Super Easy Pizza Dough

Pizza is my favorite food besides chocolate (and cookies). My madre is the best pizza maker West of the Mississippi as far as I'm concerned, and this is her recipe. It is very quick, and very easy. Even non-cookers/bakers can do it if they put their mind to it (no rhyme intended).

No Rise Instant Pizza Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (.25 ox or 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stir together flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Mix in water and vegetable oil. Divide dough in half. Begin using gravity to stretch the dough. Spread it on an oiled baking sheet and use a rolling pin to roll to desired shape and size. Bake 5 min, remove and poke air bubbles with a fork. Add your favorite toppings and bake another 10-20 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.

Pizza Sauce

Per Pizza-
1 can tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp oregano

Easy Pudding Cake

This is a favorite from my growing up years. My mom used to make it all the time, and I think it was the first thing I ever learned to bake. It is very easy, and very tasty. I made it on Sunday, and probably ate the half of the cake by myself...for better or for worse... :)

Pudding Cake aka Best Chocolate Cake EVER.

Prep Time: 10 Min
Baking Time: 30 Min

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
1 cake mix (chocolate)
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 c. chocolate chips

Make pudding in medium saucepan according to package instructions. Remove from heat. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add chocolate cake mix (dry) to pudding and mix just well enough to incorporate (small powder bits are fine). Spread quickly into greased and floured 9X13 inch pan. Sprinkle nuts and chips over the top and press into the batter with the back of a spatula. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you please.

Variations: Lemon cake mix with vanilla pudding and white chips, spice cake mix with butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips.

Pumpkin Desserts To Die For!

I love pumpkin. I don’t mean the literal pumpkin guts or anything. Just processed pumpkin with tons of preservatives and chocolate added. Mmmm, nothing says autumn louder than a pumpkin dessert. Last year around this time, my good friend Jesse C. brought over a plate of these divine cookies. I can still remember the blue tinted glass plate on which the cookies sat. Everything about these cookies was perfect- from their circular shape, to the balanced chocolate-pumpkin ratio, to the slightly crispy outside and the perfectly gooey inside. I highly recommend these cookies. Thanks for saving they day yet again, Jesse.

Total Prep Time: 7 Min
Total Cook Time: 10 Min
Total Price: $0.00 They were a gift. (I challenge you to find an unsuspecting pumpkin-a-holic to make them for you too!)

Perfectly Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can (29 oz) of 100% Pure Pumpkin (I use Libby's brand)
2 boxes spice cake mix
1 bag (11 oz) of your favorite chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pure pumpkin and spice cake mix in a large bowl until even consistency. Mix in chocolate chips. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet (or I use parchment paper) using a spoon. Bake 10 min. However, I have found each oven may be different, so watch cookies and remove from oven after a toothpick/fork comes out clean in the middle of one of the cookies.

Another tasty yet easy pumpkin dessert is this Pumpkin Crumble. Check out the recipe here! 

I made this for my work meeting, and it was a complete success. Two thumbs up.

Friday Night Idea: Popcorn Party!

I looked out the window and what did I see? A popcorn party just for you and me.

A few weekends ago I accidentally told a lot of people the same thing- "We should do something fun tonight! I'm sure the gang will be doing something great. I'll let you know!" Unfortunately, I frankly had no idea what anyone was doing, and I honestly hadn't heard of anything going on. I just knew a bunch of people who wanted to do something...or anything really. So that meant I felt some pressure to deliver. Luckily, I have creative friends who helped me brainstorm a list of fun Friday night ideas. The list was quite eclectic- ranging from finger painting with pudding to making a fort to stalking people with lives who were on dates. We were just tired of the typical dinner and a movie night. So, after much deliberation and careful voting, we decided to have a popcorn party. In case you're unaware, a popcorn party means that you make way more popcorn than you can ever eat, in every flavor you could ever imagine.

Thanks to our good friend google we uncovered a dozen or so really interesting recipes all involving popcorn. A trip to the store and $15 dollars later we were on our merry way to buttery popcorn bliss. We only really needed to pick up a few random ingredients like unpopped popcorn kernels, jello, and marshmallow.

Gooey Caramel Popcorn
Pineapple Pleasure Popcorn This was a crowd pleaser- and the biggest surprise in a good way. I highly recommend it.
Chocolate Marshmallow Popcorn
Nuts about Peanut Butter Popcorn
Barbeque Popcorn
Mmua Italiano Popcorn
Cinnamon Sugar Delight Popcorn
Rancheritto Popcorn- This was my personal savory favorite.
Taco Mexicano Popcorno

Yes, we made all these kinds of popcorn, and yes we ate too much. But each and every calorie was a calorie filled with love. 

Price: as much or as little $ as you want. (Pretty cheap though because you probably have a lot of ingredients already.)
Fun Factor: out of this world!