HA! Get this...

I just realized you know nothing about me.  I crack myself up sometimes.  Ok, a lot.

Anyhoo.  I am a stay-at-home wife and mommy in the Garden State.  Yes, we have gardens here!  Farms, even!  Amazing, right?  All anyone sees on TV of NJ is a) that horrible show "The Jersey Shore", and b) that we as a state are close to NYC.  We are sooooo much more than that, but that is a topic for another day!

5 years ago, I was laid off from my marketing assistant position...not unheard of in NJ; our unemployment rate is very high even now.  A huge crisis at the time, but God had a plan; He always has a plan in motion for His children!  He turned that crisis into a blessing...the ability to stay home to raise our child, now children.  A year and a half later, we had our beautiful blondy-blue-eyed baby girl in addition to our little brown-hair and eyes dude.  We haven't looked back since.

Sure, our budget is tight.  Totally tight.  No wiggle room tight.  But, jobs are scarce in NJ, as I have said before, and right now, my place is to be a wife to my loving husband and mother for our children, ages 9 and 4 now.  The blessings are amazing.  Mommy is always here to help with homework, to play games with, to tell secrets to, and to make awesome desserts like chocolate chip cookies.  As a wife, I am able to support my husband at home by keeping the home relatively clean and uncluttered, keep the calendar straight, and have a hot dinner on the table within a reasonable time of his coming home.  And I'm proud of it.  Do I miss working?  Nope.  Not at all.  I have the best job EVER.

By the way, I totally lost last night's Sorry game.  Totally got my butt kicked.  But hey, it was fun.  I love a good Sorry game!

And so that brings me to tonight's meal...featuring BACON.  YEA!  There's another winter storm on the horizon (sigh), and comfort food is needed here in our household.  Soooooo....BLTs it is!  I picked up some bagels from our grocery store yesterday.  They are made by our local deli, and delivered fresh from the oven to the store.  FAB.  Best bagels I have ever had.

Mmmm...whole wheat in front, 2 marbles and 1 whole wheat sesame!

Raw bacon!

The Oscar Meyer bacon is from my mother-in-law...she was cleaning out her freezer from when her daughter visited, so it's not our usual brand (we usually eat the lower-sodium Smithfield bacon - very moderate consumption, thank you!), but we are thankful for it!

Crispy bacon! 

For the LT part of the sandwich, we are having Napa lettuce and on-the-vine tomatoes.  Tomatoes are very much out of season here (obviously), and I miss the flavor of a good tomato, but one must make do, right?

Yummy!

Cheese is optional here, but our choices are Swiss and Muenster.  Our son prefers Swiss, as do I, and hubby and daughter opt for Muenster.

As a side, we are having raspberries, strawberries and edamame (no salt option!).  The kiddies love popping those pods.  Ah, heck, we love popping them, too.  We are also having pickles that I canned over the summer.  Yummy.

Homemade pickles...delish!

Sooo...the bacon is crisping on the electric griddle (make sure you drain it on a paper towel when it done cooking to get all that excess grease off!). 

Slice your bagels in half, spread your condiment of choice (we like mayo) on one side of each bagel, slice your tomatoes and lettuce (make sure you rinse them before using!), and place on bagels.  Add your cheese, if you so desire.  Add your BACON!  Pop in the oven at 350 if you want it nice and gooey and crunchy for about 5 minutes.

Mmmm....toasty, cheesy, bacon-y goodness!

Take out of the oven (if applicable), set your table, thank the Lord for your food, and ENJOY!

I'm off to go eat BACON!  Tomorrow night...roast chicken and asparagus!  Oh, and it's muffin-making day tomorrow, too...might just be a double post day!  God bless, and stay warm!

Mmmmmm....Homemade Pizza Night!

Howdie...it's Friday.  Thank God.  Crazy week here.  We are ready to just chill out and enjoy our family time!  But first...we need to eat dinner!

Friday nights are family game night in our home.  We usually have a simple meal, and then jump into board games until it's bedtime for the kiddies.

Tonight's meal...chosen by the 4-year old, and approved by the 9-year old...homemade pizza!  Yeah!

I started the dough this afternoon.  It's such a simple recipe.  Warm water, yeast, a pinch of salt, dabble of olive oil, flour, and whatever else I feel like tossing in (i.e. garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, paprika - I always try to put in something to build the flavor profile).

Dough ball pre-rising.

Today, I went with just plain dough - primarily because I was running short on dough-rising time.  This, by the way, easily makes two pies.  Mold that yeasty dough into a nice ball, and place it in a large bowl that has been a) sprayed with PAM or b) brushed with your choice of oil.  Cover with damp paper towel or cloth, and let it rise, rise, rise in a warm spot.

After a few hours, it was perfect.  Give it a good punch down, and let it sit for another 10 minutes while you prep your pans.  I use extra virgin olive oil as a coating - adds a great flavor, and keeps the dough from sticking!  I also sprinkle on some cornmeal.  Adds another layer of texture to the pizza, and again, helps to prevent the dough from sticking to the pan during baking.

