Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce

Well, this was my first attempt at making cranberry sauce.  I actually never even ate cranberry sauce until a couple of years ago...but now I love it...and making it is really easy.  Not to mention I didn't use any high fructose corn syrup in mine, which is better than all the canned varieties can claim. :)

I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe.....because I think she's wonderful and it sounded good. 

Recipe

16 oz. fresh cranberries (rinse and toss out bad ones)
16 fl. oz pomegranate juice
3/4 c. sugar - more or less to taste. 

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil, stirring often, for 20 minutes.  Mixture will thicken as it cooks and will thicken even more when it cools.  I tasted mine when it was lukewarm and it was way too tart....maybe it was just a tart bunch of cranberries. I added more sugar and cooked several more minutes until it was even thicker and more to my liking. 

Cool in a jar or bowl in fridge.  Serve with turkey.  Absolutely delicious!

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I hope your day was filled with blessings and joy wherever you are. 

We have had a lovely day......with way too much food and great company.  Grant's mom and I did much of the prep work yesterday, so today was busy but laid back at the same time.

For breakfast we had smoothies made from frozen bananas, strawberries, peaches, and mangos with vanilla yogurt and milk accompanied by Pumpkin Bread I baked last night.  Wow, I hadn't made that in awhile and it was great to see it was as good as we remembered.  I have GOT to make that more often. 

We had our big meal around 1:45......consisting of the following:

Taste of Fall Salad
Champagne-Basted Turkey
Sausage and Apple Stuffing (recipe coming soon)
Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce
Mashed potatoes
Cheesy Green bean casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Cornbread (made by a guest - hopefully I'll get the recipe soon because it was awesome!)
Apple Pie (made by the same guest - delicious!)
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Cinnamon Whipped Cream  and Sugar Coated Pecans

So can you tell I'll be busy with new posts in the next few weeks?  I was busy taking photos all day! 

We are blessed beyond measure and grateful for all that God has given to us.

Sugar Coated Pecans

Say hello to one of my very favorite treats, ever.  

I found this gem on Allrecipes years ago (modified it by adding vanilla and extra cinnamon) and make them every fall to go with pumpkin cheesecake and at Christmas just to eat or to give as gifts.....if I can stand to part with them.  

Have you ever had those awesome spiced-sugared nuts at those kiosks at the mall.....where you can smell them before you see them and they hand out free samples and after the first taste you determine to buy at least 3 lbs to eat on the way home, but then when you see they cost $12 a half-pound, you change your mind and walk away holding your breath so you don't have to keep smelling that intoxicating scent? 

These are just as good, if not better, than those.  

No kidding.

And considering you can buy 2 lbs of pecans at Sam's Club for less than $11, it's a pretty good deal to make as gifts, too. 

Recipe:

1 lb. pecan halves

1 egg white

1-1/2 t. water

1-1/2 t. vanilla extract

1 cup sugar (white)

1 t. cinnamon

3/4 t. salt

Preheat oven to 250°. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, whisk egg white with water and vanilla until bubbly and frothy.

Add the pecans and toss to coat well.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Sprinkle over pecans and stir until evenly distributed.  

Spread out on baking sheet and bake for 45 min - 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. I usually stop around 50 minutes or so.  

Try to let them cool before eating.  

You won't believe how good your kitchen will smell.  

These will be topping a new pumpkin cheesecake I'll be making tomorrow.  Hurray for Thanksgiving!

For the record, in case you were wondering, I say "Puh cahns", not "Pee Cans".  What do you say?  

Happy Birthday, Ellia!

I know I say this every year at the kids' birthdays....but I really can't believe how the time passes by. 
Has it really been a year since I live-blogged Ellia's birth? 

She brings so much joy into our lives....to all of us.  It's impossible to imagine life without her.
 
One really neat thing for me to watch is Corban with her.  When we found out we were having another girl, he cried.  Seriously!  He had been praying for a brother for over a year and was convinced that this was it.  There was no question in his mind it would be a boy. 

He did reconcile himself to the idea of a third sister.....but reluctantly so.

Now?

He adores her endlessly.  He face lights up when he sees her every morning and he comes to give her hugs and kisses.  He plays with her, carries her around, is helping her learn to stand alone and encouraging those first steps daily, and it's obvious how proud of her he is. 

