Pepperoni Pizzaz

Here's what we had for dinner last night.  I'd never made it before, but some similar, and we have decided that this ones the best!  I also got to use my Home and Garden Party cranberry bean pot for the first time (I only got it a year ago, lol).

The recipe came from a Quick Cooking cookbook, though its not really that quick (unless you have a food processor, which I do) but is worth the time spent.

Pepperoni Pizzaz

8 ounces medium tube pasta, cooked and drained (do this while mixing other ingredients so pasta stays warm)

1 jar (28 ounces) spaghetti sauce, divided

1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained

1 package (8 ounces) sliced pepperoni

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp crushed rep pepper flakes

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine 2-1/3 cups spaghetti sauce, along with next 9 ingredients, in a bowl.  Add pasta to sauce mixture and mix well.  Transfer to a greased 3-qt. baking dish.  Combine the tomato sauce and remaining spaghetti sauce; pour over top.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Bake, uncovered, 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  Yield:  9-12 servings.

As usual, I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  Pizza is usually topped with what each family likes best so I only did what we liked and had on hand ;-)  I left out the mushrooms, halved the pepperoni amount (and cut the pepperoni into small pieces), and upped the onion and pepper amounts. I also didn't have the red pepper flakes so used hot sauce instead.

If you make it, let me know what you think.

Rambling Post

Noelle took my camera outside yesterday to practice her photography. This was the best one. Its one of my double tulips. And I made home made salsa last night for today. I usually put black beans and corn in but decided not to this time. Still yummy (if I do say so myself :)
I use the food processor to make mine less chunky and also cheat by using jarred jalapenos and dried cilantro.

The Weekend

On Friday Kirk and I looked at washing machines (decided against the used one) and bought a Maytag. Here's one of those purchases that I would love to have been American made but those were a couple hundred dollars more than we could afford. Lately, it seems as though everything we own is wearing out.

Noelle and I attended our church's mother/daughter brunch Saturday morning and had a really good time.
After we got home I spent most of the afternoon learning needlework stitches and working on my CQ square. Later in the evening we watched the movie Faith Like Potatoes.


Everyone else went to bed and I stayed up late mixing together the dry ingredients for the scones I was baking in the morning. I promised Ermagene I would make her two dozen and planned on giving the rest for cafe.

Breakfast Scones

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sour milk

Mix dry ingredients together well. Cut in butter. Add milk. Kneed dough on a floured surface a couple times then form into a log and cut in half. Pat each half of dough into an 8 inch circle and cut into 8 wedges. Separate wedges and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a pre-heated, 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes. Makes 16 scones.

Kirk stayed home sick from church so the kids and I went without him. The rest of the day everyone lazed around and I practiced more stitches for my CQ. Dinner was a simple affair of ham, eggs, and waffles. Kyle got invited to go listen to Eric Hovind speak at a nearby high school and even spoke with him personally afterwards. He got home about 9:50 p.m. and really enjoyed himself.

Yesterday

Owen is now 4 years old. Isn't he handsome? We think so. We could have done something special for him but I don't think he noticed :-)
I carved out a corner in our multipurpose room for my sewing space. Its nice to have a place all set up and ready to go. I got the table at a yard sale last year.
In a post last March I said we were going to make this room into our bedroom but it just never happened. We need a new bed and it has to be taken through the window to get it down stairs, so we're waiting until we get a new bed. Hopefully that will be soon as it really is shot and it doesn't help with Kirk's back and neck problems. He gets up and goes to work everyday even though he's usually in a great deal of pain. Prayers for him would be appreciated.

I finally finished the sewing portion of my first CQ block.
Now I need to do the embroidery over the seams and any embellishment I want. You can see a finished example here. I joined an online group called CQembellishers because that's the part I'm looking forward to the most. They refer to it as eye candy. I use to cross stitch before the kids were born and when they were little. I always meant to learn other embroidery stitches and they are what you use in CQs.

For dinner I made what we call Breakfast Pizza. Its really simple but good!

Breakfast Pizza

1 tube crescent rolls
1 pound sausage, cooked and drained
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press crescent rolls into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Spread sausage over crust. Whisk eggs and milk together, pour over sausage. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for about 15 minutes.

I actually did a variation on this yesterday. I used bacon, cooked and crumbled, in place of the sausage and used shredded swiss cheese instead of the cheddar. It was really good but I think I may have to increase the amount of eggs to 6 or decrease the amount of bacon to half. I served it with fruit and yogurt.