Pretty in Pink

I’ve been volunteering at the base thrift store quite a bit lately and have learned a few important things.

One: Never, ever, under any circumstances pay full price for baby clothes.
Two: Roxie is a size 2T or 3T.  Jacki found Roxie a special present the last time I worked with her.

At first Roxie thought the tutu was okay.  Such a lady!

Then she wanted it off!

Eventually, she gave up and let me take her picture again.

Sam just laughed at her the whole time.

See you soon!

On Saturday morning, I said “see you soon” to my wonderful friend Lindsey and her husband Karl. The lucky stinkers are moving to Germany, and I am SUPER jealous! Lindsey and I spent most of the week together, taking turns cooking dinner and generally causing trouble for Karl. On Friday night, the usual suspects gathered together for a final send-off before the big move. We made fajitas, drank margaritas, and enjoyed an evening full of happiness and friendship.

We even had two canine vistors - Mason and Shilo!

I’ve already opened Facebook once today with the intention of making plans for the week with Lindsey. I guess not having her around is going to take some getting used to. Lucky for me, I still have great friends left on this rock!

Modeling our matching aprons via Photoshop (Lindsey's is in a box somewhere) - we were almost successful!

As for you, Lindsey: I miss you already girl, but I can’t wait to hear about all your new adventures!

Pizza Making 101

Last night, I hosted the monthly spouses’ bunco group. I decided to serve homemade pizza. Apparently, it was a hit because I got lots of requests for the various recipes I used. Rather than send out a bunch of e-mails with all the required for information, I decided to post everything here. So, here you go ladies… Pizza Making 101!

The foundation of any great pizza is the crust. I use the Focaccia bread recipe out of my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. Luckily for me, I found it online so I didn’t have to type it all out! For plain pizza crust, I make the dough as directed but leave out the rosemary and parmesan cheese. However, you can add anything you’d like to the crust. One of my favorites is rosemary, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic. You need at least 2 Tbs of herbs and about 1/4 cup of any other extras. And remember, you can never have too much garlic!

You can make the dough into any shape, but I usually make two 9”x12” (ish) pizzas in cookie sheets rather than two 10” rounds as it indicates in the directions. I do this because I only have one round stone but lots of cookie sheets. I also line the cookies sheets with parchment paper. This dough really sticks, even in a greased pan. I have found that the pizzas come out best if you pre-bake the crusts for 7 minutes before adding the toppings. You can skip this step, but you’ll need to cook the final pizza for longer and the edges tend to be a little on the crispy side.

Next up, sauce. I can take none of the credit for the pizza sauce. My wonderful friend Lindsey at Newlydependent.com gets all the kudos here. Here’s the link for her marinara sauce (check out her other recipes too; she’s a very talented cook!). One batch of marinara makes about 5 pizzas. It is also wonderful on just about any type of pasta, so make the whole batch even if you’re only making 2 pizzas. If you like a little extra kick in your pizza, go heavy on the red pepper flakes.

The type of cheese I use depends completely on the type of pizza I’m making, but a good place to start is with a mixture of mozzarella and Monterey jack cheeses. I use about half and half mozzarella and Monterey jack. When layering toppings and cheese, I put about half to three-quarters of the cheese directly on the sauce and the rest over the toppings, and then sprinkle a little grated parmesan on the top. As you’ll see in the recipes listed below, I also use cheddar and feta cheeses sometimes. One 10 oz block of cheese is usually enough to make two pizzas.

And now for the fun part – toppings! Here are the recipes for my 8 favorites, but be creative and add whatever toppings your family likes. Some of the recipes are a little vague, but that’s because everything is really to your taste (and because I’ve never measured).

Cheese: I use a flavored crust for this one, then layer on marinara sauce and a healthy dose of mozzarella, jack, cheddar, and parmesan cheeses. For extra flavor, sprinkle on some Italian seasoning and garlic as you layer the cheese.

Pepperoni: Start with crust and marinara sauce. Alternate layers of mozzarella and jack cheeses with the pepperoni. Finish with a cheese layer and sprinkle with parmesan.

BBQ Chicken: No marinara sauce on this one. For one pizza, I use one chicken breast and a half recipe of the BBQ sauce mixture. I also use about 3/4 of a red onion.

