The MoST comforting of FOODS – –

PIZZA!

One of my favorite meals to make is homemade pizza with Ben. It’s SO easy, cheap, and usually the pizza is WAY better than take out.

Let me back up a few steps first. My standards for pizza were developed and grew to be the way they are as a result of being raised in close proximity to the great Chicago 😉

– – –  I am not trying to be snobby about it, because truly I believe that Little Caesars is underrated, but I also do know there is good pizza, and then there is good pizza.

Anywho, I don’t like spending a lot of time on the crust, so honestly I just buy the Jiffy pizza crust mix, yeah the one that cost a bit under $2.00 and you just add water, that one. It’s rather good, I am able to create a “deep dish” or thin crust if I desired, and it is so quick to make.

The fun part about making the pizza is we just grab whatever toppings we want to put on it that time, and have at it. No two pizzas we make are ever the same, and usually the two staples are mozzarella cheese and jalapenos. Everything else is subject to change. 🙂

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I baked this ‘za in a pie pan, which enabled me to make it more of a deep dish, rather reminded me of Uno’s Pizza. mmmmm Uno’s…

I will get better with my images with time, I hope. Sorry for the dark images (if they are, they seem to be to me).

Part of the reason I baked in a pie pan is because the pan I WAS going to use is a bit big for our oven… I grabbed the wrong one from storage. Whoops! But it turned out to be great, in fact, I may prefer it to a sheet or circular pan. It makes the perfect size pizza for the two of us. Sometimes we double the recipe and make two crusts and cook it on a cookie sheet, but that’s out of the question as you’ll see below.

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Can you find the elephant in the room? 😉 

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It’s smaller in size but as you can see it has a lot of different options for cooking and a timer which is great. For comparison sake, it would be big enough for one frozen pizza perfectly!

This was also found at a great deal! I think it was less than $15 bucks and in near perfect condition at Goodwill. I found it about two years ago, but that was also something that I was in the market for, for quite a long time as well before I finally found it.

The key is PATIENCE! If you allow yourself time to browse, sometimes having to go back a few times, eventually what you are looking for will filter thru and that persons junk becomes your treasure! I usually go to the thrift stores about once a week and just walk thru casually with my list in the back of my mind.

For instance… yesterday I found an amazing stool / seat for meditating!

I do NOT have patience for walking around a mall, but thrift stores… I can give the time of day.

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Okay so back on track … this is pretty standard for our pizza topping options.

Salt and pepper (if needed, but usually always pepper)

TEXAS PETE hot sauce (personal favorite)

And of course classic parmesan and crushed red pepper.

Comfort foods. All of them.

I am also pleasently suprised over how great cooking is in the trailer. Sure its not AS easy as it could be, but it still is not that tedious, cramped, inconvient, (instert complaint here) as you may think it could be. I just CANNOT wait until we get our cupboards and counter design in place and put in!

Okay. Go forth now, and PIZZA!

Soups (was) ON!

I’ve been trying a few new recipes lately, like I said I would.

First up. Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a bread bowl. I got the recipe from Tip Hero on Facebook. It was a very easy recipe and I tweaked it a bit. I definitely let the broccoli cook longer then they suggested, and over all I would FOR sure make it again.

I LOVE broccoli but for some reason when it’s cooked it just smells like bad farts. IM SORRY someone had to say it! But it is OH so good, and well, growing up so close to the land of cheese I really can’t get enough of that.

Perfect combo!

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The bread that I got for the bread bowls wasn’t sourdough (which I LOVE) but it was on sale and it was huge enough for Ben and I to split just one loaf, so that basically turned out perfectly, and I ripped out the interior bread for dipping pieces. I would rate it… 8/10. Needed more pepper.

The more I am using my stove the more I am not sure about it. So it is an induction only stove top, so it only works with pots and pans that are magnetic.

HERE is an explanation from the kitchn website of how they work. — taken from there “The key to induction cooktops is that the pots and pans you use must be made from a magnetic material to work with this system. The induction cooktop will induce the electrons in a magnetic material to move, creating an electric current in that magnetic material. That current generates heat in the pot.”

Great news… our pots and pans ARE magnetic and induction ready (bought from Costco) but there is a VERY high-pitched squealing when using said pots on said stove top. It doesn’t happen when I use the teapot, just these pots and pans.

