July 27, 2011

Busy Times!

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Who knew spring would be so busy for me?  I've been trying to make time to finish this post for about a month and a half now!  So, some of the content is a bit dated and, of course, I have enough content to fill up about 3 more posts.  Hopefully, I'll get them finished in a bit more timely fashion!

In the mean time, enjoy!

The months of April and May kept me busy this year.  I ended April with a catering job for a family that I go to church with.  They were celebrating the homecoming of their daughter who had been overseas in the military.  It was also her daughter's birthday.  They had intended to have me make salads, breadsticks, and appetizers and then order pizza from Pizza Hut.  But, after seeing a picture that I posted here on my blog of a pizza that I had made for my family, she asked if that was something I could do.  Ummmm....sure, let me do a cost analysis on it to determine what to charge.  So, we had to eat pizza for supper so that I could buy the stuff for it and figure the cost.  That's some tough research, but we made it through it. lol  So, I figured it up, sent her a quote, and just like that.....I was in the pizza-making business.

I ended up making ten 14 inch pizzas along with some salads, dips, breadsticks and a cupcake tower for the birthday girl.

Here's the pictures of the pizza crusts as the dough was rising:



Here they are ready to go into the oven:


....and here's the finished product:


I also made breadsticks, pasta salad, tortilla wraps, a couple of layered dips to go with it.  Layered chip dip is a favorite in my family and super easy to make.  The steps to that are as follows:

1. Spread a layer of bean dip (or refried beans with taco seasoning) on a tray.


2. Cover with a 2 to 1 mixture of sour cream and
Miracle Whip. 


3. Genlty spread a layer of salsa over that.



4. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. 
(I like to use a Mexican Blend)



5. Top with any or all of the following:  chopped tomatoes, sliced black olives, green onion, and jalepenos.
Serve it up with your favorite tortilla chips.
I've recently discovered a new flavor that I adore: Black Bean and Garlic Tostitos.  YUMMMM! 

The main attraction for this gathering however was the cupcake tower.  What 7-year old girl wouldn't want a tower of chocolate cupcakes with a big bow on top? So fun!

More to come soon......hopefully!  ;)