Personal Pan Pizza with Easy No-Yeast Dough

Having two toddlers and a husband who always want to have pizza for every and any meal of the day,
I needed to make a recipe that was easy to fast and super simple to prepare.
I came up with this idea using a similar dough recipe from a cook book plus changed a few things to
make it how I wanted it to come out.
After two attempts, the recipe works great!
The dough is versatile enough to be used with different spices to give it your own personal touch.

Complete recipe is at the bottom.

This is all you need to make this pizza dough! 

Flour, baking powder, salt, warm water, and olive oil.

Adding some spices gives it that extra Italian flavour.

This dough is too sticky, it needs more flour.

This dough is perfect and ready to use.

When it comes to the spices you can use your own combinations you think would go well together. 

I like the taste of basil and oregano together with pizza. 

Some other options could be but are not limited to: 

garlic powder, onion powder, chili flakes, thyme, dried chives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, 

cracked pepper, Italian seasoning, pretty much anything you think would taste good!

Once the dough has come out of the oven now you can add your toppings. 

I went with spicy pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. 

Here are some of my families favourite topping combinations.

Alldressed - pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers.
Veggies - green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives.
Italian -sausage, mushrooms, olives, fresh basil.
Buffalo Chicken - cooked chicken pieces, tomatoes, feta cheese, hot sauce.
Super Cheese - mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, montery jack.

Some other topping ideas are:
spinach, black and/or green olives, onions, cooked bacon, cooked ham, pineapple, cooked ground beef,
garlic, hot peppers, sliced steak, and on and on and on!

Easy No-Yeast Pizza Dough

(makes two 9 inch pizzas)

2 1/2 cups of flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbs olive oil, plus more to drizzle over dough

1 cup of warm water, less or more depending on dough

1/2 tsp dried basil 

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. 

2. Add the olive oil and warm water. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. If too stiff, more water.

3. Put dough on a surface covered with flour and knead for a couple of minutes. 

4. Grease a round cake or pie pan with some extra olive oil. 

5. Using you hands flatten the dough into a even circle, place into greased pan and stretch it the rest of the way to the edges and up a little to form a nice crust. Sprinkle with basil, oregano, and a little bit of olive oil.

6. Bake at 400f for about 25 minutes. 

7. Remove from oven then add your toppings. 

8. Bake another 5 minutes until cheese is all melty. Broil for a few more to make the cheese toasty brown.

9. Enjoy it with some extra warm pizza sauce on the side to dip it in!

Give it a try with your pizza lovers in your family! Get your kids involved by letting them help you knead the dough and flatten them out themselves. Then letting them top their very own pizza!

By Mommy Melissa

Beat the Heat with a Frozen Raspberry Green Tea!

Summertime is nearly upon us and that means it's time for icy cold drinks, preferably created with a blender. I'm on a serious blender kick lately. Like, 3 different blended beverages a day at least. Is there some kind of Blenderholics Anonymous I could sign up for? 

That beautiful, frosty glass of pink up there is what triggered my blendermania. I couldn't get Tim Horton's Frozen Raspberry Green /Tea out of my head, but the closest Timmies is a half hour walk and it was just too hot to get there on foot with two kids in a stroller and one strapped to my back. So, I made my own, and it was way tastier. And cheaper! And then I ran out of raspberries and got sad because grocery day isn't until Friday so I couldn't make any more.

Here's the recipe:

4 Green Tea bags

2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup honey (although sugar would work just fine)

1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries 

(Please note: my raspberry measurement is an approximation. I was dealing with all the little bits in the bottom of the bag  and I was hot and just wanted my damn drink so I just dumped it in the blender. It looked to me like a cup and a half. You could use more or less depending on taste, same with the honey)

1. Pour boiling water over tea bags. Steep until desired strength, remove tea bags, and allow tea to cool. I threw mine in the freezer after 5 minutes or so of cooling on the counter, just to speed things up)

2. Pour cold tea into blender. Add frozen raspberries and honey. Blend, and serve!

*This recipe made the tall glass pictured above, plus a plastic cup full for my little guy, who LOVED it. He's definitely his mama's son :)*

Homemade Donuts

This is so easy! I saw this floating around on Pinterest and had to try it! All you need is Pillsbury biscuit dough, mold the dough together and cut out donut shapes. Then in a deep pan fill about 1/4 the way with vegetable oil and heat on medium-low. Put your donuts in carefully and keep an eye on them so they don't burn! Once they are cooked putting them on a cookie sheet and coat with sugar or whatever topping you like!

POST BY MOMMY OLIVIA

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

The spring weather has inspired a fresh soup! I don't know about you but in my house the flu keeps going around, once someone recovers they get it again and nothing soothes a sore throat like chicken soup and lemons! So why not combine them?

What you will need:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic minced
1 carrot chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1 lemon
1tsp basil
1 cup of long grain rice
2 tbsp. olive oil

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil then add in your carrots onion and garlic, sauté for about 5 minutes or until translucent.

Add in the chicken stock and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add in the rice cover and simmer for about 15 more minutes or until rice is cooked.

Then add in the juice of 1 lemon (make sure there are no seeds!) And the basil. Stir all together. Enjoy!

POST BY MOMMY OLIVIA

Pinterest Challenge: Pot Roast Noodles

Since it's Father's Day weekend I let Phil go through all my favourite recipes on Pinterest and pick whatever one he wanted for dinner. So he chose these Pot Roast Noodles. A lot of work, but very delicious! For the original recipe click HERE.

What you will need:

1 can of sliced mushrooms (drained)
2 1/2 pound chuck roast
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 each, chopped: carrot, onion, rib celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 cup red wine
6 ounces tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
8 ounces pappardelle egg noodles

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, Season meat generously with salt and pepper.

2. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown meat, about 2 minutes per side. Lift out; set aside. Add carrot, onion, celery and garlic to the pot. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add broth, wine, tomato paste, mushrooms, bay leaves and thyme. Heat to a boil. Return meat to the pot. Liquid should come about two thirds the way up the sides of the roast. Cover.

3. Place in oven; cook, turning roast once and basting occasionally, until very tender when prodded with a fork, 2-2 1/2 hours.

4. Set pot on stovetop. Remove meat from pot. Shred. Discard any fat. Discard bay leaves and thyme sprig. Stir shredded meat into sauce; keep warm over low heat.

5. Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles until tender but firm. Drain. Add noodles to meat and sauce. Toss gently.

Enjoy!

POST BY MOMMY OLIVIA

Spring is finally here!

Finally, it seemed like it would never get warm! I actually got a sun burnt today, and I usually don't burn! We spent the entire weekend outside, gardening and getting the patio ready for summer. I can't wait! Noah saw his very first worm today and toad, he was ecstatic about it. Here are just some picture we took over the weekend, Happy Victoria Day to all the Canadians :)

POST BY MOMMY OLIVIA

Egg-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

What you will need:
- PAM for baking sheet
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 1 cup of unsalted butter - room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350. Spray baking sheet with pam to prevent sticking. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl still in butter and sugar- beat until combined. Then add in the vanilla and milk- beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients and beat until dough is formed. Mix in chocolate chips.

Scoop 1-tbsp rounds on baking sheet placing them 2 inches apart. Do not press the cookies down, they will spread while baking. Bake in center of oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown (keeping checking them).

Hope you like this recipe! It great for tots with allergies, and they are delicious. These cookies were gone within the first 20 minutes of putting them out! The batch makes about 24 cookies. Enjoy!


POST BY MOMMY OLIVIA