Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I found this yummy and simple recipe for Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Dough on allrecipes.com and tried it out last night. It was my first time making pizza dough, so I was surprised how good it was!

After I rolled out the dough (note: use A LOT of extra flour to do this!) I topped it with marinara, baby spinach, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and a little sprinkling of salt & pepper. I was planning on using feta cheese, but after Flynn's grocery store meltdown on Sunday night, causing me to take him home & leaving Tim to do all the shopping by himself, it never found it's way into the cart. (It wasn't on the list... not your fault, sweetie!)


Baked it at 350 for 12 minutes and cut it in four pieces - the perfect amount for Tim and I. You could easily make 2 pizzas at the same time or make a few extra balls of dough to freeze.


I used to buy premade Boboli pizza crust, but I won't be doing that anymore. Let's do one of my favorite things.... an ingredient comparison!


Boboli Whole Wheat Pizza Crust: Whole wheat flour, water, palm oil, polydextrose, yeast, wheat gluten, molasses, milk casein, salt, mozzarella cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes), sugar, preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid), fumaric acid, modified food starch, sodium phosphate, whey, monoglycerides, lactic acid, natural flavor, garlic, artificial color. 


Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Dough:Whole wheat flour, wheat germ, water, active dry yeast, salt, honey.

Which one would you rather eat? Yeah... not to mention the cost savings is significant. A Boboli crust is $3.79 at my grocery store and using what few math skills I've retained since high school, I figured out that this pizza dough costs $1.42 to make, giving me a cost savings of 63%. Not bad!

I'm afraid figuring out the cost of all the toppings would make my head hurt, so that one's on you. Have you ever made your own pizza dough before? Does everyone already do this and I'm late to the party? I'd love to hear your thoughts (and recipes!)

40 days

Flynn is starting to show an interest in solid foods and it's the cutest thing. We have him eat with us at the kitchen table during dinner (he sits in his bumbo seat) and he thinks the sight of us chewing is hilarious. He also loves when we make silly, loud chewing noises. Just recently, we noticed him opening his mouth and leaning forward... almost as if he's trying to take a bite of our food. But as much as we can't wait for him to try solids, we are holding off until he is absolutely ready. We'd also like him to be able to sit up on his own first.

The AAP now recommends waiting to start solids until 6 months of age, and I actually agree with them on this topic. So until May 6th (or for 40 more days), he will only be getting breast milk. Then, let the games begin! I am beyond excited to give him real food. Sweet potatoes, avocado, squash, egg yolk, banana... I can't wait to see his precious little eyes light up when he discovers that there is more to this world than just Mommy's milk! Cue the Aladdin song... a whole new worrrrrrld.

We received this book at Flynn's baby shower. It looks awesome!

Of course, I can't do anything the "normal" way, can I? I am interested in baby-led weaning, but need to read more about it. We are also skipping white rice cereal and going straight to more nutritious grub, like sweet potato and avocado. I just can't get on board with the idea of feeding Flynn a simple carb as his first food. What's the point? If it's not really that great for adults, it's probably not that great for babies. I will add oats & brown rice to his diet a little later.

Then there is the whole organic issue. I've always heard of the "dirty dozen" when it comes to selecting organic v. non organic produce, but now that I'm going to introduce it to my little baby's pristine digestive system, I can't stand the thought of feeding him pesticides. This website has the whole list of best & worst produce as far as pesticide contamination is concerned. Preview: Apples = the worst; Onions = not so bad; Oranges = right in the middle.

Growing up, I was always annoyed that my Mom wouldn't buy sugary cereals, like Lucky Charms. And now just look what I'm doing! Gah. I am my mother after all. If Flynn is anything like me, he'll love sleeping over at his friend's houses and eating their cereal. And if he's anything like my husband, he'll like Kool Aid. And have a full beard at age 14.

<3 Meg

P.S. - You can read more about why we're skipping traditional rice cereal here.

Precious Weekends

Tim and I treasure our weekends, especially these last few, precious, child-free weekends. I mean, Baby A is always along for the ride in my stomach, but this is the most laid back and maintenance free that he'll ever be.

Don't get us wrong, we can't wait to meet the little guy and dote on him 24/7, but we're slowly realizing that being able to say "Hey, let's go out to dinner" is a luxury.

On Friday night, we enjoyed a yummy slow cooker meal of beef & vegetable soup (recipe coming this week). I have a feeling that crock pot is going to be reaaaaal tired after this winter.

I woke up Saturday morning with a hankering for apple cider donuts. They are a local favorite that always symbolize the transition into fall and make the end of summer a tad more bearable. We brought Indy along for the ride and he enjoyed hanging his head out the window the whole way. The colder the better as far as he's concerned.

Then I got serenaded by this fine gentleman, to whom I happen to be married to.

After cleaning the bejesus out of our house while Tim took the pup on a long walk, we ran errands which included a stop at my favorite store - Christmas Tree Shops. Tim always says the same thing when we're in there. "There is so much random crap here." Yep, and that's why I love it! You go in there needing nothing and walk out with a huge bag of stuff that you only paid $15 for. What's not to love? I actually DID need a few things and this is one of them.

