Homemade Pizza

I love this pizza. The crust is made a little differently then some recipes. But it makes a world of differences in the taste.

 Crust recipe:
7/8 cup of warm water. ( I use a cup ,since we are in a high altitude  )
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil ( a lot of recipes call for cooking oil but this gives it a better taste and texture.)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
In a kitchen aid or mixer ( With dough hook) place your sugar, water, olive oil, and yeast together in a bowl. Add your flour then your salt on top.
Knead for 7 min. Place in a bowl greased with olive oil. Roll your dough in the bowl to coat it. Cover with plastic and let rise for one hour. Place on flour surface and roll out in to any shape you desire.

  Making the pizza:
                                                  Preheat oven to 550 or as hot as you can get it.
Garlic butter
 3 cups mozzarella cheese ( Grate your own. It melts so much better then the pregrated. This will also give you a great stringy cheese consistence to your pizza.)
Fillings of your choice.
Can of diced tomatoes with garlic and basil added.
Place   1/2 of the can of tomatoes in a food processor of blender. Lightly puree.
      
Butter the outer edges of your crust with the garlic butter. Spread your puree tomatoes over the crust. Drain the rest of the tomatoes and add to the crust. Sprinkle 1/2 of cheese on top of the tomatoes, then add your fillings. Add the rest of the cheese.  Place in oven and cook for 7 to 8 min. Check after 6 min( all ovens cook different).

Enjoy.

Looking back at how my life has changed.

I have been thinking a lot about the life I led and how I got here. I stated out as an Army Brat. I grow up traveling all over the US and several other countries . After leaving home I worked and played in large cities. I loved it, couldn't see myself any where else.  I spent my high school years in a small town near where my dad was stationed and totally hated it. The guy I started dating in my 20's lived out in the country while I lived in the city . I was surprised to find I enjoyed being out there. It was like a mini vacation.
A couple years later I moved to Vegas where I met my husband. He grow up on a ranch but was now stationed at Nellis Air Force base ( Vegas). Where my family and I lived  I really enjoyed Vegas . There is so much to do no matter what the hour.
A couple of years later he got stationed in Germany. We end up living in a small village. It was even to small to call a town. At first I was lost. The streets closed up at 5. Everything in that village closed at 5 except for the guest houses ( they only had one.).   The Guest House is a restaurant, hotel, and gathering place. It  closed by 9.
Stienvienden ( Sorry can't remember how to spell the village name ) was a beautiful place and the people were very friendly.  To live there was like taking a walk back into time. If you want meat your went to the butcher, who also owned the guest house . For bread you went to the bakery. They even had a little candy store. There was only one very small convenient store. Twice a week a truck would come into town and sell veggies out of the back. In the mornings a guy would come door to door delivering  milk, soda,water, juices, and yes even beer. All you had to do was leave a note for him telling him what you wanted.Every Saturday people would come out and sweep the streets and side walks. They took great pride in their village.
 We were stationed there in the early 90's I know  this sounds like something from the far pasts ,but it was totally real and charming.

The reason I am telling you this, is because they started me on this journey  along with my husband.
 I learned to slow down to relax. To enjoy what was around me and the people I met. Even they festivals were centered around friends and enjoying what life had to offer. I was blessed with great friends ( thankfully a lot of them spoke English) Germany  taught me how to live rather then just run thru life with my eyes closed. Fast forward and My husband took what I learned and added a new level. He was able to start a little garden with out me rolling my eyes at him. Which as time went on turned into bigger gardens and me learning how to can. My husband had always loved the simple life, me not so much. But times were a changing.  Germany taught me to slow down. He was slowly teaching me  simple living.

