Low Carb (Bread free!) Deep Dish Pizza Crust

Okay, so many of you have heard rumors of my low carb deep dish pizza crust. And let me tell you, the rumors are all true. Really, a pizza with a crust of eggs and cream cheese CAN taste just as good (and sometimes better) than regular pizza. You'll see a lot of ingredients here that can be used full fat but most of the time I use low fat/no fat ingredients and you can't really tell. Also, if you're using full fat- know that it gets REALLY greasy, really fast.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
8 oz package cream cheese (you can use low fat)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1½ teaspoon oregano or other Italian seasoning (seriously, just look around your kitchen)
½ teaspoon salt
pinches of black and/or cayenne pepper
1 cup (or a little more) shredded Italian cheeses, at least half of which is a hard cheese (Parmesan, Assagio)

Preparation:
Heat the oven to 350° F.
1) Be sure the cream cheese is at about room temperature. Using a regular blender, food processor, or (my preferred) stick blender, mix the egg and cream cheese until well blended. Add the salt and spices and blend again.

2) Spread cheese in bottom of well-buttered 9X13 pan. Pour egg mixture over the cheese, and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until the top is browning.

3) Remove from oven, add pizza toppings, and bake until done - about another 10-15 minutes.


We've tried all kinds of pizza toppings and honestly the one we like best (maybe it's b/c of the egg crust?) is crumbled sausage (low fat). It's pretty tasty! Also, kudos to you if you've found a low carb/sugar free pizza sauce. So far the lowest one we've found has had 3g Sugars in it. But it's totally worth it!

Enjoy!

Toxic covers

Okay, so in the spirit of my last post, here's another pop song that has been re-done so many times it's insane.  And when I first heard it, I wasn't that fond of it.  However the covers have won me over.  The song itself is actually really good.  It's just Brittany Spears that I didn't like :)

That's right, it's Toxic by good ol' BS.  Here are some of my fav covers (and I think each one brings something different to the song):

Beyonce turns country

So recently there have been a rash of country singers/groups that have re-done some popular Beyonce songs.  And they rock.  Go ahead and give it a listen.  It's evidence that a good song is a good song, no matter what genre touches it.

Sunday afternoon brownies from scratch (the low sugar remix)

Okay, don't let the title scare you.  These are brownies from scratch, but really they're only a few steps away from opening up a brownie mix.  These are perfect to whip up on a Sunday afternoon while everyone else is napping.

Also, don't let the "low sugar remix" scare you.  You can make these with the full amount of sugar, or you can opt out and do no sugar at all.  Personally, I feel that the best is a compromise between the two: hence, low sugar.

Okay, here's what you'll need (with my helpful comments thrown in):

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar (if you're going full sugar OR for low sugar: 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup sugar substitute***)
• 1 cup butter (notice it says BUTTER.  Not margerine.  Not butter subsitute.  C'mon, if you're faking the sugar portion, don't fake the butter portion.)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (if you want "milk chocolate" like brownies OR 3/4 cup for "dark chocolate")
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you know how I feel about vanilla- use the real deal)
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (this is for cake like brownies OR If you want fudgy just use 1 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• handful of chocolate chips (the more the merrier)

Directions

1. Melt the butter or margarine and mix all ingredients in the order given. Don't forget to lick the spoon!
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes in a 9 x 13 inch greased pan.

***My note on sugar substitutes:  Basically, you've got to figure out what's right for you and your family. I personally like a blend of Splenda and Stevia.  However, I know there's controversy over any sugar substiute out there.  But there is also controversy over feeding a wild 5 year old tons of sugar.  I go with "low sugar" to save my sanity.  So you decide. 

Sidenote: If you're looking for a good low sugar substitute for brown sugar, the Brown Sugar Splenda blend is fantastic in baking.

If you want to make these brownies "No Sugar" you'll want to sub the entire amount of sugar with a sugar subsitute.

Enjoy!

 

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

Love this song right now. When I first heard it, I thought "KT Tunstall? Crystal Bowersox? Oh...it's Adele? Yup, that figures!" I pretty much love everything she does.

Cat Cake Pictures Part Deux

The Cat Cake

Okay, so I love my cat. Like really really love my cat. Probably far more than is normal or healthy. Really she's like a second child in our family. And as a result, she is treated like a family member and spoiled rotten.

For instance, tomorrow is her birthday, and we are having a birthday party for her. Not anything big, just family. And yes, we are having a cake. And not just any cake, we are having a funfetti cat shaped cake.

How does one make a cat shaped cake? See the pictures below.

And for those (like my husband) who say I do not have enough to do, I would like to say this: I came home from working a 10 hour day, threw the cake in the oven, let it bake while doing all the dishes, put it in the fridge for an hour to cool while cleaning up the house, and then frosted it in 20 minutes. It's not that I have too much free time, it's that I'm an effective time manager :)

I Heart Brownies

So I was trying to think of something cheap and easy I could make for A's teachers to say "Happy Valentine's Day" and "Thank you for putting up with our wild kid!" I came across this recipe for Chocolate Glazed Brownies at BettyCrocker.com. Cheap and easy! I like it.

Now, I'm here to tell you that there are some differences in the way that I make these and the way Miss Betty tells you to make them. You read both and decide what's right for you.

Miss Betty will tell you to buy the Betty Crocker Supreme Premium Brownie Mix. You don't need this. What you need is the $.99 special store brand brownie mix. We'll fix it up later so it doesn't taste "store brand-ish" or "mix-ish" at all.

