Bacon, Onion, and Mushroom Pizza

I found this recipe in Cooking Light magazine and thought it sounded great. The original recipe uses refrigerated french bread dough but I decided to try it with my own homemade pizza dough. I have never tried a pizza without some sort of sauce on it so wasn't sure how it would turn out. Quick & Easy Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups flour

2 T olive oil

1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in flour, salt & oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Spread with toppings.

Bake 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Bacon, Onion & Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients:

2 tsp yellow cornmeal

2 tsp olive oil

2 cups vertically sliced onions

1 (8-ounce) pkg presliced cremini mushrooms

1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese- I used mozzarella and cheddar

6 bacon slices, cooked and coarsely crumbled

1/2 cups finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onions; saute 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place chopped onion in a bowl. Add cremini mushrooms to pan; saute 8 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add mushrooms to onion mixture; toss.

3. Spread onion mixture evenly over prepared dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Sprinkle evenly with cheese and bacon.

4. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with parsley.

The pizza turned out really good. Everyone in my family really enjoyed it and we will be having it again in the near future.

TV Pillow

Growing up we always had a huge pillow that we would lie on and watch TV. My brother and I would jump on it, wrestle on it, have pillow fights with it and sleep on it. It was the most used pillow in our house. I wanted to make a smaller version for each of my boys for Christmas. That way they could have their own special TV Pillow and wouldn't fight over it. Hopefully!!

Since I am just learning to sew I asked my mom to help me out on this project.

We started by making a pillow out of white material. We made ours 42" X 31 1/2" although you can make it whatever size you want. We filled the pillow with batting and sewed it up. You want to make sure you really stuff it full of batting as it will flatten down as you lie on it. We then made covers for the pillow so we can take them off and wash them or switch them out when the boys want. We did a Christmas print and then a print that matches each boys taste. The boys were really excited when they saw their pillows. They have been a big hit at my house and I hope they are around for years to come.

Snow Cream

When the snow begins to fall, everyone in my family gets excited. Snowy weather means Snow Cream for dessert.

First you get a bunch of clean snow. We usually scoop ours off the picnic table. Then you add evaporated milk, sugar and vanilla. There isn't a true recipe, it is just to taste. For every 2 1/2 cups of snow I use approximately 3 Tbsp evaporated milk, 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. I mix it up really well then do a taste test and add ingredients until I get just the right taste.

Depending on the type of snow (dry or wet) will change the texture of the snow cream as well as the amount of ingredients you need.

Once you have the flavor you want you can eat it as is or add some mini chocolate chips, M&M's or whatever you like. Enjoy!!

Target Trip January 3rd

I needed to pick up some things for my MOPS group so grabbed a couple of deals while I was at Target.

Transaction

Quaker Dino Eggs Oatmeal (Reg. $2.89 - $1Q = $1.89z0

Kraft Cheese (Sale $2.00 - .75 Target Q = $1.25)

2 string cheese-not shown (Reg. $.40 each)

Rawhides (Reg. $6.17)

2 pkgs frozen chicken tenderloins (Sale $5.94 - $3/2 Target Q = $4.44 each)

3 Kashi cereal (Reg. $3.49 - $1.50/3 Target Q - $3Q - 2 $1Q = $3.97/3)

This brought my total to $22.96 + .48 tax, final price $23.44. I saved $11.44.

Walgreens Trip January 2nd

I decided to take a couple week break from coupon shopping so I could enjoy the holiday. I used up all my register rewards before hand so they wouldn't expire while I was on my break.

Since I started out my shopping trip today with zero register rewards I broke my trip up into two transactions to help keep my out of pocket cost down.

Transaction #1

Finish Powerball Tabs (Reg. $5.49, Sale $3.49 - $2.25 Q = $1.24)

This brought my total down to $1.24 + .27 tax, final price $1.51.

After I paid a $1.50 RR printed out.

Transaction #2

Oscillococcinum Flu medicine (Sale $8.99 - $2Q = $6.99)

Used a clearance Christmas pencil as filler (Clearance $.12)

This brought my total to $7.11 + .70 tax, final price $7.81.

I paid with the $1.50 RR from transaction #1 & $6.31 OOP.

After I paid a $9 RR printed out.

Party Bot Part 1

I decided we needed a robot to welcome our guests to the party. Our carpet cleaner had just broke so we decided to use it inside the robot to make him a little more sturdy since he will be outside.

I used cardboard and masking tape to build a robot around the carpet cleaner. Before spray painting the boxes silver I tested out different options for the face. Once the robot was put together I spray painted them all silver. Once dry I used my hot glue gun to add the face and added an old dryer vent I got from a yard sale for the arms.

Party Bot Part 2

I added a welcome sign and a fun-o-meter to the front as well as a party hat and noise maker.

He is ready to Party!!