Bridal Shower Cupcakes!

My mom and I made these back in August but I haven’t had a chance to post them until now. Cupcakes. Shaped as a wedding dress. With marzipan flowers. Naked! This is the outline we used. In two shots for …

Mini Apple Pomegranate Pies!

I haven’t forgotten you. I haven’t even forgotten to cook. I have been too busy to properly blog. I mean, I still am too busy,  but I need to put this out there. As I showed a few weeks ago, …

Lemon Blueberry Mini Muffins!

Sometimes, I agree to do things. Then I remember, when do I possibly think I have time. Like earlier this week, I offered to make mini muffins for a work baby shower which it turns out, I can’t even go …

Smoked Margherita Pizza with Roasted Tomato and Pepper Sauce

It started with a note. A note on the fridge. That’s all it took. I took out one of the pre-made pizza doughs out of the freezer and stuck it in the fridge, then went to work. It was thawed …

New toy!

Please and thank you. A gift from a friend who clearly knows me too well, and I cannot wait to try it out! 😀 hopefully a pie update soon!

Oatmeal pizza crust!

No, that isn’t pizza crust. That is rosemary from the garden. That is the reason I made pizza dough last night. Now that there is a crisp to the air, I am not sure how much longer the herbs in the garden will last. I am sure Google could tell me if I asked, but I much prefer a reason to cook. Or even better, to prep for cooking. This was done in the form of fresh pizza dough.

So I chopped up some rosemary (my mom chopped up the basil for a separate batch) and threw it in this pizza crust recipe. This was one of the few things I have found from Pinterest where I actually had nearly all of the ingredients in my house (I was missing yeast). The first batch was made with all purpose flour only and came out fine, but on one of my trips to the supermarket, I decided to treat myself to whole wheat flour. Now I just need other recipes for that! Feel free to suggest things. 🙂

Having oatmeal in this isn’t even noticeable as oatmeal. It just seems to enhance the texture. It is delicious. Trust me. And, I think it is easy, because you can make it ahead of time.

Now I have to be honest with you. I don’t follow directions well. Or ingredient lists. Rules I am generally okay with. Just not when it comes to the kitchen. So one may notice this base recipe I used has salt as really the only seasoning in the crust. I can’t have that. So I use sea salt. And rosemary. And thyme. And basically anything else I feel like throwing in the dough. I know olive oil is expensive, so I will use half olive oil, half herb seasoned basting oil. I really want to try one with some sesame oil. And maybe wasabi powder. Really experiment. I’ll let you know how it goes if I ever try. I just need someone to eat it with me.

I am okay that no two pizza doughs I make will taste exactly the same, all I hope is that I remember what works and what doesn’t. Like the lemon juice I put in the basil batch. Not sure how that will turn out. But that is the fun of cooking for me! I love to try new things, experiment with flavor combinations and individualize the recipe. I call it interpretive cooking.

As I said, it is easy as a make ahead item. It took me about 20 minutes to throw the ingredients together, then you wait for it to rise and then freeze it. I am not planning on eating this pizza dough for awhile. So, after following the directions according to me, I divide the dough into two balls and bag them up separately. That “individual” portion will feed myself, my mom and dad one night. We just take it out in the morning to thaw.

This is the basil one I was talking about with the lemon juice! I hope to make it into a Margherita pizza in the next week (again utilizing more basil). I’ll let you know how the lemon taste comes out!