1 dough recipe... MANY options

I have 1 recipe that I use extensively more than any other recipe in my kitchen! Its my Pizza Dough recipe...well, its not "my" pizza dough recipe, its actually Emily's! I got this recipe from her about 5 years ago and I was standing in her kitchen as she told me the recipe and I scribbled it down on a little note pad...I still have that same scribble paper taped to the back of my cabinet above my oven and I refer to it quite often...even though at this point I pretty much have it memorized. 

But let me tell you that this recipe is good for SO much more than just your standard pizza!

Double Decker Pizza!! A big favorite around here...1 rectangle pizza can serve a large crowd! We also love to have "make your own pizza" night! Very fun...its also fun to see what the kids create!

Pigs in a Blanket! I usually cut the hotdogs in quarters and then wrap em up. This way you get a whole lot more from 1 hot dog ;) I mean really...isnt that just asking to be dipped in a smiley face of ketchup and mustard!

Pizza Rolls! You can seriously put just about anything into the center of a pizza roll and my kids will LOVE it!

Not to be mistaken with...

Cinnamon Rolls OR Candy Rolls (Cinnamon Rolls with Reeses Pieces or M&Ms)

Calzones! Also a GREAT leftovers type meal...as long as you have cheese and some type of sauce...just toss in the remaining meat and veggies from previous nights meals!

Hot Pockets (this is a big lunch time favorite here!! Let everyone customize and fill their own for added fun!)

Dinner Pie (these are great when you just need to use up some stuff in the refrigerator...you can pretty much fill it with anything, just add some chicken stock to help it not get dry!)

Bierocks

 Bagels and Bagel Bites!!

And of course....Bagel roll ups!

And really the list could go ooooon and ooooon! What's your favorite thing to do with Pizza Dough!??

Turkey Stock

Whenever you cook a turkey or chicken, dont throw away the bones! I always save my bones in several large freezer bags until I have plenty of supplies to make a large batch of stock!

Then I just put all the bones into my large stock pot with few onions, carrots, celery, and garlic...cover with water and let it simmer!! Now this is one of my favorite things to do in the winter when the wood stove is roaring because I just let it set on top of the fire and boil all day! But when I am running the stove top I usually will just boil for a few hours. 

Strain out the liquids and its that easy!! You know you have some good stock when it gels. I usually let it cool after straining it and then divide it up into various pint sized canning jars. We use it up fairly fast, but it can easily be pressure canned or jut put into the freezer. Ive also taken the gel chunks and put them into a gallon size freezer bag...then they are really easy to just pop off a chunk out of the freezer to add a little extra flavor and nutrients to a meal.

Sprouting

Winter time is the best time of year for sprouting! Fresh green mini veggies easily made in your very own kitchen! 

Addie's Avocado Almond "dip it" recipe (grain free, dairy free)

What's more fun than decorating your dip!! This is Addie's new favorite "dip it" and it is actually a recipe that she made up! She just kept saying "ok mommy, lets put some of this in there"...and so I did and then we blended it up and decorated it!

• 1/2 cup almonds (soaked overnight in water)
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 tomato (quickly eat the other half so it doesnt go bad - at least that is what Addie says!)
• 1 garlic clove
• salt to taste

Easy directions: Toss it all in a bowl and puree it with a hand blender. And of course you must make a fun face on your dip...this is Henry and Addies favorite part!

This dip is great with sliced bell peppers, carrots and celery! Addie also likes it on her lettuce wraps with a little bit of turkey! 

Enjoy!! Let me know what creative ways you find to use this dip!

Soaking Almonds

If you like Almonds you will LOVE soaking raw almonds!! 

SO Simple! Just toss your almonds in a jar, 

cover with water, put a lid on it and let them soak overnight!

In the morning they will be puffy and oh so easy to chew! 

These are also great to blend up into dips or sauces and will add a nice creamy taste and texture. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think and what creative ways you find to use your soaked almonds :)

Frozen Cookie Batter! Dont buy frozen cookie dough again!!