Chicken Ranch: Again, no marinara. One chicken breast per pizza. I use about one green onion and half a can of diced Italian-style tomatoes, very well drained (you want the liquid squeezed out of the tomatoes or you’ll get soggy pizza); you could use fresh tomatoes too (Romas will work best as they are light on seeds and liquid).

Pad Thai: Substitute your homemade crust for the refrigerated dough, follow the rest of the directions, and enjoy!

Rustica: This one is adapted from my favorite pizza restaurant – Il Vicino. Check out their menu for some great topping ideas. I use about 10 kalamata olives, halved; 2 tbs of capers, 4 artichoke hearts, sliced; and 3 cloves of garlic (I don’t roast mine because I’m lazy, but it really is better with roasted garlic). I also add some feta cheese in with the toppings. Top with the usual 3-cheese blend.

Veggie: This one is great with flavored crust. My favorite toppings are sliced red peppers, mushrooms, and red onions. Sauté them a little before you put them on the pizza for extra flavor. Top with the usual 3-cheese blend.

Tomato-Basil: Another one that’s great with flavored crust. Slice Roma tomatoes (if you use another kind, make sure to take out the seeds) and whole leaves of fresh basil. This one really requires fresh ingredients – you won’t be happy with the taste of canned tomatoes and dried basil. Top with the usual 3-cheese blend or slices of fresh mozzarella (the kind that comes in a squishy little round).

Once your pizzas are topped, bake them in a 400 F oven for 15 minutes (20-25 if you didn’t pre-bake the crust). The crust should be golden brown for the pre-baked crust and dark golden brown if the crust isn’t pre-baked. Each pizza will slice into 12 small slices. Two pizzas will feed about 4 people.

I hope this gives everyone the information they need to become pizza chefs in their own homes. Have fun; try new things until you find your favorite!

Backyard Camp-out

Last night, in honor of Lindsey and Karl’s last weekend on the island before their big move to Germany, we gathered the crew together for a camp-out! This was no ordinary camp out… it was a backyard campout. The backyard camp-out combines everything wonderful about camping: being outdoors, roasting marshmallows and sleeping under the stars, with everything wonderful about not camping: mostly a clean and working bathroom, but the fridge was nice for keeping the beer cold too!

Stacy’s yard provided the perfect venue for the event, and as an added bonus, her entire yard is fenced, so all the puppies were allowed to run themselves into the ground (which they did!).

We started the evening my setting up our tents while the puppies watched from the tennis court.

Once the tents were up, the dogs were off to explore the yard and bark (or howl in Mason’s case) at the neighborhood dogs.

While the dogs were exploring, the men busied themselves with man things – like making fire. Apparently, beer plus grunting equals fire. Who knew?

Once they got the fire going, we roasted hot dogs to go along with gooey macaroni and cheese and tasty “not spicy” chili. Jacki’s idea of “not spicy” is different than mine, but her chili was still fantastic!

We capped off the evening by roasting marshmallows and making S’mores before corralling the puppies into our tents and collapsing onto our air mattresses.

Those of use with dogs were awakened at the crack of dawn by our obnoxious anxious puppies. Not that I got much sleep anyway. Sam and Roxie both decided the twin air mattress was much more comfortable than the ground, even though they both sleep happily on the tile floor every night. Silly puppies.

Once everyone was up and about (thanks to some thwacks of Sam’s tail on everyone’s tents), we enjoyed a breakfast of omelets in a bag. Everyone filled up their bags with toppings of their choice and waited for the pot of boiling water to work its magic. Perfect every time!

One last group photo with some rather uncooperative dogs, and it was time to pack up and head home!

There are a few more photos up in the July album in the pictures tab.  I've just been adding pictures from July to that album rather than create new ones for every post. 

On a completely unrelated note, Stacy and I also started SCUBA certification courses yesterday afternoon. Yesterday was boring, as it was all reading and movies. However, we started our work in the pool today, and it was so much fun! I never thought I would be able to deal with breathing under water, but it’s so effortless. The only thing I didn’t like was having to take my mask off under water. I got so much water up my nose, but after a couple tries, I managed to get the mask off and back on again without freaking out. Not bad for the first day. Next week, we start work in the open water. I’m excited and a little scared, but I’m sure it will be wonderful once we’re actually in the water!

All caught up!

At the end of this post, the blog will finally be all caught up! I think the last time I posted about something within days of its occurrence (with the exception of the “time-out” I called on the 4th of July) was in January! That’s pathetic… I shouldn’t have figured that out.

