Make Your Own Pizza!

Yeast is something I've never had the desire to work with - too many things can go wrong and ruin your dish. However, this easy pizza dough recipe is so easy AND tasty, you'll never want to buy take-out pizza again! Mini-chefs will love mixing, kneeding, rolling and topping their very own pizza - and you shouldn't have any problems getting them to eat it either!

This recipe makes enough dough for 2 family sized pizzas, or 6 individual serves.

Pizza Dough
4 cups plain flour
2 x 7 or 8gm sachet of yeast
2 teaspoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups warm water

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine water and oil in a jug, and whisk together as best you can.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and gradually add the oil and water.

Mix to a soft dough.

Knead dough on a floured surface until soft and pliable.

Return to the bowl, and cover with gladwrap or a teatowel.

Sit in a warm place for AT LEAST 30 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size.

When the dough has risen, punch it down to remove air bubbles, and gently kneed.

Roll dough out into required sizes, and add favourite toppings.

Bake for 8-15 minutes (depending on thickness of the dough, and how much crunch you like on your crust!) & enjoy!

Our girls top their pizza's with tomato paste, ham, cabanossi, pineapple and cheese. Vicki added carrot sticks to hers to make a clock pizza, as shown above (left).

Mum, dad and Cyndi like to mix it up a bit with onion, capsicum, mushrooms, BBQ sauce and chicken!

Yummy Peach Crumble

Desserts are a favourite in our house, especially with my Dadboss! I adapted this recipe from a 'Super Food Ideas' recipe. This is a simple dessert that you can prepare the crumble for earlier in the day, and pop into the oven to cook as you eat your dinner! Little Penny loves mixing up the dry ingredients for this crumble!

Serves 6!

1 large tin (450gm) of peaches (drained)
2 multigrain weetbix
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup Flora Margarine Spread

Heat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan-forced). Grease a 6-cup capacity baking dish and place peaches in the base of the dish.

Finely crumble the weetbix into a bowl; add flour, rolled oats, sugar and cinnamon, and mix to combine. Rub the margarine into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Pour crumble mixture onto the peaches, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

Teeny Tiny Pink Cupcakes

Everyone in the house loves cake! I love the intricate and delicate icing involved in babycakes, not to mention that they are a basically guiltless treat, as they are so tiny! They are great for school lunches, and the girls love them as and afternoon tea treat when they have friends over for tea parties!

Makes 24!

Babycakes with Pink Strawberry Butter Frosting

Cakes
1 cup self-raising flour
3/8 cup caster sugar (1/4 cup + 1/8 cup)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/8 cup milk
65gm butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp vanilla escence)

Frosting
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature, chopped
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoons milk
Strawberry Essence
Red Food Colouring
Sprinkles of Your Choice
(or you can use a pre-made frosting, such as Betty Crockers Vanilla Frosting, 453gm, if you prefer)

Babycakes with Pink Glaze Icing

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
Line 24 mini muffin pans with paper cases.

Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Combine the milk, butter, egg and vanilla in a seperate bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just combined.
Spoon the mixture among the prepared muffin pans.
Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean.
Set aside for 2-3 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack. Set aside until completely cooled (approx 1hr).

To make the frosting, using an electric mixer, beat butter until white and creamy. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix well. Add a few drops of strawberry essence, and, if you would like a deeper pink colour, a few drops of red food colouring. Add enough milk to make icing spreadable.

Cut the corner off a sandwich-sized ziplock bag. If you cut some small "teeth" into it you will get the piping bag look when you ice your babycakes. Spoon the icing into the ziplock bag, and swirl on top of the cooled cakes. Sprinkle the cupcakes with your choice of sprinkles. ENJOY!

If you prefer a lighter icing, omit the butter from the recipe, and mix the icing sugar with the required amount of milk to make a spreadable glaze (as seen in the 2nd picture).]

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I've been looking for a new project for some time, and if you know me, you know that I love to bake and cook. I'm a nanny - I cook dinner 4 nights a week, and my charges love to get into the kitchen with their little aprons on and help me whip up a treat! So I've decided to create this blog to share some of my wonderful food creations with you!