Project Pizza

When I began a relationship with my [now] husband 9 years ago, I knew how to cook two things:  apple pie and pancakes.

About a year into our courtship, my husband went to a friend's house to have a sleepover.  

Sleepover?  Do guys even call it that?  

In the morning, my husband's friend's mother made some pancakes.  Apparently they were good pancakes.  As in, better than my pancakes.  The next time I saw her, she was wearing a crown and he kept referring to her as the "Pancake Queen." 

You see my dilemma.  

Since apple pie wasn't going to carry me through a marriage, my mom began a mad rush to teach me cooking essentials like searing meat, making a good roux, sauteing vegetables, roasting chicken, using a crock pot.  Everything...except pizza.  She left that up to Papa John, and all I learned from him was that pick up was $3 cheaper than delivery.  

Eight years after the dreaded pancake episode, I feel I can probably succeed at almost any recipe I attempt.  However pizza is to me what garlic bread is to my mom:  a complete joke.  

And that is what has brought me here, to Project Pizza.  I am going on a journey in an attempt to make the PERFECT pizza, but with one caveat:  it must be from scratch.  No premade pizza sauce or packaged dough.  Obviously I can't be expected to make my own cheese, and my tomato plant hasn't produced a single tomato since last November.  Yes, obviously I expect a little grace.

With all that said, here is attempt #1.  Okay, technically not attempt #1 or else I wouldn't know how truly pathetic my skills are.  Like, have you ever had one half of your pizza rise 3 inches and the other half stay flat as a pancake?  Not sure if that was my subconscious attempt to outperform the Pancake Queen by simultaneously cooking two dishes at once, but it'd probably be safe to say I failed.  At least I don't remember getting a crown for it.

Okay, I know.  At first glance it doesn't look too bad.  Well, if you like pineapple on your pizza.  If not, just squint and pretend its yellow peppers.

Then look closer....

Is it just me or did all my pizza dough somehow manage to scoot to the outer edges and form a tumor?

Oh, and you know that magic trick where they put someone in a box and pretend to saw someone in half.  Pretty sure I did it wrong.

Or maybe I was just trying to extricate the tumor?  And no matter how great (or odd) a pizza looks, perfection includes the taste.  This one tasted slightly too yeasty.  

If this were a throwdown, then Bobby Flay won.  Stay tuned for round 2.

A Poem

The bathroom, though a wonderful invention,

Elicits a rule in need of attention-

That is, when I enter inside,

I WANT MY KIDS TO STAY OUTSIDE.

thank you.

Going Frugal.

I'm aware being frugal was a way of life before the introduction of debt.  But much like peasant tops, soda made with real sugar, and starbursts (no, not the candy), the word "frugal" is making a rapid resurgence into our everyday vocabulary.  I had a professor who said that if I used a word three times, it could be mine too.  I hope writing it counts because, guess what readers, IT'S MINE!  Well, as long as the title counts.

I urge you to try it.  Tired of those calls asking for donations for the firefighters and prepared dinners delivered in automobiles?  Let them know you wish you could help, but you have to be very frugal with your spending now.  Sure, they're just going to ask for a smaller donation, but now you only have to use the word two more times and you, too, can own it.  

Anyhow, because I now personally own this word, I have tried to figure out how to actively use it.  And not just in a blog.  A blog is like a book report, and I was looking to make a diorama.  Remember those?  Pure awesomeness.  I wanted to make my new word active and alive.  So here are a few of my attempts:

1. Bedding:  my girls desperately needed new comforters.  Why?  Because their mom wasn't looking when the youngest child personalized them with permanent marker.  Bad mom.  Instead of putting out $70 for two new comforters, I went to Ikea and spent $20 on two duvets to cover the perfectly usable comforters.  

What's that you say?  Amateur frugality?  Then try this:

2. TV stand:  I found someone giving away a free tv stand on craigslist.  I picked it up and, when I finally get around to putting a couple coats of polycrylic on our free one, I'll swap it out for our current stand (which is our old coffee table which doesn't even fit our dvd player).  I'll then SELL the coffee table for...let's say...$20?  Awesome.  Oh, wait a second.  How much did I spend on those duvets? 

Look who's amateur now?

3. Spaghetti sauce:  Costco sells three jars of spaghetti sauce for $7.  Not too bad.  Oh, but stop.  Remember that new vocabulary word?  Right, frugal.  Costco ALSO sells cans of tomato puree and diced tomatoes for $2.50 each.  I bypassed the spaghetti sauce, purchased the large cans, and went home and made about 6 batches of spaghetti sauce (using less than $2 worth of spices).  