 Over the course of time and  wonderful experiences I have come to love small towns and the life it offers. I now live on a homestead with three gardens , chickens, and this spring we will be adding goats,  We raise our own meat birds, turkey, and pig( with help from our friends since we can't have a pig where we live.). I am canning, cooking everything I can from scratch, and learning new skills every day. Did I mention and loving it!
 Germany started my journey by teaching me to slow down and my husband took me the rest of the way.  My parent never thought in their wild's dreams I would turn out this way. When I asked my mother how she  expected me to turn out she commented Died. To her defense I was a wild child when I was younger. Plus I had married a very violent man. Now my ex and long forgotten ( Love does really hurt some times) So I can understand that answer totally.  Being a city girl all my life, this was a BIG change.  Even to this day a lot of my friends and family are scratching their heads over my path in life.   What they didn't  know was there was always a uneasiness and discomfort about me. I was never quit comfortable in my life. Now I wouldn't change a thing. I am enjoying every thing about my life and there is no longer a uneasiness or discomfort. It may not be the life everyone one envisioned for me,but it's the one I need. As For city life. YOU CAN KEEP IT. Not my cup of tea. At one time I loved being around a lot of people and activity . Now it just makes me jumpy.

 If you had told me when I was young that I would led this life I would of laughed at you.
  Funny how your out look and life can change.

Quilt room tour and Christmas gift

Thoughts of Veggies dancing in my head.

We had a great Christmas this year. Now I find, I am ready to start planning my garden for next year. I have a bad habit of getting a head of my self. I am the type of person that Home depot and garden centers love. They always bring out all these beautiful plant ,way to early in the year.

Yes I know it's  way to early to buy or plant. But all those beautiful green plants just seem to knock the common sense right out of me. My eyes go glassy and I tell my self I can keep them alive. We  will have a warm spring. My cats won't eat the leaves this time...... ( Isn't denial great ! )

I am sure there are others like me who do the same thing. Why else would they  display them so early.  We buy, then they die, then we buy again. All the while the big man sit back  and counts his double profit off us.

Well not this year. No MORE buying seeds and putting them up and forgetting them ,till I have already bought a new batch.  NO MORE Letting those lovely green plants seducing me into  buying them way to early. This year I will be patient, I will watch the weather ,test the soil, and turn my back on the big man.  Yes this will be the year!!!!! ( Isn't denial great ! )

White Christmas The perfect gift to wake up to.

Last minute christmas decor and gift

Stretch your food bill. easy and inexpensive cornbeef and cabbage

Joey a women of true faith.

There is a blog I follow that is called This life I live. It belongs to Rory, of Joey and Rory. They are a country couple that sings and had a show on RFD TV. They are the true meaning of Faith. Their show was fun and entertaining. I really loved when they showed bits of their farm and live.
Joey has a smile that lights up the room. Even though they were only on my TV you could still feel the love that was in her heart. They truly loved the lord and you could see it even without them saying a word .
Joey has cancer and has left the hospital to go home and live and enjoy what time she has left. All her friends and fans have been praying for her. She is at peace with the answer God has given her. There is no anger in her.  She spends her day playing and singing songs to her little baby girl. She has shown me what TRUE Faith is. I pray that one day I may find that wonderful faith and peace she has found.

Happy Halloween

                     So you thought the candy was the only part of Halloween that was real.

Frugal Living : Feed a family of 4 on 1/2 pound of pork.

 I wanted to share this video with you from my You Tube Channel. These are so good even if your not on a budget. The tacos are wonderful and very filling. Great flavor for a little bit of money.

DIY Thanksgiving Centerpiece

 I wanted to share this great tutorial I found on you-tube for a fall centerpiece.  I can't do floral arrangements to save my life. But this I can do! Not to mention it's a whole lot of fun.

 I love how my centerpiece turned out. It was easy and cheap to make.

The baskets came from yard sales and the goodwill. The rest of the stuff was from the dollar store. You do need a glue gun . If you don't have one super glue should work.

 I was going to write everything down , but being a  visual  person like most people I decided it would be easier to post the actual  tutorial instead.   Hope you give this a try, believe me this was so worth doing . I will also be doing a Christmas one.



 Also check out her other videos . She is one very crafty lady.

Come join me at the San Diego Quilt Show.

Frugal Living : How to stretch your food budget.

Frugal living : Lunch made from leftovers

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I stared watching frugal and debt free living videos on You Tube. Which lead me to wonder how much money we wasted a month. Let's just say my mouth dropped open !  I never realized how easy it was to  spend  mindlessly.  So I made myself a challenge to pay attention to what I spent and what I spent it on.  This food saving ideal came from that.  Plus these turned out to be delicious. Next time I make Taco Soup I will defiantly save some for lunches again.

