Be back soon!!!

Hey everyone sort for the long wait...we just moved and are in the process of getting everything put in order...I should be back soon :-) thanks for your patience!

Pizzzzzzzzaaaaa!!! yummy pepperoni pizza bites

So awhile back I had shared an amazingly easy pizza dough recipe! I am hooked and have been making that my main go-to recipe for anything using pizza dough, it's home-made, inexpensive to make and doesn't require a lot of time! all A+  in my mind!!!
So I came across this recipe and had bookmarked it to try a month ago (that's how long it takes to get to something *sigh*) these pizza bites are über easy and really really good...addicting good and most importantly  the kids LOVE it, even more than the store bought ones! and anything that my kids give the two thumbs up for is a blessing ;-)
so here is my recipe that...yes...again I found it on Annie's eats ;-) but there is a great monkey bread version of these on the confections of a foodie bride...go try them you will be hooked just like us and it takes the same amount of time as buying them from the store. The pizza dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer without problems, just pull it out and let thaw, then whip up these bad boys and voila!
Click here for the pizza dough recipe. Be creative and make different variations ;-) like maybe add some cooked sausage, green peppers, switch up the cheese...add mushrooms,olives, bacon!? whatever you're favorite toppings are ;-) be creative!

Pull off a a small piece of dough a little smaller than a golf-ball

Flatten out the dough

Put pepperoni (however much you want) and mozzarella square in the middle of the dough

Pull the dough over the pepperoni and cheese and squeeze the seams together to close, make sure there are no holes

Form it into a ball and place it into your greased glass pie pan

Brush on olive oil mixed with Italian spices and garlic, top it off with fresh grated Parmesan

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 450 for 15-20 min or until it's lightly browned

The pizza bites pull apart really easy ;-)

Yummy cheesy/pepperoni goodness!

Even Chunky here loved them ;-)

Easy pizza Bites

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough recipe
• Your favorite pizza toppings (make sure you cook meat before adding to the dough)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1tsp Italian spices
• 1 garlic clove crushed and placed in the olive oil with the Italian spices
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Warmed simple marinara sauce

Direction:

• Preheat oven to 450 and grease a glass pie pan
• Make a batch of the pizza dough according to the recipe (feel free to use your favorite pizza dough recipe)
• Make the pizza bites according to the pictures above
• Bake the pizza bites in the preheated oven for 15-20min or until lightly browned
• Make simple marinara sauce 
• Dip the pizza bites to your hearts desire and enjoy!

Adapted from Annie's eats

SNAKE!!!! eeeeeek!!! lol

So I married not only a pyro but a snake fanatic...now snakes are OK as long as they stay away from me! fire on the other hand freaks me out!
but anyways we had taken our boys out awhile back for a walk. My hubby who loves all different kinds of snakes (and has sworn an oath with his brothers to catch every single kind of poisonous snake on the east coast, so far he is only missing the coral snake  oh lord have mercy!...which I forbid him to catch...no anti-venom available) so it's no surprise to me to somehow find a snake on one of our trails.
Now please understand that my husband and I thoroughly teach our children to respect nature and not to touch anything unless given permission. So keep that in the back of your mind when you see the pictures.
My hubby found a small (very harmless) green grass snake and was teaching my son about it...

My handsome man ;-p

in the wild...

cutie-patootie

just in case you didn't notice...this is a snake ;-)

He very bravely and without fear held the critter

now that he conquered the snake he can take the man stance and look over all his dominion lol

Simple but delectable iced coffee to start your day off right!

I have finally boarded the iced coffee craze, I never really like the thought of iced coffee and since I'm European (well only born and raised) I don't really like ice, and never understood why I have to fill my cup to the brim with ice to only fill it up with already cold soda from the fountain...just didn't make sense and then not to mention that if I didn't finish my drink in the 2min time slot (2min before the ice melts) my drink would be a watery mess. Just a pet peeve of mine lol...could ya tell?

Anyways I have run out of my "must-need-can't-live-without-it" earl grey tea. Now you ask me why don't I just hop in the car and get some??? well

1. I live 45min from the nearest store
2. I have two kids under two...both teething and one potty training...so yeah...no!
3. My husband and I are down to one car and he needs it for work...everyday...ugh

so you see my dire situation...
so in a frenzy to find a suitable substitute I came accross this little jem of a recipe! and not to mention...that yes it is by my two favorite bloggers! Annie and Ree!!! It has been a life saver and is sooo insanely easy!
I adapted the recipe a little and used whole bean coffee. I LOVE the smell of freshly brewed coffee and especially when it is home-ground ;-)
I had bought a couple of bags of flavored coffee beans awhile back on a BOGO sale at publix (don't you just love those deals!!!) and hadn't opened them yet. So today will be the glorious day ;-)

If you drink quite a lot of coffee I would invest in a grinder! I love mine! I highly recommend buying whole beans and grinding them yourself. just open the bag and only grind what you need and then close the bag and press air out and save in a air tight container.
I know a lot of the fancy whole food stores sell the coffee beans in huge beautiful barrels and you can scoop to your hearts content. But trust me...buy the air tight bags you know they've not been touched by human hands or air unlike the barrel beans lol

Anyhow I ended up using the "eight o' clock" brand hazelnut whole bean coffee. Now do understand that if you like the deep robust coffee flavor I would go with one 16oz bag of bustelo's ground coffee (yellow bag with red and black letters). I needed to up my ground hazelnut coffee a bit to get the desired taste like one and a half bags. But again you can always add the hazelnut flavor by adding it to the simple syrup ;-)

Hope you enjoy!

