the one with the pizza

so, i bought some yeast a couple of weeks ago. i got this bee in my bonnet about making bread. i was going to do it. i checked out books. and every day since then, i’ve been chickening out. i’m not sure why. something about the unknown… especially when it comes to timing and stuff like that.

anyway, earlier this week, angie posted on her blog that she had made some homemade pizza using a recipe from the book, animal, vegetable, miracle which i am currently reading as well. and so i was inspired. i’ve been wanting to make our own pizza for awhile now… getting to papa murphy’s on friday afternoons/evenings is just a hassle and it’s gotta be cheaper to do it yourself, right? besides. then it’s better for you – knowing what you put into it.  and so, not to be outdone, here was tonight’s pizza:

i have to say, it was QUITE yummy. i didn’t really have any issues with the dough either. it did what it was supposed to do. of course, i deviated from the recipe a little bit – i CANNOT leave a recipe alone – and added some herbs to the flour as i was mixing them. just a little basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano. oh, and a good shake or two of garlic powder. fyi: this was a GOOD idea. so yummy… and especially since you get quite a deep dish pizza. it was like having pizza and a side of really good bread, all in one! angie made round pizzas, i made one big rectangle in my stone bar pan. i just sprinkled it with cornmeal and it didn’t stick at all. i slid the whole thing out onto my big cutting board when it was done and cut it into long, skinny rectangles on there. i used some trader joe’s pizza sauce, tillamook mozzarella, genoa salami, and black olives for most of it. if you think the far left end of it looks different, you’re right. that’s because that was MY end! in addition to the salami, my part has feta and kalamata olives! heavenly! EVERYONE liked it, and even said it was better than ‘normal’ pizza! (well, not everyone, since micah didn’t eat it. but he doesn’t eat ‘normal’ pizza either, so we don’t count his opinion.) i consider this a big complement coming from shane, who earlier today said, “i love store-bought applesauce. it’s SOOOO much better than homemade.” ugh!

anyway, all this creativeness in the kitchen did have a downside. it came in the form of a certain 2 and a half year old who apparently can now open the fridge by himself. i thought he was playing in the living room at the train table, when, in fact, he was standing next to the train table creating this lovely mess:

what is that? oh, just chocolate syrup. ON MY CREAM COLORED OTTOMAN. yup. he not only can open the fridge himself, he can unscrew the lid, turn it over, and create a mess, the implications of which are far beyond this mom’s parenting expertise. seriously! how exactly DOES one get something like this out?

only the third child, i tell you. only the third child is capable of this.