Tuesday May 3, 2011

My main thought at the end of this day is, "I'll be glad when I start teaching Summer School." All day long there is a desperate feeling to find something to entertain myself so I don't end up noshing every couple hours. I've pinned things on Pinterest, made homemade pizza dough, gone to Walmart, and washed some clothes. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a quilt out of gum wrappers and then place it in a well lit shadow box for displaying.

Listed below is the recipe and then some pictures of my pizza dough goodness. These are about 200 calories each if you can get 8 crusts out of it.

Recipe courtesy of my good friend Karen:
1 cup warm water (it should feel slightly warm to the touch, too hot and it will kill the yeast.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast (it's usually sold in a three pack)
3 cups all purpose flour

In a small bowl, combine the water, sugar and yeast. Stir it until it looks cloudy. Let it sit for a few minutes so that all the yeast is activated. Add the vegetable oil.

In a large bowl, add one cup of flour and the salt. Stir in the water/sugar/yeast/oil mixture. Mix until it looks like paste. From here on, add half a cup of flour at a time. The amount of flour you need will vary by how humid it is. In the summer time you may need to add a little more than 3 cups. You'll know you have added enough when the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. It will be a little sticky, but not sticking in clumps to your fingers.

Next up, you'll need to kneed the dough. Flour your work surface and fingers lightly. If starts to feel very sticky, work in some more flour. Kneed it until the dough is fairly smooth. Usually 10 to 15 minutes will do it.

Spray the bowl you used to mix the dough with Pam and put the dough back in it. Cover it with a tea towel and let it rise until it has doubled in size. Put it somewhere warm and away from drafts. This could take 45 minutes to an hour.*

*If you wanted to use the dough the next day, put in the refrigerator overnight. It'll need to sit on the counter for a few hours so it can warm to room temperature before using it.

This recipe is enough for two large pizzas or 4 medium size pizzas. It will really depend on how thin you want your crust.

Cook the dough on a cookie sheet or a pizza stone for 5 to 8 minutes in a 450 degree oven. You want the crust firm and just barely brown. You can pull it out and store it for a couple days at this point. To finish it off: sauce it, top it and pop it back in the oven until everything is nice and melty.


Exercise: DDR for 30 minutes = 3oo calories burned

Breakfast:
1/2 Cinnamon and Raisin Bagel with Strawberry Cream Cheese
A bucket of coffee

Lunch:
Turkey sandwich
No Sugar Added Peaches saccharin sweetened tea
Snack:
Quaker Oats Granola Bar











Dinner:
4oz. Pork Chop
2 Tbsp Barbecue Sauce
1 Roasted Zucchini sprinkled with salt and Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
No Sugar Added Peaches and Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Dessert:
Cool Whip with Sugar Free Jello