Homemade Pizza....

....Is so much better than the other stuff. If you can find a good dough recipe, stick w/it. Then add the toppings of your choice. The possibilities are endless.

Pizza bread

1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional as needed
2 teaspoons sugar (1/4 ounce)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/4 ounce package)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading (11 3/8 ounces)
1/2 cup white or yellow cornmeal, plus additional for forming (2 3/8 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (1/8 ounce

To make the dough: Stir the water, oil, and sugar in a liquid measuring cup until the sugar dissolves. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface over the liquid and set aside without stirring until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and add yeast mixture. With a wooden spoon or your hand, gradually stir flour into liquid to make a rough dough. Pull dough together into a ball. Turn onto a work surface dusted with flour. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes, using a little flour if necessary to keep it from sticking. Shape dough into a ball.

Brush a large bowl with oil and turn dough around in bowl to coat lightly. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time -- let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Turn dough onto a work surface; knead briefly to release excess air, re-shape into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover, and let rise until soft and puffy, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Bake for about 5-6 min. Then add sauce and any other toppings that you want. Put back in oven and bake til cheese is melted and dough is golden brown.

This is really yummy!!!

This recipe comes from a fellow blogger. SimplyRecipes

I decided to give it a whirl and it is sooo good. The dough is very light and doesn't taste heavy at all. A perfect summer dessert.



Cherry Clafouti Recipe


Traditional clafoutis recipes call for using cherries with their pits still in, which are supposed to lend some almond flavor to the dish. In this recipe the pits are removed, making the clafouti easier to eat, but you can do it either way.
Ingredients

* 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
* 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
* 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, sifted
* 1/8 teaspoon of salt
* 1 cup of whole milk(I used soy light)
* 1 Tbsp of Amaretto -or- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
* Powdered sugar for dusting

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.

2 Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt, and flour together until smooth.

3 Add the milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.
4 Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve.

Serves 6.


yummy!

Banana Streusel Muffins

These are so good. I recommend them w/a tall glass of milk, or soy in my case :)

1 3/4C all purpose flour
1/3C sugar(I used Splenda)
2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1 egg beaten
1/2C milk(I used soy vanilla)
1/4C oil(I used unsweetened applesauce)
3/4C mashed banana I didn't measure this, I added 4 bananas lol

Grease 12 muffin cups. In a medium bowl combine, flour,sugar,baking powder,and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture and set aside. In another bowl,combine egg,milk,oil,banana and I also added some vanilla and butter extract. Since I didn't use butter or oil and used the applesauce,the extract gives it a nice flavor. Pour into well, and stir just til moistened. Overbeating will make muffins chewy. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full.

To make the streusel topping:

3tbsp all purpose flour
3tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp oatmeal
1/4tsp cinnamon
2tbsp butter

mix all together til it looks like course crumbs. Sprinkle on top of muffins.
Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 18-20min or til golden brown on top.

If you make these as "jumbo muffins" you'll need to lower your oven to 350 and bake about 30min!

Enjoy!

OH MY MY!

I got this recipe from Melanie over at The Sisters' Cafe and I wanted to try it tonight. This was so simple to put together and very very good. You all know how I love Banana Bread lol, so having chocolate in w/that, OMG, I was thrilled lol. I did tweak the recipe a little(I usually do lol).

Double Chocolate Banana Bread
submitted by Melanie
Recipe adapted from Cooking Pleasures

1 cup sugar(I used 1/2 C splenda and 1/2C granulated sugar)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/3C unsweetened applesauce)
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)---(I used 5 bananas b/c that's what I had lol)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1C flour and1/2C whole wheat)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa and baking soda in medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.


I took it out of the oven, and instantly had to have me a taste lol. I have to say, it is SUPER yummy and Joe will be mighty thrilled when he sees what I have made lol. I plan on having a piece of it w/a glass of soy light vanilla milk later ;)

Strawberry Raspberry jam...

I had some strawberries that needed something to be done w/them before they started to mold. I also had a package of frozen raspberries....so I made jam lol.

This is what is known as freezer jam. This brand, you don't have to cook on the stove. There is another freezer jam that you do have to cook but only for a short time. I have to say, I LOVE THIS idea. And the jam, ohhhhh it's so good. Very fresh tasting and so easy to make. Plus,I have noticed that you do not use as much sugar!

I have a wonderful Cuisinart Food Processor and that's what I used to mix this all up. I put the fruit pectin and sugar in the Cuisinart and pulsed for a few seconds. Then I cut and washed the strawberries, washed the raspberries and added those. I also added some lemon juice/zest. Turn that bad boy on and go to town. When it's all smooth, ladle into plastic jars so you can freeze. I had some glass ones and plan on giving those to family.

It's easy,pretty and taste way better than the store bought. not to mention, it's healthier!

A lifesaver for me...

If you're a Southern gal, you know how much we love our pecans. Those little boogers can get expensive during the holidays. I buy huge bags of them from Sams and then FREEZE them. That's right, you can put those babies in the freezer, pull them out anytime you need pecans and they are perfect. I also NEVER buy chopped pecans. When you buy them in bulk, you can chop them up in your food processor or by hand. Then freeze them and pull those out anytime you need chopped pecans. I have been doing this for years and it's been such a life saver for me. I always have pecans on hand and they don't go bad this way!

Another tip:

We country girls love our green beans w/bacon. Well ok, we like black eye peas w/bacon, white beans w/bacon....you get he point. I like the flavor bacon gives things when you cook w/it. Buy a big thing of bacon, then cut the bacon stip into thirds. Lay those strips of bacon(say three pieces at a time)on a Freezer Press n Seal and seal around the bacon-individually. Put in a zip lock bag and label w/name and date. Then anytime you need bacon to flavor beans, taaa duuuuh you have it!

It's Derby time!

In honor of the Kentucky Derby,I will share a recipe for a Kentucky Derby Pie. It's rich and very good w/a scoop of vanilla ice cream. My sister adores this pie as well as some other chocolate lovers in my family. It's super easy to make,I promise, anyone could make this pie!

Kentucky Derby Pie

1C sugar
1stick of butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2C all purpose flour
1C chocolate chips
1tsp vanilla
1 C nuts(I use pecans)

Mix all ingredients together and put into an unbaked pie shell. Bake at 325 for one hour or til golden brown. It will form a crust on top.

See how easy that is??? I told you anyone could do it! It takes maybe 5 minutes to put together.