A million thanks to my wonderful friend Lindsey from Newlydependent.com for her post on Enchilada Throwdown Upset 2011. I’ll be referencing her blog a couple more times in this post because, let’s face it, she has way better posts than me (and somehow all the event pics ended up on her camera).

On the Saturday following the throwdown, I joined my friends Stacy and Jeremy for a catamaran ride to Split Rock. Split Rock is a rock/island off the coast of Terceira that appears to have split in two, leaving enough water between the two halves to sail a boat through.



The morning started in the Praia harbor with the 3 of us (and about 10 others) seated comfortably in the front of the boat. I was fine for the first 30 minutes or so, but at some point I got a little motion sick and just couldn’t seem to kick it for the rest of the 4 hour boat ride. Now, don’t feel sorry for me (okay, maybe a little). Despite my queasy stomach, I still managed to get some great pictures of the island (and two of the adjacent islands) and Split Rock, and I got to enjoy an unobstructed view of the ocean from the side of the boat! Not bad for a Saturday morning.

After the catamaran ride, we joined the rest of the crew for some relaxing on the beach. Jeremy even brought his sweet new beach chair!

Sunday we all met again for a screening of the movie Water for Elephants at the base theatre, then trekked over to Lindsey and Karl’s for some S’mores. Karl wanted to make a fire in the grill, and you can’t have a fire without S’mores!

I spent Monday enjoying the 4th of July celebrations on base and spent the rest of the week preparing for the next throwdown! This time, Lindsey and I faced off with our best meatloaf recipes! Little did she know my delicious meatloaf was wrapped in even more delicious bread!! *evil cackle*

We prepared our meatloaves at home before meeting up at Stacy’s for the moment of truth. As I mentioned earlier, Lindsey’s camera ended up with all the good pictures, so check out her blog for the results!! I’m mean; I know. Without giving away the winner, I can say I certainly learned a thing or two from my worthy opponent. Who would have thought to use apricot preserves?

I spent Friday night at the base club wishing a final farewell to CE’s awesome First Sergeant. We’ll miss you Shirt! Saturday brought another trip to the beach. I did a fantastic job applying sunscreen and ended up with stripes on my back. Thankfully, they faded after about a day. Sunday was spent at the “Air Show” put on by the base. I put air show in quotes because all of the planes were on the ground! It was still fun to walk around all the planes. Not to mention the tasty food for sale. Kudos to the smoothie booth!

Monday, I spent the afternoon with Lindsey teaching her the basics of sewing. We both started out with high expectations – an apron sounded like an excellent first project. Wrong! I didn’t realize that sewing curves is a lot harder than it looks (I’ve been doing it for long enough that I don’t even notice). After the first couple attempts at rounding a corner, Lindsey opted to play with all the fun settings on my sewing machine while I assembled a visual aid for our upcoming book club. We are both huge nerds – the full extent will not be realized until we have book club tomorrow. There may be relevant videos to go along with the previously mentioned visual aid.  To see her take on her first attempt at sewing, click here.

After Lindsey headed home, I decided to finish the apron she had cut out as well as start and finish another one because I had enough fabric left over. I had a few more mishaps than normal, but I did get them both done! If you’ve ever wondered exactly how much thread is on a roll, I now know - exactly the amount needed to make two aprons and teach Lindsey to sew. When I finished the second apron, I had 58.5” of thread left on the spool and 26.75” left on the bobbin. Whew! That was close.

And, because I haven’t had nearly enough food on this post, here’s what I had for dinner last night. The first watermelon of the season, and garlic bread with chard (or really whatever greens I had from the organic market). Sounds weird, I know, but it was delicious!

Thanks for hanging with me while I got the blog back in sync with the real world. Until next time… 

Enchilada Throwdown

Hey all! My name is Lindsey and I am visiting from Newlydependent.com. My sweet friend, and host of our recent Throwdown, Amanda invited me to share about our recent culinary adventures.

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A little competition never hurt anyone; perhaps just expanded a few bellies on Thursday evening.

But let's back up a bit...

A week or two ago while enjoying some grub at a typical gathering 'funny-guy' mentioned that he made the best enchiladas; this boldly declared by the Polish, Finnish, and generally translucent-skinned man in the company of a Cuban and Mexican gal who enjoys culinary ventures. The gauntlet had been thrown. Trash talk, raucous laughter, and some good-hearted ribbing later a date was set for our first throwdown, Bobby Flay style: what would become known as the Enchilada Throwdown Upset of 2011.

