versatile, cheap, and fulfilling! Homemade pizza!

Since I started cooking from scratch, I've found that one of the best meals we have is homemade pizza. It's cheap. It's very, very filling. And it's SO versatile. And it's EASY! I have about six different crust recipes, four different sauce recipes, and plus all the toppings... different cheeses, meats, veggies. All that jazz. We never have the same pizza twice (unless it's pepperoni... that's a pretty common one). I use the bread machine's dough cycle to make the crust, which makes it much easier. I just pop in the ingredients and wait, then roll it out and add stuff and throw it in the oven! It turns out wonderful every time.

Recipe for parmesean pizza crust and cost breakdown:
(Note: prices are estimates and based on Aldi prices)
3 cups whole wheat flour (.20/cup, $.60 total)
1 1/2 cups water (free)
1 pkg of wheat yeast ($.37)
1/2 tsp salt ($.05)
1/2 tsp sugar ($.05)
1 1/2 tbsp oil ($.05)
1/2 cup parmesean ($.20)

Toppings:
Sauce ($.50)
2 cup Mozzarella cheese ($1.90)
Pepperoni ($.50)
Chopped onion ($.10)

If you're not using a bread machine: Proof yeast. Add in other ingredients and mix until dough forms. Let rise about an hour, punch down, let rest about 15 minutes. Roll out. Stick with fork numerous times to allow 'airholes' through crust and make sauce stick better. Add toppings. Bake at about 350 until cheese is turning gold and crust is golden.


Total for the pizza, not including energy usage to oven-bake: Less than $5
If you make your own mozzarella or buy in bulk, it could easily be less than $3 per pizza.

The way I do it is I make sure the crust is thick so it'll fluff up really nice (and it does... the pizza in the picture ended up being almost half an inch thick after baking!). That way we get 'full' with the cheap stuff (the crust!) and the toppings are 90% for flavor.
Ben takes a few slices to work the next day and he says it's just as good, if not better, reheated.

And I meant to take a picture of the pizza after baking, but, well, it was gone too fast. ;) Even Mori had a slice!

My... head... ugh

I swear I have a headache the size of Montana. Pounding, throbbing, right behind my left eye. It's driving me kookoo.

Ben came home two hours early yesterday because he wasn't feeling good. He walked in, went "Oh, Mori exploded the house!", looking around. I giggled. "Honey, she does this every day... I just spend a half hour frantically cleaning it up before you get home!"

So now he's seen the carnage that is our daughter.

Do you think an IPod would be considered a "school expense" if I used it at school? Cause, yeah, on that two hour drive, I'd like to have some music. Yaknow, to listen to.

I had this weird dream about school last night... Basically I want going to classes and I kept going to the wrong one, but I didn't have a copy of my schedule so I didn't know which one to go to? And a couple of people from high school were there, making fun of me because I kept going to the wrong class. So, of course, this morning I jumped on here and memorized my schedule... again. It hasn't changed in two weeks.

We close on the house in a couple of weeks, too. We finally sold it... Got a little less than Ben wanted but enough to pay off his bike, which will free up $200/month to pay off everything else. Helllllloooooo, snowball! I also plan on stealing a good portion of the sale money to repay the stupid student loan and get it over with so I either don't have to borrow again or can pay off what I'm supposed to be borrowing. I've heard so many horror stories about student loans that I don't really want to mess with them, but I also don't have the $500 or so out of pocket that it'll cost for all my books, calculator, supplies, etc. Sooo... give and take, I guess.

We have a visitor until monday... a (looks purebred) Boxer puppy who I found trotting limply down the side of the road. His front paw is pretty much mashed... If we had the money for the vet, I'd keep him, but it'll cost a good $200-1000 just to fix up his paw, and we just don't have it... So I guess Monday he goes to the dog shelter, where they will probably put him down because THEY can't afford to fix his paw either. :-/ He doesn't have tags on, but he does have collars, so maybe he's chipped and they can scan the chip. And figure out who he belongs to. He seems like a real sweet dog, and I hate to think they won't take care of him. :-/

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to go curl up with my book and enjoy the half an hour I get while Mori naps. Tata!

Finances, Overtime, and Vet Checks

Ben's working overtime again. It's going to be another one of "those weeks" where he's out until 3am and sleeps until noon, goes to work at 1pm... rinse, repeat. Luckily (or unluckily, regarding finances) this may be his last chance at overtime. We can definately use the money.

He's talking about trying to go back to first shift. I can't begin to explain the heartache I went through when he went to second shift... and now he wants to switch back, and I know EXACTLY why. No, it's not for me or Mori. It's not to help me out with her at night. It's not to have dinner each night, and to see him each night.

It's because his stupid HAM radio club meets Thursday nights, and the Masons meet Tuesday nights.

He said he wants to switch so "we" can go to some events. HELLO? Where were you when I tried to explain MY events, that I wanted to go to, a month ago when you switched?

ARGH.

Financially we're doing okay, I suppose. The credit cards are slowly going down. The bills are caught up. This month has three paycheques in it, so hopefully we can invest that third one into gold or a savings.

I'm faced with the idea of taking each of our five animals to the vet with the extra money. Legacy has mites - if untreated, they will spread to Fuzza, and maybe even the dogs. Mind you, these rabbits are for the wool... and the mites make the wool fall out. No good. Anyway, Legi needs a treatment of Ivermectin, and they both need annual checkups.

Currently on the needles is a DNA scarf, which I am going to do two rows on before I retire for the night and cuddle with my babygirl.

Kudos!
Ket