And I love it more than anything when I can wake up, go to church, eat somewhere yummy for lunch, then come home, don my pajamas, and do nothing all afternoon but watch Bravo reruns and movies on TBS. It is my happy place.
And that is exactly what we have done for the past three Sundays in Houston. Church, eat, nothing.
Unfortunately, it is baseball day on TBS (one of my pet peeves), so I thought I'd take the opportunity to stop in and share some things! We've been staying busy this holiday weekend. Friday I spent the day interviewing at a nearby preschool. Let's just say I didn't mesh too well with their system, though, so there's one potential job marked off the list. Our couch surfing might include some mass resume-sending this afternoon, so maybe I'll find more luck next week.
Yesterday we made our way to a really nice and clean Walmart near our apartment, which was a great find. Great Value brands to the rescue! (of our budget, that is) We also stopped into Pier 1 to look for some coasters and ended up finding a tv stand on scratch-and-dent special! So we can finally watch tv in the living room without looking at the floor...it's quite wonderful.
I've been taking advantage of all my time at the apartment and trying out some lovely summer recipes that I want to share. These have all been so easy and delicious.
Last night, we made homemade pizza for dinner, including made-from-scratch dough! I don't frequently attempt pizza dough on account of the yeast...we don't get along too well. But guess what other ingredient already contains yeast and tastes really good in pizza dough?
Beer!! It's genius! Here's how to make enough dough for 2 personal 9" pizzas:
Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor. With processor running, slowly add 1/3 cup beer and 1 tablespoon olive oil until dough pulls away from sides and forms a shaggy ball. Using floured hands, form dough into tight ball and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let rest 10 minutes. (ONLY 10 minutes! That's how fast you can have homemade pizza dough!)
We made our pizzas in a non-stick skillet, but I'm sure this recipe would work in the oven or on the grill. To make in a skillet, you just heat up 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, then transfer the rolled-out dough into the skillet. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes and use a fork to poke any bubbles that form. Then flip the dough and put all your toppings on. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan, and cook about 5 more minutes. And that's it!
(Disregard my burned cheese arms hanging off the crust.)
For dessert, I channeled my inner Martha and followed her recipe for this Strawberry Cake. It was pretty easy (no weird ingredients) and tasted pretty darn delicious. My cake was maybe a tad bit dry once you got past the strawberry layer, but with a little ice cream, it was perfect.
Before...
And after...
Finally, I made these bars from Southern Living last weekend and have thoroughly enjoyed them as well. Apparently I've been on a fruity dessert kick lately, which is rather unusual for me the chocolate-lover. If I had to choose a fruit for dessert it would be peaches, though, so since those were involved here, I approved.
Peach Melba Shortbread Bars
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold butter
1 cup peach preserves
6 teaspoons raspberry preserves
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. (Or pop flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor and pulse it a few times if you can't find a pastry blender and want an easier method anyway.) Reserve 1 cup of this mixture.
Lightly grease an 11"x7" or 9" square pan. Press remaining flour mixture onto bottom of pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Spread peach preserves over crust in pan. Dollop raspberry preserves by 1/2 teaspoons over peach preserves. Sprinkle reserved 1 cup flour mixture over preserves. Sprinkle with almonds.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Cut into bars.
Think I'll go eat one right now! Enjoy! And Happy 4th tomorrow!
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