Pizza for you. Pizza for me.

Hey there everyone! This week is all about pizza.  I love pizza! Like serious heart eyes emoji about pizza.  😍🍕
That wonderful Italian creation is a true gift to the world.  Almost every week I order from my favorite neighborhood pizza place, (perfectly named) My Pizza Place.  Now I can't say whether these pizza makers are Italian but they sure know how to get my pizza right.  Quick anecdote about them before I move on to the actual pizza making. My husband and I were in search of local pizza place years ago when we stumbled upon this one with a great carry out deal: Large one topping pizza for $6.99. Hubbie is a big advocate of supporting local businesses. Anyway, we used trusty ole Google and found this one less than a mile away from where we used to live.  We get to the spot and we pause.  In bright neon lights, XXX. We thought Google messed up for second but next door sat what eventually became our go to pizza place.  The pizza was so good I didn't care where it was located. It was a well lit thanks to their neighbor. I called them XXX pizza for the longest.  😂 They eventually moved to a bigger location and made a few upgrades. Still great tasting pizza.  And I no longer call them triple X pizza.  They are My Pizza Place. 😊

Ok, now on to my homemade pizza.  My pizza spot still has great carry out deals and they use fresh, great tasting ingredients but every now and again I like to make things at home.  

I made my own dough using Bobby Flay's recipe from Food Network. 

 Really simple.  

Sometimes I buy dough from the grocery store so it eliminates one step.

I remember the first time my mother, brothers, and I made pizza. My mother got really inventive with the extra dough and made pizza pockets.  It was so good with cheese spilling out of each end.  I know that sounds like a fail but not to crispy cheese lovers. That was a deliciously crispy accident. 😋
My little and I made 2 pizzas, no pockets.  Our mini veggie pizza had light pesto sauce, tomato basil feta cheese, tomatoes, onions, spinach, pineapple, and a sprinkle of mozzarella.

The other pizza was pepperoni and pineapple.  Yes, we love pineapple on our pizza. 😎 Tomato basil sauce, mozzarella, Colby jack, pepperoni, pineapple, and dried basil. Fresh basil would be amazing too.

Only part had basil because Little miss doesn't like "spice" on her food.

I would suggest getting pepperoni from your grocery deli.  You can control the thickness of your pepperoni slices.
I did not capture more of the process because we were hands deep in the ingredients. But overall, homemade pizza is really easy and a great family activity.  (As is eating it too. 😉)

Till next time,

Savory not Sweet,

It's time to eat!

D.

Twice the Celebration

This week was a busy week.  We baked twice because our family celebrated 2 birthdays.  On Monday we baked Peanut Butter Cookies for the peanut butter lover and on Thursday night we baked a pound cake for the hard working man of our life. ♥️

I love love love this PB cookie recipe!  It is soooo good!  It satisfies your peanut butter craving.  I have a hard time saying no to just one. 🍪 🍪 🍪 (accurate depiction of my serving portion 🤦🏾‍♀️) 

And it is, once again, a very easy recipe. The bloggers' recipe I used is so good at explaining the whys of baking.  She explains that the eggs and butter must be at room temperature so that the ingredients emulsify.  Little things like that make a huge difference in the consistency of your cookie so take your time and read through this one.

Here is the link to the recipe: https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/soft-peanut-butter-cookies/

And you're welcome! Because I know you will be thanking me for this recipe.😉

Simple yet important task

This was ONLY butter & sugar
Had to get a bigger bowl 

Now for this pound cake.  Man oh man! The birthday boy was very excited about this cake.  And my Little was beyond excited to participate as this cake was especially for her Daddy.  This was my first time making a pound cake and I was more than willing to try because I got the opportunity to buy a bundt cake pan.  Although I bake often, I tend to just make do with what I have.  Blogging and Baking is leading to lots of new baking equipment. 💃🏾 

Pound Cake recipe here: https://sugarspunrun.com/best-pound-cake-recipe/ 

Cake Batter in the Bundt Pan
Heavy!!!

Baking with your Little is challenging but simple tasks like greasing the pan will keep them busy for a while. I also let her hold the mixer and pour ingredients in the bowl.  My girl is a pro now so she has graduated to decorating cookies.  

Yum!