Simple Iced coffee

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground whole bean Coffee (or one 16oz bag pre-ground coffee like cafe bustelo!)
• 8 quarts Cold Water
• Half-and-half( a good helping for each serving)
• Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
• Note: You can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...use whatever you like to your taste!

Directions:

• In a very large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
• Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
• Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
• To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.
• To make an iced mocha, pour 1½ tbsp. simple syrup (1part sugar/ 1 part boiling water, you can flavor to taste),1½ tbsp. chocolate syrup  into a 16oz cup..  Fill the cup with ice.  Pour the chilled coffee base over the ice, filling the cup about three quarters full.  Stir the mixture well to blend in the syrups.  Fill the cup the rest of the way with milk and stir once more to blend.  Sip and enjoy!

Adapted from Annie's eats who adapted it from The pioneer woman

Trick to keeping your kids busy=gatorade lol

Quietly organizing the Gatorade  ;-)

I was cleaning the bedroom tonight and the kids were...hey where were the kids??? I know when it gets quiet my kids are up to something, definitely if they are both doing the same thing and are not making a sound...ugh running down the hall looking in the bedrooms trying to find them...I found them on the floor in the kitchen "organizing" the bottles of Gatorade they had found and unpacked. I just couldn't help but take some pictures, I love the little moments when my kids are quietly playing together, not hitting, fighting or crying...warms my heart! I love my boys! hope you enjoy these...

My baby wasn't sure what I was holding

Hey mom look at us!!! we are playing together!

I love the sun hitting the colors

lol my dirty floor...

Daring Cooks challenged us to make our own pasta!

So wow this month is flying by! Trying to keep up with both the daring cooks and the daring bakers phew!!!
anywho the daring cooks were challenged to make their own pasta! Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess.  Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine.  She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!  Yes pasta...my favorite food ever!!! so excited when I read this and of course started planning all these elaborate and wonderfully challenging recipes to make...but time seemed to slip by me unnoticed *sigh*
I did however end up with homemade pasta and it was however surprisingly delicioso!
I took a detour from the obvious choice "Italian" and went with something more Asian. I'm not sure if my recipe is actually considered a dough for pasta? but I thought it was so I'll go with it.
I ended up making my own wonton wrappers and used them in wonton soup (a very Americanized version)
My camera (at the time) was in the shop so please forgive my lack of good photos or any photos for that matter (I do have some)But I am happy to announce my baby (camera) is back and fixed!!! hooray!
After chasing a toddler and a pre toddler around today I finally got about posting this little jem  ;-)
I had to wrestle a 2 year old and chase a Tom Cruise from risky business wanna-bee around the living room to be able to post this, but it was worth it ;-) I love my kiddos, life is oh so UN-boring with them two!

So here are my recipes for the awesome wonton soup! It was really amazing and filling! try it!

Here are some great web sites on how to fold wontons:

• Folding wontons 8 different ways
• How to fold a wonton video 
• Quick and easy steps video (I made the second version in this video)

Wonton Wrappers:

Printable Version

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the egg. Mix in the water.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Create a well in the center of the mixture and slowly pour in the egg and water. Mix well. If the mixture is too dry, increase the amount of water one teaspoon at a time until a pliable dough has formed.
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until elastic. Cut dough into two separate balls. Cover the balls with a damp cloth for a minimum of 10 minutes.
4. Cut each ball into four equal pieces. Roll the pieces into 10 1/2 by 10 1/2 inch squares. Cut each into nine 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch squares. Use in any recipe that calls for wonton wrappers.  

Recipe from BIGDADDY1IL on all recipes

Wonton Soup:
 Printable Version


 Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound boneless pork loin, coarsely chopped
• 2 ounces peeled shrimp, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 1Tbsp-1 tsp light soy sauce (1tsp is for the soup)
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped green onion
• 1-1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root (divided, keep the 1/4 tsp for the soup)
• 24 (3.5 inch square) wonton wrappers
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion divided
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine raw pork, shrimp, sugar, wine, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chopped green onion and ginger. Blend well, and let stand for 25 to 30 minutes.
2. Place about one teaspoon of the filling at the center of each wonton skin. Moisten all 4 edges of wonton wrapper with water, then pull the top corner down to the bottom, folding the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle. Press edges firmly to make a seal. Bring left and right corners together above the filling. Overlap the tips of these corners, moisten with water and press together. Continue until all wrappers are used.
3. FOR SOUP: Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil.Add the 1/4cup green onions and 1/2 cup chopped carrots, 1/4 tsp chopped ginger and 1 tsp soy sauce.Cook until carrots are nearly cooked through. Drop wontons and spinach in, and cook for 6 minutes (don't worry the filling will be cooked through!). Garnish with chopped green onion, and serve. 

Recipe adapted from MARBALET on all recipes

 

Photography : It's A Beautiful Photograph, But Do You Know WHY It's Beautiful?

So I have decided to teach myself photography ;-) I throughout enjoy it and it has been a great way to express myself and learn a new talent :-)
I needed to post my pictures online and then send the link to the moderator of the class for grading...
So I thought why not share this with you so you can (hopefully) see my progress.
These pictures are supposed to reflect composition so they are kept as taken and I have not stressed on the exposure or aperture settings, next class will be on the relationship between the shutter speed and the aperture...a lot more studying since it's a lot like math and I am sooo not good at math! but I am determined to understand at least most of it lol
Well here goes nothing lol:

Class 1:Composition And Impact:

Click here for more info on this class

Assignment 1: Take at least one abstract photo based entirely on some of the compositional rules talked about. Subjects should not be recognizable. 

This is my son's train track from his set

This is the same exact picture just turned around, notice how the picture changed cool huh!

Assignment 2: Take pictures of a subject from various viewpoints (near, far, from above, below, behind). Creativity is encouraged.