Weekend camping trip

How to kill a Ant Hill .

Easy DIY Rocket stove

  
For some reason the title picture doesn't show up. But the video does play.

My husband was on you tube when he found videos of this stove and decided to make his own version. So me being the good wife that I am thought I would drive him crazy by videoing the whole process.

Just Great Chicken

Ingredients

All you need is chicken, brown sugar and Italian dressing mix - and it only takes an hour!

About 3 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken

1 ( .7 ounce) packet of Italian dressing mix

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

Method

Preheat your oven to 350.  Grease a 12 inch x 9 pan. You can line your pan with foil for easy clean up. The brown sugar tends to stick  the pan. Mix your Italian dressing with your brown sugar in a clean shallow pan. Place your chicken in the mixture and press the mixture into your chicken. Place in pan with top of chicken pointing up. Sprinkle any left over mixture over the top and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Baste every once in a while with the juices that dripping off the chicken. Turn once  3/4 of the way thru cooking.

Making Tomato Powder

Tomato powder is very easy to make. You can us your own canned tomatoes .Fresh or store canned tomatoes work just as well. 

If your using fresh tomatoes just cut them thin and place in a single layer in your food dehydrate .  For canned tomatoes place in a blender or food processor and blend.

 For blended tomatoes you will also need to use a fruit roll screen or  parchment paper on your trays.  Pour a thin layer of your blended tomatoes on your trays.  Dehydrate over night till both your fresh and blended tomatoes are dry and is easy to crumble. (  Humidity and temp will play a factor in your drying time.)

After cooled and crumbled, place in a coffee grounder or some type of blender. Blend till you have a nice powder.  I place my power in a Ziploc bag with a oxygen absorber.

To use:
For tomato puree  1 part powder to 1 part water.

For tomato sauce   1 part power to 2 parts water.

mix together and let sit 1 to 2 minutes to fully rehydrate.
This powder is great for making dried hiking meals . They taste so much better and way cheaper. You can also use it for long storage meals.

Early summer garden tour of my homestead.

What to do with leftover wonton wrappers.

 I still had a half of a bag of wonton wrapper after I got finished with my pot sticker.( Pot Sticker recipe posted below this one.) I didn't want to wast them ,so I had to come up with a good way to use them. I remembered I had a can of pie cherries in my pantry so dessert became my best option. 

 I fried up the wrapper in a little oil.

 Placed the can of cherries in the food processor along with 3 tablespoon of the blackberry jam and blended.

 I warmed up the filling up, then layered the mixture between the fried wonton wrappers. . I used three wrappers. You can use as many layers as you like.

Next came the ice cream. These were so good that we had them last night and again today after lunch. And I am going to be really bad and have another one after dinner. As they say you only live once.

Shrimp Pot Sticker

This is a post I did a while back. Although when I went to look for it ,it had been deleted. Luckily I had saved it on my recipes page. So I am reposting it for myself and for those reading this blog.  This is one of my all time favorite recipes.

My husband loves pot stickers, I use to buy them from the store ,but they weren't that good. Then I started buying them from the Schwan's guy. They were good but got to be really expensive. So I decided to make my own. I found a great recipe and changed it a little to make it my own. My family and friends  love them. And it saves me a lot of money. I never knew how easy they were to make.
 

 RECIPE
1 and1/2 pounds of cooked Shrimp or 1 pound of any other cooked meat you may like.
4 chopped green onions
4 cloves roughly chopped garlic or 1 teaspoon of minced garlic.( Optional)
1 eggs and one egg white.
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
Wonton wrapper. There are normally around 60 in a package. ( Don't worry they freeze up really well)
 One husband or friend to do the frying.

HOW TO PUT TOGETHER:

Put everything in a food processor and pulse until combined and minced.

Wet all four sides of your wonton wrapper.

Place about 1/2 of teaspoon of filling in the middle.

