Pizza Night: #3

Pizza Night at the MooreBabies household is brought us by Pizza Hut... no literally, we had Pizza Hut for dinner. I was REALLY considering making pizza, but our kitchen was in complete disarray.  So my new quest (to find the best pizza recipe) is on hold for a week.

We have a 1400 sq ft house... and when you take away 200 of that, things get a little tight. Add to that 4 adults (my parents came to help) and 2 children (plus all of the baby gear), it's just about unlivable.

Our kitchen table was moved about 1.5 feet towards the cabinets,  part of the couch was moved so it backed up to the table, the exersaucer was kept either in the middle of the kitchen floor when Jillie was in it, or propped out of the way on of the small sections of couch that was also crammed next to the kitchen table. Lastly, the counters were full of tile laying and cleaning gear. We determined that making pizza would be too difficult and messy.

Pizza (and movie) Night #3: EASY (well in regards to the pizza)!
I must say that Pizza Hut's Pan pizza was oh-so-yummy... and very convenient!
Movie: The Lion King

It's a good thing we have a large TV or we would have had to break out the binoculars to see the movie.

Picture taken from location of TV

Notice our laboradoodle Duke looking in through the french doors forlornly (above). He was banished to the backyard during our home improvement project.

I am already looking for a recipe for this week's pizza night! Let me know if you have any favorites!

Stay tuned for a post on our super-fun (mmm right) home improvement project!

Don't forget to enter my 100 followers giveaway! They have some awesome stuff!! It's easy, only 2 mandatory entires :)

Happy Mother's Day indeed!

Hello fellow moms! Happy Mother's Day!
I hope you have a fantastic, relaxing, and loved Mother's Day.

My mother's day is fantastic already!! First of all, MY Mom & Dad are in town... fun; pulling carpet and putting down tile... less fun (more on this at a later date)! Also, I got the most awesome-est (is it cool if I make up words here?) Mother's Day gift from my in-laws.  Remember, I'm taking the Wilton Cake Decorating class? Well, last week at class, my mother-in-law and I were flipping through the Course 1 book and on the very last page was the Ultimate Decorating Set that contains 177 pieces. So of course we ooh'd and aah'd about how fun that would be and what awesome-ness you could make! I mean seriously, take a look at this thing:

Photo from Wilton.com

Well, I'm sure you can tell where I am going with this... YUP! I get home from the grocery yesterday and I see my father-in-law sneaking out of my house. I say "Hey Bob... how's it going?" And he says, "Good... just dropping off some fruit that Cheryl got for your guys... and a small Mothers day gift". Small?!WOW! Not only did they get me the incredible set... I look through the bag and see the rotating cake tray, and... wait for it... TIP 789 

Photo from Joann.com

Happy dance, happy dance!

Ok... that's not all. From hubby (ok, so I picked it out and ordered it and told him what he got me) I got a custom silver and pearl bracelet with my girls names on it from one of my girlfriends etsy shops.

Photo from Bellaro Designs on Etsy

Only, mine have my girls names on it (of course) and I just got the pearl, no Swarovski crystals.
If you have a chance, go check out Bellaro Designs on etsy; my girlfriend makes these gorgeous bracelets for adults and kids. She made my daughter a bracelet for her birthday with her initials on it which she LOVES. WhileI was perusing her shop, I was debating between the mommy bracelets (with children's names on them) or the sports team fashionista one... hmmm our anniversary is coming up....

If you get a chance, definitely go check out Bellaro Designs on etsy, you won't be disappointed.

I would LOVE it if you entered my 100 followers giveaway!

Wilton Cake Decorating Class: Week 1

My mother-in-law and I had our very first Wilton Cake Decorating Class this past Tuesday night at the local Joann Fabric store. We took Course 1: Decorating Basics.

I REALLY wanted to take the Fondant class (or at least the flowers class) because I have never done any of that before, but apparently you have to start with Course 1...so I was a little skeptical going into the class.

I feel that I know "decorating basics", I've made the Duckie cake for Charlotte's 1st birthday (2 of them actually)...

and mom and I made the Minnie Mouse for her 2nd birthday, but I was still excited and off to class I went.

