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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Easiest Pizza Recipe Ever

I absolutely LOVE this pizza recipe. There's no planning ahead, no waiting for dough to rise. If you want pizza on the spur of the moment, this is the recipe for you!

Doesn't it look yummy?!!

Easy Pizza Dough

1 Tbs. yeast
1 c. warm water
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. canola oil

Preheat oven to 400. Measure water into bowl and add yeast. Let rest for a couple of minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Spread dough on pizza pan. Do not let rise. Top with your favorite toppings. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

My family loves this recipe. I use spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce since I always have some. You can use a mix of mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan. Of course, pepperoni is the favorite topping in our home. Try a BBQ chicken pizza. We use BBQ sauce and sliced chicken nuggets. It's actually good. Be creative and enjoy!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Thanks to Pinterest, I've been wanting to make my own homemade vanilla. There are so many different recipes out there! A friend of mine saw my pin on Pinterest and told me the recipe I had pinned was wrong. So, she sent me a link with the FDA approved recipe and let me know where she bought her beans from. I was excited to get started!

What you need:

Vanilla Beans (I used Madagascar Bourbon Grade B from here)
Vodka (I used the cheapest stuff I could find)
Jars

I used 8 oz. of vanilla beans and 8 cups of vodka. You need 1 oz. of vanilla beans per 1 cup of vodka.

Slice your vanilla beans into 1/2" pieces.


I decided to put my vanilla extract into one quart mason jars. So I put 3 cups of vodka and 3 oz. of vanilla beans in two of my jars and the rest in the last jar. Then I shook them up real well!

It will take about 6 months for the vanilla to fully extract from the beans. For the first couple of weeks, you'll want to shake the jars every day. After that shake them once every couple of weeks or whenever you think about it. When it's ready, strain the vanilla beans and you're good to go. I'm going to put my vanilla into 4 oz. jars and give them out as Christmas presents. Of course, I'll keep some for myself.

The vanilla should keep indefinitely from what I've read. Supposedly you can also top off your jar of vanilla with some vodka to make it last longer. Wouldn't that dilute it a little? I'm not sure. Guess I'll have to try it and see.

Here's what it cost me. The vanilla beans were $16.23 (One pound is $32.45 including shipping and I split them with my sister-in-law) and the vodka was $12 for a total of $28.23. That's only 44 cents an ounce!! I dare say that is MUCH CHEAPER than Walmart!! Have fun!!