Homemade Pizza Sticks

This is another favorite off of my new Homestead Blessings DVD "The Art of Breadmaking"!

It's FAST and EASY and YUMMY!!!

Dough

2.5 cups flour 

(plus additional flour for rolling out)

1 T yeast

1 t salt

4 T Olive Oil

1 C warm water

1 T honey (not necessary, but helps activate the yeast)

Spread

1 stick melted butter

Garlic mixed into butter

Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients.

Knead dough for 5 minutes, then let rest 5 minutes.

Roll out dough (*on parchment paper--this will make transferring to pan easier!) into an oval.

Brush on melted butter/garlic spread.

Add cheese and herbs (I used Cheddar, Mozzarella, Oregano, Basil and Rosemary, then top with Parmesan).

Pat it all down with your hands and quickly fold in half.

Pinch edges and lightly roll the dough so it's a little more flat.

Transfer to pan (this is why you use parchment paper because it can get messy and floppy without it!)...plus, you can cook on parchment paper!

Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes.

Once it's out of the oven, I brush on olive oil and lightly cover with more Parmesan Cheese.

Cut in long strips then once across the middle.

I serve it with garlic butter and my homemade marinara sauce.

Marinara Sauce:
-2 cans Tomato sauce
-3 T Tomato paste 
-3 T Brown sugar
-Seasoning (like oregano, basil, garlic, thyme, etc)
-a dash of flour

One Note To Self and One Note To You...

Note to Self: 
Next time give the bread more room to rise...

Note to You: 
Check out the Moby Wrap Giveaway at "The Modest Mom Blog"...my MOMYS friend Caroline is giving away a Moby Wrap that retails for almost $40!!!  These things are so popular and I keep hearing rave after rave that mommas love these...so I'm hoping to win, but you should go enter too!!!

Sopa De Arroz

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just miss my mom.  She's my best friend, my silliest friend, my most trusted confidant, my role model...

And even though she's just 2 hours away, it's just not close enough.

I've been really, really missing her lately.

Often, when I start to miss my momma, I just start cooking some of the things she's known best for...

So this week, I made her famous SOPA DE ARROZ!

Now, if you know my mom, you know she is WHITE...she's beautiful, but she's white...and yet, you'd NEVER know that if you ever tasted one of her authentic Mexican dishes!

You see, she knows how to make all sorts of authentic Mexican food because when she married my daddy (a handsome, full-blooded Mexican) my Grandma Macias (who, by the way, was NOT a fan of "white girls") decided to teach her to make Mexican food from scratch!

So here is the Macias family's "Sopa De Arroz" (Mexican Rice)

Ingredients:

--2 T Shortening

--1 cup long grain rice

--3 cups water

--1 can tomato sauce

--1 T minced onion

--1 T crushed chicken bouillon

--2 t garlic cloves or garlic powder

--1/4 t comino (cumin)

--salt to taste

Brown rice in hot shortening until "golden brown".

Stir frequently to keep from burning!

(Golden Brown Rice)

Place water and all other ingredients in pot or skillet, bring to a boil...

Once it has been brought to a boil, lower heat to medium, place lid on tightly and cook 20 minutes.

DO NOT STIR AT ANY TIME!!!  

( I can still hear my mom yelling into the kitchen, "Just don't touch the sopa!")

Remove from heat, let simmer 10-15 minutes...

And enjoy! 

(I made my sopa to accompany my Enchilada Casserole...)
(Enchilada Casserole recipe soon to come!)

And that night at dinner we talked about the boys' grandparents...their memories and why we all love them! It was a special dinner for sure!

My blog friend, Veronnica, has a new meme I thought was just too fun not to join!  Check it out...

And I'm linked to two other great blogs I just found!...

Homestead Blessings--Cinnamon Rolls!!

I do believe I might be the only wife/mom who has never made homemade cinnamon rolls!

(Please tell me I'm not the only one!!) :) 

I've been very proud of my yummy homemade cinnamon rolls, even though to everyone else it seems to be a "Been There Done That" thing!  ha ha!

I have to say that making these was SO MUCH fun!!!  I loved it!  And they were SO tasty too!

