Upside-Down Sausage Pizza

Sometimes when you see a recipe on tv it might take you quite some time before getting around to making it. This recipe is a perfect example of that.

Back in September of last year Mom had surgery on her neck. While she was in surgery they told all of us to just wait in her room. Naturally with my sister-in-law and I in the room we turned the tv to the Food Network. I don't remember which show this recipe was featured on, but for some reason it actually stuck in my brain to make it. And that's kind of saying something as my 'rememberer' isn't always so hot anymore. :)

This is called an Upside-Down Sausage Pizza and I apologize for the poor photo (can't find the chord to the other camera right now - yikes!).

It's the sort of recipe that makes for a good jumping off point. The actual recipe is called sausage and mushroom, but I know that Keith is not a fan of mushrooms so I didn't add them. And as we were eating dinner Lynne' mentioned that maybe some diced green pepper would be really good in it. Then we went on and decided that next time we'll also add pepperoni.

It makes a full 13x9 pan, so plan on either a lot of leftovers or feeding a crowd. I served it with a wonderful salad (love all the fresh veggies this time of year) and it was a good meal.

The recipe is below, with my changes in parenthesis.

Upside-Down Sausage Pizza
(adapted from Food Network to fit my family's tastebuds)

2 t olive oil
1 pound sweet sausage (I used breakfast sausage)
1 cup onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I didn't use this)
1 cup pasta sauce
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup black olives, sliced (I used a small can)
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (I'll confess that I didn't use this much. Usually I say that more cheese is better, but we're trying to eat a tad more healthy)
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 T olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated (I used Kraft)

Preheat ove to 400 degrees F.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and onions and cook until brown and cooked through, breaking up the meat with a spoon. Add pasta sauce, pizza sauce and olives and bring to a simmer, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer sauce to the bottom of a 13x9 cake pan sprayed with cooking spray. Top with cheese.

In a medium bowl whish together eggs, milk and oil until blended. Whisk in flour and salt, then pour mixture over ingredients in pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. To serve, use a spatula and flip the serving upside down on the plate so that the meat sauce is on top.

Father's Day and Moving Day

WHEW! Very, very tiring weekend. The crew got all of Lynne's things moved to our house yesterday, finishing up around noon. So glad they did since it was so hot about them carrying furniture in the heat and up and down stairs.

Today the three of us wanted to get the apartment cleaned so that hopefully she can get her deposit back. Lynne' thought it would be fun to have a Father's Day picnic at the apartment, complete with fried chicken...and she was right! Too hot outside for this sort of thing, but a spontaneous picnic in an empty apartment was fun. :)

We had a great day today and obviously I was glad. Since my dad is gone I will admit to kind of dreading this day, but it ended up being busy and fun and for that I am thankful. Honestly - I love being with my family.

"Just as a father has compassionon his children, so the Lord has compassionon those who fear Him." - Psalm 103:13 (NIV)

CAS19 Card

We have been so busy lately what with cleaning up after the storm and also cleaning the house in preparation for my daughter to move back home. It is enormously satisfying to see so many things being done, but on the other hand I miss my relaxing craft and friend time.

Finally decided to take a little break and make a card. This is based on the CAS19 Sketch at Splitcoast and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

As it turned out, this card will shortly be put in the mail. My aunt's mother-in-law fell and broke her pelvis and is in the hospital. Hopefully this will help to cheer her up.

Card details: Stamps - Embrace Life by Stampin Up; Paper - Kraft and Pink Pirouette by Stampin Up; Ink - Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink; Copic Markers; Crystal Stickles

Growing Wheatgrass Seeds Indoors

This is another one of those instant gratification planting experiences. I purchased some wheatgrass seeds in the bulk food section of our local Sprouts grocery store after reading about it somewhere online.

I have always heard that your planters need holes in the bottom and a few rocks thrown inside before putting your soil in to help with drainage. So I did.

Fill the planter with dirt (I got some MiracleGrow soil at the hardware store that already had some sort of fertilizer mixed in), then sprinkle the seeds on top. When I say sprinkle, I mean completely cover. I wanted it very thick. Then put a thin layer of soil over the top of the seeds.

Keep the soil fairly moist by using a spray bottle filled with water. My planter is on the windowsill right by my kitchen sink, so when I did the dishes I'd just give the planter a couple of mists.

I planted these seeds on 5/31.


On 6/3 this is what it looked like when we got up in the morning. Not only was the grass visible, it was pushing the soil up in chunks.