Our instructor started off by making icing (done that), but then she discussed thinning it down and what consistency to use for different decorating... so that was new to me, sweet. She then discussed Royal icing, but I'm a pro (ok not really) at Royal icing.

We used decorating bags and couplers, both of which I'm very familiar with.

But THEN she whipped out this fancy shmancy new (to me) tip for icing the cake...


Tip 789

How awesome is this thing? It will cover a 1-layer cake (sides and all) in like 30 seconds. I am TOTALLY going to go get one of these things (of course it didn't come in the "Course 1 kit" that we had to buy).
Go here to see a video of how to cover a cake using this tip.

We then got out our practice board and started doing stars and dots; this was kind of boring to me because, like I said... I've done it before.

THEN we got to decorate some sugar cookies. This was pretty fun! They had samples in the book, so it was pretty easy. My problem is that I can do the stuff... but coming up with the ideas is where I get stuck. Check them out, not bad for class 1 of Course 1 (other than my star... it looks a little off):

I have decided to do some cookies like this for a baby shower coming up. I'll do the dots in color and add life savers as wheels on the bottom of the baby carriage.

Also, I've already decided to do some like these (using lots of colors) for Jillie's 1st birthday for party favors.

Most of my classmates were definite decorating newbies so I'm sure they got a LOT out of this first class, but personally, I think I would get just as much as if I have just purchased the "Lesson Plan - Decorating Basics" and didn't go to this first class. However, the good thing about class was that you have 2 hours to practice and play around with the stuff because, lets be honest... how often would we be able to sit around your house for 2 hours doing ANYTHING without interruption.

I'm really looking forward to next weeks class; we will be decoratings 8 inch cakes!

Other posts in this series:
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

Don't forget about my 100 followers giveaway! I would LOVE it if you entered... they've got some GREAT stuff!

Featured Host at "Who in the World? Wednesday" Blog hop

Guess who is the featured host for "Who in the World? Wednesday" blog hop this week... yup... ME!

The "Who in the World? Wednesday" Blog hop is hosted by Chronicles of a crazy mom, The Coupon Cutie and Mommy Does. Stop on over and find some new friends!

Here is my Bio:

Featured Host 5/4/11

Stevie from The Moore Babies

A little about Stevie:  I am a Computer programmer turned stay-at-home mom of two young daughters. I am married to my best friend, an Army National Guardsman, who recently completed a 1 year deployment and we are looking forward to making up for lost time as a family and a couple. I consider myself to be a pretty darn good cook, an on-and-off neat freak, a thrifty spender, a slight computer nerd, and a novice crafter.
I keep myself WAY too busy between church 4 times a week, yes you read that correct... there is Church on Sundays, mom's morning workout on Tuesdays, pre pre school Wednesdays for my eldest, and Bible study on Fridays. When I'm not going to church, I'm hitting the gym 3 times a week, driving the girls around to playdates at parks, pools, indoor gyms, and houses (or hosting playdates at my house), trying to keep the house clean, make sure the hubby and girls have clothes to wear, run errands, cook, and I even manage to squeeze in some crafting time.
I revamped my blog in February from a posting-videos-occasionally-for-family blog to a craft-recipes-product review-giveaway(1st one woo hoo)-with a little bit of family blog. I do hope you will stop by and find something of interest!
Stevie

Pizza Night #2 - Margherita Pizza

Last week I announced my new quest... to find the best sauce for our weekly pizza & movie nights.

This weeks recipe was MUCH better than last weeks.. but again I sort of waited until the last minute to get ready for pizza night. I decided to attempt a Margerita Pizza, so off to google I went and found a few recipes.

Let me just start by saying the trip to the store was .... different and sort of annoying. Anyway, I drove to Publix, and chatted with my mom during the 5 minute trip... as I am pulling into Publix I look to see Charlotte had fallen asleep (little one was home with Hubby). I park the car and pick her up, expecting her to wake up when I tell her she is going to ride in the 'vroom vroom car'. But she didn't. So I put her in big plastic car section (knowing when she woke up she'd be glad she was in the Car cart) and lean her against my diaper bag and head into the store.

