One Wish Mama

Pizza Hut Deep Dish Copy-Cat Recipe

2012-09-10T09:14:00.002-07:00

Here is one of 3 delicious pizzas that I made from this recipe. The crust is amazing! It's a must try recipe if you like the real pizza hut deep dish pizza.
The recipe is listed here: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/525/Pizza_Hut_Original_Pan_Pizza41605.shtml

AWESOME!! Definitely 5 star worthy.

2012-08-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Basic Bread Maker Pizza and Bread Stick Dough

Yield: 2-12 inch pizzas, approximately 1 lb. of dough

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast or 1 packet
1 tablespoon honey [or sugar]
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour

Directions:
In a bread maker/machine, add the water to the bread pan, stir in yeast and honey into the warm water in the pan. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and ready. Pour in salt, oil and the flour. Turn on bread machine to the dough setting and press start. This will need to be mixed/kneaded a minimum of 7 minutes, I let mine knead in the machine for 15 mins and then turn it off to let it rise for an hour. When the dough has risen divide it in half, I like to use half for a pizza and the other half for bread sticks. But feel free to use the entire dough for one pizza if you like thick crust.

Bread Machine Tips and Tricks

2012-08-07T10:10:00.001-07:00

How to Use a Bread Machine

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Let's say you've got a bread machine, but no manual. Maybe you bought it at a yard sale, inherited it from a relative, or just lost the manual. So what do you do with this contraption before you? You can store it in a cabinet and add to your "I'll use it someday..." clutter, or you can read these instructions and start baking bread!