After some research on the internets, it’s not really determined what it’s from but others are experiencing the same thing. So the jury is still out and is also why I use the crock pot more, until I can figure out if its safe or not.

There is about 5 or 6 different heat levels on the stove top, and the higher the setting the higher pitched the sound. It sends shooting tings all over my body :/ that can’t be right. I was able to cook the soup at about the 2nd / 3rd level comfortably, but not much higher than that.

Well – all this talk of food AGAIN — I am going to find some for myself!

p.s.

The mountains look lovely again.

* SnoW *

IT SNOWED! Heavens to Betsy its WAY too early for snow, but I LOVE the first snow! LOOVE!

Last night the rain started, and the sounds on the roof were nature’s music. I slept like a baby! I woke up around 5 AM to get some water and I looked out the door, and it was snowing! I couldn’t help it but I woke Ben up with me! Whoops! 😉 But he even got up to take a look – but honestly, I think I squealed so it was my sheer volume that did the trick.

If I didn’t look outside I would’ve had NO idea it was snowing or how cold it was because our new heater is perfect!

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Someone gifted us a Lakewood Radiator Oil Heater that runs off of a thermostat as well, its electrical and it maintains such a comfortable temperature I think we may stick with it!

That heater/ fan we were using I don’t think would take the cold like this does at all. It too was run on a thermostat and would shut on and off when it hit its temps, but I almost would feel an electric current/spark when it would turn off / on and I did NOT like it. I am keeping it on hand because it was really good for the fall temps, but with these colder nights coming it wouldn’t have regulated the temp like this radiator.

My two cents on that.

Back to magic —

The first snow always feels so magical to me – but honestly, tell me it’s not magic. Halloween is over and boom, white stuff everywhere  – now you have people being nicer to each other for a couple of months and smiling more because they just cannot help but feel the magic too! (Fairies)

Don’t misunderstand me though, I don’t think people are intentionally crabby with everyone but I think fall/winter is a season people take a break from all of that (mostly). I try to stay optimistic about it all anyhow. The world can always use more smiles so I am glad to give!

Tid bits —

SO: Here are some tid bits of how we are operating. EVERYTHING you see is open for interpretation and can be subject to change 🙂 it already has changed a few times… I’m thinking we are very quickly going to realize what we like above the rest, and what we deem a priority, and what we just plain can’t live without.

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We purchased our first stove! #yay! LOL I’ve only used it once and that was to boil some water to make coffee in our french press we got from our wedding! BUT it worked like a charm AND it heated the water up faster than any conventional stove I’ve used. I found it at Target on clearance (another win)! The nice thing is, it is small and flat, compact enough to not be in the way.

For an oven we have a convection toaster oven / broiler, and it’s the kind that has the vent on the side. I found that beauty at a Goodwill a few years ago and those things are hard to find at a good deal, (the specific kind that we wanted). Okay the “we” on that one really means Ben — he was the one who had very very specific wants for a convection oven. BUT I found one hardly used at Goodwill for $14.00 and we’ve been winning ever since. That one is too valuable to let go and we now know why 🙂 And really it’s not all that big.

We also have a Black and Decker griddle that is used and abused, also slim enough to store away without being an issue. Once the kitchen is in design and production I’m imagining their own permanent homes, but for now they fit where they must!

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My first time with the french press. I did have to YouTube how to make it, and I will get better with time (I hope!)

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This shot was taken before we foamed the interior but look how cozy it is! That particular night it was rather windy but the sun was really hot, so we opened the ramp (my future patio deck) and clamped the bed sheet to the wires. I have OH so many ideas for the deck. But it all kind of depends on how we set up the sleeping area to know which direction we will take for the patio.

The bed is a queen and fits in there with about 4 inches on each side. We definitely will be needing to get a better sized bed as ours is not good with conserving space. But that is something we will have to work towards, eventually the bed will most likely be put up on a platform or an adjustable cable system (gotta love them DIYers and their ideas), or we could go with a more modern futon/fold out couch style set up. Multi-purpose… but for now our set up works just fine!

I mean honestly… This is like full time camping with some more style / conveniences … but just not all of the conveniences.

For now. 🙂