Favorites from around the web: Pizza!

Here are a few Pizza recipes from around the web that I want to try soon!

Homemade Pizza Sauce by Tasty Kitchen

Photo courtesy of Erica Lea/Tasty Kitchen

This recipe looks so quick and easy and gives me a great excuse to keep red wine on hand. At the bottom of the post is also a pizza dough recipe so you can make a whole meal of it! Shared by Erica Lea of Cooking for Seven


Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza by Lauren's Kitchen (Originally by Stephanie Cooks)

Photo courtesy of Lauren's Kitchen

Chicken. Bacon. Ranch. Pizza. Enough said.

Grilled Pizza Margarita from Food Network by Mario Batali

Photo from Food Network

I mean, really. Look at it.

Do you have a favorite pizza recipe? I'd love to check out more!

You Know You're A Mom of Boys When...Things You Say

You know you are a Mom of boys when you hear yourself saying things like this:

"Please take your brother's underwear off your head and give them back."

"Because it's gross to eat while you are on the toilet, that's why!"

"I'm not sure. I don't have one of those. You'll have to wait and ask Daddy."

"No, it's not wasteful to wash your underwear every day. Go ahead and change them."

And last but not least:

"Would you please cover that thing up."

Note that these are all bathroom and private part related.

This is my life, people.

Recipe: Rustic Triple Berry Pie

I saw this recipe in the latest Rachel Ray magazine. Of course I tried it. Duh.

I love that the crust is simple and easy. No top layer, no fussing over pretty edges. Yet, it is still a beautiful pie!


Rustic Triple Berry Pie

Ingredients:
3 containers (6 oz each) blackberries (about 3 1/2 cups)
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca - I did not use this. I just used 1/4 cup flour. My filling was a little runny as a result, but still perfectly yummy!
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
8 oz strawberries (about 2 cups) halved or quartered
1 container (6 oz) blueberries (about 1  1/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 tbsp) plus 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg, seperated
Ice water

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup blackberries, 1/4 cup sugar, the tapioca (or flour) and the lemon juice. Mash together. Stir in the strawberries, blueberries, remaining blackberries and 3/4 cup sugar. Let stand for at least 20 minutes, gently stirring once or twice.

Meanwhile, position a rack in the lower part of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt. Add 8 tbsp butter and, with a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until crumbly. Continue working with your fingertips until the mixture is flaky.

In a cup, combine the egg yolk with the ice water. Drizzle over the flour mixture and stir with a fork until incorporated and the dough is slightly moist but not wet. (Test by pinching some of the dough; if it doesn't stay together, sprinkle about 1 tsp more ice water on the dry part and gather the dough into a ball.)

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out to a 13 inch round. Place carefully into a pie pan. Let the excess drape over the edges. Gently press the dough into the pan.

Spoon the berry mixture evenly into the pan, making sure to pour in all the yummy juices from the bowl. Dot the top with the remaining 2 tbs of butter. Gently fold the pastry up over the berries, pleating as you go.

Beat the egg white with a fork until frothy and brush over the pastry. Sprinkle the dough with sugar.

Bake until the filling is bubbling, about one hour. Check after 30-40 minutes to make sure the crust is not browning too quickly. If it is, cover with foil until the rest of the pie is finished baking.

Let the pie cool completely before cutting and serve with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine June 2011

Post linked to:
Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
A Southern Fairytale's Mouthwatering Monday

Recipe: Raspberry Lemon Whoopie Pies

These are delightful. They are a perfect dessert for your next summer bbq with friends. So soft and full of flavor that just screams SUMMER!

Raspberry Lemon Whoopie Pies

Ingredients:
Cookies-
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbs grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cup whole milk
Filling-
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tbs brown sugar
1 cup fresh raspberries (4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter, 1 cup brown sugar and lemon zest with a mixer until light and creamy.  Add vanilla and egg and beat to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low, beat milk into flour mixture a little at a time.

Drop batter in 2 tbs mounds, about 2 inches apart, onto two greased baking sheets. I used an ice cream scoop to get them perfectly even in size.

Bake until puffy and golden about 17-19 minutes. Let cool on a baking rack.

In a large bowl, whip cream and t tbs brown sugar to soft peaks. In a small bowl, mash raspberries with a fork, then fold into the cream. Divide raspberry cream evenly among bottoms of half the cookies then sandwich with remaining cookies. Dust with powdered sugar for a pretty extra touch!

I have also made these with strawberries instead of raspberries and they are equally delicious! I am sure blueberries would be tasty too!

You can make the cookies ahead of time and fill right before you're ready to serve.

Enjoy!

This post linked to:
Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
A Southern Fairytale's Mouthwatering Monday

*Recipe adapted from one of those Martha Stewart magazines. Sorry, Martha. I can't remember which one. I'm a good baker but a bad rememberer.

Summer Vacation: The Pros and Cons

Summer vacation and I are trying to decide if we get along right now.

Pro: No schedules. We can just do as many fun things as we want all day long.

Con: No schedule?! These kids just want to go out and do fun stuff all. day. long.

Pro: I have to bring them all to the grocery store which means they can help lug it all in.

Con: I have to bring them all to the grocery store.

Pro: No beeping alarm in the morning!

Con: Bouncing six-year-old alarm every morning!

Pro: Beach Day!

Con: Sand. Boys. Butt cracks. Sand in boys butt cracks.

Pro: We stay up late watching movies and eating ice cream.

Con: I haven't seen my husband in three weeks and I have gained 10 pounds.

Pro: My kids climb on me and kiss on me and hug on me all day.

Con: My kids climb on me and kiss on me and hug on me all day.

I need five minutes of someone not touching me or talking to me. Just five. OK TEN.

I guess the conclusion is that we are enjoying our summer break as much as we can but Momma is glad that it only lasts a couple of months.

I LOVE MY BOYS. SO MUCH.

But I really need the chance to miss my kids.

Know what I mean?

I guess the conclusion is

Recipe: BLT Tortellini Salad

 I kind of made this up the other day when we got together with friends and needed a side dish. I don't have an exact "recipe" but here is what I threw together!

BLT Tortellini Salad

Ingredients:
2 packages Spinach and Cheese Tortellini
Ranch dressing
Bacon, crumbled (or bacon bits if you want to make it quick!)
Diced tomatoes
Black olives (if desired)
Parmesan cheese, grated

Boil and drain tortellini. Let cool. Toss with ranch dressing (use as much or as little ranch as you like). Toss in remaining ingredients (also measured to how much you like them!) and chill before serving.

Enjoy!

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday by Beauty and Bedlam