Look at that - perfectly punchy pizza dough!

Spread the dough out over the pan(s), and brush the dough LIGHTLY with extra virgin olive oil.  Sprinkle on fresh garlic, and whatever herbs you choose.  Tonight, I went with oregano and paprika on hubby's and mine, and just oregano on the kiddies'.

Prepped pans with punched dough in the background

All ready for the oven!!!

Our son helped me with the toppings...the kiddies prefer a red sauce on theirs, and he chose ham on his half the pie, while our daughter chose chopped carrots on hers (I know what you're thinking, but it's actually really good!).  My husband and I are having carrots and ham on our white pizza.  Our local store makes fresh mozzarella on site each day, so we topped it off with that delish cheese.

Preheat your oven to at least 375...and when you're ready, pop those pies in!  Bake til the cheese is gooey, and the crust sounds hollow when you tap it.  Take them out of the oven, and let them rest for a minute or two, so that the cheese sets.  Slice it up, set the table, thank the Lord for the food, and CHOW DOWN!   We are runding out tonight's meal with Seapak Butterfly Shrimp with homemade horseradish sauce (ketchup and horseradish, to taste), raspberries and strawberries.

The final products

I gotta go now...time to set the table, and I am SO winning Sorry tonight.  SO WINNING!!!  God bless, and we'll miss you, Mr. Spock.  Thanks for being logical in an illogical world.  RIP.


Pizza dough recipe:
1 package of yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt (optional)
Herbs, spices (optional)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in your mixer or a big bowl.  Blend in the flour, EVOO and optional ingredients until dough forms a sticky-ish ball.  Spray or brush another large bowl with PAM or your oil of choice.  Form dough into ball, and place into bowl.  Cover with damp (DAMP!!!) paper towels or cloth towel, and place in warmish area (back of your stove under the hood light is fine, or in the oven itself (TURNED OFF).  Let rise until you are ready to use and follow pizza directions above!

So, here I am...cooking dinner tonight, as I've done countless times before.  But...tonight...something...different.  Something...unique.  Something...creative!

What, you ask?  I'm cooking...and...BLOGGING!  Wow!  Crazy and new...yep...I've broken into the blogging world.

Why, you ask?  Because, I say!!!  Because, I make all these cool dishes (at least I think they are cool), and I have no one to share them online with, unless you count my FB family and friends.  Usually, the only ones commenting are my mother, my sister and my loving and tolerant husband.  Oh, I get lots of likes from the rest of my FB family, but it's just not the same.  You know?

So....I came up with this oh-so-brilliant blogging idea over the last few days as my husband and I have been cooking up a storm in an attempt to keep a) the house warm in this zero degree weather, b) challenge each other to make delish dishes, c) create foods that the kiddies will eat, but that are still good for them.

Fun, right?  I thought so.

Here we go!  Tonight's menu is what we like to call a mish-mosh night.  Leftovers, to the rest of the world.  A little of this, and a little of that.  We have leftover cubed smoked ham, diced onions, peppers and garlic, homemade smashed potatoes, a teeny-tiny container of sweet corn kernels, half a block of a great local cheddar cheese, an apple, and that's pretty much it. (grocery shopping is DEFINITELY in the cards soon!)

What have I done with all this?

I've browned up the ham in the skillet to render out as much fat as possible, then popped it into my blender, along with the diced onion, peppers of various colors, garlic, about half a cup of the local cheddar, a tablespoon of brown mustard, a tablespoon of mayo, a dash of black pepper and sage, half an apple and a squueeeeeeeeze of lime juice to make it pop.  Pureed on high until it was a nice, fluffy mess.  Yes, it looks disgusting.  But it tastes HEAVENLY.  Fab.  Reminds me of a great minced ham that I tasted in Virginia many moons ago.  See the pic?  Told you it looks gross.

YEA ME!

Popped that into the refrigerator to chill up a bit. 

Now, the smashed potatoes.  My original thought was to turn them into potato pancakes.  However...that flopped...miserably.  Not being the discouraged type, I placed a sheet of waxed paper on one of my baking trays, shlopped the potato mix onto it, and it is happily baking on low heat in the oven right now.

Oh yeah, I forgot.  I took a smidgen of white wine, a dollop of red wine, and deglazed my ham pan.  Some butter, milk and flour, black pepper and lime juice (yep, you read right - lime juice), and I've got us a nice little gravy for the potatoes.

Gravy...yum!

My goal?  Make nice toasted minced ham sandwiches using more of that delish local cheddar, nice whole wheat bread and the minced ham mix.  An easy dinner for tonight on this cold day.

For virtual drooling purposes, I've added pics of the whipped chocolate truffles, strawberry shortcake cupcakes and dark chocolate brownies that I made for Valentine's Day this year. 

On that happy note, it is time to indulge on this mish-mosh night.

Stay warm, happy eating, see you soon, and God bless!!!

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes - light, fluffy and soooooo good!!!!

Whipped Chocolate Truffles...I miss these. 

Dark Chocolate Brownies...the kiddies miss these!