-Dough rolled out

-Brown sugar/butter mixture applied

-Cinnamon sprinkled

-Dough rolled up

-Cutting the rolls out

(I couldn't believe they looked like the ones from the can!!!)

-After they had their second rise

-Ready to go in the oven!

-Glazed and ready to eat!

Okay, here's the truthful part--these took me about 2.5 hours!!!  (YIKES!!) 

I made these on a Saturday morning when Ryan was out cutting wood for us this winter (we heat our house with a wood stove).  So the boys were excited to wake up to my announcement "I'm making cinnamon rolls for breakfast!"  Let's just say after 2 hours of waiting with mouths watering, they devoured them!

Overall, they were worth it, but I learned a lot about multi-tasking for next time...and I learned how to prepare the dough the night before in a way that doesn't sour it!

I probably should have watched my instructional video a little better!  But really, the West girls did it again!  They explained each step so thoroughly that I was never left wondering "Am I doing this right?" during the process (and normally I ask myself that several times with a new recipe!)

So now it's your turn to tell me about your cinnamon roll recipe...and how long does it take you to make your homemade cinnamon rolls?

My first "Homestead Blessings" Review--Bread-making!

(See my post HERE for more info on my new "Homestead Blessings" collection!)

The only DVD I have watched so far is "The Art of Bread-Making" and I loved it!!!  Just seeing how simple the whole process really is and how the West girls explain each step so clearly, was wonderful.  Plus, they threw in lots of tips and extra info just so you know why you use what you use and why you do things a certain way..and why each food has a different bread recipe!  And I don't know about you, but I like knowing the reasoning behind the methods!

They show you how to make both basic breads and quick breads...

So the video includes the following bread recipes:

Basic Bread
Sourdough Bread

Cinnamon Rolls

Hamburger Buns (I'm sure this would be handy for my hometown friend, Candace, who makes a different burger every Friday!)

Pizza Dough

Stuffed Bread Sticks

A "Loaf Meal" (more below)

Corn Bread

I was so excited about all of them, I didn't know where to start!  But I finally decided to be a bit daring and give the "Meal Loaf" a try.  In the video, they show you how to make a breakfast loaf (eggs, sausage, zucchini and squash) but I decided to branch out and make it in what I'm calling a "Pizza Loaf".

I made the bread first...

 Then I started working on some homemade pizza sauce (I wanted the WHOLE meal to be from scratch!)...

My hubby LOVED it!  He wants me to keep it around as marinara to dip in! 

My Pizza Sauce:

Tomato Sauce

Olive Oil
Garlic

Basil

Rosemary

Oregano

After the bread had it's second rise, I rolled out my dough and added my Pizza mixture to it...

My Pizza Mixture:

Pizza Sauce

Hamburger

Onion

Green Peppers

Cheese

Garlic

Butter

Salt

(and I think I threw in some other stuff as I went along!)

Then I did a little decorating (the video shows you how to do this)...

Then

came

the

reward

of 

all

that
hard
work...

I was

SO

excited 

to 

see 

the finished

product!

VOILA!!!

I brushed on some garlic butter and topped it with mozzarella cheese and IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!

The thing I loved about this recipe, is that I was able to make TWO "meal loafs", PLUS an extra loaf of just plain "Basic Bread"!!!  So three food items for the work of one!

I took the extra Pizza Loaf to a recent widow (the mom of one of my most precious friends, Morgan- she lost her dad unexpectedly just weeks ago-Please pray for the "Ward" family!)

So all in all, my first baking experience was fast, smooth and without any mistakes...I attribute that to the thorough tutorial I got from my "Homestead Blessings"!  (I am NOT very homemaker-minded or talented!!)

And guess what?  There's more to come--I've already made the cinnamon rolls and the stuffed bread sticks!!!  (I told ya I was feeling better!)

LOOK WHAT JUST CAME IN THE MAIL!!!

I can't even BEGIN to tell you HOW STINKIN' EXCITED I AM about my new DVD's!!!

I want to scream...AHHHHHH!!! (okay, that's my virtual scream!)

Remember my very successful garage sale I told you about HERE?

Well, while the majority of our money went into savings, my sweet hubby let me choose between a new printer for my computer or these DVD's I've been coveting wanting!