Go ahead and make the brownies like the box tells you to. You will need to add three things: #1- 1 1/2 TSP Vanilla extract (go ahead and use the fake stuff if that's all you've got. But trust me on this: REAL Vanilla is worth it in the long run. If you can find it in the stores, get it because it tastes 100% better than the fake stuff. I got a big bottle of it at Sam's for $9 and no worries: the alcohol cooks out), #2- 1 TSP Almond extract (same here- use the real stuff. It makes a difference), #3- a few handfuls of chocolate chips (be as liberal or as stingy as you want). Mix it all together.

When you're ready to pop it in the oven, get a Jelly Roll pan (its like a cookie sheet with low little edges). Line it with Aluminum foil. Spray some cooking spray on the Aluminum. Spread the batter over it. Cook according to the directions on the back of the box.

When the brownies come out of the oven, let them cool off. I let mine sit overnight. Then use the foil to pull the entire brownie spread out of the jelly roll pan. You should have one gigantic brownie at this point. Get some little cookie cutters and start cutting out shapes. The best part is that you will have to eat the little in between parts that are just to small for a cookie cutter ;)

Once you have all your shapes cut out, get some chocolate icing. Once again, go for cheap store brand $.99 chocolate icing. The only thing you should NOT get? Whipped icing. It's bad news to use as a glaze. It gets all oily and gross when you try to microwave it!

Open the icing and take off ANY FOIL that is still on the container. (Trust me, it's not pretty in the microwave if you leave any on. I know from personal experience. )

Zap it in the microwave for about a minute. When you take it out, pour it into a shallow container (I used a plate with high edges).

Here is another point that Miss Betty and I differ on: She says, "Carefully spoon melted frosting over brownies to glaze, allowing excess to drip down sides". Ahem. Yes, well that's sweet.

I say, take those brownies and dunk them into the warm gooey frosting. Roll them around in it. Get it coated ALL over. Get your fingers really goopy, because then you'll have to lick it off later! When you're finished, put them on a rack to dry. While they're drying, dust them with some cute sprinkles. This is great, because if you're making these with kids they can really help with the gooey frosting part and the sprinkles part.

TA DA! You have tasty chocolate covered heart brownies for V day!

Creation by Gerald McDermott

Okay, I love this book. Like really, really, really love this book. I've read it to all ages and it works- and there are not many religious kids books out there that work so well. It takes excerpts from the creation story in the book of Genesis, and puts them together so it sounds like poetry. The words pair so well with the illustrations and I get goosebumps every time I look at it.

The illustrations are done by award winning artist Gerald McDermott. He said he traveled all over the world studying various creation stories. In one of the last stops he made, he picked up some handmade mulberry bark papers in Japan. He brought those back to the US and began painting on them using gesso, fabric, and paint. The result is breath taking.

I used it today in a church lesson for the kids sunday school. Picture this 20-30 kids ages 4-7 and then again to 20-30 kids ages 8-11. And they were WOUND UP. But as soon as I got past the first few pages it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. I'm telling you- this book has power.

I always check it out from the Library, but I've used it enough I probably should get my own copy :)

The Gossip Bench

A few weeks ago, I was playing around on Craigslist when I came across A Find. A Gossip Bench!

I had just seen a remake of something like it a few weeks ago on one of my favorite blogs, Maple & Magnolia. Check it out here.

A Gossip Bench is a place where housewives of the 1950s could sit and chat on the phone. There's usually a little table on the bench, and a place to keep phone books. I loved the concept and history of the piece. I'd been looking for something like a small table to place near the kitchen door. The boys LOVE to put junk (back packs, briefcases, artwork, computer parts) all over my kitchen table. I thought that this would give them something to throw all of that on, and it would also add some fun to my kitchen.

So here's how it started:

I called the number on the listing and was informed it was at a Flea Market in Moulton. (For you local peeps, that's Gillespie's Flea Market in Moulton. You can find it on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gillespies-Flea-Market/306535265907).

I grabbed a friend and we headed out there. We found some pretty cool stuff! I got a really great trio of candlesticks and a pretty curly mirror.

Pretty cool, huh? Well here's the coolest: The Gossip Bench!

Check out those nasty cigarette burns!

You can see the little sample of the fabric I picked out to cover the cushion in. Here it is, a little bit bigger:

Fabric was 50% of at Hancock Fabrics, meaning that I got enough for this project for around $5. Sweet!

Now back to the bench:

The bench was in bad shape, no doubt. And it also stunk. Like, 1950s cigarette smoke stunk (which is why my cat Gracie was SO obsessed with sniffing it).

So the first thing I did? Get rid of the smell.

I had no intention of using that nasty vinyl. It went straight into the trash. The upholstery foam underneath wasn't too bad, so I wanted to save it. I put it in the wash (NO BLEACH!- if you don't know what chemicals are in the foam you could potentially be playing "chemistry experiment" in your washing machine....) for a few cycles, then set it out to dry in the sun.

Here it is, soaking up some rays:

While it was drying out, I started painting the bench part.

Okay, true confession: Most of the time, I'm too lazy to prime. And most of the time it's okay. However, this time- not okay. Check out my primer oops:

So at this point my weekend was rapidly ending, so I packed everything up and let it dry for a week.

Then this past Saturday I got it all back out and put it together. The finished result?

Voila!

And from the side:

And once again, just for comparison:

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm super proud :)