Fold over to make a triangle. Gently push filling to the middle. Making sure to seal it all along the edges. This is very important. If it doesn't seal it will leak.  Your water helps to make it seal. Don't worry they seal really easy .

Place in a pan with a little oil They cook up really  fast. So make them all up at one time,placing them on a lightly floured sheet pan. Or have someone cook them as you make them up. I love my assistant. He looks so cute in his apron.

These freeze up great. I usually make a big batch for the freezer so I always have some on hand for lunches and snacks. But they still never seem to last long.

Have you ever just been tired ?

 I am running on empty. I use to love doing my Blog and you couldn't get me off Facebook or YouTube. Now I am hardly on I just don't have the desire. I still will get on my blog at least once a week to read the blogs I am following, but I can't seem to get up the energy  to leave a comment.  Most of the time  if I am honest,  it has to do with the fact that I never see these people on my blog and feel they could care less about what I have to say. And sometimes I just don't have anything to contribute  to the post. The same is true for face book.  I will go on the games I use to play and answer request, but that's about it. I am just not into playing the games any longer. It's like a switch has been turned off. Is there such a thing as media over load? 

UPDATE: Trailer is totally finished and ready for camping.

 A couple of years ago we visited Ricks dad in Arizona  . He is a snow birder, they spend every winter in Quartzite Arizona. While there I meet a lady that had redone her trailer to look as close to a home as possible. It was lovely and very inspiring. After we got home I couldn't get the look or feel of her trailer out of my head. So I set off to do the same thing on a budget.

 Our friend Kent made this head board for us ( that was not on a budget but so worth it). I just love it. The white curtains were found in a yard sale. The valance is done with fabric I got on sale. All I did was staple the fabric over the valance. The pillow were  some I no long us in the house.

 The hunters quilt at the foot of the bed was a gift I made for my husband.The mirror was a sore spot with my husband. He doesn't care for mirrored closet doors. To fix this I bought a roll of frosted window covering.  My talented daughter drew  the trees and moose for me. Then it was just peeling the backing off and applying it to the mirror.The bear in the right corner was also done by our friend Kent.

 This was so simple. We bought these decorated pieces from Home Depot and with a little stain and liquid nails we were done.

 You would never know they didn't come with the trailer.

 Pictures really added to that home feeling. As you can see we also took down the valances off the windows and added curtain I found at the dollar store.  I still can't believe I got them for only a dollar. Rick added the shelf above the window and behind the sofa for me. It's so nice to have somewhere to set my coffee cup.

 The tin on the kitchen wall was bought on sale at Home-Depot. Very easy to put up. I also add white curtains that were given to me and used some old fabric for the valances.

 We tore the carpet up and added a fake wood flooring. It's one of my favorite things we did. 

 It's amazing how little things like a small quilt or simple tablecloth can make a space.

When we bought the trailer they had cup holders between the chairs. We removed it and added this reading table from Lowe's.  We pretty much set in these chairs in the evening. The lamp is perfect for reading. The top of the foot stool comes off for more storage. It was also bought on sale. I love a good sale. I fell like I pretty much accomplished. what I intended to do.  For me it feels like our home away from home. Can't wait to take it out this summer/

The best part of Mothers Day

I woke up to coffee and breakfast smell waffling into my bedroom. My wonderful husband had made me breakfast. I also found flowers and a card on the table by my plate.
My twins came over after Church to make me cookies as well as take me out to dinner for Mothers day. They informed their dad he could come along too. This is when I realized that the card they gave me was so true.

My girls have a great seance of humor

 

I also received calls from my other two daughters. They live out of state. It was so good to hear from them.They both have family and are very busy so it meant a lot that they took the time on their own Mothers Day to just chat.  

Now for the best part . It wasn't the cards or flower. It wasn't the great restaurant or food. It's whats is going on right now as I write this. My girls are sitting on the couch watching Shaun the sheep on TV. It may not seem like much but to me it,s everything. It's been so long since we have been together just to watch  TV and enjoy each other company.  With their work and school, not to mention living out of town it seems like forever since we were able to take a step back in time to enjoy what it was like when they were young and lived at home. I miss those days. So I will cherish any time I get a little glimpse of when my girls were young.