P-I-Z-Z-A

Hey hey!

Wow, so major fail on my part. I had no idea how busy I would be in Utah, and I had no idea how little access I would have to a computer. I’m so sorry for the lack of posts, but sometimes I just gotta live my life and not be tied down by a computer. 🙂

My week in Utah was… bittersweet. I had such a wonderful time visiting family and friends, but it was one of THE hardest trips in my whole entire life. I had to say goodbye to my older brother for two years which was beyond difficult. He is one of my closest, best friends and I miss him more than words can say. When we finally left Utah, it was also hard to say goodbye to my sweet 86-year-old grandma. She is in a nursing home, and she is so dear to me.

Aside from the sadness, I did have a lot of fun. My last few days with my older brother were excellent, and it was great to spend so much time with my family. The Lord has blessed me with some strong people in my life, and I look forward to becoming even closer with them over these next few years. 🙂

Well, I guess I’m due for a recap, eh? I’ll go ahead and finish the post I meant to post before I left! Goodness gracious.

Because of the newly-released Larabar flavors, cookie dough has been the topic of many bloggers‘ posts. I then, of course, had it on the brain, so I decided to satisfy my craving.

I really didn’t have a set recipe; I just kind of took little bits here and there from other recipes. Basically it was:

• Raw cashews
• Raw almonds
• 2 pitted dates
• Sprinkle of sea salt
• Dark chocolate chunks

all processed together in a mini food processor and formed into a ball. Yes, I only made one serving… I felt like experimenting. 🙂

I didn’t quite believe that nuts and dates could achieve the same flavor as flour, butter and sugar, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much it DID taste like cookie dough. It was very good, and I would for sure make it again. 🙂

Hmm, let’s see. For one of my breakfasts, I made Katie’s Strawberry Shortcake in a Bowl. I make Katie’s recipes a lot..

1/2 cup cooked oats blended together with some strawberries, almond milk and NuNaturals Stevia. Topped with some pecans and a little bit of dark chocolate. 🙂 Holy yum. Also, that is a chocolate protein shake on the side.

Pecans have quickly become one of my all-time favorite nuts. Just sayin’.

On another note, I drove for the first time a few weeks ago! My dear friend and “big sister,” Rachel, took me to practice in a parking lot and it was a lot of fun. 🙂

After driving for about an hour, we came home and made pizza from scratch. We had made the dough before we left so it could rise while we were gone, and it was ready when we came back!

I wish I could find the exact recipe we used, because it turned out sooo well. I have it bookmarked on the other computer, but it’s currently down. Darn. The crust basically consisted of (if I can remember correctly. It was over 2 weeks ago):

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp quick-rise yeast
• 1/4 cup honey
• vital wheat gluten
• salt
• olive oil
• warm water

We rolled out the dough on my countertop, put it in a jelly roll pan–we wanted square pizza–and topped it with some sauce.

Next, the toppings! Squash, zucchini, green/red peppers, spinach, tomatoes, and pineapple for me. Rachel was a little weirded out by pineapple on pizza, but I love it! What about you? Are you a POP (pineapple on pizza) person or do you think the tropical fruit was meant to be eaten on its own?

Chopping some veggies. 🙂

I’d never cut peppers like this before, and I was quite amused by the flower-like shape they took on. What can I say, I’m easy to please.

Our beautiful pizza all ready to go in the oven. For cheese, we put mozzarella on Rachel’s half and Daiya Mozza “Cheese” Shreds on my half.

Oh my heck, have you other vegans/dairy-avoiders ever tried Daiya? I picked this bag up at Whole Foods and I am absolutely, positively in love. It is all-natural and it tastes incredible. I was amazed at how much it tasted like mozzarella, and don’t even get me started on the melting properties of this stuff. When I put it on my pizza, it melted perfectly and came out creamy and delicious. I was so surprised at the texture, which almost resembled a smooth, slightly thicker alfredo sauce. Ahh. I can’t wait to try the cheddar.

Daiya + Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chip nachos.

The oven does a much better job at melting than the microwave does.

But back to the pizza. After 25 minutes or so in the oven, our beloved pizza was done!

You can tell which side is mine by looking for the pineapple. 🙂

My delectable half.

Rachel’s half, which I’m assuming was delectable as well.

Oh. My. Goodness. Hands down the BEST pizza I have ever had. Homemade truly is the stuff, kids.

Made-from-scratch, all-natural, fluffy whole wheat pizza dough; my favorite veggie toppings; and creamy, smooth Daiya cheese. Um, can it get any better? I think not. Heaven.

Uhh, here’s some random pancakes I ate. I have some pictures of them, but I don’t remember them being all too exciting. I think there were strawberries and blueberries in the pancakes.

Oh, the day after my wonderful pizza adventure, our wonderful, generous friend offered to cut my hair! I went from this:

To this:

Lol, I look so serious. Hooray! This is the first time I’ve had bangs since I was 12-years-old and I am so happy with them. I have wanted this cut (shorter, lots of layers and side-swept bangs) for a very long time, but I never got it because I was afraid it wouldn’t look right on me. I’m very pleased with it!

My mom got her hair cut, too, but I don’t have any before pics for you. Here are some after ones though, because we recently got family pictures taken. 🙂

From left to right: my little brother Dakota, me, my mom and my older brother Brady.

We are a happy family.

I love them. A lot.

Me and my older brother, Brady. I miss him. ❤

Can’t touch this. 🙂

Hahaha, I love this picture. We are certainly goofballs.

❤

In parting, here are some random doggy-love pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Chansey, our lab mix, is on the floor, and..

Schatize, my pomeranian, is on the couch. His name is pronounced shot-see; it’s German for “my treasure.” 🙂

Also, in case you were wondering: yes, Chansey IS named after the Pokemon. Long story. 🙂

Well, I think that just about wraps this recap up. It’s gettin’ pretty long, but I hope you enjoyed it. I have missed blogging and all my wonderful blog friends, so hopefully I’ll get a few more posts up this week. I’m leaving again next week for a homeschool camp, but perhaps I will schedule some posts to go up. That’d be good. 🙂

By the way, my college classes officially started yesterday! I got all registered and started doing the work. For those of you who didn’t know, I’m taking online community college classes this semester and I’m very excited about it. The state of Texas pays for me to take two “dual-credit” classes, which basically means that I can take college classes as a high school student. The classes will not only count as high school work, but they will also count as college credits. Pretty cool, huh? I’m taking U.S. History and Kinesiology: Personal and Community Health. In the third or so week of Kinesiology there are two chapters devoted to health and nutrition–needless to say, I am very excited.

Question of the Day: Have you ever made homemade pizza before? Did you like it? (Silly question.)

Question of the Day 2: Summer is officially over!! 😦 How was your summer overall? What was the highlight? What did you do?

Question of the Day 3: Do you have any animals? 🙂

Question of the Day 4: What was your best/worst hair cut? Any crazy, hilarious, sad stories? Let me know. 🙂

Thanks for reading!