Pizza Crust (thin)

*updated April 21, 2014: I've found I can get a great thin, crispy crust on a pizza pan with holes in it.

I'm a thin-crust kind of person, well, more accurately, a Niakwa Pizza kind of person. This is from www.recipezaar.com. It's #95048. If I really work this dough and stretch it, I can make it (almost) fit an 11x15 baking sheet. I just copied and pasted from the site:

makes 8 slices

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup hot water
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (14 ounce) jar pizza sauce

your choice of pizza toppings

* pepperoni
* precooked bacon
* tomato, sliced
* green pepper
* mozzarella cheese, shredded
* chopped garlic

Dissolve yeast and sugar in hot water.

Let sit for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile mix flour and salt.

Pour yeast mixture over flour mixture and mix well with a heavy spoon.

Turn onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.

Spread into a 12-14" circle.

(I do this directly onto a pizza stone with a marble rolling pin).

If you roll it out on a counter top, transfer to a greased pizza pan, stretching to edges.

Cover with sauce and desired topping.

Bake at 500 degrees for 8-12 minutes or until edges are golden.

Pizza Crust (thick)

I'm glad the white recipe book isn't copyrighted because the entire thing might be typed out here over the next number of months! But, I can't say it enough, it's the best recipe book ever. This is one of my recipes and it probably has the most variations of anything I make (other than buns maybe). I found it on allrecipes.com (of course) and it's called "Jay's Signature Pizza Crust" and it's currently rated at four-and-a-half stars with 2000+ reviews. Check it out because I'm sure people have posted many interesting ideas and variations there as well.

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

Turn dough out onto a clean, well-floured surface, and knead more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form into a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza on a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 to 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes:
I find the crust turns out best if I bake the crust for 15 minutes before topping it. This prevents a soggy crust.

This is enough dough for a thick-crusted pizza in an 11x15 baking sheet. (ha ha, that reminds me of my friend LaDawn, who never experienced a rectangular pizza before she saw my Mom make it that way!)

This is also enough for approximately 4 individual sized pizzas, made in foil or glass pie plates. Or you could put them on a baking sheet or stone a well, I guess.

A while back I was on a huge multi-grain flour kick, and I've noted in my book that it's good with multi-grain flour.

My favorite variation is to add (real) Parmesan cheese into the crust, as well as basil and garlic powder. I have no idea about quantities though, so let's say maybe 1/2 cup Parm, maybe 1 tsp (dried) basil, and 1 tsp garlic powder?? That's totally a guess. I incorporate them while I'm kneading the dough.

September 10, 2012: rolled out one batch of this dough till it was thin, spread it with pizza toppings (sauce, pepperoni, cheese), rolled it up and cut it like cinnamon buns. I put them into a greased baking dish, let them rise for another 30 minutes, baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. The plan is to freeze them individually and have them ready to reheat for weekday lunches when Tava and Ella come home from school!

Baby Cereal Cookies

I don't have a baby in my household anymore, but if I put this recipe here, I can toss my paper copy! This is from the Healthy Baby program I attended in the Fort Rouge neighbourhood when Tava was born. Here it is:

This recipe was originally produced by Heinz but has been modified.

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses (you can substitute 1/2 cup brown or white sugar for the molasses)
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 egg (after 12 months only -- before 12 months, substitute 1 ripe banana or 1 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups dry baby cereal (any flavor)
3 Tbsp breast milk, formula, or whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Lightly cream margarine (or butter) and molasses together. Mix in egg (or banana) and vanilla.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and cereal together. Blend into creamed mixture.

Mix in milk. Combine thoroughly. Drop onto greased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. These cookies may spread flat during baking. If you would like a less flat cookie, add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup more flour or baby cereal.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Substitutions allow you to make the recipe according to ingredients you have at home and also according to the needs of your baby.

Iron content: 1.4 to 1.6 mg per cookie

Rice Krispie Caramel Squares

This recipe is from my step-sister, Trish Klippenstein.

8 cups Rice Krispies
1/2 cup butter
2 x 250g mini marshmallows

14 oz caramels (Kraft), about 50
1/4 cup butter
1 can condensed milk

Start caramel mixture first, melting the three ingredients together in the microwave.

Make Rice Krispie squares by melting butter and marshmallows together. Keep 100 g marshmallows aside to be added on top of caramel layer.

Press 3/4 of the Rice Krispie mixture into a 9x13 pan.

Spread melted caramel, add remaining marshmallows.

Top with remaining Rice Krispies, keeping hands quite damp to prevent it from sticking to hands.

Cool in the fridge to allow ingredients to set.

Notes:
I prefer the original brand Rice Krispies cereal and not store brand.

I melted the 3/4 cup of butter that is required for this recipe, which I don't think I've done before. I tossed the mini marshmallows in the 1/2 cup of melted butter before microwaving it. This really helped with preventing the marshmallows from sticking all over the inside of my bowl.

I only needed to microwave the marshmallows for 2 minutes before they were ready to mix with the cereal. You're going to want a huge bowl to mix this. I used my biggest Tupperware bowl. I don't know what it's called, but it's giant; one of the biggest bowls they sell.

