Thin Crust Pizza Recipe, if you're into that sort of thing...

Last night, I had a hankering for pizza. We’d been eating out more than usual, so I wanted to stay away from greasy delivery pizzas. All the pizza dough recipes I had called for a long wait time for the dough to rise (1 hour or more). Since the stomach was a growlin’, I found what turned out to be a delicious thin crust recipe online. Since I haven’t cleaned my oven in a while, I decided to opt out of turning it to 500 degrees, and instead set it at 375…which worked out just fine!

Thin Crust Pizza Dough

• 1 envelope of dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
• 3/4 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Combine 1 envelope of dry yeast, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and 3/4 cups of lukewarm water. Mix a little and let sit for 6-8 minutes.
2. Combine 1 3/4 cups of unbleached plain flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a bowl or food processor.
3. Pour the water combination into the bowl (or food processor) and mix until ready to knead (around 30 second in a food processor). If using a bowl, mix with a spoon until you have a neat ball.
4. Prepare a lightly sprinkled surface with flour. Turn out dough and knead for around 2-3 minutes. Lightly cover your fingertips with flour if the mixture is a little sticky.
5. Roll out by hand for a 12'' base.
6. Place in 12'' lightly oiled oven pan. Press out dough to form a slight lip.
7. Prepare and apply your sauce and topping of choice.
8. Cook in a pre-heated over (500F) for 8-12 minutes (times may vary based on different ovens. Fan assisted oven will be quicker!).

http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/thin_crust.htm

Since we were really low on groceries, I decided to go with the classic margarita toppings, tomato, fresh basil and mozzarella. I sliced the tomatoes and marinated them in garlic, olive oil and salt while I made the dough. After brushing the dough lightly with olive oil, I sprinkled with mozzarella cheese, topped with tomato slices, globbed on some tomato puree for some extra tang, and drizzled with olive oil. Jared wanted to add sliced steak to his side, but I'll leave that option up to you! I baked it for a while until the crust was lightly browned and the cheese was bubbly. When I removed it from the oven, I sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and  chopped fresh basil. It was deeee-lish! 

Fashionably Late

Oh dear. Timely blogging is not my forte. Much has happened since the cabinets fiasco. I found out on March 29th that I'm pregnant! I took the test on a whim, it came out positive. I paced around the bedroom (Jared was out running an errand) stating repeatedly, "Oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash, oh my gash" you get the idea. Only this lasted for most of the time he was gone. With a shaky hand, I scribbled on a blank card I had stored in the office, "You're going to be a daddy" sealed it up, wrote "Jared Obenchain" in somewhat sloppy, purposefully unrecognizable hand writing on the envelope, and ran downstairs to pretend to "watch TV nonchalantly." When he walked in the door, I waited a few minutes, and then handed him the card and said, "Someone dropped this off for you while you were out." As he took it, he immediately commented that it must have been from a guy at work that might have been dropping by- he was sorry he missed him. When he opened the card, his face went from blank, to confused, to elated. We hugged and prayed and thanked God for this little gift. It was a very fun day! Since then, we've seen this little one dance around, heard it's pounding heartbeat and prayed over it's mind, spirit, thoughts, hands, and toes. We are anxiously counting down for Dec. 3, or sometime around that time, to welcome this new life into ours. I hope we're good parents!!!

 

Other, less life altering things have happened, too. We replaced some toilets, got a new camera (we'll be needing something that can take video in the near future!), put up some window treatments, hosted quite a few out of town guests, walked the dog about a hundred times, went to a U2 concert, began enjoying summer, etc. Here are some random pictures to capture some of the random things that have happened. Oh, and lots of cooking happened... but I won't say "we" did that, that was mostly me ;-)

Yummy bread from the bakery section...

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Cacciatore

Crostini Caprese for a night with friends...

Some serious NY food that my dad and I shared when I was there. You're looking at grainy mustard, mortadella, prosciutto, ham, pate, brie cheese and some baby gherkins. It was delicious and took about two minutes for us to demolish (we had slices of french bread to go along with it).

The U2 concert, with an opening from The Fray...

U2 performing "Where the Streets Have No Name" which is now one of my favorites:

A picture of Bentley taken with our new camera. I love this picture, because he looks sort of bluish from the light coming in from outside.

One last test from Jared as to the clarity of the new camera. Is it weird that I like the way the bag looks?

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there. More to come on cooking adventures, home decorating and our biggest upcoming project: A NURSERY!