Pizza Night

I love me some pizza.  Unfortunately I really don't like ordering pizza.  I never know how they make the dough, what is in the sauce, etc. etc.  And to be totally honest the pizza available around here really is not that good 8( ..it's sad.
 So....we decided to make our own!
First the dough ..we have had some big flops while trying to make pizza dough. So we picked a super simple recipe from HERE.

Pizza Dough
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 package instant yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup hot water (we used hot tap water)
1 tbsp EVOO (the recipe calls for vegetable oil)
1 tbsp organic sugar

I mixed all the dry ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, sugar.  Then I made little well in the center and added in the water and EVOO.  I stirred for three minutes until a dough formed.  Then we let the dough rise (make sure you add EVOO to the bottom of the bowl or the dough will stick)!  We let in rise for a little over an hour until it doubled in size. 

step 1: (preheat oven to 425) oil pan press dough out to form to pan and pinch up corners to form the crust

step 2: spread on sauce with the back of wooden spoon

step 3: place cheese on all the way to the edges!! Hubby worked in an Italian restaurant when he was younger and he says this is a MUST.

step 4: place mushrooms on.  Remember the mushrooms will shrink so put more on than you think.

After about 20 minutes once the bottom of crust is browned and crispy it's time to eat!!

YUM!! Way better than take out!

Do you make homemade pizza? What is your pizza dough recipe? I'd love to try it!

I Go Strawless!

I learned about something awesome today on the news! Be Straw Free.Org 
This organization was started by a nine-year-old  boy, Milo, after he learned that more than 500 million disposable plastic straws are used in the US a day.  Can you believe that 500 million...crazy! 

On the news Milo stated that most of these straws are not recycled or able to be recycled due to there small size.  Milo's goal is to reduce the amount of straws that are used  everyday.  How stinkin' awesome!  Milo wants restaurants to begin asking consumers if they want a straw or not instead of automatically putting one in every drink. 

I took the pledge to remain strawless for a month.  If fact I plan on now completely eliminating my disposable plastic straw use.  We do not use plastic straws at home and at restaurants I plan on asking "no straw please" (as Milo's website states).

 It's the simple things like this that can truly make a difference and improve our environment! 
So Go Strawless!!

CLICK HERE
TO TAKE THE PLEDGE

And check out these compostable straws HERE
(* I was not compensated for this just think if your into straws this is a great alternative!)  

Do you love using straws? Will you take the pledge? Or maybe switch to the compostable version?

Moroccan Vegetable Soup

Hello Everyone! Time for another what I ate Wednesday! Today was a rather uneventful day.  It was a school/scrubs/grocery shopping day.  And I received an assignment for classes which don't start till Monday ...ugh Grad School ..10 more months! Anywho on to the food.

Breakfast : Black Coffee and Peanut Butter Toast with mushed banana ..yum

Snack: Larabar and Water

Lunch: Leftover stuffed eggplant plus extra stuffing (brown rice, eggplant, green tomato, onion, garlic) and Water

Dinner: Moroccan Vegetable Soup, Beer, and Water

Moroccan Vegetable Soup
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery rib
2 Medium Zucchinis
 - All Chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 cups vegetable broth
Eden Organic Kamut & Quinoa twisted pair pasta

Cook the pasta in a separate pot.  Saute the onion, carrot, and celery until soft then add the remaining ingredients (except the pasta) bring to a boil, reduce heat, let simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the cooked pasta the last few minutes.  I used 2 more cups of vegetable broth than the recipe called for and used the twisted pasta instead of vermicelli. 
From: 1,000 Vegan Recipes - Robin Robertson

Check out the WIAW link party here...

Like On Vaca!

My family and I just got back from vacation in Ocracoke NC.  If you don't know of Ocracoke it is a tiny little island off the southern tip of Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks!  I.love.it.there!  It is everything a vacation should be, laid back and quiet (no chain stores or restaurants or huge condos towering over the beach).  There are 16 miles of relatively untouched beaches (National Seashore).  No huge beach crowds. 

 Tiny little shops dot the town and are full of fabulous and unique things.  And the main mode of transportation, bicycling, yay! for the environment...we did not use our car all week!  

Although the mosquitoes are bad (and I got extra bit up going to Portsmouth Island aka Mosquitoville) it was worth it to be able to sit on a beach with no crowds.  Ahhhh I miss it already 8 ).  We had a fabulous rental house on a oyster shell lane ( supposedly a very haunted street eek!) and stayed out on our screened in porch playing games and drinking wine.

 ...if you get a chance to take a trip to Ocracoke I highly recommend it!

