a family affair! We use either tomato sauce with Italian seasoning, or leftover spaghetti sauce (this time we had some leftover sauce). Andy has become the master cheese shredder (we buy 1lb blocks and shred it ourselves as it's quite a bit cheaper). Luke actually made one batch of the dough on his own after watching me make the first batch, Zach spread the sauce, pepperoni & cheese, and Jakers sat next to us on the counter eating our gizzard appetizer (yes, we love them!!!). 

Here is the dough recipe from the NINJA RECIPE BOOK.....

FYI: 1/4oz pkg of dry yeast is equal to one tablespoon if you have the big bag of it like us.

The Bread Man...

We go through bread like mad with a family of 5. I love me some 9 grain $5 a loaf bread but long ago had to give it up for the $.89 white bread. I was discussing our issues with the cost of bread with my in-laws one weekend in Gillette and my S-I-L said they had purchased a bread machine and can make a loaf in it for cheaper than she can buy it over there.  though, hmmmmm, fresh bread would be awesome with fresh preserves from the garden!

When I went on a pants recon the next week at the Salvation Army (we have 2 months left before shorts season, I just needed a couple pairs for Andy to stretch through because guaranteed he would need a new size come fall and Zach usually can't wear his hand-me-downs), I seen a Breadman Bread Machine there....awesome. Knowing that it would likely be a phase we would go whole heartedly at for a while then loose interest and go back to the store, I decided this second hand cheaper one was the perfect way to try it out.

Thus far we have found a quick simple daily recipe for our morning toast as well as yummy dessert versions such as chocolate zucchini bread, banana bread and a whole book full I have had in the cupboard. We throw our daily toast loaf ingredients in the machine before we go to bed or alongside supper and then it is ready for us come morning to slice, butter and serve. You can also make your pizza dough and pastry crust doughs in there as well, just to name a couple.

Here is the simple recipe we have been using for our daily loaf for toast:

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place water, sugar, salt, oil, bread flour and yeast into pan of bread machine.
2. Bake on White Bread setting . Cool on wire racks before slicing. allrecipes.com 

Snickerdoodle Muffins

After the spicy spicy meal which resulted in severed taste buds for myself (I am not sure Wayne had any prior to the meal with his latest Tabasco obsession), I decided to make us a desert. I went for something new that I had "Stumbled Upon" using the addicting stumbleupon.com that Tracy got me hooked on. Knowing snicker doodles were one of Wayne and the boys' favorites it looked like a hit, and naturally was.

Enjoy, I rarely make sweet treats with all the blood sugar and weight issues these days.

Snicker Doodle Muffins

From: TheSweetsLife.com

Ingredients:

-2 sticks butter

-1 cup sugar

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-2 eggs

-1 1/4 cups flour

-3/4 teaspoon baking powder

-3/4 teaspoon baking soda

-3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

-3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

-1 1/4 cups sour cream

For the cinnamon sugar coating:

-1 cup sugar

-2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the vanilla and eggs, beating well after each

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda,

baking powder, cream of tartar, and nutmeg.

4. Add the sour cream and the flour mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.

5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out muffin batter and drop into a small

bowl containing the cinnamon sugar mixture.

6. Roll the batter around in the bowl until it is completely coated in cinnamon sugar.

7. Place the batter ball into a greased muffin tin and repeat with the remaining batter.

8. Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes (mine were perfect after      

20 minutes)      The sweets Life