Busy Days, A Recipe, And A Happy Weekend To You!

Life has been full and busy lately. One thing tumbles upon another and it feels like we're in a race to fill up all the tiny crevices before school starts and then maybe we'll come to a screeching halt and take a deep breath.

Or maybe we won't.

Sometime back at the beginning of this thing called summer vacation I actually felt like there was hardly anything to do. So I got the wild idea that we should make quilts for the girls room in the new house.

I looked up quilt ideas and found the most lovely chevron pattern that was so easy. Not only was it easy, the way you put it together was so cool. With great enthusiasm we went out shopping and made long, deliberated choices over yellows and greys. We brought the stacks home and tucked them in the corner and..... as far as I know, they are still there.

I am making no bets on whether the stack will ever turn into a quilt.

But anyway, the last two weeks have been busy. Last week Chris took off work several days and worked at the house. He and Isaac turned stacks of lumber into neat piles of cut, sanded and stained trim. We also finished painting on the main floor and felt a kinship to The Color Kittens with all our mixing of colors.

In between helping at the house, we helped grandma do corn and filled our freezer with peaches.

Not everyone was thrilled with the idea of needing to help but they sure will be happy when those same peaches show up in their lunch box at school!

This week we did more corn, for us this time, and now our freezer can't hold another thing! Someday we may have to give in and buy a bigger one but so far I always manage to squeeze everything in again and it makes me feel all accomplished somehow. In a few weeks we'll be able to buy ice cream again, for now we'll just look at all the bounty and count our blessings.

Cooking is not my thing, as you all know by now, and summer time does nothing to help that shortcoming. When we're busy and it's hot, it's so easy to not cook anything worth speaking of. Please don't ask my children to list what they've eaten lately, you might be horrified. I know I would be!

Gina, over at Home Joys, has been sharing summer meal ideas - you might remember her from my "How We Met" stories in June. Unfortunately her ideas didn't help me out much because I have a family who isn't impressed with anything unusual or different (i.e. pizza loaded with fresh veggies, etc) but you might find it interesting!

Just for anyhow I'll share my pizza and breadstick recipe, since I managed to accomplish making more than hotdogs or leftovers for once. The recipe for the dough happens to be one I got from Gina's blog.

PIZZA AND BREADSTICKS

2 Cups Warm Water
2 T Yeast
2 tsp Sugar

Combine in mixer bowl, mix. Let set until it starts to bubble. 

1/3 Cup Oil
2 tsp Salt
3-4 tsp Italian Seasoning
5-6 Cups Flour

Add oil and seasonings, mix. Add flour one cup at a time until dough is soft and pliable.

Place dough in greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise 30-60 min.

Divide dough in two pieces. Roll one piece for pizza crust; place on pan and prick with a fork. Allow to rise.

Roll remaining piece and place in pan; score lines for breadsticks. Allow to rise.

Heat oven to 425. Pre-bake pizza crust 10-12 min.

Prepare Breadsticks:

Brush with 3 T Melted Butter and sprinkle with following mixture:

2 T Parmesan Cheese
1/4 T Garlic Powder
1/2 T Garlic Salt
1/2 T Onion Powder
1/2 T Oregano
1/2 T Parsley Flakes

Bake @ 425 for 15 min. 

Meanwhile spread sauce on pizza and add toppings; return to oven for 5-6 min. Enjoy! 

When there's pizza, we use paper plates. Not sure how that tradition started!

That looks long and complicated but it's not really. The breadsticks are absolutely scrumptious, in my humble opinion.

Happy Weekend

Take time to admire the spiderwebs!