A Day (250) in the Life of... (Captured by Food) Plus Preschool-at-Home Resources

Friday was a whirlwind of a day!  I only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before, but I didn't yawn once that day--I stayed so stimulated by my surroundings (and my 2 large vats of coffee that morning) which really helped me to not feel tired.  For something new and different, I thought I'd capture some of a semi-typical day here at the Dattolos--through food.

5:15 AM--Momma's heading out the door for Group Ride at the gym, but not before eating a banana and grabbing my water and towel. :)

6:40 AM--Back home, the house is quiet.  Time to make breakfast.  It's important to me to be the first one up in the house so I can have some quiet time and get the day started right with a good breakfast and...

...COFFEE!!!

Potatoes in the pan, I am making a potato, bacon, and egg "hash."  The recipe is at the end of this post.

7:30/8:00ish--family's up and it's time for us to eat!  Starting the day off right!

9:00--A friend of mine dropped off her son for me to watch for a little while.  (Though this doesn't happen everyday, we do get together with our kids once or twice a week--literally, and like to "swap" kids occasionally to give each other a mommy-breather.)  I decided to let the kids make their own batch of apple oatmeal cookies--not sure if that qualifies me as crazy or cool... ha!

Noah with a mouthful of flour--nope, that's not sugar, bud!

Tasting their work--the approval of silence is oh, so strong!  And for the record, we did have an actual lunch after this of hot dogs, veggies, and chips--the pictures just weren't as cute as this! (The recipe for the cookies will also be at the end of this post.)

12:30--Craft project after lunch!!  The only way I could get them to not block their faces with the trees was to wave at the camera... didn't think that one all the way through, I guess!

4:30--I put together a barbeque chicken pizza for Randy and the kids' dinner.  Meanwhile, I headed to Lowell for a fab night out with my UMass sophomore cousin!

Mmm... grilled pizza!

And that would be a typical day at the Dattolo house.  Though I don't get up at 5:00 EVERYday (I have a certain schedule I try to stick to), I still like to be the first one up and I try to prepare a decent breakfast most days.  I like to keep baked goods in the house on a regular basis so we bake often.  And most of you already know about my dinners if you read this blog regularly. ;)  We spend a lot of time in the kitchen around here, and we love it!

Recap of our Week of Pre-School

Abby and I started our "apple" unit this week!  "A" is for apple, of course.  Here are some of the projects we did...

Before we started apples, we finished up reviewing our numbers 1-10.  This culminated in reading the book "Big Fat Hen" and practicing the rhyme she's known since she was 1 and a half--you know, "1, 2, buckle my shoe..."  She is tracing the numbers 1-10 here and then will glue feathers on the paper to represent the big, fat hen!

TA-DA!!!

We practice our cutting, too.  Teaching these skills is requiring a lot of patience on my part.  We pray together each day before starting school--mostly for Mommy's patience! :)  She does a good job, though!

Finally--"A" is for "Apple"!  :)  I've been waiting to start this unit!!!  Good job tracing, Abby!

We made a bright, red apple with red pieces of construction paper--much more fun than simply coloring an apple with crayon!  While we worked we sang our new song "Shiny, shiny, apple red"  (to the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star").  So cute!!!

Trying to be ultra-organized for this preschool stuff!  Abby and I BOTH love my construction paper organizer--Abby loves picking any color she wants from the beautiful array and I love how organized and tidy it makes me feel. :)
And don't forget about those fun apple trees we made on Friday!!!  I try to incorporate baking and cooking into our day because that's instruction for her, too.  I love that I get to teach and be Mommy all in one!

Apple Oatmeal Cookies
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 cup oats
1 cup chopped apples

Cream together the sugars and butter.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Pour in the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and stir all ingredients together well.  Fold in the apples and and oats.  Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes.

This upcoming week, Abby and I will finish our unit on apples and transition into "A" is for "animals."  We have another apple pie project to do and I will try to include some downloads of awesome apple worksheets for preschool that we've been doing, also!  Stay tuned!