Can you say "frugal"?  Well done - the word is now yours too.  =)

4. Menu planning:  Instead of staring into my fridge for 5 minutes, walking over to the pantry and spending equal amount of time there and repeating that process until dinner decides to crawl out, I've begun a simple yet little-known process of menu planning.  I know - what the heck is that, right?  This strange custom involves sitting down and inventing 5 meals that I'm going to make in the next 5-7 days.  I pick 5 because we usually have left-overs or have plans to eat elsewhere (can you say "parents"?).  I then write out the ingredients those meals require and purchase ONLY THOSE, preferably with a coupon if available.  I'm a pair of heels and a pearl necklace shy of looking archaic.  

5. Buying in bulk:  I'm pretty sure that a synonym for being frugal is "buying in bulk."  But at the same time if you need rice for dinner that night, spending $2 on a bag sounds cheaper than spending $7 on one.  However, this is where menu planning and b.i.b. mesh.  You see, long ago when I didn't plan menus (i.e. March), I would need some rice for dinner that night (because the dinner that crawled out would demand the presence of rice) and run to the store and get said rice for $2.  Let me clarify that.  I'd get a pound of rice for $2.  Because of menu planning, I can plan for buying in bulk (meat, flour, sugar, etc) and go ahead and purchase that rice for $7.  Oops, more clarification.  I can buy 25 pounds of rice for $7.  I need to come up with a frugal dance for wins like this.

Okay, so none of this is life-changing.  No extreme couponing, no mad bargaining skills, no eating solely off a home garden.  But aren't diorama's a third grade project anyway?  I'd say I'm doing pretty decent for a third grader.  

At least I can make spaghetti sauce.  

I'm dying to know - what are YOUR frugal ideas?  

Oh, P.S.  So tacky, I know, but I created a Facebook page where you can comment if you don't have a blogger account.  I know a few people have mentioned that problem to me, so hopefully this helps!  I'd really love to hear your ideas.  =)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bee-Currency/

Hope to see you there!

The Body

All throughout the New Testament God likens the church to a body.  Not several bodies; just one.  As individual believers, we make up different parts of that said body.  My husband recently said that even if a Christian is good enough to qualify as an entire eye, he is still useless without the help of the rest of the body.  We have been uniquely created to be interdependent on each other.

I do have a point to this so please keep reading!

On Tuesday night, May 31st, I was sitting at my computer.  Wait, quick pause.  My husband and I one day hope to adopt and we've been leaning towards Russia.  We've recently paid off our debt and are now focusing on acquiring another route and saving.  But since we're not actively in the adoption process, it's so easy to lose fire for that mission.  So back to my computer - I was sitting at it, looking up Russian adoption blogs.  I haven't done this before, but I did it.  On Tuesday night.  The 31st.  

While skimming different blogs, one in particular caught my eye.  It was a couple with a burden to adopt a little girl from Russia, and to do it debt-free.  I spent over an hour reading their story and, by the time I was done, was motivated to donate to their cause.  The date is important now, because it was the very end of the month.  My husband and I allot a minimum amount to give away each month, and I opened up our budget to see if we had reached that minimum.  We almost ALWAYS do all of our giving at the beginning of the month so that we don't have an excuse not to later (i.e. we ate out too much and now we don't have enough money to give).  However, this month we hadn't.  This is rare.  But it made giving to this couple rather easy.  It was a modest sum....pennies compared to what I know an adoption costs.  Thankfully I know God's not looking at the amount.

The next morning I received an email from the wife.  Little did I know, that night - Tuesday, May 31st - her and her husband had just finished 7 days of prayer and fasting regarding their adoption process.  She wrote this to me:  "we just dedicated the last seven days to fasting and praying with the Lord, being open to direction, guidance, just basking in His love and whatever He would bring to the table...And then, on the very last night of fasting, last night, I get this donation from you and your husband and I think, 'Wow.  God is just really speaking to me that He will provide!'"

