Pizza Cupcakes!

   I love to experiment and have fun in my kitchen. I also loooove pizza. After perfecting my pizza dough recipe (took a few years to get the proportions just right!), I soon became bored with making the same old pie. So, with a little inspiration, I give to you:

Pizza Cupcakes!

You will need: 

• Pizza dough (homemade or store-bought, though I highly recommend the former - recipe below ;))
• Marinara or pizza sauce (again, homemade or store-bought)
• Mozzarella cheese (regular or vegan, shredded)
• Pepperoni (regular or vegan, diced small)
• Oil (I use coconut oil for this)
• Cupcake pan (or a muffin pan for pizza muffins!)

If making your own dough, you'll also need:

• 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup bread flour (or all-purpose flour + 1 tbs vital wheat gluten)
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbs oil (I use grapeseed in mine)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water

   To make the dough, add the yeast and sugar to the cup of warm water. Let sit until bubbles form. Then add the rest of your ingredients. Knead the dough to form a soft ball. Let rise, covered in a bowl, for 30 minutes to an hour, or until doubled in size. Mine usually doesn't  take long to rise at all! Once risen, punch the dough in the center and then knead again briefly. Now your dough is ready to use!

   Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease your cupcake pan using the coconut oil and a paper towel. Then pinch off enough dough to cover the bottom of the cupcake pan. Spread it out and make sure some of the dough is coming up the sides. Now you'll spoon a little marinara on top of the dough and coat evenly. Then sprinkle on the cheese and diced pepperoni. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the tops are brown and the cheese is melted. Let cool briefly and enjoy your cute mini pizzas! :)

   Thank you for letting me share this recipe with you! It's a hit for both kids and adults and is super easy to make. Have fun in the kitchen and as always, stay clean!!!

Happy Friday!

Who doesn't love Fridays??? Fridays were made for fun. Things are more relaxed and people are upbeat in anticipation of the weekend ahead. I don't know about you but I love random fun facts and I thought that sharing a few of those would be a good way to get our weekends off to a great start. So, here are some fun little tidbits! Enjoy!

• Picasso could draw before he could walk
• Blueberry jelly beans were created for Ronald Reagan
• It takes 7 shuffles to thoroughly mix a deck of 52 cards
• Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter who sold the idea to his neighbor...Henri Nestle
• The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant
• The word ‘umbrella’ is derived from the Latin root word ‘umbra’, which means shade or shadow.
• As an iceberg melts, it makes a fizzing sound because of the compressed air bubbles popping in the ice.
• The U.S. has the most movie theaters, but India produces the most movies.
• The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from your eyes drain into your nose.
• The first lighthouse was in Alexandria in 290 B.C.
• Domestic cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.
• A storm officially becomes a hurricane when cyclone winds reach 74mph (119k/h).
• There is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to pave a two lane highway from San Francisco to New York.
• Checkmate comes from the Persian word “shah mat”, which means ‘the king is dead’.
• La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia, is the highest capital in the world at over 17,000 feet (5,181 m)
  The Hawaiian alphabet consists of only 12 letters
  The name for Oz in "The Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz"
  There are no poisonous snakes in Maine
  In your lifetime, you'll shed over 40 pounds of skin
  Armadillos, opossums, and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping
  It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
  One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water
  

So there ya go! Hope you were able to learn something new!! Until next time, keep it clean and enjoy your weekend!!

Friday!

It's finally here! The day that most of us look forward to all week - FRIDAY!!! Friday is the greatest day between Thursday and Saturday (hee hee!). It's the beginning of the weekend and our time to relax and unwind. Fridays bring a smile to our face, a spring to our step and a sparkle to our eyes. The troubles of the week melt away and we are faced with the vast opportunities that the weekend ahead has to offer.

Wondering what to do on a Friday night? There are so many possibilities! Get together with friends. Catch a movie at the theater. Visit family. Go to dinner. Go for a walk at a neighborhood park. Play some board games. Go dancing. Catch a live sporting event (it is baseball season!). Put your feet up on the sofa and read a book. Bake cookies. Go bowling. Play miniature golf. You are only limited by your imagination! Whatever you do, make it something fun and enjoyable.

Until next time, keep it clean!!

Play Time

Remember the good old days when you didn't have a care in the world and played on the swing set in the backyard every afternoon? Homework consisted of coloring and creating fun art projects instead of reading financial reports and analyzing budgets. As adults, we get very wrapped up in our social calendars, work schedules, bill paying and the like. We lose our childlike instincts and forget how to enjoy ourselves. Are you in touch with your inner child?

Think about the things you enjoyed as a child. Did you enjoy coloring in a coloring book? Finger painting? Roller skating? Bike riding? It's important to make time for the things you love because that is what keeps us happy and healthy. "Play time" can help you relieve stress, sharpen your skills, become more creative and brings a smile to your face (and who doesn't want to smile more??).

Here are some ideas to help you get started on revisiting your childhood (even if you do it for just an hour a week!):

• Read a book that you loved as a child (Dr. Seuss books do it for me!)
• Color in a coloring book
• Blow bubbles
• Play with a hula hoop
• Fly a kite
• Jump in puddles
• Swing on a swing set
• Watch a few episodes of Sesame Street
• Wear mismatched socks on PURPOSE
• Pack yourself a "kids" lunch to take to work (PB&J, juice box, pudding cup, etc.)
• Have a Saturday morning cartoon party complete with bowls of cereal and pj's
  

Those are just a few ideas to get ya started. Remember, do something you enjoy this week and make it FUN!
Until next time, keep it clean (or NOT if you decide to make mud pies for fun!).

Happy Friday!

It's that time again......FRIDAY!! I'll try to contain my enthusiasm but I'm sure I'm not alone in my love of Friday's.
Not sure what to do on a Friday night? Here are a few suggestions:

• Have some friends over for game night! Balderdash, Taboo, even the old standard Charades are always good for a few laughs. Ask your friends to bring over some snacks and make it a potluck game night. It's inexpensive and is a guaranteed good time.
• Head downtown! Take a walk and find a restaurant that has outdoor dining. People watching is always good entertainment.
• KARAOKE! I have several friends who LOVE doing this and it always makes for a fun evening. The good thing about karaoke is that you don't have to be the world's greatest vocalist to enjoy it. If you aren't shy, give this one a try!
• Enjoy some live entertainment in your city. Go online and see who is playing at different music venues around town or maybe find out if there is a comedy club where you can check out some up and coming comedians. If you're lucky, you may even be able to find some FREE shows around town (and how can you possibly say no to that??).
  
• Go to a movie. I know, I know - you do this all the time but there is something relaxing and enjoyable about sitting in a theater while noshing on popcorn. Invite a big group of friends to see a silly movie and blow off some work-week steam. Or if you don't want to go out for a movie, invite them over and have a "themed" movie night complete with snacks. Idea - if you will be watching 80's flicks like Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles have foods you would have had back in the day like PB&J sandwiches, Capri Sun juice, Fruit Roll Ups, Pizza Rolls. You get the idea.

Well, hope these ideas help you come up with your own Fun Friday plans! Remember, do what you like and like what you do and a good time is just around the corner.

Until next time, keep it clean!!