Pizza Pizza Pizza

In the Davis household we love pizza! In an effort to save money and also cut back on the calorie whopping greasiness of ordering out, we like to make our own. This has been a tried and true process for us, we've tried every different kind of recipe and nothing was consistent until now!

First you start with yeast.

Fleischmann's makes many types of yeast and if you can't find this specific "Pizza Crust Yeast" I would use the instant kind. If you use any other it will result in over an hour's wait for the dough to rise.

You can find these in the baking isle of your grocery store and should cost no more than $2 for a pack of 3.

To make the Dough:

1-3/4 to 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 envelope yeast

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup very warm water

3 tablespoons oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)

Combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil. Mix together until well blended. Gradually add 1/2 cup flour until soft dough ball is formed. May be slightly sticky. Add additional flour if needed to form dough ball.

Knead dough on a floured surface or in my case I just use the same bowl with extra flour.

Let the dough sit in bowl covered for 20 minutes to help rise.

Roll out a 12 inch surface or if you don't have a rolling pin like me I just press from the center of the dough ball out towards the edge of the pan.

The Sauce:

I personally like to make my own to control the sodium but you're welcome to use whatever you like.

1 can tomato paste 

3/4 cup water (more or less depending on preference)

Fresh basil, oregano and rosemary (Dried versions work perfectly as well!)

1 clove garlic, minced or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 onion minced or 1 teaspoon onion powder

Pinch of sugar

Salt to taste 

Combine ingredients in a bowl then ladle over pizza dough. {You can use plain tomatoe sauce in place of the paste and water if you like.}

Toppings:

Toppings are the best part. You get to play around with all of the ingredients you love from sun dried tomatoes to olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, peppers,canadian bacon...it's endless.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 min or until cheese is melted and crust is browned.

 Here is one version we made with mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and sharp cheddar.

This version was the best! We found fresh mozzarella rolled with pancetta that melted beautifully and tasted fantastic! Those versions can cost more but when we found it on sale we couldn't pass it up.

This post is dedicated to my beautiful friend Allison who helped me make pizza last fall and requested my recipe. I hope you enjoy this affordable and scrumptious one piece meal!

Bon Appetit!

xoxo .bd

As I've neglected to post anything in a while I thought I might just share all of the photos from our Oklahoma trip in June to our most recent pictures. 

{Family Reunion in Oklahoma}

 

The two of us with his parents, Joe and Barbara at the Aquarium

 

The view from our cabin porch

 

The tiniest of all bathrooms! Six people, one miniature shower and plenty of towels.

{Having My Tooth Pulled}

Gauze, Medication and Napping in that order...and a gauze bag because getting your tooth pulled is anything but glamorous.

 {Breakfast with my Parents}

{Packing to Go Back Home}

Lots and lots of packing...

Back in Memphis

{Slip n Sliding}

At a friends birthday party, a slip n slide, yes the ones from when you were 8, was in the backyard and all of the guys took part. Note they are law school students, and at least 25. But they still get giddy over that kind of stuff.

While they were sliding the rest of their  were staying dry... as did I of course!

Adam obviously didn't stay dry and came home with scratches and bruises all over!

It has been entirely too long since I've posted, 20 days too long to be exact.

I promise I have updates, pictures and events-a-plenty.

What needs to happen is for me to sit with this computer in my lap and tell you all about what's been going on.

I'll talk to you soon....

xoxo .bd

{photo credit: E. Frantz}

yellow yellow yellow

Over and over I have been drawn to anything with a touch of yellow, as you can see...

 Maybe this isn't just a touch of yellow, but the richness of the hue combined with the velvet is utterly appealing.

{ Photo Credits: Unknown;Everything Fab Decor Pad 3,4; Rachel Zoe photo unknown, Oh Darling Photography; Lauren Conrad }

Again Friday is here bringing with it a beautiful weekend ahead.

Today is our last full day in Franklin as we'll leave tomorrow morning for our year left in Memphis.

Over the past week people have been asking if I was ready to go back and frankly I am. 

Our home is such a refuge for me no matter the size, location or occasional mustiness.

The heat and humidity in that city is an entirely different story, that I do not miss. No no. But...

I miss our bed with its cozy sheets and plush pillows. I miss being able to cook and create something new for us to try. I miss the nights when we sit in front of the tv to catch up on all of our Tivo'd favorites. I miss cleaning, scrubbing and caring for every bit of our lovely little place. I think we all would, though. Don't you think? Our parents have been nothing short of welcoming and giving, but everyone can understand the difference in living with your parents again, regardless the length of time.