Keep misting.

On 6/4 you can see that it's really taking off. I think it was at this point that I told Keith I wish all grass seed would grow this fast and maybe we should consider using wheatgrass to cover some of the spots in the yard.

Keep misting.

I love this picture because it shows the moisture on the grass. This picture was taken the next day - 6/5 - and you can see that it's filling out nicely.

This picture was taken late in the evening on 6/8 - a week and 1 day after I planted the seeds. Right after taking this picture I 'mowed the lawn' so to speak for the first time. All I do is hold the planter over the trash can and trim the tops of the grass with a pair of work scissors.

I would say at this point, a week after the last photo, that I've had to trim it two more times. It will probably last another few weeks, then it will be time to start the process over again. I know this because I did it in March as well and there comes a time where it just gets so root bound that it can't do anything else and starts to wilt.

It always brings a smile to my face to see these perky pots in the window sill. I'm looking forward to doing some when it turns cold to bring a little of the outdoors inside.

This would also be a fun project to do with kids since it does bring such quick results. We're seriously thinking about putting a timelapse camera on the next one we do - how cool would that be?

Brooklyn Spends the Night

Saturday night Loni and Brooklyn spent the night so that they could go see a Barney stage show early the next morning. I never realized just how much fun it was to jump on an air bed, but she was happy to show us!

The next morning she headed to the car, armed with Barney and a sippy cup. Loni called after the show was over and said that Miss B loved the show and they even got to go to the meet and greet!

Every time we are with this little girl we are so very blessed. She makes us laugh and is filled with hugs and kisses.

This is why I didn't go to Barney - we were painting a room. Lynne' will be moving back home this weekend and we have been running around getting things ready. She's been gone for 2 years and I pretty much had turned her room into my sewing/quilting room and sort of extra bedroom. That stuff had to leave, which meant moving stuff around in a different room to have the space. So things from that room had to go to the garage. And so on.

I still can't get over how bold Keith and I were in choosing the paint color for the walls. We went for Almond Paste and in the little brochure it showed a room with this wall color and it was quite a bit darker than what it turned out for us. The good news is that it's a gorgeous neutral color though and the new blinds and valance all go together so well. And we even thumbed our nose at current wisdom and put a new ceiling fan in there, which is so pretty. I do not understand why ceiling fans are so out when they are so necessary in the summer heat. Either that or our electric bill will be so high that we couldn't afford it. :)

I'm so impressed with us for getting it done too. Two of my friends, Jeanie and Diana, do this sort of thing all the time. They will decide it's time to paint and BAM! it's done. Keith and I get the idea to redecorate, then we talk about it for about 5 years or so. About the time we think it's a good idea we start tossing around the idea that maybe we might want to move instead, so why do a big redecorating? So yeah, for us to make a decision and then follow through is pretty huge.

Regardless, I love the way the room turned out and I hope Lynne' enjoys it as well. :)

A Saturday With Brooklyn

Weekends are so worth the sometimes long week it takes to get there. We needed to run up to the lake for a "mow and go" on Saturday, so went over and got Brooklyn to spend the day. She is SUCH a grandpa's girl and would run from door to window to door to keep an eye on him while he mowed the lawn. At one point I thought she was going to have the big one because I wouldn't let her outside with him while he was mowing, but she got past it and seemed to enjoy the running back and forth inside.

After the yard work was finished we took her on her first ride on the Ranger. At first she was a bit unsure and would put her hands out to touch us when we would go around a corner. But after only a few minutes she just put her hands on her knees and her nose in the air and enjoyed it.

Quite a routine before we could actually ride. It was HOT on Saturday, so she had to help me get her sunscreen on, then her hat (one of my mom's old ones that has been left at the lake) and sunglasses and finally she had to be involved in the spreading of the towel on her seat so it wouldn't be so hot for her.

We rode around a bit, then stopped at the little neighborhood store and got a pint of vanilla ice cream. Back at the house she was quite the busy body helper as she set the bowls out for us all and then went to get spoons. I really think everything she does is quite adorable. :)

On the way back home we stopped at a Subway in a small town and I got her a kids meal. Obviously grandmas do not know everything because I thought she'd enjoy the apples. But Subway does not peel the apples before slicing them like McD does and B thought that was highly offensive. ;) She did figure out how to eat the slices kind of like an ear of corn though and was able to not eat any of the peel.

Very good times.....