Homemade Pizza Dough

One of my favorite meals is homemade pizza. The storebought or take
out variety just do not compare. I originally got hooked when my mom
started making homemade dough, but it took me a while to actually try
to make my own. I think the whole yeast and having to let the dough rise scared me!

One of the reasons i never wanted to attempt to make my own dough was
that it took too long. After mixing up the dough, it would have to
rise in a warm oven for a couple of hours. I have never been one to
come home from work and spend a few hours making dinner. I like 30
minute meals, because when im hungry, im hungry. I luckily found a
quick rising yeast at HEB that does not require the lengthy 2 hour
rising session. Just mix all the ingredients together, roll out the
dough, add the toppings, bake for 15 minutes and voila!

Dough:
2 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 packet quick rise yeast
1 tbsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2/3 cup warm water

Directions:
Start with 1/2 cup wheat flour and 1/2 cup white flour in mixing bowl.
Add olive oil, yeast, oregano, salt and sugar. Add warm water and stir
until all ingrediets are mixed and a wet dough starts to form. Place
1/2 cup flour on countertop, roll wet dough mixture onto flour pile on
countertop. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour to top of we dough mixture (so
your hands dont get covered in dough). Knead flour into dough. dough
will become drier and less sticky. Once all flour is incorporated,
roll into desired shape. **I usually sprinkle cornmeal on the counter
while rolling dough out to avoid the dough from sticking to the
counter.

Add your favorite toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes!

Some of my favorite pizza combinations:

Pesto, sundried tomatoes, mozarella cheese, feta cheese, chicken
sausage, onion, mushrooms, spinach

Crushed garlic and olive oil drizzle, mozarella, goat cheese, feta
cheese, red onion, mushrooms, artichokes, fresh basil

Marinara sauce, sausage, bell pepper, mushroom, onion

35 Weeks

Originally written 7/1/13

Time is flying, i cant believe in just 5 short weeks (or less) we will
have a precious little baby girl in our arms! It feels like i have
been pregnant forever, but honestly thinking about only having 5 more
weeks left makes me forget about how long i have been pregnant.

Nothing is really new this week, we had a doctor appointment this week
which is the last of the normal pee, blood pressure, weight, heartbeat
appointments! We are moving on to pelvic exams starting next week to
track progress. According to the doctor, my belly is measuring
"perfectly" meaning the little bean is growing just right! This makes
me a happy mama, partly because it reassures me that im not overly
large (since that is how i feel), but also because it reassures me
that i have been feeding the little bean enough to grow at the pace
she needs to grow at to enter the world healthy. As a dietitian,
providing proper nutrition without going overboard has been one of my
biggest worries throughout pregnancy and im sure it will continue
throughout breastfeeding and childhood.

Im looking forward to getting through labor and delivery, hoping that
my efforts in continuing to work out and practice yoga will get me
through a quick and easy delivery. Workouts have definitely changed
over the past few weeks. Pilates type leg exercises had been feeling
good, but now i feel a pulling in the lower abdomen that hurts during
the exercise and leaves me feeling crippled for a good 12 hours, so i
have stopped those. I have also become pretty lax on the yoga, now i
just do about 5 minutes of stretching (without the video) to stretch
out whatever i feel like. I have also been doing the Tracy Anderson
Pregnancy Project videos. These are broken down into 9 disks for each
month of pregnancy. I just started with month 8 this week (i had been
doing months 5 and 6 since i still felt like i could do the all of the
exercise) and there are some noticeable differences in the exercises.
Many are done with a chair for support, and it is a little slower
pace. This is perfect at this point, because it doesn't take much to
get the heart rate up and get tuckered out!

Looking forward to our last ultrasound next week! I hear they will be
estimating her weight...im hoping she is not measuring at 8 pounds
already!