Appetizer night

We are hosting another appetizer night tonight. We get together with friends of BAJ's from high school about once a month...sometimes we stay in, sometimes we go out. The past time we got together that we "hosted," we did an appetizer night, with much success (See here) so we decided to do the same again.

I've already made Minty Lime Freeze, from Kraft Foods. I obviously haven't had it prepared, but did sneak a taste of the whipped topping, and it was yummy.

Since I have a LOT of mint leftover, I'll also make mojitos, which I've never had before... what better time than now!

I'm also making Is It Really Better Than Sex? Cake by Paula Deen, which I have made previously with success.

Finally, I'm making Crab Rangoon, which I LOOVE when we go to PF Chang's.

Well then.

So I'm trying to back up pictures on my computer by uploading to picasa. I ran out of space, so started deleting things I didn't need. I deleted a folder with the name of this blog, which means I apparently deleted all the pictures from the blog. Oy.

Best Pizza yet.

I used the pizza dough recipe I posted last night to make this. This time, I used regular old AP flour. I did change the oil to olive oil, and added some Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes to the dough.


I used regular old jarred pasta sauce, and added some basil from my garden on top. I think the thing I did differently was that I kneaded the dough a little bit longer than I usually do.

Woohoo, this was delicious! I also made a mini pizza from the leftover dough (the whole recipe is too much for my pan), which BAJ is taking in for lunch today. We'll see how that one goes reheated in the micro...

Pizza Dough

Sooo, the Biblical Womanhood blog I found pizza dough on previously is no longer in operation. Because I like this dough SO much, here's the recipe, which I refound at Money Saving Mom.

Pizza Crust:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface .

Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so).

Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.

Add toppings. (Have fun and be creative with this! Our favorite variety is salsa or barbecue sauce, diced cooked chicken, and cheese.)

Bake at 450 degrees F. for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

By the way, you can make up a double or triple batch of the pizza crust dough and freeze the extras if you don't need it. This speeds up the preparation even more as all you have to do is pull out a bag of dough and a bag of chopped cooked chicken in the morning and then put the pizza together right before you're ready to eat. You can also freeze the pizzas already cooked but I doubt it would ever stay uneaten long enough to make it to the freezer around here!