6 cups of AP Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups Warm water
1 1/2 tsp dry Yeast
Toppings:
4 Cheese Blend
Pepperoni
Mushrooms
anything else you want to eat :)
Mix flour, salt and oil in a food processor with a dough blade. Place yeast in 2 cups of warm water (no hotter than 110*F), soak for about 5 minutes then stir and add to flour mixture in food processor. If dough is really wet and sticky, add 1/4 cup more of flour and mix in processor.
In a large bowl drizzle more olive oil around to lightly coat, pour dough mixture into bowl and toss over a few times to coat in the oil. This helps prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises.
Cover dough with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm area to allow the dough to rise. Usually an hour.
Remove wrap or towel and place on a floured surface, knead gently a few times (not too much).
Divide dough into 4 sections, depending on your size pans.
Heat pan in oven on highest setting (usually around 260*C or 500*F) for about 20 minutes, I usually do this once I'm preparing and kneading the dough. Then roll out your dough and place it in a hot pan. Gently shape to fit the pan...remember it's HOT, be careful!
Place pan back in Oven on high for 10-15 minutes. You don't want to brown your dough just cook it slightly. Just ignore my little brown spot! lol
Next it's time for toppings. Every now and again I go for making my own sauce, it's easy enough but I didn't have everything for it, so I cheated. Oh well :) I like a Garlic and Wine sauce but use whatever you like. Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Salami, Pepperoni, Sausage etc all make great toppings.
Bake on high in oven for 20 minutes or until gold and bubbly.
I love it here in Australia, I really really do. Ask my hubby, every time we go out I'm constantly commenting on how pretty it is here!!
But every now and then I find myself having a moment...a moment where I feel almost homesick. It's been 8 years since we left Virginia so I've easily dealt with missing my family and friends from there. However after leaving Virginia and moving around a bit as we have, we were still within the United States. A lot of the food was still the same at least as far as what I could buy at the store. Some veggies we like were much harder to find up north such as Ford hook Lima beans but we managed.
No my homesickness is deriving from a lack of familiarity. A lot of things here are very different, more then the obvious like dialect and driving on the "wrong" side of the road. But as some know from reading here, I'm a Foodie! I love to cook and bake and try new recipes and of course feed it to my love ones. My family really loves the fact that I'm a Foodie as they often get to enjoy the fruits of my labour.
Over the years I've spent in the kitchen I have fallen in love with certain ingredients such as Nielsen Massey Bourbon Vanilla and Spice Islands Saigon Cinnamon and let us forget Ghirardelli cocoa chips. None of which I have been able to find easily here. I often feel lost when I go to the super markets to shop. While we do enjoy the bountifulness of the freshest produce (something not often enjoyed in Alaska) I'm still "homesick" for some frequently used ingredients.
There is absolutely some fantastic foods food here in Australia, visit any corner bakery and you;ll experience it first hand. So obviously culinary cuisines can be easily created with the local ingredients available....but I guess this is one of those adjustments I must make, even though it feels more like a sacrifice, to be able to be here without my normal cooking goodies.
Hopefully over the coming years I'll be able to find many culinary delights for cooking and baking with. In the mean time...I'll simply reminisce.
Diatomaceous Earth or D.E. is what I often refer to as "God's little miracle powder", even though technically it's not a powder at all.
D.E. is actually fossilized diatoms or the remains of marine phytoplankton. It's 100% Organic and has numerous uses that are not only safe around animals but humans as well. It works through a physical action and not a chemical one. Organic gardeners often use D.E. in their gardens/farms for pest control.
It's effective uses compile a rather long list from chemical free pest control for the home and garden to natural dewormer in animals and humans.
The way D.E. works internally is so amazing yet quite simple. It is formed of rock hard (comes in at a 7 on the hardness scale, Diamonds are a 9) cylinder tubes full of holes. They are negatively charged and as they move through the body they attract and absorb viruses, toxins, drug residues, pesticides, heavy metals and e-coli then pass through the body. It's microscopically sharp edges work as little scrubbers inside the intestinal walls removing years of gunk build up and mucus, helping us absorb more nutrients from our food.
Some D.E. is absorbed into the blood stream as silica which helps in destroying bad fats and lowers cholesterol, along with numerous human uses such as lowering cholesterol and high blood pressure, detoxing your body, treating Osteoporosis, and naturally killing ridding your body of unwanted parasites. Please see the many Human Uses to find out even more.