• 14oz can whole tomatoes - check
• Garlic - check
• fresh mozzarella - check
• basil.... hmm no baggies of fresh basil....
• Ok, lets try, little basil plant (that Publix usually sells).... hmm, no plants either.
• Last shot, I asked the produce guy if they have any basil... and nope nada.

You can't make a Margherita pizza without basil (right?). Well, I didn't want to risk it.

I check out with my items (minus basil) and sleeping child, get back to the car, load the car, put sleeping child back into the car seat and put the car away.

I decide that I probably do need basil, so I drive (literally) across the street to SweetBay and carry the sleeping child into the store. As I wandered about their produce section I got nervous... no basil!? Is there a basil shortage that I do not know of? C'mon people!

FINALLY I find a little basil plant for $2.  Phew! I pay for my plant and put the STILL sleeping Charlotte back into her car seat and drive home. He, my little basil plant, now lives on top of Charlotte's Pottery Barn Kitchen refrigerator along with another plant I'm attempting to bring back to life. My thumbs are NOT GREEN! Let's hope he lives!

THIS WEEKS RECIPE
Again, I used the Publix pizza dough that I picked up in the bakery section, but I only used half of it!! Unfortunately, I goofed and as I brought it out to "rest for an hour" before baking, I didn't cover it. So the dough got sort of crusty. Mental note.... don't do that again!

Pizza Margherita
Epicurious.com
tweaked by me

• 1 (14-to 15-ounces) can whole tomatoes in juice (not sure if mine was "in juice". probably)
• 2 large garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 basil leaves plus more for sprinkling (torn)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (or as thin as I could cut them)

Tomato Sauce: Pulse tomatoes with juice in a blender briefly to make a chunky purée.

Cook garlic in oil in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat until fragrant and pale golden, about 2 minutes. Add tomato purée, basil, sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to about 3/4 cup, about 40 minutes. Season with salt and cool.

I then spooned it ALL onto the dough, laid the mozzarella down (I didn't need all 6 ounces because I only made half a pizza), put more basil on top, and then added some fresh grated Parmesan.

Baked at 400* for 25 minutes.

  * * * *

PS- Hubby attempted to toss the pizza dough... but between lack of skill (no offense hunny) and the sorta crusty dried out dough, we just made holes in it. ooops.

THEN it's baking time!!

Pizza (and movie) Night #2 -- Success!
Movie: Mary Poppins
Do you have any tried and true recipes that you use for pizza night?! I would love to try them. Please email or comment to let me know.

I would LOVE it if you would enter my 100 followers giveaway. Colonywear.com is an awesome site and has tons of great products!

 Linking up:Fun-day Friday

100 Followers!! You know what that means... {Giveaway}

EDITED: Giveaway has ended

No way!! I made it to 100 followers, how excited am I?
(Ok, technically I hit 100 followers on Thursday evening... but it was a busy weekend so I figured I'd wait until Monday)

This blog started out back in 2009 when our eldest was born as a way to show videos to our family (yeah... I didn't really know about YouTube's private channels). I posted every so often, but not much.

It wasn't until this past February that I decided to do something with this blog. I probably should have just started a brand new crafting/recipes/etc blog, but I didn't... oh well.

I slowly started posting a few crafts and recipes but spent most of my time browsing other blogs. THEN I kind of became obsessed -- it didn't help that hubby was off playing army for a month, so I had a bit of free time at night after the rugrats went to bed.

I don't know about you, but this whole blogging thing is actually quite time-consuming. There's the giveaways to sign up for (and to keep an eye out for if you won), there's the blog-hops to up your followers, and then there's the craft parties to show-off share your projects (but seriously, we all know that we post on those things to get an "atta-boy", and a "wow you are creative". It's a nice spirit booster!  Am I right?).

So anyway, if you guys are current followers, I probably got you via blog-hop or you found one of my projects/recipes intriguing... and I wholeheartedly thank you!!