The highlight of my early baking days was "licking the bowl" of cake batter.  My mother would say, "who wants to lick the bowl?" Growing up with siblings meant sharing the bowl or choosing the spoon over the bowl. A great tradition I am glad to pass on. 

😊

I am SO glad this cake turned out great.  It was definitely a labor of love.  And it was enjoyed as much as it was appreciated.

Cake with Glaze

Till next time,

LET'S EAT!!! 

D.

Pumpkins On My Mind

Last year's Fall Festival

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies popped into my head as the "must have" cookie this week.  I think these cookies were manifested from my search for Fall events.  This week and last I have been looking for Fall Festival type events in neighboring cities while impatiently waiting for my city's Fall Festival.  Last year we had such a great time! Keep in mind I was pregnant yet I enjoyed hours of outdoor fun in Florida's Fall weather with a 3 yr old.  That alone should tell you quite a bit about this festival.  I am definitely hyped for this years' event.

Anyway, back to cookie talk.
Lately I have thought about new spins on traditional cookies but was truly surprised by this one.  Didn't think it would be as good as I imagined but it was.
I added cream cheese frosting because my daughter suggested we bake a cheesecake for my husband's birthday so cream cheese was on the brain.  And I must say it was a wonderful compliment to these cookies.
You can find the cookie recipe here: https://www.wineandglue.com/pumpkin-sugar-cookies/
And for the cream cheese frosting I used Allrecipes.com.

Once again, I did things a little different. I used fresh pumpkin boiled then blended in my trusty magic bullet. I used a little less than required but I don't think it made much difference.  The container you see with the puree is a 4 oz size but it's not full.

Do keep in mind that pumpkin has a lot of water naturally so your cookie dough may be a bit moist, (which makes for a moist cookie!) I was hoping for dough I could roll out hence the cookie cutters.  BUT I added flour at the end and made that sucker work for me. 😁

One of the best things about having a 4 yr old helper is her willingness to help and eagerness to try new things. Children will encourage (and sometimes demand) creative expression. ♥

Didn't photograph our cookie cutting and shaping but I did capture the universal feeling of waiting for cookies to bake. 🤣

And here they are!  

We colored some of our frosting for a truly pumpkin looking cookie.

Peep the background artwork. 😎

 I know her pumpkin looks like an apple pumpkin hybrid but it's actually a rainbow pumpkin that I captured before its transformation.  Maybe she's on to something.

She's enjoying the cookie she cut out and frosted.

And don't worry about an overwhelming pumpkin flavor, it's just a tasty cookie.  

Confession:She ate 5 yesterday. 

That's our sweet treat,

Bon appetite!

I’m Falling for You Scones

Fall is here! 🍁🍂🌻

And she brought along her friends sneezy and cough-ie. 🤭

Regardless, I am in love with this season! Plus it gave me a reason to indulge in a little citrus fun as Oranges are also in season. Fun fact: Eating fruits that are in season helps arm the body for changes in that season. Similar to how eating local honey helps with seasonal allergies. (Whey the honey at!!! 😜) 

Today’s baked goods were Orange Scones. I usually make Orange Cranberry scones around the Holidays, (Thanksgiving and Christmas) but wasn’t in the mood for cranberries.

 I used 2 different recipes for this scone.

• I didn’t want the scone recipe but I liked the icing recipe.
• I only had whole cream so I used the Orange Cranberry recipe and just left out the cranberries.

This is the recipe I used today: https://natashaskitchen.com/cranberry-orange-scones-recipe/

I love making scones because you can grab the ingredients right out of the refrigerator and mix. Also, no rest time necessary. Quick and simple. 

And here’s the icing recipe: https://www.alattefood.com/orange-cream-scones/

As for the icing, I was out of confectionary sugar. 

Dreading running to the store at 9:25pm, my husband was convinced that my Mother in Law made icing from ordinary grandulated sugar. After calling her at about 9:30pm to ask, turns out he was mistaken BUT it did encourage me to run to Google. 😁 

Found out all I had to do was blend regular sugar and voila! Powdered sugar. (Add cornstarch if you want to avoid clumping or store for another time.

I used my magic bullet to get the job done ✅ 

Felt like win to me!

So tasty! The orange in the scone and in the icing is so refreshing and not at all over powering.  I love how the icing compliments the scone and is just the right amount of sweet.

For this week,

that's my treat,

 Now let’s eat!

D.