Snow White and a Little Note

This little girl amazes me!

She has a lot of interest and ability in art. She certainly doesn't get it from me. I have a hard time even drawing a straight line. I'm so happy she's found something she truly loves. Last week, she watched Snow White. After the movie was done, she went to work. A few hours later, she brought me a book she made about the movie.

(if you look close, you can see a little bird sitting in the leafless tree)

(I love Snow White's big beautiful lips!)

(The Dwarf's house)

(This is the Dwarfs working in the mine. Can you spot Dopey?)

(The End)

Another thing she has been doing a lot of is writing notes. I get a new note almost daily from her. Some are "I'm sorry" notes to get out of trouble, but most are "I love you" notes. I've been trying to keep a few, but I couldn't find any lying around. Today, she brought me a little note that she wrote to Grandma (who is on her way to our house tonight). She never asks for help writing her notes, they are done totally alone, mostly without me even knowing she is writing them. I can't believe some of the hard words she tackles.

Here is her note to Grandma:

(The picture is of Grandma)

The note says: Hi Grandma. I thought you were going to play today. I was going to play barbies with me (I think she meant you). You are the best grandma.

She's pretty excited to give grandma the note.

My Boys

Can ya tell they are related?

Posole

I grew up in New Mexico. New Mexico is famous for green chilies. Famous like Idaho is famous for potatoes. To the locals, food is just not food without green chilies. All fast food restaurants - including McDonald's - carry a green chili cheeseburger on the menu. People even use green chilies as a pizza topping. It's good too. You should try it. I'm not really much of a hot and spicy kind of person, but the wonderful thing about green chili is you can have it hot or extremely mild. The flavor of mild green chili is really warm and yummy. One of my favorite green chili recipes is for Posole (you say it pa-sole-EEE) . It's actually a very traditional New Mexican Christmas soup. But, we like it any time of year. Especially during the winter.

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 lb pork loin roast, cut into 1" pieces
2 14.5 oz cans enchilada sauce (I use the green enchilada sauce)
2 15.5 oz cans white hominy, drained
1 onion, sliced
1/2 C green chilies, diced (or 2 4 oz cans will work too)
4 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (I always leave this out because I like it really mild)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt

Brown pork in canola oil in a skillet. Next, place the meat in a slow cooker. Add enchilada sauce, hominy, onions, chilies, garlic, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Pour in enough water to fill the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 6-7 hours. Stir in the cilantro and salt. Cook on low for 30 minutes more.

Confessions of a Pizza-holic

Do you remember back in...I don't know...third grade or so and you filled out these little questionnaires about yourself. They always had questions like "What is your favorite color?" and "Who is your best friend?" They also always included "What is your favorite food?" And that's where everyone who was cool put pizza. Well, I have a little confession to make. I'm pretty sure it's still my favorite food. Of course I like so many different kinds of foods - nearly all foods to be exact. If I were to be asked "What are your favorite foods?" I could literally go on and on. But, if I have to pick just one food, I really think it would still be pizza.


Over the years of our married life, we have pretty much had take-out pizza about once a week on average. Sometimes we get it more often and other times less frequently. But, I would say probably once a week. We've tried all kinds of different restaurants. We've taken home both hot pizza and take-and-bake. We've had delivery countless times. Have you seen those documentary food shows where they say something like "Hershey's makes enough candy bars every day that stacked one on top of the other, they would reach all the way to the moon!"? You get the point.

Lately, I've been on a huge pizza making experimenting kick .Ever since we had our mom and daughter night,  I've wanted to find a really good pizza recipe. One that is tried and true and makes amazing pizza. Pizza that is even better (and of course cheaper) than take-out. Thanks to our friend Robyn, I think we've found not only a great recipe, but the right way to cook it.

So, I hope Robyn doesn't mind, but I thought I would share some of our new found pizza skills.

 

First of all, there are two huge secrets to making incredible homemade pizza - a baking stone (like the one's from Pampered Chef) and a pizza peel (those wooden paddle board looking things they have at those authentic brick oven pizza joints). Without those two things, you really can't get great pizza - trust me....I've tried.

Okay...with baking stone and pizza peel in hand, here is a recipe for super easy (and yummy) pizza dough:

1 1/2 C warm water

2 tsp yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 C flour

Put the warm water in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add sugar. Wait 10 minutes.  Add salt, then flour one cup at a time.  Knead for five minutes. Roll in olive oil.  Let sit 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in size. Punch down and let raise 15 more minutes. 

The next really important step is to preheat the oven WITH the pizza stone inside for 30 minutes.

Then, roll out the dough into round pizza shape. (The dough is enough to make two pizzas, but we do one at a time.) Once it's rolled out, transfer the dough to the pizza peel coated with cornmeal. Then, add sauce, cheese, and toppings. One secret we've found is don't add too much cheese. You really don't need more than about 1 1/2 cups of cheese. I put one cup on the bottom, then add the toppings and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup on last.

When your pizza is ready for baking, carefully slide the pizza from the peel to the hot baking stone. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.

Since the dough is homemade, this pizza is super filling. Our kids can rarely eat more than one slice. It's a really good and easy thing to share with friends. Another one of my favorite things about pizza is how versatile it is. Different toppings really make it a completely different experience every time. In addition to the regular fully loaded supreme style pizza, we also like chicken alfredo pizza. Instead of marinara sauce on the bottom, we put alfredo sauce. Then top with chicken, red onions, tomatoes, bacon and peppers. So yummy!!