Pizza night! It must be a Friday

Fridays equal pizza in a lot of households, mine included. Being from New York I love a good pizza and could eat it every night. Buy my wallet did not like it when we ate pizza at least once a week so I had to fix the situation.

After many failed store bought crusts and silly recipes from the interwebs I came up with a fantastic thin crust recipe.
I guarantee this will turn out right every time if you follow the directions, no guess work involved

OM NOM NOM

For super delicious crust you need 

1/4oz packet active dry yeast

1/4 tsp sugar

3/4c water

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp onion salt/powder

1 tsp garlic salt/powder

*or season to your taste 

Steps 

Preheat oven with pizza stone to 500

Microwave water for 2 minutes 

Dissolve sugar and yeast in water and let rest for 7 minutes or until it look like this 

In a mixer with a dough hook, or bowl combine flour and seasonings

Combine yeast with flour mixture until it sets in a semi formed lump/ball

Roll dough out on a well floured surface until as thin/thick as you like

Then cut into squares/shapes if you so desire. We all like out pizza a little differently so we cut it

Bake the crust for 4 minutes, quickly take it out and add toppings 

* if desired heat up butter with garlic and spread on the crust for crunchy amazingness 

Throw it back in the oven for 6-8 minutes and BAM perfect pizza. Promise 

In case you missed it the first time

For dessert we had graham crackers topped with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips!  I was in love 

OMG

And FYI when working with flour you should really wear an apron. trust me 

Why yes, yes I am a Spartan AROO 

 

EAT YOU VEGGIES before mommy breaks

Big A has been boycotting his veggies like the plague. He refuses to eat them. I can not figure out what the heck is going on with him. So, of course he gets them at every meal to try and prompt him to eat. No amount of dip dip and cute picks are working.
Grumble


For the past two days I have given him mixed veggies for lunch and dinner. Still no dice. What is a mom supposed to do, aside from forcing them in his mouth? And I am pretty sure that would be child abuse.


Thursday's dinner was cantaloupe, steak fingers, mixed veggies, and a cheese lion. He ate everything except for the veggies.

Eww mommy. He wouldn't even try the veggies

Friday's finger foods were basically Thursday dinner reheated. He asked for it, and it saved me time so I rolled with it. Steak fingers, mixed veggie kebab, mandarin oranges (babies), and rabbit and bear cheese.

It's a rabbit, promise 

I was planning on making Lil A a lunch as well, but he passed out in the car on the way home from the doctors. Guess I'm off the hook for that one!

Awww

I love how he sleeps with his arm behind his head. Too cute.

Take out bento

Sometimes I ship lovingly take my kids off to a Kids Night out Program. It's a great program and it's $20 for both my kids and I can leave them there for 4.5 hours. What could be better?  Well, it just also happened to by my birthday
WIN WIN for everyone!

The only thing I don't enjoy is that drop off is at 6 and parents are encouraged to bring a dinner for their child. I get that it's a night out and a drive thru window might seem like a God send, but, but, but sending a kid with his own pizza (yup always happens) or sending your baby, under 15 months, with a Happy Meal and a SODA (I was enraged at this) is not always the best option for them. Can't you grab them a deli sandwich and some baked chips? Please?!?

Well, in comes my kids. They are not phased by bright colourful bags of take out because they hardly get it, and when they do I put it all nice on a plate, but Big A still likes to eat with the other kids.
Cue take out bentos!

All those berry containers or even plastic lunch mean containers sitting in your recycling bin are total game for a take and toss bento. Like when your kids go on field trips, pack a lunch instead of risking lunch boxes getting left on a bus or whatnot.

It's a pretty simple idea, but it's really hard to pack colorful foods mainly bc I try and use foods that require no refrigeration and that don't have liquid. But work with what you have and go wild!

First gather what you can safely send with out an ice pack or microwave. 

I chose
- Jelly sandwich
- Choc chip muffin bar
- Pop corn
- Fruit cookies
- and a super cold already cooked fish stick
* It's cooked so good to eat and will reach room temp by the time he eats

Before you cut anything, make sure it will fit in the container. I had to try about 13 cutters before I settled on the airplane. And then 12 cutters were taken by little hands and I am still looking for them.

Get everything all nice and cut, and put your bottom layer in the container. 

I like to use popcorn or veggie straws because it will raise everything up and make it easier for little hands to get. Then just arrange everything on top to make it fit. 

Super easy 

Now you have something you can feel good about your kids eating, and feel good about not making a silly amount of garbage on a simple lunch.dinner

Pair a dinner with snacks for both kids in their adorable reusable bags, and off they go! 

I filled the bags with frozen mini muffins from my stash for two reasons. Baby would eat them as a dinner and he is teething again so it will feel good on his gums. And they would be thawed by the time Big A finished his dinner and was ready for a snack.

See why freezer stashes are so awesome? 

If you like the bags check out Hustle mama on ETSY or you can find her on FB . I really, really, really, love mine. And with 75 fabrics to choose from plus other awesomeness? She will definitely be getting another order from me

Oh oh oh. Since it was my birthday and I am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with bentos, my awesome husband ordered me a ton of stuff (like 26 items) from Bento USA and these

I can't wait to use them! And the kids were passed out on the floor so I couldn't turn the light on to get a decent picture. oops. 

Break the box

Not really, don't break stuff. But some days I am just so done and tired I really don't want to plan a fancy bento with space fillers. 

Enter finger food friday! It's been a long standing tradition in my household. 

Pick things that can go into muffin cups, thrown on a plate and mommy can sit on the couch for 5 seconds before someone else screams for something. 

There you go, nothing fancy. A whole bunch of leftovers just made to look brand new. 

Fish sticks - gag me

Mac and Cheese from last night

Peaches with sprinkles - Big A's new obsession 

And some dip-dip. 

Doesn't get much easier than that folks.