Food from the last week...

I have been very busy and stressed at work, and we have been trying to potty train pretty intensely over the last week; as you may have seen I have been noticeably absent. I have been cooking every night, but one of my go-to meals is chicken stir fry with just random veggies over rice, and let's face it there are only so many times that I can post the same thing! We also had homemade pizza and I felt like the dough was a fantastic recipe so I want to make sure to share the dough (I made it in the bread machine... I love being able to just dump it all in and the let the machine do all the work!) I have also baked, and tried some new recipes. Instead of doing all of it in one post though to help me out throughout the week I will write several posts and that should help me out when I am just too busy potty training, cooking, doing dishes, and grading a TON of essays to do a post as well! Soon to come a great recipe for baked potatoes, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and a fantastic authentic shredded chicken taco recipe for the slow cooker!

Bread Machine Pizza Dough (makes two large thin crusts #2
1 cup water + 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Directions:
1. Place ingredients in pan in order listed or as directed per machine instructions. Select dough cycle. My machine goes for a long while, I believe I had the dough kneaded and rising in the machine for about 20-30 minutes which is less than the actual time on the machine.
2. Makes two 12 inch regular crusts or one 16 inch deep dish crust.
3. Roll out and place on pizza tray, I prick mine with a fork all over so it doesn't bubble up too much, and I prebake for about 6-10 minutes depending on how crusty you want it.
4. Top with desired toppings and bake at 400°F for 10-15 minutes or until crust is light brown.

I also have a lot of apples right now from my CSA, and I remembered that I had this really pretty bowl made especially for doing a baked apple in the microwave that I found in a cute little pottery shed on the coast and I haven't used it in forever. It was so delicious, you can of course do this in a regular bowl but the way this "special" is made I only have to cook it for about a minute before the apple is cooked through. I usually just add a little bit of butter, maybe half a tablespoon, a bit of brown sugar, maybe one tablespoon and a sprinkle of cinnamon. This brings me back to my childhood my mom used to make me baked apples all the time! Yum, nothing like fall!

And because I couldn't resist here is my Molly at the pumpkin patch this weekend. As her Nana says it looks like she is contemplating world peace!