Her?  She laughs and laughs at him, tackles him, kisses him, reaches for him at times.....she loves him wholeheartedly. 

This is from a few days ago....he was helping her practice standing.

Anyways.  Got a little sidetracked there.

Ellia is a delight!  She doesn't say many words but sure can talk loudly!  She doesn't walk yet, but crawls with supersonic speed and cruises around furniture with growing confidence.  Her personality is showing more every day - her sense of humor, little games she plays, even the fits she throws.  She understands so much and is pretty effective at communicating what she wants.  She's very affectionate and sweet-natured, but definitely has some spice thrown in there. 



She LOVES cake! 

New pair of shoes.

Hmmm...I wonder if I can get this on!

New sippy cups.....tastes good!

She had a blast at her party last night. It was really funny.....she seemed to understand completely that the party was for her. She didn't need help opening her presents, although her sisters were convinced that she must and kept trying to assist her.

She did love tearing the tissue paper, as I knew she would, but she was also very interested in each of her gifts and in showing them off to Daddy.

It was a lovely party....made extra special by having grandparents here (Grant's parents) and his brother at the end.  A lovely party for a treasure of a girl.  And today we celebrate again.....with leftover cake!

We are blessed......beyond words......with our children.  The best gifts we've ever gotten. 

Happy Birthday, Ellia.  May God shower you with his love and blessings and give us wisdom each day as we raise you.  We love you!!

"First Birthday" Cake

My baby girl is turning 1 tomorrow - and we had her party this evening.  I debated long and hard about what to make for her first cake, because since she's so young, it's hard to tell what her interests are or even what colors she likes.  I decided to go with something simple and cute, with colors my other girls would enjoy.  

I baked a chocolate cake mix (from Trader Joe's - no bad ingredients!) in two 9" pans and froze them ahead of time so they would be easy to frost.  

This afternoon I made a chocolate filling - can't have too much chocolate, you know.  It was a simple recipe.

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 heaping T. unsweetened cocoa
• 1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3-4 T. cream or milk, enough to get to your desired consistency

Beat the butter with the (sifted) cocoa and powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and cream and beat until smooth and creamy, soft enough to spread but stiff enough to stay on the cake.  Set aside.

Then I made my standard buttercream, only a smaller amount than usual because the cake is smaller.

I tinted part pink, part purple, and left the rest white. 

I drew the outline of the 1 (with a toothpick) and filled it in with #16 star tip.  I also used that tip for the rosettes around the top border.

I used tip #2 for the writing, butterflies, and outlining of the number 1- and tip # 107 for the pink flowers and bottom border.  

Turned out cute and very delicious!  

This recipe is linked to the Ultimate Recipe Swap: Birthday Cakes.

Cinnamon Toast

This is the best cinnamon toast I've ever had.  No joke.

I'm not particularly picky about my cinnamon toast like some people - it doesn't bother me in the least to toast a piece of bread, slather on some butter, sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar, and eat away. 

 

However.

I cannot deny that this is far superior. I think it's the addition of vanilla - takes it over the top.

I did reduce the amount of butter called for in the original recipe - some restraint is a good thing!  It's still far from a health food but at least I feel a little better about it.      

Recipe (adapted from Ree - the Pioneer Woman)

12-13 pieces of whole wheat bread

1/2 stick butter, softened

1/4 c. sugar (or more if you want)

1-1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Combine softened butter, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and mash together with a fork until well mixed. Spread about 1-2 t. evenly on each piece of bread.  

Place bread on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown.  Watch carefully so it doesn't burn!  It happens fast! 

Remove from oven and enjoy!  

A Year Already?

My baby girl will turn 1 next week - and I did a little photo shoot of her for a project I had in the works.  This was my favorite.  Just couldn't resist sharing! 

"N" is for Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

For our Alphabet Service Project this week featuring the letter "N", the kids thought it was a no-brainer that we'd make something for one of Marissa's best friends, Natalee, and her dad Nathan. 

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies were just the thing. 

