Thursday, September 30, 2010

EASY Pizza Rolls

It has been a long time, so sorry. I have had to cut back on blogging because I have been trying to limit kid time on the computer. That means, it is not on a whole lot. But, I am trying to get back into it. Excuse me, I am laughing so hard, we are watching that show "Outsourced", it is pretty funny. Anyway, back to you.....

This has become one of my new favorite things to make because it is SOOOOOOOOOOO easy and everyone likes it. You can buy the dough or make it yourself. I made mine because I didn't have any on hand. If you are buying it, I would go with two loaves if you are trying to feed more than two people because the store bought dough does not make a ton. They heat up nicely and left overs are great.

Ingredients:
2 rolls of french bread dough, or homemade dough for 1 loaf. I will post that recipe another time.
Ground Beef, cooked
Pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
Sauce (to dip rolls in. DO NOT put sauce on the bread dough with other ingredients, it will turn out mushy and you will have a MESS on your pan)

The How To:
Roll out dough. Spread pepperoni, then ground beef, then cheese.
Roll up dough.

Slice into one inch pieces.
Place rolls on greased baking sheet. (You do not have to let them rise. I love that!!!)
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
Dip in your favorite pizza sauce. (This is a picture of one loaf of homemade dough.)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"Mom, is my nose growin?"


One of my rules is that the kids have to have their clothes picked up and beds made before they can watch TV or play on the computer (doesn't always happen, but I try). My youngest son asked if he could watch TV, so I asked him "Is your bed made?" knowing full well that it was not. He gives me the sweetest smile and says, "Yes." I ask him again if it is made and he nods his head, "Yes, it is." I look at him and say, "David, I don't think your bed is made." Instead of asking me if my super power "X-Ray Eyes" are working he says, "Mom, is my nose growin?" I looked at him and said, "Yes, it is because you told me you made your bed and you really didn't." He raised his eyebrows and his eyes got super wide as he felt his nose. "No it's not, your just kiddin." It was really funny.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Occupation: Domestic Engineer

Whenever there is a form to fill out and it asks for my occupation I write "Domestic Engineer". Next to it I usually write in parenthesis "homemaker" in case no one knows what a DE is. I never thought anyone took it seriously. Well, on my child's information sheet for school under mother's occupation it says "Domestic Engineer". I smiled and thought, maybe this person gets what I do all day long.

Imagine how people would reply when they ask you what you do and you say, "I am a domestic engineer." Sounds very professional and technical, right? I can see the "Wow, she must have a PhD in that or something." Hey, it takes brains and talent to brush a child's hair, help another put on her shirt, while nursing a baby. I did it this morning. It takes guts to sign up your kids for sports, knowing you will have to be at the field 5 days a week, taking dinner, snacks, things to do not to mention trips to the nasty port a potty or the tricks it takes to get us all out the door on time (and all of this while nursing a baby. I have become ampidextrous.) And, it takes know how to put together a meal in 5 minutes that everyone will eat and will have some kind of nutritious value.

Yes, I am a Domestic Engineer. It doesn't pay a whole lot of money, but the long term benefits are worth it.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Things I Love About Where We Live

Although I do still miss WI, there are so many things I love about PA. It is close to where I grew up (so I am a little biased). We are in Myerstown, PA, definitely very rural. I love that we have a...drive thru Dairy. We go to Patches family dairy twice a week for milk and eggs. They just need to sell bread and that will eliminate my last minute dash to the store. I would rather drive the 10 minutes to the dairy than lug all of the kids inside the store for 4 gallons of milk and then spend another $20 on things I don't really need.

I also love...

the patriotism of the people in this area. There are several people here descendant from those men who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. People fly the flag in their yards all of the time. I drove to my sisters yesterday and in Robesonia the streets were lined with flags for about 2 miles (this is a picture of a couple of the flags). It was a beautiful sight. The people here are God loving people. The kids got to sing REAL Christmas Carols at school, not just "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Clause is Coming to Town." They got to sing "Joy to the World" and "Hark the Harold Angels Sing."

My last love is...the farm stands. I got all of these peppers for $2, and they were THE SWEETEST peppers I have ever had. I got a HUGE, GINORMOUS watermelon last week for under $2, honey-dew for $2, and tomatoes for super cheap too. There are produce stands all over and I love being able to buy farm fresh food. Mike brought home a bushel of peaches from a farm. I canned 1/2 of them and was done with that chore (it was only 90 that day, too hot to be canning.)

As much as we miss WI, there are a lot of awesome things about his area. We are settling in and wish we could move everyone we left behind here, I am home sick for my friends. It has been a great move for our family, but we do miss our Wisconsinite friends.

Grilled Pizza



Wow, it has been awhile since I have done this. I took a break because I was tired of hearing "When is it my turn on the computer?" So, we didn't turn the computer on during the day for awhile, which means, I don't get my time to go online in the afternoon. I have been making some really good dishes, and continue to manage the chaos at our house. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO hot last week and I didn't want to use the oven and stove, so I decided to use the grill (our garage sale purchase a few weeks ago). I made grilled pizza, and this was really, really good. I found this website, simply recipes.com, helpful for the "how to" of grilling pizza click here to see it. The dough I used was 1/2 reg flour and 1/2 whole wheat. I will definitely make it in the near future, like tomorrow for Labor Day (which we will honor with a day of labor at the Nelson home. I have my long list ready.)


Ingredients:

Pizza dough. Click here for my recipe or use the recipe from Simply Recipes. Mine will make 2 small pizzas, the one from Simply Recipes will make 2 large pizzas. You can also try store bought pizza dough.

Pizza sauce

Cheese

Toppings

Extra Virgin Olive Oil



Dab a paper towel with olive oil and wipe it on the grill. Heat up grill, I would do it on Med-Hi. Brush top of pizza dough generously with Olive oil. Put the oiled side down on the grill and let it cook until done on that side. While it is cooking, brush top side with olive oil. Flip crust (I used a large grill spatula) and then top with sauce, cheese, and toppings. Close grill and continue to cook until cheese is melted. I actually turned the grill off because I was worried about the crust burning. It was really good and the kids liked it a lot.