Steps

Get to know your machine. Take some time to inspect it. There's a hinged lid which can be lifted and shut; there may be a window in it, and probably a small vent too. Next to the lid you should see a control panel with a few buttons (and maybe a light or two if you have a fancy version). Inside the bread machine there is a bread pan or bucket. There should be a handle on it, which is probably folded down so the lid will close completely. The bread bucket works as both the mixing bowl and the baking pan. In the center of the bread bucket will be a little bread paddle or kneading blade. It is responsible for kneading and mixing the dough. When the dough bakes, it bakes around the kneading blade. You must remove the blade from the bottom of the loaf after the bread is baked.
- You must have all three parts in order to make bread. The machine itself, the bread bucket, and the kneading blade. If any one of these parts is missing you must replace it. The kneading blade is the smallest part and the one most likely to be missing. It is also the least expensive to replace. If you need replacement parts then do an Internet search to find the manufacturer of your machine. Go to their website and email them about what you need.
- The bread bucket and kneading blade are removable. To take the bread bucket out, your machine may require you to pull hard, depending on how it snaps in. Look it over, grab the handle, and pull. Don’t worry. You aren’t breaking it. After you get the bread pan out, examine it. If you turn it upside down the kneading blade will fall out. There will be a peg inside the bread pan that the kneading blade fits over. To put the bread bucket back into the machine and snap it into place, you may have to shove down really hard. Yours may go in very easily or you may have to turn the gear under the bread bucket just slightly to get it to fit into the machine the right way.
Find out your bread bucket capacity. Take the bread bucket out set it next to the sink. Get a measuring cup and fill it with water. Pour the water into the bread bucket. Do it again and again and again, until the bucket is full. Count how many cups of water you are adding to the bucket, until you get a total. This part is important, so measure carefully. When you choose a recipe it is important that you match it up to the size of the bread bucket you have. You would not want to make a 2 lb recipe in a 1 lb machine. It would result in a big mess.
- If your bread bucket holds 10 cups of water then you can make 1-1/2 pound loaves of bread.
- If your bread bucket holds 12 cups or more then you can make 2 pound loaves of bread.
- If your bucket holds less than 10 cups then you can make 1 pound loaves of bread.
Become familiar with the settings. Have a good look at the buttons and display screen on the control panel. You will probably find a Select button, a Stop/Start button, Crust Color and Timer or Arrow buttons. Unplug your machine. Plug it back in. The machine will be on its Basic (or default) setting now.
- Close to the select button you will see several choices. The most common ones are White or Basic; Whole Wheat; French; Sweet; Rapid, & Dough. To set the machine to a particular cycle you have to keep pressing the Select button until it gets to the cycle you want. Sometimes each cycle is identified by a number. For instance, White or Basic is usually 1. Whole Wheat is 2. French is 3; and so on; you get the idea. Each cycle takes a different amount of time to mix and cook the bread.
- The crust setting is not available on all machines. If you do see a button labeled Crust then it will have 3 settings available: Light, Medium & Dark. The default setting is medium. When you unplug the machine and then plug it back in, it will automatically set itself to the medium setting. If you prefer a light or dark crust instead, then you press the Crust button to change the setting. Usually the Crust button will not work until after you select the dough cycle and before you press Start.
- Using the timer is described in a separate section, below.
Get your ingredients. There are a few basic ingredients you need to make bread in a bread machine. They are yeast, flour, salt, sugar, liquids and fats.
- Yeast used in a bread machine should always be labeled “Active Dry” on the label. Sometimes you can buy yeast in a jar that says it is specifically for bread machines. Packets of yeast, available in the baking aisle of the grocery store, usually hold 2-1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast. You may use one packet of yeast to replace 2 teaspoons of yeast in most bread machine recipes. The extra 1/4 teaspoon of yeast won’t make that much difference. Don’t use rapid rise yeast. It's not worth the extra cost, and the time savings is negligible once you get the hand of making bread.
- Bread flour makes better bread. Bread flour is made from hard wheat so it has more gluten, or wheat protein, in it than regular all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft wheat. This makes it serviceable for biscuits, cakes and quick breads, which prefer soft wheat flour; and also serviceable for yeast bread, which prefers hard wheat flour. It is called all-purpose flour because it is designed to be used for all baking purposes. Bread flour is made for yeast bread. If you don’t have bread flour then you may use all purpose flour for most bread recipes. Your results will not be exactly the same as if you had used bread flour, but you will still have good results, and you will still get good bread. Sometimes you will need to add a tiny bit more flour to your dough if you use all-purpose flour. This isn’t always true but it is sometimes.
- Salt is a necessary ingredient in machine made bread. It regulates the rising process so that the bread dough doesn’t spill over the bread bucket into the machine. Salt also adds flavor to the bread. Bread made completely without salt doesn’t taste as good as bread made with some salt.
- Sugar, honey and other sweeteners soften the texture of the dough and the finished loaf. They also contribute to the browning of the bread and the crispness of the crust. The main role they play, though, is as easy-to-use-food for the yeast. Yeast can use the starch in flour for its food but it is much happier if it gets an easy to use food like sugar or honey. Most bread machine recipes call for at least a small amount of sugar. However, bread machine breads do best if they don’t have too much sugar added to them. When making sweet dough from scratch it isn’t unusual to add a full cup of sugar to the dough. When making sweet dough in the machine,, though it is better to use 1/4 to 1/2-cup of sugar or honey at the very most. This is because the dough rises faster and higher in a bread machine than it does when prepared by hand. Too much sugar is too much food for the yeast and it gets over-excited. This can result in a machine made mess that is unpleasant to clean up.
- Liquids used in a bread machine should be room temperature or a little bit warmer. You should never use hot liquids in a bread machine. Liquids that are too hot will kill the yeast. Room temperature liquids make the yeast happy. If you are using tap water then warm tap water is fine. If you are using yogurt or buttermilk you may want to take it out of the fridge to warm up a bit before you use it in the bread machine. (This isn’t strictly necessary, especially for breads baked on the Basic Cycle or longer. If you are using the Rapid Cycle though it is imperative that the liquids be warm or at least at room temperature.)
- Fats make the finished loaf richer, softer, and also keep the dough from sticking to the non-stick surface of the bread pan. Usually between 1 and 4-tablespoons of fat are used in a 2 lb loaf of bread machine dough. You can use most fats interchangeably in a bread machine. Margarine, oil, shortening, lard, chicken fat, bacon grease or butter will all give you pretty much the same results. Some of the fats will add a different flavor, and the texture of the bread will change very slightly, depending on which type of fat you use. Solid fats do not have to be melted before adding them to the bread machine. It helps if they are at room temperature, but this isn’t always practical.
Add the ingredients in the right order. If you are going to mix and bake the dough right away then it really doesn’t matter which order you add the ingredients. If you want to program the machine with the Delay Cycle to start while you are away, then the order becomes very important. The ingredients must be added in a way that will keep them inert until the machine begins its mixing. Therefore it is a good idea to get in the habit of adding the ingredients in this way from the beginning.
- Put the liquids into the machine first.
- Next add the flour. As you are adding the flour, urge it out over the top of the water so that that it sort of seals the water in.
- Then you can add the other dry ingredients like salt, sugar, dry milk powder and seasonings.
- The last thing you should add is the yeast. Most recipes suggest that you make a shallow indentation or well in the center of the flour and sprinkle the yeast into it. This is important because it prevents the yeast from coming into contact with the liquid until the machine begins mixing. If the yeast and liquid get together before the machine is scheduled to begin, then the yeast will become active and likely make a big mess out of the machine.

