Homemade Pizza

Well, as you can see, I have not stuck to my challenge! But, I do have a good reason as to why :) Last week was a crazy week! Returning to work after 7 years of being a SAHM. . . having an exchange student trying to adjust and then having to get her packed up again (her grandfather had a massive stroke and they did not think he was going to live, so she was back on a plane, not even 5 days after being in the states!). . . . So I had vowed to start THIS week! And I had all intentions of starting Monday -- however, I must have jinxed myself!

Monday AM as I'm preparing to put the crock pot on for veggie soup that night I realized that the items in the pot were probably no longer any good, so I unplugged the pot, and when I did we had a massive white flash come from the plug! Seriously, I'm just glad I have eyebrows still! Yes, it scared the holy tar out of me! In the process of this mega flash, I melted the plug to the crock pot (*sniff*sniff* Crockpot, you served your time well, enjoy your new vacation), the pan that was on top of the toaster oven has a scar now from the plug landing no it (freaky), and the darn stove and entire wall of items were kicked off! UGH! I was not a happy camper!

So, I called NIPSCO since we have a wire plan with them (note to self: thanks for being so smart to purchase that plan -- we've used it twice now this summer alone). They sent someone out yesterday who replaced the GFS (it was toasted), and reset everything. He was a nice guy who even fixed the light switch to our porch light :) Well, after he replaced the GFS, the stove started working again (THANK GOODNESS). So, yesterday *I* made my first challenge.

Although this did not come from a cookbook, it was a nice challenge! I had purchased a pizza dough ball at Meijers a few weeks ago (frozen, of course). So I defrosted it out and used the rolling pin on it! It was much easier than using a couple boxes of Jiffy Pizza mixes! Just roll, smoosh and PRESTO :) So, Thomas and I rolled out the pizza dough (OK, so *I* rolled out the dough while Thomas played in a flour pile), slopped on some generic pizza sauce, mini pepperonis (I think TomTom ate more than we put on the pizza - ha), and then we sprinkled the cheese on the pizza.

Not only was it a cooking challenge, it was a patience challenge as Thomas was helping me. Now, had we had guests and I was cooking this pizza for them I would not have let him munch on the peperoni's while we were compiling our pizza, but it was just the four of us, so I was not too concerned (OK, for you germ-o-phobs, just disregard that). . . and we had a nice time bonding during the process! So, it was cook-a-peutic (therapeutic) :)

So, there we have it, my first challenge! I do wonder what tomorrow will bring. . . since Eluides has meetings tonight and tomorrow, WHO KNOWS! :) Stayed tuned :)