TV Tune-Out Week Talent Show

We just successfully completed yet another week of no TV, computer, or video games at our house. I must confess that this is a week that I look forward to every year! It's so nice not having a certain little boy always asking about computer games or TV. We were busy playing outside, making paper airplanes, and attending after school functions like checkers, chess, and hula hooping. This is also the big week for the school talent show. Kelsie and Brandon both decided they wanted to be in it this year and play a piano solo. While we were walking over to the school for the big night, Kelsie mentioned to me that she really didn't want to be first. Brandon was pretty nervous too, but as long as were able to keep him talking, he wouldn't think about it too much. When we got there and looked at the program, lo and behold, there was Kelsie's name, first. She kicked off the show and did a great job. Brandon was #51 so we were there a while, but we were so proud of him for actually coming out to perform. They both did a superb job and received many compliments afterward and the next day. Yay for TV Tune-Out Week!

Pizza Night!

Pizza night is one of our most cherished traditions. There's something for everyone, and everyone gets dessert!

Our favorite pizzas include Pineapple and Ham, a meatlovers with "The Works", and the ever kid-pleasing Cheese and Pepperoni. We also whip up the occasional concoctions that don't use a traditional red sauce, like our Barbecue Chicken Pizza and a vegetarian Artichoke Heart Pizza. Whatever it is, we're always looking forward to Saturday Night. (We're also always looking for new ideas, and we'd love to try your favorites too!). If you want to recreate our Pizza Night at your house, here are our favorite basic recipes to get you started:

The Dough:
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4.5 - 5 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
3 Tbsp sugar or honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons of yeast (or up to 2 tablespoons, depending on how active your yeast is)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup milk3/4 cup warm (~110 F) water

Dissolve the sugar in warm water and add the sugar. Add the yeast. If you want to check the yeast, let this mixture sit for 5-10 min and make sure it's foaming. Add the milk and the olive oil.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour, the salt, and the wet ingredients. Continue adding 1-2 cups of flour until the mixture forms a course ball. On a clean, flat surface, knead in the rest of the flour. By hand, this takes about 10 minutes (it takes a lot of work to get all 5 cups in). Use the windowpane test to tell if it's done mixing. What's the windowpane test? Take a small piece of the dough and gently tug and turn it, stretching it out until it forms a paper-thin, translucent membrane (the "windowpane") somewhere in the middle. The thinner you can make this membrane without breaking it the better. If it doesn't form this, it probably needs a few more minutes mixing. We usually let the dough rest a couple of minutes before doing the "windowpane test".)

Let rest for a few minutes and then divide into 4 balls. Allow the dough to rise in an olive-oiled container or Ziplock plastic bag for at least 2 hours. (**If you don't need to make that much pizza, you can put the unused balls into an oiled plastic freezer bag and throw them in the freezer until you want to use them. Then when you're ready, throw them in the fridge the night before you want to use it.**)
Roll out each ball into a 12-14" circle. Place the rolled-out dough onto your cooking surface (an olive-oiled cast-iron skillet or a preheated pizza stone sprinkled with corn meal). Poke the crust generously with a fork. Top with your favorite toppings. Cook in a preheated (~450 F) oven for 10-14 minutes, checking the bottom of the crust occasionally to make sure it's not burning. Crust should be a golden brown on the bottom.

Tips and tricks: I've found that the crust can make or break an otherwise ordinary pizza. There are a lot of recipes out there, and most of them are pretty similar. We've found a few things that make the difference between a "just okay" and a really great crust:

1. Use high-gluten or bread flour instead of "all-purpose" flour.
2. Let the dough rise at room temperature for at least 2 hours. Overnight in the fridge is better.
3. Let the dough rise for more than 10 after rolling it out before you start putting on the toppings.
3. Cook the pizza on a pizza stone in the oven or a cast-iron skillet over the grill.

The Sauce:
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1 15-oz can (or 2 8-oz cans) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 clove finely grated garlic)
Dash of onion powder (or ~1/4 teaspoon finely grated onion)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a pan and heat over medium heat until bubbling. Simmer over low heat for at least 15 minutes, or until your ready to make the pizzas.