You see a placemat. I see a clutch purse. More on that later.

Just call me the Queen of Suspense.

We went out to possibly THE BEST Indian restaurant on Saturday night. Star of India, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Planet Earth... look it up. Anyways, we've been into Indian food for about the last year or so and I keep saying I'm going to learn how to cook it, but so far we've only made some chicken marinated in Indian spices on the grill. In time...

I never thought I was a spicy food kinda gal, but that's because I was associating anything spicy with how hot wings set my mouth on fire, and Indian spices are so not evil like that. They are spicy in an "ooh, that's got a kick to it!" way.

Their garlic naan was fresh baked and amazing. We're taking our friends Rachael & Dave there next weekend as well, because they've been wanting to try Indian food and we need another night out before baby!

37 weeks

This is the current state of my stomach. It really accents my double chin nicely, don't you think? Haha. I really shouldn't complain. I've had an easy breezy pregnancy and this isn't even a maternity dress! Forever 21, I think. And my favorite boots are back in action. I'm gonna wear the crap out of them again this winter, especially since I'll be living in tights & leggings.

Tim snapped this as we were headed out to the baby shower his Mom threw for me on Sunday. It was lovely to catch up with his aunts & cousins - including one that is also expecting! Needless to say, Baby Annan is totally set on adorable clothes, books, stuffed animals & cozy blankets. He'll definitely be dressed better than me for the first 6 months of his lucky little life!

Frittata. Fun to say. More fun to eat.

This meal is great for when you're standing in front of your fridge after a long day thinking, "What the $%&# are we going to eat?!" Also excellent for entertaining guests over brunch. You can completely customize it to your tastes and it's pretty hard to screw up. If you can scramble an egg, you can make a frittata. It looks and tastes way more impressive than scrambled eggs, too.

So throw on your apron and let's get crackin'! Literally. Because you need to crack a lot of eggs.

Here is what went into my frittata last night.

Ingredients:
10 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
1 T. butter
1/2 of a small yellow onion, diced
6 strips of uncured bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
1 large tomato, diced
Handful of fresh spinach, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk eggs & milk together, season with salt & pepper, set aside.
- In a saute pan, cook your chopped onion & bacon together until soft/crispy, drain on a towel and set aside.
- In a deep saute pan (or an "everyday pan"), melt your butter, then pour in your egg mixture.
- Add everything else into the eggs: onion, bacon, tomatoes & spinach. Top with a generous amount of cheese and let everything cook on the stovetop for 5 minutes.
- After the sides have set, put the whole pan in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the center is firm.
- I opted to add more cheese in the final few minutes of cooking. Because I really like cheese.
- DIG IN!

IMPORTANT: if your entire pan is stainless steel, you're fine. If your pan has a coated or plastic handle, wrap it very well in tinfoil before it goes in the oven. It's not a very high heat and it won't be in the oven for that long. There are also ways to cook a frittata where you cook it entirely in the oven in a casserole dish and skip the stovetop step. You'd have to google that though!


Everyday Pan - perfect for frittatas!

 Other yummy ingredients to add or substitute: mushrooms, sausage, salsa, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, green pepper, ham. It's a great meal to clean out the fridge.

What's for dinner? Gourmet Pizza

Boboli Whole Wheat pizza crusts have made at least 1 dinner per week a breeze.

My only issue with them is the questionable preservatives & "artificial color." At least they've wised up and now use regular old sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Hey, nobody's perfect.

It sure beats ordering out or heating up something frozen. You at least feel like you're cooking when you add your own toppings & whip a snazzy pizza out of the oven.

[Slicing your thumb open also makes you feel like you're  actually cooking, but I advise against it.]

I've made these kinds of pizzas dozens of times before, but last night's was particularly impressive.

Just ask my husband, the wannabe professional food critic.

His comments usually make me a better cook. But sometimes I get frustrated and end up yelling something like Why can't you just tell me it's good!! I shed a few tears and then he feels bad and apologizes. I take dinner very seriously.

We are totally normal.

Sausage, Onion & Spinach Pizza

Ingredients

1 pizza crust (Boboli or make your own if you're bored)

3/4 c. marinara

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 c. spinach leaves, roughly chopped

1/2 of an onion, chopped

1/2 lb. sausage*, cooked & chopped into bite-sized pieces

*We use uncured sausage, bacon & hotdogs whenever possible to avoid nitrates. They are not cool.

Directions

Cook your sausage stovetop on medium-high heat for about 3-4 min. on each side. It's way easier to slice when it's cooked, so definitely do this first. I learned the annoying way.

While the sausage is sizzlin', preheat the oven to 425 and prep your veggies.

Then layer your ingredients like so:

Marinara

Spinach

1 c. mozzarella

Onion

Sausage

1 c. mozzarella

[Putting the spinach under the cheese helps to keep it in place!]

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting & serving.

[It's not delivery, or DiGiorno.]