If you have never tried Nutella, get thee out to a grocery store and head straight to the peanut butter section, where you'll find these jars of chocolate hazelnut spread.  Buy one.  Or two.  Better yet, go to Sam's Club and get a 3-pack for the same price as you'd pay for 2 jars at Wal-Mart.  It's just irresistible.  

I like it on pretzels, bread, or just straight from the jar.  But as I've recently discovered, it's wonderful to bake with.....and there are plenty of recipes including it out there.  

Nutella takes regular chocolate chip cookies up a notch, with additional but not too strong chocolate flavor and a hint of nuttiness.  They're chewy perfection - not cakey, not dense, not crumbly, just pure deliciousness.  

Recipe: (from Cupcake Muffin)

1 stick butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. Nutella
2 eggs
1-1/2 t. vanilla
2-1/3 c. flour (all purpose)
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1-1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper if desired (I did).
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy.  Add Nutella and mix well.  Add eggs one at a time, stirring to combine each.  Add vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to creamed mixture and stir until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes (8 was perfect for me), then cool on a wire rack.

To see the rest of our Alphabet Service Projects, click here. 

Crockpot Applesauce

I got a great deal on a couple of 3 lb bags of Gala apples a few weeks ago and since they were on the smallish side, they didn't tend to get eaten just plain.  I hated to waste them and was debating making an Apple Crisp....but then the idea of Applesauce hit me.  I have never tried making applesauce myself, although when I was growing up my mom made some wonderful applesauce.....we kids always loved running the hot cooked apples through the food mill.  

Ahhh....childhood memories.....I probably remember it more fondly than I thought of it at the time.  :)

Well, anyways, I don't own a food mill.  I figured I'd better peel the apples first.  Thank heavens for this.

Bought on clearance from Wal-Mart for $5, it's not something I pull out for every day use, but for projects like this one, it's a lifesaver.  

Put the boy to work!  He begged to be released from schoolwork to help make applesauce - I figured this is home-ec, so why not?  

We made fast work of 5 lbs of apples, let me tell you.   He peeled them, I cored and cut into slices. 

I knew we were going to have a busy day, so I wanted to use my crockpot if at all possible.  Worked wonderfully.  I considered running it through the blender for a smoother texture (which Grant would have preferred) but due to the time and mess involved, just left it a little chunky.  The kids and I didn't mind.  

The taste is amazing.....so yummy I don't want to cook with it, I just want to enjoy eating it plain.  

Recipe: based off of one from A Year of Slowcooking 

5 lbs apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8ths

2 t. cinnamon (you can certainly use less, this had a strong cinnamon flavor, which we like)

1/4 c. sucanat or brown sugar

2 T. lemon juice (didn't prevent mine from turning brown, as you can tell, but added a nice flavor)

2 t. vanilla

2 T. water (not needed - will omit next time)

Toss everything together in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until apples are very tender.  Mash with a potato masher or large fork. 

"M" is for Mississippi Mud Brownies

Our pastor and his wife are named Mark and Mary, which made them an easy choice as the recipients of our Letter M project, Mississippi Mud Brownies. 

Definitely not something to make for the calorie-counter, these are pretty easy to whip together and are a very special treat.  Other variations are called Mississippi Mud Cake, but the texture is definitely more brownie-like, so I'm sticking with the brownie label.  They're definitely rich and you only need a small piece, although my children said they could just keep eating them all day long. 

When I gave them a sample at lunch and they all gushed, "It's better than an A+, Mom!"

Generous on the grading scale, aren't they! 

Marissa even went to far as to say it's her favorite dessert ever.  Of course, I take that with a grain of salt, since she's been prone to say that about whatever dessert she's eating at the time, but I have a feeling this one really is up there on the charts.

I suspect the man of the house won't be a fan, with the marshmallows and all, which still doesn't make sense to me, because he freely admitted to eating nearly a whole package of marshmallows on his camping trip with Corban last weekend.  Anyways.

Update: He DID love them....surprise surprise!  I think he was even shocked himself at how much he liked them.  

I reduced the sugar called for in the original recipe both in the cake layer and the frosting and it is still plenty sweet.  My changed are reflected below.