Recipes from Above:

Potato, Bacon, Egg Hash
4-5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
5-6 slices of bacon, chopped
2-3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp steak seasoning
6-7 eggs, whisked together
1 cup cheddar jack cheese
salt, pepper
vegetable oil

In a large, cast iron skillet, drizzle some vegetable oil and add the chopped potatoes to cook over medium heat.  Preheat the oven to 350*.  Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and steak seasoning.  When the potatoes have been sizzling for about 7 minutes and the oven is to temperature, put the skillet in the oven and let the potatoes bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until slightly tender. 
Once the potatoes are out of the oven, return them to medium-high stove heat to crisp up the outside of the chunks. Add the bacon to the skillet and let the bacon and potatoes crisp up simultaneously.  Once the bacon is crisp, add the eggs and re-season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the scallions and half of the cheese and move the eggs around to scramble them.  Once the eggs are cooked, pour the rest of the cheese over the top of the skillet and return it to the oven to melt the cheese on top.  Serve hot.

Barbeque Chicken Pizza
I used my recipe for pizza dough for this pizza.  That recipe makes 2 pizzas worth of dough and I had 1 round left in the freezer so it thawed all day.  I also had leftover barbequed chicken breasts in the fridge so of course I was making barbeque chicken pizza.  I ended up buying the pizza sauce since I haven't had time to make my own sauce since the move.  These ingredients combined with fresh mozzarella cheese made for a great pizza!

Pizza Weekend! (Days 152-154)

It was a weekend of pizzas!  And not all from scratch.  Nope.  I used A LOT of help from my good friends at Pillsbury. ;) 
We started the weekend by hitting up Pizza Hut--a little "celebration" of my last day of school!  That would be Day 152.
Saturday we had a high school graduation party in the family.  I was asked to bring fruit pizzas--which are simple and delicious!  Here's the recipe:

Fruit Pizza
For the crust:
Pillsbury sugar cookie dough.  (yep!)

For the filling: (same recipe as the gluten-free fruit tarts I made in May)
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
3 TB honey
1 TB apricot preserves
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 TB milk

Fruit: strawberries, kiwis, grapes, blueberries

Slice the roll of sugar cookie dough and arrange in a circle or rectangle (depending on your pan) on a baking sheet.  Either with a rolling pin or your palms, press the dough so it all comes together as one crust.  Bake according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, slice the strawberries, kiwis, and halve the grapes.  With an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients for the filling.
When the crust comes out of the oven, let it cool completely.  Then spread the filling over the top and arrange the fruit however you like.

You can find a few more of my designs here.

On Sunday (Day 154), I made a Pampered Chef pizza recipe which also utilizes the help of Pillsbury.  Normally, I would make my own pizza crust (which totally works for this recipe), but I just didn't have time this weekend!  This pizza is healthy, delicious, and very simple to make!  Here is a 3-Cheese Garden Pizza.

3-Cheese Garden Pizza
1 roll of Pillsbury pizza crust
2 cups "3-cheese pizza blend" shredded cheese (They sell packages of this, or you could also shred your own cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses to use.)
1 zucchini, sliced
5 small white mushrooms, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
approx. 1 tsp. each of: dried basil, dried oregano, and dried parsley
1-2 TB olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced

Roll out the pizza dough onto your baking sheet.  Preheat the oven to 375*.  Mix the olive oil and minced garlic.  Spread on the dough and bake for about 7-8 minutes.  When the dough comes out, arrange the sliced vegetables on top.  In a bowl, combine the cheeses and the dried herbs.  Sprinkle this mixture over the vegetables.  Bake for another 10-12 minutes or until all of the cheese is melted.  (I made 2 pizzas: one with onions and one without!) 

I served this with my broccoli salad and vegan brownies.  Yum!

