Olivia's Picture

Olivia made me this picture while I was putting Annika to bed last night. She said it is her dancing. She drew her arm with a pencil and then kind of erased it to make it look like it was moving. Love it. She is way more creative than me!

 

Great Recipes!

Here are some great recipes for pizza, french toast, and bananas foster. Hope you enjoy them!

Handmade pizza dough
*** Make the night before! And use BREAD FLOUR***

1 package ACTIVE dry yeast
1 Cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1 ¼ cups cold water
2 T olive oil
1 t sugar
1 ½ t salt
5 ½ cups (1 lb 10 oz) bread flour divided
cooking spray

1. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water in a bowl; let stand 5 min. combine 1 ¼ cups cold water, oil, sugar, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon 1 lb 8.9 oz (5 ¼ cups) flour into a dry measuring cup and level with a knife. Combine flour, yeast mixture, and cold water mixture in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. (if you don’t have a mixer, mix by hand) Mix on low for 8 min. or until dough begins to form. Let rest 2 min. Mix on low 6 minutes or until dough is smooth (if no mixer, knead by hand for 10 min., then go out and buy a mixer). Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 2 min.- I do all of that in the mixer, too). Add enough of the remaining flour 1 T at a time to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel sticky).
3. Divide dough in half, and place each portion in a large zip-top bag coated with cooking spray. Seal and chill overnight or up to 2 days. Let stand at room temp. for 1 hour before using.

*note- you can freeze the dough for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in fridge before use.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

7 T water
2 T chopped fresh basil
1 ½ T olive oil
2 t dried oregano
1 ½ t sugar
1 t minced garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can petite cut diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

Mix all ingredients and voila you have the best sauce! If you prefer, you can puree it. Makes about 4 pizzas (two recipes of pizza dough)

Pizza

1. Sit out dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
3. Roll out dough. You really have to get tough with it. (if you are having trouble rolling it out, roll just a little and then let sit for 5 min. This is very helpful if you desire very thin pizza) Put on pizza pan ~ round kind with holes is a must!
4. Cover entire crust with olive oil; add sauce; parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese (the fresh kind melts really well and is great if you mix shredded with it); toppings.
5. Bake at 500 degrees for about 12 minutes.

French Toast
Mix up custard mixture and sit out bread night before!

1 cup half and half
3 large eggs
2 T honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
¼ t salt
8 (1/2 in.) slices day old French, Italian, brioche, or challah bread
4 T butter

1. Slice bread and sit out overnight. Whisk half and half, eggs, honey, and salt. Refrigerate overnight. (if you want to make it a little more decadent add ½ t vanilla and 2 T sugar J )
2. Preheat oven to 375. Dip bread into mixture and allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side.
3. Over medium heat, melt 1T butter in a 10 in. nonstick sauté pan. (A griddle works GREAT for this! I set mine to 375-400). Place 2 slices of bread and cook until golden brown. (you can cook all at once on griddle)
4. Remove from pan and place in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all slices.
5. Top with fruit, whipped cream, syrup, or bananas foster!

Banana Tarte Tatin*This is the most wonderful dessert and very easy to make. Super for company! And you can make just the banana part and use as toppings on ice cream or French toast. Can easily be halfed. *
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
6 T butter (you can cut some out)
¾ C packed light brown sugar
½ t cinnamon
1/8 t salt
5 large ripe bananas
1 t vanilla
2 T rum

1. Preheat oven to 400 (only if making whole dessert!) Roll out pastry to a 13 ½ in square (I never do this) Cut out a 12 in circle using a skillet as your guide. Put back in fridge to get firm. Make three ½ in. slits in the top of the pastry and set aside.
2. Melt butter over med. heat. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until mixture turns medium amber, about 3 min.
3. Arrange bananas in skillet, overlapping slightly. Cook, without stirring, 3 minutes. (careful not to get it too dark because it still has longer to cook) Drizzle vanilla and rum over bananas and cook until most of the rum has evaporated and liquid thickened, about 1 ½ min. Remove from heat.Place pastry round right on top of bananas and put in the oven. Bake until pastry is golden and puffed, about 25 min. Remove from oven and carefully invert tarte Tatin onto a serving plate. Then hide in your kitchen and eat the whole thing. Just claim it burned.