Using the Timer

Put your ingredients in the bread pan and snap the bread pan into place.
- Use a recipe that you have already tested and that you trust.
- Place the ingredients into the bread bucket in the correct order, as described above.
Select the cycle you prefer.
Using math, figure out how much time before you want the loaf to be finished baking.
Use the arrow buttons to adjust the time on the display screen to match the number of hours your figured out above.
Close everything up and press Start. Walk away now, and let it do its magic.

Tips

Milk, buttermilk, and yogurt make the finished loaf of bread softer and give it a finer crumb. With milk or buttermilk, you can use warm tap water and add powdered milk or dry buttermilk with your dry ingredients. If you have any whey leftover from making cheese it makes a very finely crumbed bread. It tastes really good too, better than you would think. Also runny yogurt that didn’t set up quite right is great in breads.
If you are making bread with water and you want to try something fun for a change, add a spoonful of vinegar along with the liquid ingredients. You will not taste the vinegar in the finished bread but the acid in it will keep the bread fresh for a little while longer after it is baked. This is an old-fashioned trick that still works well today.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ - Original source, shared with permission.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Use a Bread Machine. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Chocolate Ice Cream Sauce

2012-07-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA for a week or so because I had misplaced my camera. I have found it and I have been busy in the kitchen all day. Here is my first small post on a lovely chocolate ice cream sauce I threw together for my kiddos to munch on. It takes just about 5 minutes to make and its amazingly good.

First melt 1/2 stick of butter in a small saucepan on medium heat, make sure not to burn the butter.

Then add roughly 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, stir with a whisk until melted careful not to burn the chocolate chips.

Remove the pan from the burner and add 1/4 of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

Also add 1 cup of powdered sugar to this mixture and stir until all lumps are gone.

Let cool for about 1 - 2 minutes and then pour over vanilla ice cream or whichever flavor you choose.

~Enjoy!~

Quick Bacon Sammy

2012-07-08T14:44:00.001-07:00

I was looking for a quick lunch today that I could make while I was chopping up ingredients to put in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. Here is what I came up with and it's super easy!

2 slices of bacon, turkey or regular
2 slices of tomato
1 tsp mayo
1 bagel, I used everything flavor
Sprinkle of salt on the tomato slices, if desired and to taste

I used my toaster oven for all the cooking involved in this sandwich.

First I took the baking pan in my toaster oven and put a sheet of foil on it for easy clean up. I then put the 2 slices of bacon on it and baked them for 10 mins in the toaster oven. When they were all crispy I took them out to drain on a paper towel. I then put the bagel in the toaster oven and toasted it on medium dark. While it was toasting I sliced up the tomato and sprinkled a small amount of salt on the slices. When the bagel was finished toasting I spread on the mayo and layered the tomato, then the bacon, then another slice of tomato. Simple and amazing. Not really diet friendly but very time friendly. Enjoy~!

Nintendo Ds Cooking Mama

Baked Zucchini Bites

2012-07-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Every wonder what you can make as a quick healthy side dish that your kids will love? I made just the perfect recipe tonight. My garden has been putting out some good sized zucchini for about a week and I am trying to incorporate it more into my daily menu. This recipe is quick and delicious!

First here is what you need: shredded Romano cheese about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup depending on taste, 2 medium zucchinis, garlic salt, canola oil spray or olive oil spray and fresh ground black peppercorn.

Cut the zucchini into wedges about 3 inches in in length and 2 inches in width. Spray a baking pan with the oil and arrange zucchini on the pan. Spray the tops of the zucchini with the oil then sprinkle on the pepper, garlic salt and Romano cheese to your liking.

Bake at 400F for 15 mins.

Then ENJOY! My 4 and 5 year old's loved this as a side dish for dinner tonight.