Days 115-119: TBT & My West Coast Pizza

Wow!  I have a lot to catch up on!!! Well, I have good reason, I think.  I have 2 catering "gigs" I've been working on, plus Noah's 1st birthday coming up.  Not to mention the regular rigors of the day-to-day and we are getting into graduation/cookout season so things are starting to pick up on the social calendar.  Whew!  The Dattolos have been busy.
I'm particularly proud to feature my own recipe for a West Coast style pizza in today's post and the rest of it will be a quick overview of our other dinners.  Dinners this past week and in the coming week will be fast, furious, and cheap.  Whenever I have a party to cook for (like Noah's) or other catering jobs, my family dinners take a minor hit.  We have to eat simply because I'm not about to prepare a 4-course meal while I'm also preparing a banquet for someone else, and they have to be cheap when I'm purchasing food for our own upcoming party.  So I have one recipe to share from you today, then I'll share a recipe from my most recent catering gig and after that, I believe I have about 1 new original recipe coming up this week before Noah's party and that's about it.  So savor these few recipes in the upcoming week(s) and happy cooking!!! :)

Day 115 (Wednesday): Tonight featured my "ThrowBack Thursday" (yes, on a Wednesday) meal--turkey sausage lasagna.  I re-vamped the post for this recipe and re-posted it on Thursday.  For the recipe and new pictures, see the link.

Day 116 (Thursday): Bethany's West Coast Pizza (see recipe & pictures below)

Day 117 (Friday):  How lucky am I to be able to eat fantastic meals in the name of "research?"  :)  A friend of mine and I went out for dinner tonight and I was debating between a salad, the pasta dish I normally get, or a new shrimp scampi that was featured with summer vegetables.  I opted for the 3rd choice.  I was not disappointed.  It was delicious and definitely provided inspiration for a future home-cooked meal!

Day 118 (Saturday):  Well I spent most of the day (and evening) cooking for a luncheon on Sunday (one of my catering gigs).  So naturally, we ordered pizza for supper!  I'll include pictures from the luncheon and a recipe for a new dish in tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned!

Day 119 (Sunday--today):  Luncheon and graduation party!  It was a busy but wonderful day!!!  I spent the morning cooking and making sure I was ready for the luncheon I catered and beyond that, started to prepare for my next gig, and then relaxed at a graduation party held at a local (Fitchburg) martini bar.  What a great time!

Bethany's West Coast Pizza
This recipe is inspired by Randy and my recent trip to California where we shared a "West Coast Combo" pizza that was excellent!  This incorporates all of the ingredients of that pizza except the mushrooms.  It was delicious and brought back fond memories!
 
pizza dough
2 chicken breasts, grilled and cubed
pepperoni
sliced tomato
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
4-5 pieces of cooked bacon, broken up
fresh basil, julianne (sliced in strips)
2 cups cheddar jack cheese
Ranch dressing
drizzle of barbeque sauce

1. Drizzle a pizza stone with olive oil.

2. Place the dough on the stone and roll it out to cover completely.  Bake the dough in a 400* oven for about 8 minutes then remove.

3.  Grill the chicken then cut it in cubes or shreds.

4. Brush ranch dressing on the crust.

5. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese on the crust.

6.  Spread the chicken over the cheese and crust.

7. Top with the pepperoni, sliced tomato, and red onion. And sprinkle with the bacon and fresh basil.

8.Top with the remaining cheese and drizzle with barbeque sauce.

9. Bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Day 76: Hawaiian Pizza

Hawaiian pizza has always been one of my favorite types of pizza.  I just love it!  So whenever I know I'm making a meal with ham one week, I try to sneak in a pizza night so we can have Hawaiian and I can use up the rest of the ham.  Since we had ham & corn turnovers the other night, it was time for another Hawaiian pizza.  I have to give the credit to my wonderful husband, however.  He did it ALL.  I filled my Saturday with a haircut, baby shower, and shopping with my mom and got home later than expected.  Randy made the pizza dough early in the day, then he and Abby made the pizza.  For toppings we use pizza sauce (store bought or homemade sauce), fresh mozzarella cheese, canned pineapple chunks, and ham.  Bake at 400* for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

