Morning everyone! Just wanted to let you know that the voting for the "Project Food Blog" has begun! Check out my official entry if you get a chance and vote for me if you like what you see! Be sure to check out the other contestants as well....so many of them have SUCH great stuff!! I do believe I'm a small fish in a big pond, but eh--why not try, right?? :) (you can also click on the link on the right hand side of my page:) Thanks for helping out;)
Anyway....let's get back to the business of FALL, shall we?? :) So after my run-in with pumpkins at the Farmer's Market and pumpkin ice cream at Uncle Dave's....I thought that it was time for more FALL decorations! :)
So we headed BACK to Shady Brook Farms and came across pumpkins in every SIZE....
SHAPE... (love these "Fairytale Pumpkins"....looks like Cinderella is gonna strut right out of them in her glass shoes;)...
And COLOR...
Needles to say...I was happy;)
Next we headed into the "garden center" for more goodies...
Even if I suddenly became aware of how many EYES were actually ON me... ;) hahahahahahha...
Our haul included a few mums and a couple mini pumpkins (gotta hold off on the big ones till it's CARVIN TIME:) My porch looks properly festooned now;)
I actually bought the "not-yet-in-bloom" ones in my grande attempts at bringing them from buds to blooms....but we know how that might turn out;) But I'm going to remain hopeful! :) hahahahahhaha....(I think I got a little confidence boost since THIS rosmeary plant is indeed still with us! :)
And in OTHER Fall-related news....along with the mums & scarecrows, yesterday was also the day that-in a rare event- the Chicago Bears (Scott's favorite pro-football team) game was telecast on East Coast TV:) And rare occurrence call for special occasion dinners, right?? :) Sooooooooooooooo...I decided to make a Chicago-style deep dish pizza! First up was the crust, which I mixed together on Saturday night to allow it time to rise. I followed this recipe and ended up with a nice, smooth, light dough:)
Which rose enough that I was able to store half of the dough in the freezer for another time;) Not too shabby to have Garlic Butter Crust at my finger tips for whenever I need it;)
Next, I rolled out the dough long enough so that I knew it would overlap in my 9x13 pan....
And added it to the pan, working the dough up the sides to create almost a "pizza dough casserole" ;)
Butttt.....you need all that space for your toppings! First up, following Chicago tradition, we added the sliced mozzarella to the bottom of the pan....
And followed it up with a boat-load of sauce and a sprinkle of grated cheese....:)
I found that the KEY to Chicago style sauce issss....drumroll....
Fennel seeds! And even though I'm embarrassed to admit that my only experience THUS far with Chicago pizza is Pizza Uno's (I know, I know...sad, right??? We'll get to Chicago ONE day...it's been on our list for 4 years! :), but this sauce tastes strikingly similar to Uno's:
- 1-34 oz. can peeled tomatoes
- 1-6 oz. can tomato paste
- Salt
- Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons Fennel Seeds
- 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar (although, I might use less next time...this was a little sweet for me)
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of the spoon, and let all the flavors meld together for a half hour or so before adding to the casserole dough:)
Bake at 450 for 30 minutes, and WALLAH....Deep Dish Chicago Pizza...from Jersey;)
OK...this guy is NOT very pretty...actually he's pretty much a MESS! You DEFINITELY need a knife & fork for this one! But we loved it...Scott said it was one of his favorites! (could have helped that the Bears won;) Good thing I have that extra dough;)
Soooooo, that was our weekend. Pretty much a hodge podge of pancakes, pumpkins & pizza;) hahahahahhahahaha....Hope you had a good one;) I'm already excited for NEXT weekend, as I think it's going to be QUITE blogger friendly;) hahahhahahahaha....
Happy Monday:)
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