Now on to the GIVEAWAY!
(Please bear with me, it is my first)

Today's Giveaway is brought to you by the AWESOME folks over at Colony Wear. Based in South Carolina, Colony Wear carries many popular apparel lines including custom apparel designed and distributed exclusively to Seaboard Traders (Colony Wear's parent company). They also sell bathing suit covers/ sleeping shirts, leisure wear, and flip flops. Here are a few of my favorites:

Take a look at these adorable squeaky shoes? How fun would it be for your little girl to learn to walk in these?!



What about a leather wallet for the man of the house?



How comfortable do these bathing suit covers / sleep shirts look?

  LASTLY, and this is sort of a product review...

Ok yes, these are my feet. Don't judge, I haven't had a pedicure in um... lets see.... mmmm.... it'll come to me now..... oh more than a year. These flip flops are just awesome! I have had them for about 7 or 8 months now and they are the most comfortable thing ever. They have these like squishy bumpy things that like massage the bottoms of your feet. These (obviously) are the girls version, the guys version do not have the pretty pink trim. Also, notice the emblem (Clemson paw, of course)... you can get one of like 2 hundred emblems on there. My mom got a Fleur de lis, my brothers, husband and I all have our collegiate emblem (as you can tell, we like these flip flops).

GIVEAWAY:
1 reader will win a $15 gift certificate to ColonyWear.com
RULES:
You must complete the mandatory entries for all other entires to count.
Post 1 comment for each item that you complete.

Winner will be chosen using Random.org. I will contact the winner via email; winner has to reply within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. If your email address is not in your profile please leave it in your comment.

Giveaway open until MAY 15
Mandatory:
1. "Like" Colony Wear's parent company Seaboard Traders on facebook (1 entry)
2. Sign up for Seaboard Traders mailing list (1 entry)
From Seaboard Traders

• When you sign up for our mailing list, you will receive exclusive offers & promotions for many different items across all of the Seaboard Traders of South Carolina stores.
• Your email address will NEVER be sold or shared with any 3rd-party vendors, or anyone else for that matter!
• All subscriptions are free, and you may cancel at any time by clicking unsubscribe here, or on any of our newsletters.

 Additional Entries:

1. Go to ColonyWear.com and let me know what your favorite item is. (1 entry)
2. Be a public follower of Moore Babies. (1 entry)
3. Post which recipe on Moore Babies is your favorite. (1 entry)

There you go, 5 chances to win!!

Good Luck

Pizza Night! (and my new quest)

A short while ago we started Movie Night at the MooreBabies household. It is typically Saturday, unless we are otherwise engaged (such as this past Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt at the baseball game)... so we had Movie Night on Friday.

Well THIS past week I decided to FINALLY make my own pizza. Yeah, I'm actually embarrassed to say that I (lover of pizza that I am) have never made pizza at my house. I ran to Publix and got myself some pizza dough from their bakery (tiny steps... I'll make my own pizza dough... eventually), mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. I decided to make my own pizza sauce. I didn't do much research since this was kind of last minute, and I used the following recipe:
Easy Pizza Sauce 1
I was hesitant but it got 5.5. stars...
Ingredients

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
* I added some (1.5t) sugar as a few comments suggested
Directions
1.Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Mix well and let stand several hours to let flavors blend. No cooking necessary, just spread on dough.

So now, Movie Night has turned into Pizza & Movie Night! Although I don't think we are going to make a FULL pizza each time. The dough instruction label said that it could be frozen, so I think we'll just use half or a third of the dough.

Another reason to use half or third of the dough is because I didn't get the dough thin enough on the edges, according to hubby we need to learn how to toss pizza dough (yeah, I'll let you know how THAT turns out).

For next time, (if I use this same recipe) I will use a little less oil and rosemary. The rosemary was REALLY strong to me.
Also, maybe different cheese... I bought the Kraft packaged shredded mozzarella cheese.

I am NOW on a quest for the BEST pizza recipe.

So do you guys have any good pizza recipes that you use? Sauce, dough (when I get there), topping combos! Let me know, I'd LOVE to try them out.