Pizza

More catchup, here's some pizza i made a while ago, I promise it only looks ugly, it's super tasty.

1. Combine 8oz flour, 1tsp sugar, 1/2tsp salt and 1 packet of yeast in a large bowl.
2. Combine1tblsp. olive oil, 3fl oz. milk and 1/3cup warm water, and then mix them into the above dry ingredients, knead for 5 minutes.
3. Put your dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, rolling the dough around to get it covered. Cover and let rest for 1 hour in a warm place..
4. Meanwhile make a tomato sauce by cooking a finely chopped onion and some garlic until it changes color, add fresh tomato's, salt, basil and whatever else you think tastes good in a sauce. Simmer until it's turning into sauce.
5. After 1 hour, punch down the dough ball to expel the air and knead for a few minutes. Roll the dough out to around 12 inches in diameter. Spread the sauce over the dough, along with any other topping you wish to add. In this case we did some sliced green peppers and fresh mozzerella.
6. Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes at 415F, or until crispy and bubbling.

November Chili Cook-Off

The last freezer post motivated me to do something with the 5.14 pounds of ground beef sitting in the freezer.

There is enough ground beef for us to make two different chili recipes, each from our trusted cookbooks. One is a crockpot chili (1 lb ground beef) and the other is a mega batch (4 lbs!!) that cooks on the stove.

It will take a while for the beef to thaw so it will be a day or two until you hear about the results.

We Love Our Mini Deep-Freezer!

We have been really slack in adding new posts to Big Eats these last few weeks. During that time we were occasionally using up our variety of homemade frozen meals to make room in the freezer for a new round of recipes.

Last summer, we purchased a small 3-cubic foot freezer from a church rummage sale for 50 bucks. It is about the size of a mini-bar fridge. The previous owner didn't bother to clean it, likely ignored the "growing" problem inside, and in a last ditch of desperation, must have decided to sell it instead of properly cleaning it.


As the saying goes, one persons trash is another man's treasure. In this case, we saw the diamond in the rough, and it's been worth every penny. With a little bit of time to let it air out outside, some elbow grease, and determination, we ended up with a great appliance to supplement our small kitchen.

Our trusty little freezer gives us space for our homemade broths....meat, poultry, and fish...homemade ravioli...berries and fruit for dessert...soups...Jonathon's homemade bread dough..... Are you guys hungry yet?

Preparing meals and freezing them ahead for later use has been a lifesaver for us this year.

• Economically: we are less tempted to cave to the easy-way-out and order takeout or eat at restaurant. We also get more for our money, as meals can easily be doubled.
  
• Health: this year has been a year for improving our eating and exercise habits. Knowing what is in your food and where it comes from is important and gives you the control over what you put into your body.
• Mental Will-Power: Sometimes a person just doesn't feel like cooking. There's times where we have lost inspiration for cooking, so we fall back on our freezer meals. When we are in cooking mode, that's when we enjoy the fresh meal but also freeze the leftovers for another day.
• TIME!!! Fast food could be considered a necessity these days...but that doesn't mean fast food has to be less than healthful.

In later posts, we'll give you a glimpse of the cookbooks in our culinary arsenal. Stay tuned!