Homemade pizza

For pizza crust- pour 1 1/2 cups of warm water into a big bowl. Add 2 tsp. of dry active yeast.  Add 3T olive oil. Let set 5 minutes. Measure and add 4 1/2 cups of flour. You could use 2 cups of whole wheat and 2 1/2 of white. It's up to you. It can be varied though.  Mix doughs and knead them into the liquid mixture. Let rise 30-40 minutes.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

You can prepare your topping while the dough is rising.  We love mozzarella and provolone together with pepperoni. Just a tip-grate your cheese from a block instead of buying store bought shredded. Your cheese will taste better and not be so dried out.

Bake your pizzas for 15-20 minutes.

Brat veggie pack

This is my ultimate summer go to recipe. Especially when we are having people over to grill. 

3 lbs of bratwurst cut into fourths
1 lb of baby carrots
1 lb of red potatoes
2 jars of button mushrooms
French onion soup mix packet
2T Soy sauce
1/2 stick butter sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 large foil bag

Cut brats, chunk up potatoes, drain mushrooms, and cut up butter. Add it all into a heavy duty foil bag. Dump in baby carrots, onion soup mix packet, soy sauce and salt and pepper.  Cook on grill 30-45 minutes until cooked through.

Pasta Salad

This is a perfect summer meal without a lot of preparing. Perfect for potlucks as it feeds a lot or if you have a lot of garbage disposals like me. You can always cut this recipe in half for a small family.

Ingredients
1 lb of pasta
1 big head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 container of grape tomatoes, halved
2 cans of sliced black olives
1 red pepper chopped
1 cup of Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese

Directions
Boil pasta according to instructions. Steam broccoli until bright green with a bit of crunch left to it.
Place all other ingredients into a large bowl.  Add cooled pasta and broccoli. Stir well.  Serve immediately or refrigerate.