Kitchen Organization

2012-07-05T10:19:00.003-07:00

Here is a great set of 6 organizing items for your kitchen, they are cheap and amazing! I can't wait to add another set to my kitchen.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-6pc-Cabinet-Organization-Set-White/16456521

Here is a pic of how they can be used, note that there is a "bread" basket. I use mine to hold items that are hard to stack like bags of chocolate chips, rice, beans and powdered sugar. There are six items that come with the organizing package, I have only included a picture of 3 of them, to see the others follow the link above to www.walmart.com. Enjoy~!

DIY Decor

2012-07-04T17:45:00.001-07:00

I thought I would do a quick share of something I did a couple months ago and LOVE! Cheap decorating is an essential with today's economy and anything is better than no decorations at all. So here is a little trick I learned. I know you must have some old paperback books lying around and lets be honest here, they don't always have pretty covers and some are just plain ugly. I took a stack of 3 old books I found and gave them a quick and simple new life by just covering in a neat scrapbook paper (that matched my existing decor) and stacking in ascending order. No glue necessary, just cut them to the right size to fit the books like a simple dust jacket and stack them. Here is a picture of the finished product:

Happy Crafting!

Magic Mike!

2012-07-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Just a small tribute to the cast of Magic Mike! I can't wait to add my review of this movie. ;)

Fireworks!

2012-07-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I just wanted to share a few pictures that I took last night of a local fireworks show.

Have a blessed holiday everyone!

Canning Tomatoes!

2012-07-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

So today I finally broke down and got to canning my tomatoes. I can't wait to be using them throughout the winter. Here is a quick recap of how I canned them:

First I washed all the tomatoes thoroughly, they came from my garden so this didn't take long.

I then just sat them in a colander and a couple mixing bowls since I had quite a few tomatoes (6 1/2 lbs).

I got all my pots filled with water and started to get them all boiling while I cut X's on the tomatoes. I needed of course the big canning pot, a small sauce pan for the lids, a slightly bigger one for boiling water to add the the jar of tomatoes, and lastly the 6 qt stockpot to boil/blanch the tomatoes in.

Next I made shallow X's on the bottoms of all the tomatoes with a sharp knife.

I got a large bowl ready for the shocking the tomatoes by putting several cubes of ice in the bowl and filling it with water to make a nice cold bath for them.

When I got the 6qt stockpot boiling I added about 4 - 5 tomatoes at a time for about 30 - 45 seconds until they started to crack. Then I put them into the water bath to shock them.

After they cool in the water bath which is around 1 min, they were ready to be peeled and chopped. The skins came right off so easily.

I chopped them up and got them ready to add to the jars. I made sure to have a clean towel under the entire work area because tomatoes are messy and when the jars come out of the canner they need to be placed on a towel to cool anyways.

After I had chopped some of them I prepared the jars by adding 1 TBS of lemon juice to the bottom of each of the jars. I used small half pint 8 oz jars so that was plenty of "acid" for them to be safe.

I then added the tomatoes to the jars leaving about 1/2 an inch of space at the top of the jars and used the bubble removing tool to get out any air bubbles in the jars. I added boiling water to the jars filling them to about 1/4 from the top of the jar and used the bubble tool again just to make sure they were ok before adding the lids.

When they looked like this with the lids on tightly I added them to the canner to boil for 30 mins.

And wahlah lol here is what they looked like when they were set out to cool down and finished. Some obviously I stuffed with more tomatoes than others, no biggie they are just fine and delicious. I got 11- 8oz jars out of my 6 1/2 pounds of tomatoes with just over a pound left over to make some sauce for pizza tonight.

A little off topic here but it is getting close to the 4th of July.

Found this picture of my son Zac from last 4th of July.

My husband Jeremy finally has the 4th off this year for the first time in 4 years, which is really great because he works at night and we will finally be able to take the kids to see the big fireworks together tomorrow. Our town is having their smaller fireworks show tonight so for that it will just be my kids and I. What is everyone else doing for the 4th of July? Leave me a comment to let me know or if it's past the 4th when you are reading this let me know what you think of my canning tomato tutorial. :-)

How to Make and Can Strawberry Jam

2012-07-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ok I just finished my first batch of strawberry jam and hopefully the results will be fabulous. And from what I have tasted it will be great!

Here is a little visual on how I made it:

Here are some of the ingredients I used to make the strawberry jam. The lemon juice is not pictured.