Brunch Enchiladas

This is another allrecipes.com find. I've made it a number of times, but not recently. Reading the recipe I'm wondering why I haven't had it in a while! Sounds delicious.

1 pound cooked ham, chopped
3/4 cup sliced green onions
3/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
10 (7 inch) flour tortillas
5 eggs, beaten
2 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash hot pepper sauce

1. Place ham in food processor, and pulse until finely ground. Mix together ham, green onions, and green peppers. Spoon 1/3 cup of the ham mixture and 3 tablespoons shredded cheese onto each tortilla, then roll up. Carefully place filled tortillas, seam side down, in a greased 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, cream, and milk, flour, garlic powder, and hot pepper sauce. Pour egg mixture over tortillas. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.

3. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4. Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle casserole with remaining 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake about 3 minutes more, or until cheese melts. Let stand a least 10 minutes before serving.

Pork Satay for Barbecuing

This is again from The White Recipe Book and was submitted by Daphne Thiessen. She added the comment that this is also a great sauce for chicken.

4 - 6 pork loin chops or chicken breasts, visible fat trimmed
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
2 tsp sweet chili sauce or a few dashes of hot pepper sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Cut pork into cubes or thin slices. Thread onto skewers. Set aside. Mix all sauce ingredients. Set aside 1/3 of sauce to brush on meat during BBQing. Heat remaining 2/3 sauce in microwave for several minutes until thick and hot. Stir in additional water if needed until sauce is a good dripping consistency. BBQ meat skewers until done, basting with sauce during last several minutes. Serve skewers with remaining sauce on the side. Jasmine rice (sometimes called scented rice) makes a great, authentic Indonesian accompaniment to this.

Our Grandma Schmidt

I don't know how to capture the fullness in my heart from this incredible woman and put it into words. In my inadequate but sincere attempt, I'd have to first express my deepest gratitude to her generous and gracious family who shared her with us and as much as she was "adopted" as our Grandma, her family has been like family to us as well.

My earliest recollection of Mrs. Mary Schmidt is seeing her sitting at our kitchen table in our house in Rosenfeld. I probably had just turned seven years old. She was a tall woman with white, her signature coiffed hair with its waves and rolls, and her ever-present dress. (I'm not sure if I've ever seen her wear pants other than the snow pants she wore for walking in winter and clearing the snow from her driveway.) From what I understand, she had heard about our family situation (my Mom being hospitalized with a serious but undiagnosed illness) and she came to offer her assistance to our household. She had spent several years with another family in Altona who had been in a similar situation, where a mother with young children had battled cancer.

She wasn't "Grandma" at first. She spent a lot of time at our home, caring for us kids, taking care of household responsibilities like cooking, cleaning, and laundry. She spent the most time with my sister Londa who was a toddler at the time. One day Londa accidentally called her "Grandma" and we all went with it. We had another "adopted Grandma" in Mrs. Susan Dyck (who then married Mr. Jake Penner) who we had known all our lives, so it wasn't too unusual for us.

Grandma Schmidt was only in our home for five years. Londa was old enough to go to school. Randy and I were old enough to take care of things while Dad was at work. But those five years were filled with her love, compassion, her sense of humor, her faith in God, and her dedication to our family. I can't call her our nanny or housekeeper because she was so much more than that. Yes, she was paid to be with us, but I'm sure there must have been many things she didn't get paid for. She would take us to Steinbach, Winkler, MacGregor, (and even Blumenfeld waaaay back in the early years) to visit her family there. We'd have sleepovers at her place with her grandkids. We would watch her undo her hair for night and put it into two long braids and put it up again in the morning. She'd read us story after story from the Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories books (okay, I had to Google the name but I can see the books in my head). She taught me some of the basics of cooking and that pizza is cut up with a scissor. I think of her when I see portzelky (Mennonite deep fried dumpling-type things with raisins that are traditionally only made for New Years). Every time I pick up my crochet hook I remember the summer we were in MacGregor and she sat me and her granddaughter Jenny down to teach us how to crochet. Many times after school she'd ask me to spend some time crocheting and she'd help me fix my mistakes.

Even though she "retired" after those five years with our family, we still kept in close contact with her. It was quite a number of years where I don't think I saw any of her family, and then, sadly, we were all together again when Grandma died in a car accident in July of 2001 and again when my Mom died in September of 2001. (And then our other "adopted" Grandma Penner died in March of 2002.) It was great to see them, but the circumstances were tragic. I remember feeling so blessed that she had been in our lives and so grateful to her family for allowing us to share in her life and their lives and to include us as part of their family even at such a personal and difficult time.

I often think of her and miss her. I'm so glad that I told her I loved her the last time I saw her. I'm not sure how often I had said it to her, but I felt compelled to do so that day. I treasure the picture I have of she and I together at the bridal shower my Dad threw for me at the hospital with my Mom. I had asked Grandma to sit beside me that evening. I know she nurtured a rich Christian heritage in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. One of the biggest lessons I've learned from her is that people don't have to be related by genetics to be family.

Here's a YouTube link to the song, "Angels Among Us" by Alabama, which always reminds me of her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPgtSVXi63I

I believe there are angels among us
sent down to us from somewhere up above
they come to you and me in our darkest hours
to show us how to live, to teach us how to give
to guide us with the light of love