Recipe (modified from Allrecipes) 

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

1-1/2 c. granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1-1/2 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 c. chopped pecans (optional - I think they would be fabulous, but my family would revolt)

2-3 cups miniature marshmallows (enough to cover the top)

Frosting:

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

2-3/4 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease a 13 x 9" pan.

In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Remove from heat and sift in cocoa, stirring until smooth.  Add sugar and stir well.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix to combine, then add flour and salt, stirring just until incorporated.   

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Do NOT overbake!

Immediately upon removing from oven, top with marshmallows.  Return to oven for 2-3 minutes, or until marshmallows are soft.  Do NOT brown!!  That will make them chewy and tough and difficult to cut. Not good. 

When marshmallows are soft, remove from oven and make frosting.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter.  Add cocoa (sifted, of course) and then powdered sugar and milk.  Stir until smooth and creamy.  Add more milk a teaspoon at a time if necessary for consistency.

Drizzle frosting over marshmallows and smooth to cover completely. 

Allow to cool before cutting.

To see the rest of our Alphabet Service Projects, click here.

Linked to 4 Moms Share Favorite Desserts

Thanksgiving is Coming!

It's just around the corner.....and I've got some serious planning to do.

Grant's parents will be arriving next week and his brother will be coming down from DC a couple of different times, so preparations are in order!

Which leads me to question, as I do every year, how do I balance keeping traditions with my obsession with trying new recipes?  There are some things that Grant insists upon: "It's not Thanksgiving without Mashed Potatoes", he firmly declares.

Funny to me, because we never had mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving in my family.
My grandparents did most of the cooking, and all of my mom's siblings and their families gathered at their house for the annual Thanksgiving Feast.  The menu, always the same:

• Turkey
• Ham
• Homemade Cornbread Dressing (never stuffed in the turkey)
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Corn (canned or frozen from my grandparents' garden)
• Green beans (canned from my grandparents' garden)
• Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top (I never ate it, not once). 
• Rolls (either homemade or from Harps Grocery store - some of the best rolls EVER)
• Strawberry Gelatin Salad (my mom made it, very delicious, even though I'm not a jello person)
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pumpkin Chiffon (or Praline) Pie, made by my Aunt Nancy
• Pecan Pie
• 1 Mincemeat Pie (not sure who ate that, maybe an uncle or two)
• Piles of sweetened whipped cream (seriously, the running joke in the family, spoken by everyone to everyone else was "Would you like some pie with that whipped cream?")
• Apple Cake

I can't remember anything else.  Mom, was there anything else?

I loved the tradition, always knowing exactly what was going to be on the table and how delicious it was going to be.  The anticipation of that pecan pie was almost unbearable!

Now that I'm part of another family too, there is incorporation of my traditions with theirs....and the building of new ones.

And I just can't leave well enough alone and insist on making new things every single year.  Sometimes they turn out well, sometimes not so much.

This year, my eyes have been lingering on some new ideas from Taste of Home.....but I don't know if I'll have the guts to make all of them.

I do know, without question, that I will be making this sweet potato casserole.  Somewhere along the way, I realized that sweet potatoes are marvelous and this concoction is just divine.
I will also be making a pumpkin cheesecake, and while I already have a wonderful recipe for it on here, I'm thinking about trying another one. Why not?

So my questions for you are, do you make/eat the same things every Thanksgiving?  Do you try new recipes on unsuspecting guests?  Am I the only one who does that?  (Grant seems to think I am.)
What's on your menu for Thanksgiving?  What recipes can you not do without?

"L" is for Lemon Snowballs

This is a very soft refeshing cookie bursting with Lemon flavor.  The kids and I Like them a lot, although Grant isn't a big Lemon fan and chose to abstain from even trying one.

I'm not afraid to whip out the jarred lemon juice for many recipes, but since I bought lemons to zest anyways, I went ahead and juiced them.  I did have to add a little of the jarred lemon juice to make enough.

The girls and I had a Lovely time delivering them to a friend, Lisa, and she was so gracious and sweet to us, showing the girls around her home, telling them about her family, and using L words whenever she could.  I think she was also grateful that we didn't choose to bring her Liver, Lettuce, or Lollypops, although Corban insisted the Liver would be hysterical.  Hahaha.  That's a boy for you. 

