Friday, June 1, 2012

Homemade Pizza



I love home made pizza.  This recipe has been in my family for a long time.  When my kids were growing up, we would divide the dough and everyone would make their own specialty pizza.  Tops can be anything!  This particular pizza has artichoke hearts, olives, spinach leaves, sausage, mushrooms, salami, shredded cheddar and Mozzarella cheese.

I do my dough in a bread machine using the dough cycle.  I love thick crust pizza, but you can also divide the dough to make two thin crust pizzas.

Pizza


Dough:

1 cup warm water
1 pkg dry yeast
1 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP oil
3 cups flour

Mix all ingredients and knead to a soft dough.  Put in a bowl and cover with a towel and let rise 45 minutes to an hour.  Roll dough onto pan.  Poke holes with a fork and bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees

Sauce:

1 can tomato sauce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
dash of garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (or a pinch of each:  basil, rosemary, parsley and oregano)

Mix together and spread sauce on baked pizza dough.

Top with cheese, salami, pepperoni, mushrooms and whatever else you like.

Bake 10-15 minuetes at 400 degrees

85 Degrees and Snowing?

The thermometer reads 85 degrees!  If you look out at the yard, it looks like it is covered in snow!  
Actually it is cottonwood trees shedding their cotton!  The pods are all open on the trees and when a gust of wind comes, it looks like a snow storm!  It even builds up into "snow" drifts!

Looks like snow on the ground!

Cottonwood Trees full of cotton

Looks like snow flakes

Build up of "snow"