Sunday, September 6, 2009

Homemade pizza and more...

Friday I couldn't decide what to make for dinner...so what else is new! Every woman has this problem I'm sure. Friday really is a pizza night, right? I started the dough by heating some water and putting in the butter to melt. While this was cooling, I grabbed some Italian sausage out of the freezer and took it out of the casings. Then I put it in a french saucepan to cook. Using a french saucepan is better since the meat doesn't brown and get overcooked. There is something about the shape of the pan that keeps the sausage moist. Once I proofed the yeast and mixed the dough, I started to make the sauce using tomato sauce, spices and a little sugar to cut the acidity. Meanwhile, back to the dough. Guess what? I made a mistake...yes, I made a mistake. I put to much water in so I had to add more flour. Well, now I have this extra dough. So, I made it into sticks and rolled them in sugar and cinnamon. I put them on the pan to rise...I couldn't waste the dough. Now, I had to go back and spread the dough in the pizza pan and let it rest for about 5 minutes. I poked the crust with a fork so it didn't bubble up. I popped it into a hot (450 degree) oven for about 10 minutes. Then I put the sauce, parmesan cheese, sausage, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese on to the partially cooked dough. Cooked it for 15 minutes. It sure smelled good. Once the pizza was done I popped those cinnamon sticks in to bake. While we were eating our pizza the smell of cinnamon sticks baking filled the motorhome. I can't remember the last time I made homemade pizza. There really is nothing better than homemade pizza. When the children were home we use to make 2 large pizzas but now we just need a medium for the two of us. There were 2 pieces left over. It really didn't take that long to make once I got started. Sometimes getting started is the hardest thing. The next morning we had cinnamon sticks with our coffee.

It's a long weekend but we don't have any plans to travel anywhere. We plan on relaxing and going to Julie's for BBQ chicken on Monday. Paige leaves for college on the 18th so we want to spend a family day with her before she goes. She is going to UCLA. Brandon left last month and is at Lewis University in Illinois and Ryne is at ASU in Arizona. Jessica, Brett and Kennedy are also all settled into their new school routine. The grandchildren are getting so old when their grandmother isn't...how does that happen?!