Next time you bake some cookies, double (or triple) the recipe and freeze some for later! It makes it really easy to have some last minute cookies...just pull the bag out of the freezer, cut the batter, place your cookies on your cookie sheet and bake! Its seriously that easy. . Every cookie recipe I have tried has worked great like this.

Dont forget to label and date your bag...as well as write the time and temperature for baking.

Meat Mixture for Quick Pizzas and Pastas

I love to make my life as easy as I can in the kitchen! One of the ways I cut down on dishes and time is to have various veggies cut up and meat cooked "ready to go". This meat mixture comes in SUPER handy for Pizzas, Pasta, Calzones, Omelette's, Breakfast Burrito, etc etc. Basically it is just cooked up meat that is frozen and ready to crumble on a Pizza or toss into a pasta dish so I don't have to dirty up an extra pan at dinner time just for a small amount of meat. This helps to cut down on the amount of meat we eat as well because I can use just a small handful of meat instead of feeling like I have to use the whole pound of meat so it won't go to waste.

Step 1: Decide what meat you want to have "ready to go". I usually have 1 bag that contains an assortment of meat (hamburger, sausage, chicken, bacon, etc - whatever I have on hand at the time). This time I just did a small mixture of hamburger and sausage. And I also have a separate smaller baggie of "ready to go" breakfast sausage for biscuits and gravy :)

Step 2: Cook your meat with whatever method you prefer (browning, grilling, boil, etc). This time I also added some spices and dried onions to my first mixture. I usually cook the different meats seperately to add a variety of flavor and not just 1 block of meat that all tastes the same.

 

Step 3: Lay out the meat on a cookie sheet or a cloth napkin (I like to use the cloth napkin to help draw out the moisture that will prevent the meat from crumbling apart after it is frozen) and fold up the edges of your napkin or towel so you dont loose pieces of meat all over your freezer.

Step 4: Put it in the freezer for a couple hours.

Step 5: Take it out of the freezer and crumble the meat apart and put into a freezer bag or some type of freezer safe container (don't give it too much time to thaw...step 3 and 4 is so that the meat doesn't stick together in a solid brick and if you let it thaw then it will probably stick together anyway). If you gather the 4 corners of the napkin it is really easy to crumble to meat that way and it also makes it super easy to pour it into the freezer bag!

Step 6: Put it back in the freezer and get ready for pizza or pasta!



Ive done this same method with Pasta and Potatoes and it makes dinner time SUPER fast. I like to have cooked cubed potatoes on hand to throw into breakfast burritos - just toss the frozen potato cubes into your eggs when you are scrambling them along with some meat mixture and some precut onions. With precooked frozen pasta then you can pull out the pasta and a can of tomatoes with a little crumble of meat mixture and you have spaghetti in 5 minutes on the stove top with little to no mess!

Kitchen Tip: Precut Onions!

We have alot going on here at our city homestead and I am constantly looking for new ways to speed things up and make things easier on myself without sacrificing quality! This is one of the things that I do to help speed up meals...precut onions! It doesnt take any extra time, but it sure saves time and dirty knives. Everytime I need to chop up some onions for a meal I always chop at least 1 extra onion and put it in a canning jar in the refrigerator (a canning jar with a canning jar lid will help keep the lovely onion smell in the JAR and not in your refrigerator!).

This makes it VERY easy to throw together meals because usually I start all my meals by sauteeing some onions! Last night we had fajitas and I sauteed some onions (that were pre chopped), threw in some tomatoes (that I had seasoned and canned a while ago), tossed in the leftover chicken from dinner the night before (that I had already cut up). Dinner was fantastic and I didnt dirty up anything except the 1 sautee pan and it only took about 5 minutes to make! Healthy and homemade in under 5 minutes!! We even ate on paper plates for less cleanup! compostable paper plates :)

You can use this same method with just about anything! Next time you grill chicken, just throw an extra couple chicken breasts on and cut them up and put them in the refrigerator and plan fajitas or chicken pizza for dinner the next 2 nights.