So of course, I chose the DVD's!!!

A few weeks ago, Franklin Springs Films was running a major deal on the Homestead Blessing videos, so I got these 10 DVD's on SUPER sale!  

In my collection are the following:
~The Art of Gardening
~The Art of Sewing
~The Art of Canning
~The Art of Quilting
~The Art of Dairy Delights
~The Art of Bread Making
~The Art of Soap Making
~The Art of Candle Making
~The Art of Herbs
and I even got...
~The Art of Cooking (which teaches you how to make the following meals completely from SCRATCH-NO grocery store needed!) 
     ~Breakfast: pancakes, fried potatoes, fried apples & onions
     ~Lunch: pizza, tomato soup, salads & homemade dressings
     ~Dinner: pot roast & veggies, buttermilk biscuits & gravy, green beans, peach cobbler. 


For a girl who grew up a bit spoiled (yes, I'm admitting it) these DVD's are a dream come true, because our family's desire to become self-reliant, country-living homesteaders grows more and more every day!

The Itch

I've got it...The itch.

It usually starts this time of year and tapers off in late Fall. 

But this past year, late fall nor winter cured "the itch".  So right now, it's feeling pretty relentless.

Ryan was born with the itch.  I got contagious about 4 years ago.  And now the boys have it...probably worse than all of us!!

It's the "I wanna move to the country" itch.

Land!  Room for the boys to run and explore!
No worries about our busy, high traffic street!
A big garden!  A cow!  Maybe some guinea fowl!
Goats, pigs, sheep...homesteading!!!

Ah, yes.  Wide, open spaces.

As our boys get older, bigger, more curious (and more daring), it's seeming more and more like a necessity that we live on some land.  God has created boys with some amazing qualities.  But it seems as though "city living" squelches most of them.

Right now, we live on one of the busiest streets in our "city".  The boys love to be outside, but right now when my boys get "the itch" to be out (read: they are getting crazy-hyper), I tend to sit them down in front of a movie until I can go out with them...because I need to be able to watch them around our busy street.

I can tell them to stay in the back yard, but that's almost like trying to rein in a wild horse!  They want to ROAM!!!

But then I think, if we lived in the country on some acreage of how they could run wild...playing, building, exploring, working...  That would be good medicine for my boys!

My in-laws have always lived on about 5 acres.  And when my boys go to visit, they play hard and hardly get into any trouble.  They love being outside in nature!  It's so fun to watch!

As for Ryan and I, we would love to become more self-sufficient and learn to live off the land.  We'd love to be in the quiet country life... where there may be more work, but there is also more freedom.

Nature, discovery, stars, silence...peace.  Our hearts are longing for it!!!

So now, more than ever, we're asking for the Lord's favor, and that if land is His will for us, that He would open a door!

Psalm 119:58

"I entreat your favor with all my heart!"

Speaking of country living...my friend Grace (love her name!) is having a giveaway on her blog...one item is "Little House in the Big Woods"...I wanna win it!!!

Lies Women Believe About Cloth Diapering!

I first thought about using cloth diapers when we were expecting our first child.  But it seemed the more I mentioned this idea to other seasoned moms, the more discouraged I got.

Everyone seemed to have a negative reaction, wondering why in the world I would hassle with cloth diapers when we could afford disposables?  Then I heard lots of stories about how "so and so" used to use them and their house always smelled, or they were always poking themselves in the middle of the night with saftety pins, etc.

Plus, I had my own hang-ups...like what do you do with the POOP????

Looking back, I didn't talk to anyone who WAS using cloth diapers, just people who had HEARD about them.

Then I met MOMYS :)  and *I* was the oddball for not using cloth diapers!  So I started asking questions and researching...

As I've said before, I've been using them for almost 3 years and I love them!

Good for the environment? Yes!  Good for my children's health?  Yes!  Less expensive?  Yes!

Misunderstood?  Yes!  :)  (Poor cloth diapers!)

Here are just a few myths I was tricked by...