Externally D.E. works against pest like ants, spiders, bed bugs, fleas. ticks, lice, and mites by slicing through their exoskeletons and dehydrating them causing them to die. It also slices slugs and snails keeping them out of the garden. Dust your vegetable plants such as tomatoes and peppers to keep aphids from destroying your precious plants.
Safely and effectively deworm your dog, your livestock and even yourself by adding D.E. to their feed or in your morning coffee. It works the same way by microscopically slicing up any internal parasites and causing them to die and flush through your system. Dust your poultry in D.E. to treat or simply prevent mites and lice. Dust your dog and cat to treat and prevent fleas, ticks, lice and mites (the number one cause of Demodectic, Sarcoptic and Cheyletiella mange).
When using D.E. around your home and garden always use Food Grade D.E. as there are several other D.E. products available but they have often been mucked with. D.E. labeled as a chemical insecticide has Pyrethrin added to it, and never use the one for Pool filtration systems as it has been super heated and changed from a pure absorbent silica to crystalline silica which is very toxic.
The only known harmful effect from using Food Grade D.E. is if it gets in your eyes as it is drying and can be scratchy. Or if it is inhaled, especially for those who have asthma as it can irritate the lungs.
One of the great things about D.E. is that it naturally provides Silica. Silica is naturally found in our foods and our soil however decades of over-farming and not properly taking care of the soil has caused a huge depletion of silica. Did you know that cancer can not form in cells where the silica amounts are properly balanced because silica promotes an alkaline environment and supports normal cell division? D.E. is currently being tested in Alzheimer testing as it is proven to remove heavy metal, and as Alzheimer's is believed to be connected to metal absorption in the brain...then it only makes sense.
The amount of D.E. that my family and I take is 1tbsp per day. I must also mention that the FDA has not approved D.E. for human consumption though it has been rated as "Generally Regarded as Safe." Well considering the fact that the FDA will approve everything Monsanto manufactures regarding US agriculture and the poisons in it, then D.E.'s lack of FDA approval is a good thing to me!! :) Sorry for the political vent!
There really are so many benefits to not only taking D.E. yourself but using it on your animals and around your home and garden. I urge you to give it a try!
I have awoken to a love of design that I didn't even know I had...
Pinterest! Is an amazing site that allows people to post their own photographs of their own designs or share others found through the Internet. I've been having many "Why didn't I think of that" moments recently but I'm also feeling truly inspired.
A friend of mine had mentioned this site to me over 6 months ago but I didn't get the big deal at the time. But just last week my curiosity got the better of me and now I'm hooked. If you're looking for ideas whether its decorating a room, a crochet pattern, or something inspirational like a stone path in Ireland...Pinterest has it.
From gardening to photography, from cars to baby rooms, if you're looking to be inspired, go check out Pinterest...
My current love of Kitchen designs
might have a little something to do with my "career" plans coming up in a few months.
I seem to have a thing for rustic yet very useful design.
It is such a beautiful place to live. We feel so blessed now being able to call this our home. As we drive down country streets surrounded by flowing green Vineyards and gaze upon classic country homemade signs advertising local family owned Orchards full of Raspberries, Strawberries, Cherries and Apples...I wonder how it is, that we of all people came to be so blessed. Yes I know that we worked really hard to get here and I know we prayed a lot, went without and tried our hardest to give our children what we felt was and is a better place to grow up, but it just doesn't feel real yet. This lovely country community we now reside in is even better than we could have imagined. I always wanted to live in a town with "a main street" where you could find all your local shops...no Walmart or Costco here, but there is a butcher a few bakers and while there is no candle stick maker there is a candle shop. I walk down the street and I start to know the people I say "Hello" to as I walk our children to school and back everyday. Where there are 4 distinct seasons, cows and sheep roaming green pastures and a real community feeling among everyone. Gorgeous little heritage towns like Hahndorf and Lobethal to the bigger town of Mount Barker, we really have it all right here. The Ocean is only 40 minutes away (much to my hubby's delight) and Adelaide with all the fancy shops, that I won't admit to liking - wink wink- is only 35 minutes away. We really love where we are and for the first time in my entire adult life I can actually taste a real chance of settling down on our own Hobby Farm full of sheep, cattle and chickens some day. With weeping willow trees dancing over geese filled ponds and our children running around with smiles on their faces...ok so they already to that, but you get my point.