 
Now time to snap out of vacation bliss and get to cleaning this dirty house...Yikes!

What I Ate Wednesday

This is my very first What I Ate Wednesday and what a Wednesday it was…My family and I are vacationing in Ocracoke NC. We took a day trip over to Portsmouth Island aka Mosquito Ville seriously I have at least 100 mosquito bites. After this I will be taking some Benadryl and going to bed. But for now on to the food.


Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and jelly, black coffee, and water

Lunch: (on the beach at Mosquito Ville) left over pasta salad, a carrot, and water

Snack: (still at Mosquito Ville) an apple

Dinner: (at Jasons in Ocracoke NC) a nice tall glass of beer (much needed after our adventure at Mosquito Ville), a “hippie wrap” add avocado, a pickle, and a couple chips from the bag that came with the meal, and water.

Snack: a peach, a piece of cheddar cheese, three pieces of dark chocolate, and salsa & chips. (Crazy I know we ate lunch and dinner so early I was snack happy this evening!)

Now off to bed hopefully tomorrow I will wake less ichy!?!

Check Out the WIAW link party here...

Beach Tote & A Rosette Necklace

Why is it that every time I go on vacation I always end up packing until the wee hours of the morning.  Ugh no matter how organized I am it always happens! 

Anyway for vacation I wanted a new beach tote but didn’t want to spend the money on one.  So I went to Hobby Lobby picked up a plain cotton canvas tote, some fabric paint, and a stencil. 

After washing and drying the bag I ironed it as smooth as I could and taped the stencil on.  I choose a pretty tree stencil, I just loved how it looked. 

I used a sponge stencil brush to dab the paint on the stencil.  It took awhile I did a couple thin layers of paint to minimize the risk of bleeding. After I took the stencil off I used a small brush for touch ups. I lurve the color, it has a little metallic gold in it that gives it a nice shine.  The name of this pretty paint …..pond scum, I kid you not, pond scum.  Per paint instructions I set the paint with an iron using a pressing cloth after air drying for 24 hours. 

And there you have it my new tote bag all ready for the beach! 

I also made three fabric rosettes for the bag.  I made them using this awesome tutorial from freckled laundry!  But they didn’t look right on the bag.  So I bought a cheap metal flower meant to be made into a necklace and hot glued it to the back of one of the rosettes.

 Then I used some white ribbon to complete the necklace.

A brand new necklace for vacation!

I used a gift card so this whole project cost me nothing! Score!

Have you DIYed anything for vacation? What was it?

Coupon Organization

We are currently in the process of organizing and rearranging all of our paper clutter.  Coupons are one of our problems.  We never had a spot to store our coupons.  They would get thrown in a drawer and I would find them months later waaaay past their expiration date.  So as I was hunting feverishly strolling through Target I found this little gem. 

It has six little pockets and a notepad!  I allotted each pocket a category; extra shopper’s cards, food coupons, retail coupons, dog coupons, gift cards and I have one pocket left for future use.  It works great because we don’t accumulate a lot of coupons so it’s just the right size.  I am using the notepad to make my shopping list every week this way I have to look through the coupons. 

And the best part of all

It is a greenroom product.  It is made with recycled content and soy based ink.  I love this line of products from Target and wish I could order them online. Big Sigh. 

So how do you organize your coupons?

I linked up with

*I was in no way compensated for this post.

Spicy Veggie Bake

It was a crazy Sunday.  We moved everything out of the garage to clean it and decided it would be a good idea to paint it!  We were also running around getting ready for vacation and the hubs parents came to visit.  Whew!  When dinner time came I needed a something that did not require a lot of prep work.  I searched around in the fridge and found whatever we had left: half an onion, an eight ball squash, a zucchini, a beet, a hot pepper, and five red potatoes.  The best part is all the produce was locally grown YUM!!

(Don't you just love the faux wood countertops! ..ugh)

So I chopped everything up and put it in a 9 x 13 with some EVOO and pepper.  It went in the oven for 40 minutes.  (I took it out around 30 minutes and stirred).  It turned out DELISH!

The beet and EVOO made a nice glaze over the vegetables and the hot pepper added some nice heat!  A vegetable bake is one of my go last minute dinners that I can make with whatever is left in the fridge.

Do you have a go to last minute dinner? Or a dinner you make when there’s little left in the fridge?

Welcome

Hello! So glad your here.  I am so excited to start this blog.  This blog is for those of you who love healthy food, design, DIYing, and all things green & natural.  To learn more check out my about me page! Please be patient with me as I get this blog going.  I hope you come back often & enjoy!