#1--Cloth diapering makes you a tree-loving hippy, or worse, a backwoods hillbilly!
Well, sure, they kinda are kinda hippy/hillbilly, but just be aware that they have so many new choices now.  
http://www.cottonbabies.com/ is a great place to check out your options!
These days cloth diapering is fashionable and they are easy to use--it ain't your momma's cloth diapers anymore!


#2--Dealing with poop in cloth diapers is disgusting and messy.
Poop is always disgusting--cloth or disposable diaper.  There's no getting around that.  Unless you can figure out how to get your kid to not poop, it's just a part of life. :)
With cloth diapers, I actually think poop is easier to deal with...
~The poop "sticks" to the cloth diaper, so there is less mess on the bum. 
~Newborn poop is the easiest, you just throw the cloth dipe in the washer and let it run through one cycle before washing it with detergent.
~For more solid poop, you just plop it right into the toilet.  And there are actual sprayers that you can purchase that attach to your toilet to rinse it before washing, but I don't have one and have never felt I needed one.

Still, there is an easier solution!  My sister uses flushable liners that can be removed from the diaper and go right into the toilet.  They are pretty cheap (about $12 for 250 liners) and Target sells these!


#3--They will always smell like urine.
Not true!  If you're worried about this, there are a lot of things you can do to prevent stinky diapers.
I use a splash of vinegar in my pre-rinse which takes away any ammonia/urine smell in the cloth dipes.
Also, small bit of bleach (used once per month) in the hot water cycle will eradicate any stink.

#4--Once they are stained, they are stained forever.
The good ol' fashioned SUN does wonders for stains.  It's amazing!  Just hang them up outside in the sun or lay them on your lawn wet and stain up (and watch your neighbors stare) then rewash and the stains will be G-O-N-E!


#5--Washing cloth diapers is time consuming and inconvenient.
I really don't notice myself doing any more laundry than I did before, even though I know I do.  It's just that it's pretty easy and they are a breeze to fold (this is Trusten's job now-he loves to help)!  I usually do 2 loads of cloth diapers a week.

I wash on cold with just a dash of vinegar and detergent (the cold is to remove any left over yuck).
Then I wash the load again on hot to sanitize.
Usually I run one last rinse on them to make sure the detergent is totally gone.
Next, throw them in dryer!

For laundromat's, look HERE.

#6--Your baby will have a "bubble butt".
Welp, this one is true...especially if you use prefolds.  Some of the fancier diapers are just like disposables (in bulkiness) but if you use prefolds, it's inevitable...your baby will have a big rump!

But there are benefits to this...
~They will never crawl out of their pants again!  Pants will stay on securly thanks to the extra fluff offered by cloth diapers!
~Their fall will be cushioned when they're learning to walk!  Extra padding prevents tears!

Any other questions/concerns may be addressed here.

Any other cloth diapering Momma's wanna help dispel any myths???  Feel free to chime in!!!

Finally...The Laundry Detergent Recipe for Cloth Dipes!

About a year ago, I had found a homemade laundry detergent recipe for cloth diapers and just now found it again!

It's from ...

and it can be found HERE.

Basically, it's...

1 cup washing soda

1 cup borax

1/2 cup of oxiclean

Since it's soap-free, it can be used on any cloth diaper!

(and it's super duper cheap to make!)

Homemade Baby Wipes and A Miracle Rash Solution!

Making your own wipes is simple.  

General Wipes Solution:

Boil 2 cups of water

Once boiled, remove from heat

Add 2 Tbs Baby Lotion

Add 2 Tbs Baby Wash

Stir till everything is dissolved

This is how I used to use this solution:

(I'll tell you why I don't do this anymore, below*)

1.  Cut Bounty paper towel roll into thirds

2.  Place one or all three cut rolls in old wipes dispensers.

3.  Pour wipe solution on top

4.  Pull paper towels through top, just like packaged wipes

Note: You don't have to have wipes dispensers.  You can also use any sealed container that will fit your paper towels.

*In order for these to wipes to work well, you have to buy the nice, more expensive Bounty wipes which ends up being about the same price breakdown as the store brand wipes.  We tried using Bounty Basic to save money, but they were still too thin.  So in the end, we fount out there is barely a difference in cost between these wipes and store-name wipes.  For us, we only get 12 extra wipes out of these homemade wipes verses Wal-Marts brand (for sensitive skin).