I'm not attempting to brag about our gift because, honestly, it was small.  Her full response would have been better suited if there were a couple zeros added onto the end of our gift.  But what really spoke to me was how little is required to ensure that our body - the one Christ has made us all members of - stays blessed and encouraged.  I think of my friend Andrea who did a bake sale to buy socks for homeless children.  I think of my sister and her husband who couldn't buy from the bake sale, and so gave a little seed money to help Andrea buy ingredients for it.  And my friend Megan who took up a collection for a pregnant mom who didn't have a car seat or any essentials for her expectant child.  And my Dad who will spend an entire wedding in the kitchen doing dishes.  I think about the homeschoolers I know who volunteer their time to remove the flags from the graves of our fallen heroes after Memorial Day each year.  And the ones who decorate a local assisted living facility with homemade cards and decorations.  I think of all my friends and family who willingly make small sacrifices despite a lack of accolades, simply because they want to take care of the Body.  God is not asking for riches - He has those.  He's only seeking what He's already enabled us to give.  I thank those of you who model this and have spurred me on to do the same.

I'm still alive!

It has been awhile since I got on here and posted anything.  Sorry.  But it hasn't been out of laziness.  Here are a few things that have happened in the past couple weeks:

1. BlendTec! - Several months ago my daughter climbed up on the counter and knocked down a blender full of smoothie.  Sadly, our blender did not survive the incident.  So my husband and I set our sights on getting a super nice blender because smoothies are a (nearly) every day meal for us.  We received a Costco rebate check and held on to it until they were having a BlendTec roadshow and picked it up. We LOVE it!

2. Granola! - One of my favorite snacks is the Chunky Strawberry Topper from Jamba Juice.  This is an amazing concoction of strawberries, banana, peanut butter, yogurt, soy milk, and granola whipped up in a blender.  (Blender?  Did you say blender??  We HAVE one of those now!)  I also had all those ingredients except for soy milk and granola.  I was fine without soy milk, but I had to have the granola.  So I tried making some...

I modified it a bit by adding peanut butter to the mixture.  It must have been magic granola because it disappeared so fast.  <---Oh, sheesh, I'm so funny.  I ended up making more the next day and bagging it as thank you's for the kids' class day teachers.  (The bags were made by sewing wax paper inside brown butcher paper and sealing with hot glue and a button).

3. Visitors! - We've also had fun spending time with my Aunt and cousin (visiting from Oklahoma), my twin sister and her family (visiting from the Bay Area), and my sister-in-law and her husband (visiting from Virginia) all within a two week period!  It was crazy hectic but so much fun.  When my sister visits with her two girls, our house is filled with children ages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.  I'll let you imagine the chaos.  But chaos is fertile ground for memory-making and we had fun!

4. Garlic Knots! - I also had the chance to try out a few new recipes this past week.  One of my favorites were garlic knots...

They're essentially pizza dough, tied into knots (yes, literally), and coated with garlic, o.o., parmesan cheese, and parsley.  Mmmm-mmm.

So there you have it:  a summary of my most recent past.  =)    Now, what have YOU been up to?

Gardening 101: Planting time!

I'm not a great gardener.  Here are some snapshots of last summers plants.

Pepper plant #1:

Pepper plant #2:

But that doesn't mean I don't love the process.  Here are some flowers I planted when we first moved in.  They just started blooming the other day:

 Last week  I pulled together all my seeds, and the kids and I started seedlings for our summer garden.

 Egg cartons work great because they decompose, so you can plant them directly into the soil.  Here are some of our plants playing peek-a-boo!

Carrots:

  Beans:

Oh, and a few weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a bunch of onion bulbs.  I planted them in my onion box and tah-dah!  Looks like I'll have useable scallions soon, and onions no long after that.  I'm excited!

Food 101: Italian Bread

Italian bread vs French bread?  Yeah, I had to look up the difference, too.

Well, with the number of times I have baked French bread, I already knew the characteristics of a good loaf:  crusty outside, fluffy inside.

But I wanted to make some rustic bread for homemade subs, and I knew French wasn't going to accomplish that purpose.  So I began googling and ran across a recipe for simple Italian bread - soft outside, and airy on the inside, perfect for sandwiches!  (I guess the technical term nowadays is "sammies" or "sammiches," but call me old fashioned, I'm sticking with the vintage expression 'sandwich'.)  Here is my first batch of Italian bread (made smaller for sandwich-making):

Here is the recipe I pulled from:  http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/mama-ds-italian-bread/Detail.aspx  It's so very basic, but a great starting point if you're new to bread baking.  Because these were for sandwiches and I wanted to go one step further than plain bread, I glazed the top with honey then sprinkled on some crushed oats.  Talk about delicious!

Dinner is served!