KP is our resident sauce expert. She says: "The sauce turns out better when it's not exactly the same every time. Change up the amount of each spice once in a while to keep it interesting. " And using her very best Rachel Ray impression, she doesn't bother measuring out some of the ingredients any more. Sounds risky, but so far this is working out just fine, so keep on doing what you're doing, KP.

Now you're ready for your own pizza night. Hope you like it. Let us know what you think! And, of course, we'd love to hear your suggestions for new ways to keep Pizza Night the best night of the week.

Watching the Garden Grow

We have been having the most amazing spring weather here in Chicagoland the last few weeks.  We were even able to spend a weekend planting our garden full of our first round of vegetables.  Caleb and I check everyday after we drop off the kids at school to see how our garden is growing and are so excited to see the beginnings of our radishes, spinach, lettuce, and peas! 

Our sweet neighbor gave each of the kids a small pot filled with “dirt” (oreo cookies, chocolate covered raisins, and milk duds) with instructions to come over to her house to fill them with her real dirt and seeds when the goodies were gone.  They were so excited to receive these pots and, as you can imagine, ate their treats as quickly as they could.  They went over to plant their seeds and came home with cherry tomatoes, sunflowers, and pumpkins.  Since it isn’t quite warm enough for them to be outside yet, we’ve kept them in the window sill in the kitchen and they are growing like crazy!  I am really hoping that it warms up soon so we can replant them outside in the garden before they get too big!

They each have been so interested to watch their plants grow and are amazed each day how much bigger they are getting.  This is such a fun time of year!

Pumpkins

 Cherry Tomatoes

Sunflowers

Tummy Trouble

Caleb has been noticing my stomach growing bigger and bigger and has started asking me a lot of questions about it.  We had an interesting conversation about it on Saturday.  Luckily his older brother was there to help answer:

Caleb:  “Mom, where did you get that big tummy?”

Me:  “What?  Where did I get it?”

Caleb:  “Yeah, did you get it at the tummy store?”

Me:  “No, umm, Dad gave it to me.”  (I didn’t think there was a need for further explanation here.  He is only 3 after all.)

Brandon: “Caleb, do you know that Dad planted a special seed in Mom and it grows into a baby?”

Caleb:  “Oh, cool!”

A couple minutes later, after I thought we had moved on from the subject:

Brandon:  “Mom, where does Dad get the seeds to plant?”

Me (caught off guard, just a little):  “Um…(trying to figure out the right thing to say)…he got the seeds when he became a man.”

Brandon:  “I’m a man!”

Me:  “No, you’re not.”

I guess I need to give the explanation a little more thought for such inquiring minds!

Spring Has Sprung

I went around our yard to take some pictures of the new blossoms and flowers that were just emerging.  I love this time of year, especially when the weather is nice and the kids can play outside.  I love watching everything come back to life again after a long, cold winter. 

And, yes, for those of you who are wondering, I am ready to have this baby.  Caleb told me today that he wouldn’t push on my stomach so the baby wouldn’t pop out.  Maybe I should go ahead and let him.  It might get things started!  This is about as good as it is going to get of me while pregnant.  Enjoy.

Breaking Spring In

We headed out for a much-needed getaway. The question is where do you go for a weekend getaway in the midwest besides Chicago? Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where else?

We started off our vacation on April Fool's Day, and somebody totally punk'd us! On our way out the door the kids noticed a bunch of change on the sidewalk. But it wasn't just dropped. Someone went to the trouble of supergluing all the coins to the cement. Not sure where the hidden camera was, but I'd love to see the video footage.

Milwaukee is pretty much a straight shot north of Chicago, so to make it a little more interesting we diverted to Kettle Morraine State Forest. Our first stop was this beautiful little pond by the Park Office. We didn't ever see the beaver, but managed to spot 13 or so painted box turtles.

So what's there to do in Milwaukee? Well, if you stay in a hotel with a pool, who cares, right? We swam all three days, which made Dad realize we should do it a little more often. Here's K telling us how she feels about the hotel pool.

We also hit the Discovery Zone, one of the best hands on science museums I've been too. It was a great trip, and a much needed break.

And now for something completely different

Chicken Dance Turbo!

Happy Easter!