So now, we use store-brand wipes on Samuel and for Liberty I use cloth wipes...

If you're going to cloth diaper, you might as well, cloth wipe too!  
I shared about it in this post.

Basically, you use the same wipe solution, but keep it in a separate container.  

1.  Cut your own wipes from old blankets or old cloth diapers...

2.  Then you just dip your wipes into the solution right before you use them.

It's as simple as that!  They are nice and thick, so no tearing or sopping wipes like what can happen with the paper towel ones above.

AND ONE MORE THING!!!!

For babies who often break out in diaper rashes, I have the miracle solution! 

Now I sound like an infomercial!  :)

Samuel used to always get Really Bad yeasty diaper rashes.  It didn't matter what I tried, he ALWAYS got them.  Cloth diaper or disposable, sensitive wipe or homemade solution, I tried all sorts of rash cremes...nothing fixed it.

We thought it was yeast in his diet and adjusted that, but still, the rash persisted...

And the last thing you want to do with a rash is rub a wipe on the raw bottom, right?

(((I got this tip from my MOMYS and it's a miracle!)))

I mix 1 TBS of white distilled vinegar in 1 cup of water.

That's it.  I use THAT as my wipe solution (with cloth wipes) and it not only cleared up his rash, it KEPT IT FROM COMING BACK!!!

Now that he's older, he doesn't have those rashes anymore, but whenever we start to see a sign of it, we just swipe his bottom with that mixture and VOILA--no yeast, no rash!

Homemade Laundry Soap

By popular demand, I'm posting my recipes for laundry soap (or laundry "soup" as Trusten calls it).

Original Liquid Laundry Soap (this is what I used to do):
~5 gallon bucket
~5 gallon paint stir stick
~3-4 gallons Hot water
~1 cup "Washing Soda" (also called "sodium carbonate" or "pH increaser")
~1 cup Borax
~Plain Ivory soap bar (we buy them in bulk at Wal-Mart on bottom shelf)
**or if you want to use this on Cloth Diapers, use Fels Naptha (sold at WalMart), Ivory causes build up on cloth dipes, so DO NOT use it!

--Grate Ivory soap bar (or Fels Naptha bar) into small non-coated pan. Put just enough water in pan to cover the soap flakes. Heat on low until dissolved.
--While soap is cooking, fill 5 gallon bucket with 3-4 gallons of hot water.
--Add to the bucket of hot water, 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda.
--When the Ivory flakes are dissolved, add those to the bucket as well. Stir.

*If possible, stir every hour as it cools, thickens and "gels up". If you leave this over night, it will be solid and very hard to "break up".
*Store in bucket or pour into old detergent containers for easier access. Use 1 or 2 cups for a full load of laundry.
*Washing Soda can be found in the laundry aisle or by pool accessories.
*Recipe may need to be adapted to hard/soft water by adding less/more of the Borax and Washing Soda.

Powder Laundry Detergent (this is what I currently use):
~1 Ivory soap bar or Fels Naptha soap bar
~1 cup Borax
~1 cup Washing Soda

--Grate soap bar.
--Add grated soap bar, Borax and Washing Soda to a container.
--Mix up and use 1-2 Tablespoons per load.

*Optional~Add 1 cup of Oxi Clean to mixture
*Optional~Use a jar to premix solution in water, before adding to wash
*Again, you can use this on cloth diapers if you use only Fels Naptha


More "homemade" recipes to come!!!

Making Laundry "Soup"

We made our own laundry soap! It's super easy and cheap, cheap, cheap!

First we shredded up a bar of Ivory soap and boiled it in a little water...

And while it boiled, we added 3 gallons of hot water to 5 gallon bucket.

Then we poured the dissolved Ivory soap into the bucket of hot water and also added Borax and "pH increaser" (also known as washing soda, soda ash or sodium carbonate).

We stirred it every hour and then when it cooled, we had homemade laundry soap!

T-Man enjoyed having the job of "stirring the soup" as he called it!

I have to say thanks to Angie, who I've never met, but she blessed me with all her advice on making my new money-saver a possibility!