When I got home, my family was sitting and eating dinner.  Abby was so excited to tell me that they were having pizza and that she helped Daddy make it.  Later that night while I was putting her pajamas on her, I said,
"You did a good job helping Daddy in the kitchen today, didn't you?"
"Yeah!"
"Are you going to be a cook like Mommy?"
"Umm, no."
"No?  What are you going to be?"
"Umm, I'm going to be a dog!  Woof woof!!!"
I just love conversations with a 2-year-old, especially mine! :)

Day 27: Sausage/Pepperoni Pizza & Salad

Our homemade pizza may not be like whatever local place serves the best pie, but it's cheap, fun, and we like it!  Making pizza at home is fun with a child, too.  Abby enjoys sprinkling ingredients on top of a pizza and it's an easy job to let a little one do. :)

My recipe for pizza dough makes enough for 2 pizzas.  So today I simply pulled the other round of dough out of the freezer to start tonight's pizza.  The recipe for pizza dough can be found in Day 13.

Normally, I like to just use my spaghetti sauce for pizza sauce.  I try to keep a steady supply of just sauce (no meatballs) in the freezer.  But on occasion, I run out and want to make a pizza before I have a day to replenish the sauce.  Or, like today, I DO have sauce in the freezer, but forget and buy store brand pizza sauce anyway.  :/  Fail.  Oh well, when that happens, I add some dried oregano and basil to the sauce before using it on the pizza.

We have 3 stone pans: 2 large bar pans and 1 round pizza stone.  We flip back and forth between the rectangular and circular shaped pizzas.  Adding a little cornmeal to the ban before rolling the dough on top keeps it from sticking and makes it feel (just a little) like the pizzas from a pizzeria.

I use fresh mozzarella cheese.  It's stringy and gooey and you get that nice string of cheese when you take a bite.  Mm-mm good!  We're partial to meat toppings, so tonight we used pepperoni and crumbled breakfast sausage.  It was delicious.  I served a green salad to go along side. 

Everyone gather 'round the coffee table, it's pizza and a movie night!

Day 13: Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Pizza

I'm starting to realize just how much of my food is actually inspired by my husband.  As someone who loves to cook, it's wonderful being married to someone who loves to eat!  This is another recipe I saw on TV or somewhere one time and thought, "Randy would LOVE that."  And he sure does!

It takes practice to make a good alfredo sauce, I find.  But once you understand how it all comes together, and the timing of it in your own kitchen, it's not hard at all!

I also make my own pizza dough from time to time.  It's cheap, and my recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas, so I freeze half of the dough for another pizza later.  But I also love Pillsbury pizza dough for it's convenience.  It also tastes great!

Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Pizza ("White Pizza")

pizza dough
olive oil & garlic powder
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TB butter
1 TB flour
red pepper flakes
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 chicken breasts, cooked & chopped
fresh spinach
grape tomatoes, halved (if you have the time, it helps to par-boil the tomatoes and peel off the skin, but it's not a necessary step)
mozzarella cheese

Heat the oven to 425*.  Roll out the pizza dough on a stone pan.  Mix the oil and garlic powder and spread on the dough.  Bake in the oven about 6-8 minutes.  While the dough of baking, make the alfredo sauce.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook until fragrant.  Add the flour (the more flour, the thicker the sauce) and cook down until dark blonde in color. (about 1-2 minutes)  Add the heavy cream.  Increase the heat so the sauce bubbles, stirring constantly, then immediately reduce the heat to low.  The sauce should be thickened by now.  Add the parmesan cheese and stir to combine.  Top the pizza dough with the sauce, then the chicken, spinach, tomatoes, and grated mozzarella cheese.  Reduce the oven to 375* and bake the pizza for about 20 minutes.

Pizza Dough
2 pkgs yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 cups warm water (110*)
2 TB kosher salt
6 cups flour
2 TB olive oil

Combine the yeast, sugar, and water, and let stand about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in the salt and olive oil and begin mixing in the flour.  When it becomes too stiff to stir with a spoon, knead in the rest of the flour by hand, adding just enough flour so the dough isn't too sticky.  Form the dough into a round ant put into a lightly oiled bowl, turning it to coat the dough with oil.  Cover and let rise about 1 hour, or until double in size.