The life we've created together in the past year has been beautiful. We have successfully lived completely on our own no matter the hardships or triumphs. 

Before we left, everything seemed so bland and boring. Our daily routine seemed to be...well...quite routinely and mundane at times. But looking back at photos of the past year and even blog posts, I notice that all of the routineness I speak of was nothing of the sort. Yes we got up for work and school everyday as most do, but we made pizza on the grill. Gosh that pizza was horrible, but we did it. We raked our back yard together, fought the roach who came out of nowhere leaving me running out of the shower screaming. We carved pumpkins on our porch listening to The Avett Brothers, conquered Memphis drivers...

The list goes on and all of that to say I'm ready to have a fun last year in that city with my husband. 

Tonight we're going to hang out with my family in Murfreesboro then head out as I said in the morning.

I hope each and everyone of you enjoy these restful days before work kicks back in on Monday.

xoxo .bd

{Photo Credits: HouseBeautiful, Martha Stewart, , Decorpad}

Over the weekend Adam and I took a short trip to Chattanooga for our first vacation since the honeymoon.

We wanted to go some place close without a lot of drive time but also somewhere that has activities we'd be interested in.

We left Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel after getting a little turned around leading us to Georgia. 

Our room was so nice with a king size bed and flat screen, we are so thankful to his dad for giving us that as a gift.

We opted for a trip to the local mall although it was closing when we arrived so we decided to get our bearings straight with the downtown area. Lucky for us there was a biker convention. Oh joy.

Already I was impressed with Chattanooga; there were lots of people walking around, sitting at outdoor eateries and the streets were very clean.

Note: All the pictures posted today are from my blackberry. We searched high and low for my camera only to realize it was no where in sight so we bought a disposable camera. If I get a digital copy of the pictures I'll try to post them soon.

Saturday morning we had the luxury of sleeping in and watching Father of the Bride.

Our first Chattanooga adventure was The Tennessee Aquarium. Adam, as I've mentioned before, is enthralled by all sea life. If there's an aquarium nearby we're going in. There are two large buildings filled with every fish imaginable including a sea horse, butterfly and jelly fish exhibit. Midway through our tour the heavens opened up for a thunderstorm leaving everyone outside running for cover. 

At some point we walked around downtown to purchase non other than my absolute favorite, gelato! Coconut and chocolate cheesecake please!!

Following the aquarium we ventured out to a few other districts that friends told us to check out. 

First was Rembrandt's Coffee House in the Bluff View Art District. After multiple people suggesting this place I knew it would be great. I loved the exterior most. An upscale coffee shop with an array of coffees, lattes, deserts, and sandwiches; I was in heaven. 

Hubby found a new favorite, Orangina!

Look at all of the goodies! That's only 1 case out of 4 I think filled with cakes, cookies, chocolates and macaroons.

Frizzy hair after the rain and my iced cappuccino!

We drove around for at least an hour seeing all that the city has to offer finding our way to another district, North Shore, which reminded me of Nashville's Hillsboro Village. {Thank you to Ashleigh for recommending this area!}

Boutiques, a donut shop where we picked up a couple treats of course, Blue Skies and a brewery find for Adam. He was disappointed they had yet to open but we've already made plans to visit for a tasting.

I can't tell you how much we did on Saturday....we walked, shopped, visited, ate, walked some more and discovered a great city! We never did what most people typically do like Ruby Falls, Rock City or Lookout Mountain. 

For us we were more interested in finding out where the locals go than paying $15 each for views and water falls lit up. 

Sunday we slept in again and made a b-line for Aretha Frankenstein's. Yes, Frankenstein's.

In the same vicinity as North Shore, it's a restaurant with mostly breakfast items. 

There's limited seating, with most of it being outside or on the railing of the porch, the charm is definitely present. Their kitchen is miniature but they made the most amazing french toast I've ever ever ever eaten.

We  were so impressed! If you ever find your self itching for pancakes or omelets, please hop on over to Aretha's.

With nothing planned for the day we decided to find our own views by driving up all of the hills. On our trek we saw this sign.

Can you imagine? In the middle of the mountains I see a Starbucks sign.

We followed all of the arrows to find

Dissapointed by their service as the manage scoffed loudly at our drink choice I still enjoy the fact that Starbucks is directly across from Rock City.

Like I said we didn't actually go to Rock City but I thought I'd share a picture at least.

Sorry for the length of the post, quite long I know! 

But that was our anniversary weekend in a nutshell. I hope yours was just as eventful!

xoxo .bd

{Photo Credits: That Kind of Woman & Lovely Little Place}