cauliflower pizza

I've been attempting to make vegetable based pizza crusts for a few years now. I attempted a zucchini crust recipe a few times a couple of years ago, and the first attempt was delicious! it stuck to the pan really bad though, so I figured I'd made it too thin. Every subsequent attempt was not great to say the least...
Cut to a few weeks ago, I was reading on a different blog and was inspired to try the cauliflower crust pizza. I  augmented the recipe a little, and so far I've made it 3 times, and it was so good!! the first time I forgot to cook the cauliflower after I riced it, but it was OK, just a bit raw-ish tasting. I used an olive oil base and topped with brie, Gorgonzola, and mushrooms.  The second attempt was about the same, and I added sauteed french shallots. This last time I made it, I switched to a tomato based sauce and topped that with mozzarella balls, olives and mushrooms. I was only able to snap a picture this last time because it was eaten so fast the first two times! The coolest thing about it is, there's less than half the calories of a typical slice of plain pizza IN THE WHOLE FRIGGING THING! (minus the toppings of course ;))

anyway, the crust is super easy, here's the basic recipe:

1C cauliflower, riced (grate, then microwave for 8 min)

1C mozzarella, shredded

1  egg, beaten

1t dried oregano, or alternative spice mix (I used the salt free pizza spice mix from the bulk section at central market)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t garlic salt or other flavored salt (I used truffle salt)

olive oil

spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray, or spread olive oil, thick and even over the whole surface. pre-heat oven to 450. in a largish bowl, stir together cauliflower, egg and cheese. add spices and salt and mix thoroughly. transfer to sheet and pat into desired shape with your hands. brush with olive oil. bake at 450 for about 15 min. remove and loosen from sheet with a spatula, careful to not break the crust!! 

top with whatever your heart desires and pop it back in the oven for 4-5 min until topping cheese is melted (I usually boost the heat up a bit too at this point, but you don't have to) 

this is enough for one pizza, which, with salad, was enough for me and my husby.

easy peasy!!

He's baaaack!

Jared just arrived home from his other-side-of-the-world adventures! can't wait to hear all about Australia, New Zealand and Japan! Sounds like a really amazing place! Still kinda on a wonky schedule but I'm hoping things go back to normal soon. We'll see though. maybe this will be the thing to finally turn him into a night owl, haha!

Snow Day

Full disclosure: it hardly ever snows in Seattle. Being extremely close to the water has that advantage. Therefore, when it does, it's kind of a cluster fudge around here. Also, where I live in Bremerton, being even closer to the water, it really never snows. So cut to a two weekends ago, I headed out to run some errands and then go over to the 'main land' to go to a party in the evening. after my Kitsap peninsula errands I headed over on the ferry to find that it had snowed an inch or two over in Seattle and the other main land areas, enough to be entertaining but not extremely treacherous in my little Honda civic. However, once I arrived back at my moms to collect my dog and head home, everything had iced over, and stayed that way through the entire next day, ratcheting up the treachery to an unsafe level. So subsequently, what I had intended to be a quick day trip turned into a 3 day ordeal. I headed home Monday evening and did an hour or so of yard work (since it still hadn't snowed at all at my house) before calling it a day and heading inside.

I love me a good day or two of sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, but after a day or two I kinda start to go crazy, so I'm glad I got some work in after all.

Then last Wednesday, The snow came in full force! I ended up stuck at my mom's house again and after a full day of just sitting around, I decided to brave the streets to the ferry, and almost took out two urban campers on the way! When I finally arrived home, it was clear that Thursday was going to be a stay at home day as well. Friday morning it was much warmer and raining, so I decided to 'dig' my way up the driveway (which basically consisted of me scooping the snow/ice that was left out of the way with a super huge metal dust pan) and made my way to work. Things have pretty much gone back to normal since then. there's still lingering snow/ice here and there, but not really on the roads. However our signature winter rain is in full effect!

my facebook dillema

I kind of gave up on facebook a while back. Not to be all counter culture or any of that, but mainly because the way it was integrating to everything online was kind of freaking me out. So, I took a hiatus from it until I could take the time to go through my account and clean out all the stuff I no longer wanted on there, etc. Well, I've done that, and am now intrepidly dipping a toe back in the facebook pool. I feel like, for better or worse, there are people I'd really like to stay in contact with, and facebook seems to be the way to do it. So, I'm back! and hopefully it won't freak me out too much ;)

18 months

the boy is 18 months! I can't believe that it's been over a year, he's grown so much! pre-school probably won't start until next year, but he is in gymboree and music class, and last week we had our first art class!

He's right on the verge of talking. There's a little sign language, and a lot of grunting and pointing. This one is very self possessed! He wants to do everything himself!

I believe that I have the best job ever! Getting the opportunity to be an integral part in someones life potentially (and hopefully) forever is such an honor. I feel very fortunate and grateful.

