Calzones

The next few days are going to be kind of busy. My parents might come visit this weekend plus my husband will be off on Saturday which is very rare. So, today I thought I'd make something for lunch that would last a few days. We had some leftover sauce, cheese and pepperoni from the last time we made pizzas so I thought calzones would be fun to make. We ended up with enough for lunch today plus two more lunches and two focaccia breads. Not bad for one afternoon of work. I think it took two hours total and that was with little ones under foot and coaching homeschool assignments from the kitchen at the same time. I've used this pizza crust recipe for a long time and we love it.

Pizza Crust

1 cup warm water
small squeeze of honey
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Stir hot water, sugar and dry yeast until blended. Add oil, salt and flour. (I use a food processor). Stir until mixture forms a soft ball. Let rest 30 minutes. Roll out or stretch to desired thickness then place on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Bake 500 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

I usually use my Kitchen Aid and make a quadruple batch of dough. For calzones, I just pinch off baseball ball sized pieces, roll them into circles and add sauce, cheese and pepperoni to the very center. Then just fold over and fold the bottom of the dough half-circle over the top and pinch shut. I cook them at 500 degrees for 7 minutes each on a pizza stone .

For the focaccia I cook the same as a pizza, only just top it with a little extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of dried and/or fresh herbs, a little bit of mozzarella cheese and some thinly sliced red onion. Delicious!

Now tomorrow I'm going to work on a couple days worth of dinner and hopefully get the girls hair washed and braided. I cut my own hair and it feels so light now, it's great! It was almost to the middle of my back but now it is shoulder length and feels much more healthy. Split ends are not fun, especially on long curly hair. I will try to get my 6 year old (the budding photographer) to take a picture so I can add it to the blog soon.

Hope you're having a blessed day! I will be starting back up the Romans Bible Study next time, sorry it has taken me so long!

Pretty Things For The Little Girls

I'll be honest, decorating is not one of my strong points. I want to have a nicely decorated home but I guess I am just a minimalist at heart and like things simple and kind of plain. My girls, however, are not this way. They want ruffles and flowers and all the pretty girly things that they love. And who could blame them? Every store we enter seems to sell things cuter than the one before. So many choices!

Ever since we moved into this house, I have put off decorating their bedroom. I just could not find anything that seemed just right. I am making quilts for the girls and I wanted something to vibe off of the nice bright colors I am using.

My mom, on the other hand, is a decorator extraordinaire and she always knows just the thing to buy! She bought some plain frames and painted them along with a little sign that says "LOVE". All I had to do was go on-line and fine some pretty pictures to print out to fill the frames. Instant art! The girls love everything and we will be hanging it all up this weekend.


Now if I could just find time to finish those quilts! :0)

Catching Up...

Just getting caught up on things around the house today and thought I would post a picture of a new "blankie" I made for my one year old. I have a set of Provo Craft Knifty Knitters and thought I would use one to make a sort of patch work blanket for our daughter's crib. I like how it turned out except the part where the panels are stitched together shows more than I would like. But baby girl loves it and that is all that matters. It has sort of a cute country sort of charm ;0) Baby girls calls is "Me me". Next project will be matching patchwork quilts for all 4 girls. That should take some time but will be much more fun because quilting is my passion!

New Years Day

It's been quite a hectic past three weeks but we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. After my husband being sick for a week, then me being sick for a week and a half and all of our children going on the end of a week of sickness as of today, we are all starting to feel much better. It turns out we all had strept throat. Now with antibiotics and rest (and lots of soup!), we're getting back to normal. (If you lived here you'd know this is true because you can now hear lots of little arguments popping up between siblings, LOL!). Praise God for His healing!

I'm really looking forward to this new year. I always love the start of a new year, it gives me such a feeling of a new start and new things to come and new blessings just around the corner.

Unlike a lot of people that like to sit back and relax on New Years Day, I am quite the opposite. I have always been this way. This is my favorite day of the year to clean! I have been like this since I was a teenager. A New Year makes me want to feel like life itself is new, and what better way to achieve this feeling than a clean house.

Today I tackled my kitchen and my girls bedroom. It feels so good to see things nice and fresh looking and gives us a blank canvas to start our year. Tomorrow I plan to wash and braid my girls hair and sort out some boxes. Then Saturday I will tackle all the laundry that has accumulated while we were sick.

I pray everyone is having a blessed, enjoyable and relaxing New Years Day and that your new year will be filled with blessings to numerous to count!