Invitations were sent out.

Rules were set. Identical pans were given to the chefs. And scorecards were made.

With judges providing the beverages and sides, the table was set. The two enchiladas were laid out side by side.

As we settled at the beautifully and creatively adorned table (coffee table filled in for MIA chairs, absolute genius) silence descended... the smell of fear and anxiety almost masking the aroma of baked green sauce strewn over tortillas, cheese, and chicken.

Let's just say we all now understand the difficulty of being a judge on American Idol; not only are we judging a person based on a given output (singing, cooking, etc) but in this case judging 2 friends pitted against one another in 'friendly' rivalry.

We took a bite, scribbled some notes, took another bite, crossed out those notes, took yet another bite, and gave up, simply folding up the scoring sheet. As I added up the points and condensed the comments on to one page for my impending speech I was confronted with comments such as, "Rematch" or "They were both good." Apparently, Simon Cowell had departed and Paula showed up.

The time was quickly upon us; time for the results. I had already paused for a dessert break and there wasn't anything else I could do to delay. The competing chefs were called up to our stage, both looking nervous and clutching their respective alcoholic beverages (as if those would protect them).

I proceeded by breaking down the categories and reviewing all the wonderful aspects of their enchiladas:

#1: Won presentation because of onion topping; loved the corn tortillas and spice level.

#2: Won consistency because of the addition of beans; fond of the creaminess.

What it boiled down to was taste, and we couldn't have had two more distinct dishes. (See what I am doing here, drawing it out just as Ryan Seacrest would do)

... another miniscule pause before...

...and a Congratulations to 'the-guy-who-won' (who asked to take off his super dandy ribbon immediately- humility or embarrassment?).

In all honestly, the nerves stemmed from the fact that both dishes were absolutely delicious; they were simply different and #2 was what the majority of us were in the mood for that night. I would like to say thank you and congratulations to both chefs; you were both spectacular.

Our next throwdown is scheduled and the roles are assigned:

Chefs: Myself and the delightful Amanda (who blew us all away with her killer ice cream cake)

Throwdown Commissioner: Enchilada Chef #1

Throwdown Item: MEATLOAF

Let the battle begin...

Where did June go?

While I was writing frantically about all of our vacation adventures, the entire month of June sped by. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Touring the island caves and sulfur pits with the Girl Scouts

Celebrating Lindsey’s birthday with a ladies' wine night
Here's a link to the delicious Rasberry Chocolate Torte I made for her birthday cake.

Taking in a bull fight on the beach in Praia
These street bull fights are usually very fun to watch, but these bulls weren’t very feisty, and the crowd was doing nothing to egg them on. We left after the second bull.

Finding a hedgehog in the back yard
This one got the puppies really excited.

 Enjoying the beautiful flowers blooming in my yard (and on the rest of the island)

Going on a walking tour of Praia
Kudos to Outdoor Rec for a great morning!

Painting our bedroom a lovely shade of green

Making ice cream cake
Oreo and hot fudge crust with vanilla, chocolate, and butter pecan ice cream; Oreo, hot fudge and toffee between the layers; topped with whipped cream and hot fudge.  It's really good for you.  I promise :)

Taking the puppies to the dog park

Making homemade pizza

I had a bunch of friends over from the CE squadron and made four different kinds of pizza: pepperoni, tomato-basil, red pepper-onion-mushroom, and Thai chicken.  All of the pizza sauce was courtesy of Lindsey’s simple and delicious marinara recipe.  Two of the pizzas had plain homemade crust and two had homemade crust with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and rosemary.  They were all amazing!

Solving a murder on the prairie with the rest of the ladies from the spouses club
Way to go Jacki and the rest of the planners – this was a great event!

Enjoying Mediterranean night
Lindsey made baklava, Jacki made meatballs, and I made humus.  All the food was excellent, but nothing beats baklava!

Chewing on rocks in the yard

That was Roxie, not me.  She was trying to get a little lizard to come out of the rock so she could chase it.

And… you’ll have to wait until the next post for the final event of June. I’m going to be welcoming my wonderful friend and fellow blogger Lindsey over to guest blog about an exciting event in both of our lives! If you've been paying attention, it will come to no surprise that there's food involved.  Until next time...