Abbey update

Abbey had her surgery on Friday, she is also now up to date on her shots. yay!  Also, I had to order her a new name tag (her other one broke about a week ago) so that's on its way! word to the wise; go with stainless steel or brass for those things. the aluminum and plastic ones you get from those machines are $h%*ty!  Anyway, if you live in the Seattle area, the spay and neuter clinic in shoreline is the best, and, like, half the price of what Abbey's puppy vet wanted to charge. Amazeballs!!

She slept the whole day on Saturday after her surgery,

you can even see her little shaved belly and stitches!

I've definitely noticed a difference in her behavior once her heat had wrapped up, it turns out she had a false pregnancy, so the extra hormones had contributed to her irritability. She seems to be on the mend, still a little short on patience, but she hasn't been out to run in a while now! They said no running or jumping for a week, yikes! She was able to easily share space with children and other dogs without getting growly or defensive, so I'm hoping to put a new exercise regime in place so that will hopefully go away. She's still barky, but that probably won't go away ;)

I love her so much, she's such a sweet dog and I just want her to be at her best, I'm hoping that this will just curb her enthusiasm a bit, ya know? ;)

my favorites from YouTube

I'm kinda new on the YouTube train, and definitely have no desire to contribute, but there's some funny stuff out there. I had to pause or re-watch  these ones because I was laughing so hard. In case you haven't seen them yet, here are a few of my favorites...

the title of this one has a swear, but the rest is clean

shit girls say

this one has swears and adult content, no nakedness tho, sorry...

jenna marbles

this one has a few swears too

stevie ryan

and this one, I just thought was so freaking cute, and clever (totally clean)

marcell the shell with shoes on

I hope you enjoyed those as much as I did! :)

storage farm

Our farm is officially in storage now! We got it all packed up with help from our friend Paul before we headed out for our vacation. There it will stay until we figure out where we're going to settle.

this is from when we got started, I don't have a picture of it, but the unit is now packed to the edges. including the loft.

Jared and Paul figuring it out

Abbey's a big help, as usual... ;)

DINOSAURS!

There's this place in the oregon rainforest called 'Prehistoric Gardens' and it is equal parts awesome and cheesy. It's been there for 50 years. The dinosaur replicas are to scale (from measurements taken from actual dinosaur installations in museums) and were created from steel frames/mesh and then HAND SCULPTED with concrete. pretty cool. They're also hand painted every few years. pretty cheesy. pretty much, I loved it. They also have a fully stocked gift shop, I didn't get a picture of that though...

yes, that's a huge hole

yes, it's lying on the ground. what you don't see, is that I'm taking this from a bridge, and there's a stream directly to the right. yeah.

and in case you worried that they might be real or something, there was this sign to bring things back into perspective and remind you that we were, in fact, still in southern oregon...

and all that's left is this sign....sigh...

New Year

I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, mostly because I don't want to lie to myself, and my birthday is right after new years, so I have to start late anyway. However, this year I'd like to try something. With all of the changes that have happened over the last few years, I've been making an effort to meld what I've learned with who I am. So I've been getting back to basics and trying to be more conscious in my decision making. This started a few months back and I feel that, at least on a personal level, forward progress is being made.
Since Jared and I have wrapped up farming full time (which has been slowly folding up over the last two years) I haven't been as active, but have been super lethargic about starting an work out schedule. I was inspired by a blog I read earlier and have decided to really go for it, at least for a few weeks, and see if I can make some of the changes stick. So, without further ado, here are my new years resolutions:
work out weekly
no more junk food (3 home made meals and 1 snack or high quality restaurant food only)
pack a lunch/snack daily
eat breakfast
drink more green tea
no more regular alcohol (1-2 glasses of wine with dinner, no hard A)
jog with abbey and do yard work at least once a week
monthly massages and pedicures

I have a more detailed plan laid out for the next few weeks just to get the ball rolling, and plan on working out 6 days a week, and  not eating out or drinking at all during that time. I'm planning for two weeks, and then after that, I'll try my best to stick with it. Now, obviously I'm not going to be militant with myself, because, well, I never am. I will allow myself to 'take a break' every now and then for some narwahl balls (unicorn bar, what?!) or a jameson with ginger back. ;)

christmas and what not

Jared and I took a trip down the 101 for a pre-holiday vacation before he had to head off to Australia (where he is now). It was a great trip! Jared got a great deal on a surfing sweatshirt,

 We stopped at the dunes on the way to gold/nesika beach...

we also stopped to visit the dinosaurs (more on this in a separate blog)

There was great surf, and the beach was sunny and deserted. We played on the beach every day with abbey,

(we lost abbey's ball at one point...)

 and watched the sunset from the hot tub. We got a great deal on a rental house that was beautiful.

we even drove down into California for the day and saw a bunch of seals sunning themselves.... awesome! (sorry about my thumb in the pic)

all in all, it was a very relaxing and fun trip, and I'm pretty sure I want a farm by the ocean now....