First I rinsed the strawberries in a colander and then began chopping them into small pieces.

This is double the amount needed for one batch of this jam, I made two batches separately but chopped them all together.

After the strawberries were chopped I added them to my small food processor/chopper and pulsed them until the looked like the next picture. You can chop or process them to your liking, I just like mine less chunky than some people.

I put the processed strawberries into another bowl and scooped them into the measuring cup to be sure I got exactly 5 cups into the pan.

After I added all the processed strawberries to the pan I then added 2 TBS of lemon juice and stirred.

I measured out 7 cups of sugar and set aside before I started cooking the strawberries.

I filled this pan with water just under 3/4 of the way full and turned on just past medium until I got a gentle boil.

Since I don't have a canning rack for my pan, I added the jars I was going to use to this big pot before it started to boil and took them out after the water was boiling. So I could fill them with the jam when they were still hot and put them back in the water without them cracking.

I added boiling water to the lids and set them on a cool burner.

Before I turned on the burner I stirred in 1 packet of Sure Jell.

Then I turned the burner on high, stirring it constantly until a rolling boil was reached.

When the mixture reached a rolling boil I added the sugar and brought to a rolling boil once again.

When the mixture reached a rolling boil after I added the sugar I set the timer for 1 minute and still continued to constantly stir the mixture until the minute was over then took the pan off of the burner.

This is what it looked like after I took the pan off the burner. I then scooped the foam off of the top of the jam and placed it into a small bowl.

After the foam was removed I filled my boiled/clean jars with the jam leaving 1/8 of an inch of space left at the top of the jar. Then I added the lids to the jars(you can retrieve the lids from the hot water with a magnet tool), I wiped the jars off with a damp cloth to remove any spilled jam and then I put the rings on the jars tightly. I then added the filled jars back to the big pot of boiling water. Placed the lid on the canning pan and let boil gently for 10 mins.

Then I took the filled jars and placed them onto a towel on the counter where they will now sit for 24 hours to cool and setup.

Here is the full recipe for this strawberry jam:

4 pints of fresh strawberries (measured out to 5 cups when processed/crushed)

7 cups of white granulated sugar

1 packet of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin

2 TBS of lemon juice

This recipe is to make 8 - 8 oz half pint jars but when I made it somehow filled 9 jars.

1. Bring boiling-water canner, just below 3/4 full with water, to simmer.

2. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

3. Prepare berries as I did above, chopping and processing or chopping and using a potato masher until the strawberries are to your liking.

4. Measure exactly 5 cups of the prepared strawberries and place them into a 5/6 qt saucepan.

5. Add 2 TBS of lemon to the fruit in the saucepan and stir until mixed.

6. Measure the exact amount of sugar, 7 cups and place in a separate bowl for later use.

7. Stir in 1 box of Pectin (Sure Jell) to the fruit in the saucepan. You may wish to add 1/2 tsp of butter or margarine to reduce foaming, I did not do that but I will next time.

8. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

9. Stir in sugar quickly. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam.

10. Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (OR you can follow my directions for that step above if you don't have a canning rack for your pot) Water must cover jars by 1-2 inches, add boiling water if necessary. Cover; bring water to a gentle boil. Process jam for 10 minutes. You may need to adjust that time according to altitude, visit the Sure Jell website for time adjustments. Remove jars from the canner and place on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. ( If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

11. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Store unopened jams in cool, dry, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate opened jars for up to 3 weeks.

Random Thoughts

2012-07-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

My daughter Kylie sneaking some blueberries :-)

Today I begin my first journey into the world of canning. My garden is producing tomatoes at an alarming rate and I am running out of things to do with them so I am going to give canning a try. On a slightly different note I pulled a 9 1/2 zucchini out of the garden this morning which is amazing because I have been trying to grow zucchini's for 4 years now. In previous years my soil conditions were not right causing every one of the previous plants to have blossom rot. Today I will try and document my canning if I can find my camera lol. Edit: Found my camera! And I decided to can some blueberry and strawberry jam along with my tomatoes.
~ Wish me luck ~

Introduction

2012-06-29T07:57:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my very first blog! I hope to use it as an outlet and a way to give people a look into my life as a SAHM of two. I will be posting pictures and reviews on recipes I try. And posting other tid bits of information and things that I find interesting and hopefully you will too.