Recipe: (from Allrecipes)

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon (~ 1 T.)
1-3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. cream of tartar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. finely chopped almonds (optional)
powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and blend well.  Stir in lemon juice and zest.  Mixture will appear lumpy and weird - don't panic!
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  Add to wet mixture and stir well.  Add almonds if desired.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9-10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned (tops will not brown).  Remove from baking sheet immediately and put on wire racks.  After a couple of minutes, roll in powdered sugar.

To see the rest of our Alphabet Service Projects, click here. 

Puppy Chow (aka Muddy Buddies)

I remember eating this for the first time when I was in 8th or 9th grade.  A friend had brought it to a class party and called it Puppy Chow.  I thought it was one of the best things I had ever eaten.  I don't make it very often because I'm apt to eat the whole batch without blinking an eye.  It is just so good.
I made it for Marissa's birthday party (101 Dalmatian party) for the girls to munch on....but they weren't very big eaters and lucky for me, we had a lot left over!

Recipe: (from Chex box)

9 c. Chex cereal (rice or corn, I used rice)
1/4 c. butter 
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar

In a microwaveable bowl, melt butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter.  Stir until smooth and add vanilla.

Pour Chex cereal into a large bowl.  Drizzle chocolate mixture over slowly, stirring well until all the cereal is coated.

Pour half of cereal into a gallon-sized ziplock bag.  Add half of the powdered sugar and shake well until all cereal is coated.  Pour onto a wax-lined sheet to dry and repeat with remaining cereal and powdered sugar.

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for longest storage.

Veggie Tray with Homemade Ranch Dip

Corban loves vegetables, so I wanted to definitely have some at his birthday party.  This was a super easy and economical side dish to put together and I love that the dressing is free of preservatives and other nasty chemicals.   The only hard part was finding decent buttermilk (ie, not fat-free), but even that was overcome fairly easily.  I like this dip....it's tasty, the kids all enjoyed it, and if it helps you eat more veggies, it's gotta be good.  

Recipe: (from Good Cheap Eats)

1/2 c. reduced fat mayonnaise
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 T. dried parsley
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
pinch cayenne

Desired veggies for serving; I chose carrots, broccoli, and cucumbers.

Mix together all dressing ingredients.  Add a little salt if you want.  Refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors get to know each other.  Add a little more buttermilk if you want a thinner dip or salad dressing.

Wash veggies with vinegar and water.  Peel the carrots completely and the cucumbers intermittently.
Leaving a little of the green skin makes them prettier as well as helps them hold their texture longer.

Slice carrots on an angle. If they're thin, you'll need to slice at an extreme angle to get enough surface area to make a good sized dipper.
Slice cucumbers on an angle or straight, whichever you prefer.
Cut broccoli into florets.

Arrange veggies on a pretty plate or platter.  Divide the different colored vegetables into sections, surrounding your dish of ranch dressing.  Chill until serving.

Dressing keeps in the fridge for about a week. 

Little bit of Randomness

Thoughts of the moment:

1. Desitin Creamy is worthless.

2. No matter how early I get up to work out, Ellia (11 months) seems to wake up as soon as I get started.

3. P90X is the best exercise program I've ever seen.  Wish I could follow through with it.

4. It's hard to do Plyometrics with a baby clinging to your legs.

5. Cleaning out the fridge has got to be one of my least favorite things to do.

6. I'm sure I would hate it a lot less if I did it more often - so there were fewer moldy things.

7. Somehow that still doesn't motivate me to do it more often.  What is the matter with me?

8. On my Christmas wish list this year:  a cordless vacuum so the kids can clean up all their own crumbs after every meal easily. 

9. My 7 year old son consistently beats me at his Wii racing game.  I don't like to lose.  Especially to a  7 year old. 

10. My house is 66° right now.  I refuse to turn the heater on.  Hasn't been on yet this season and I'm trying to hold out a few more days. 

11. I have no reasonable explanation why I care so much about that.

12.  I seem to be the only cold person in the house.

At what temperature do you keep your house in the fall/winter?  Am I a wimp for being cold at 66°?

Dalmatian Cake

What a fun cake to make!  I really enjoyed this one a lot.

I got the main idea from a lovely design I found on Cake Central and then made it my own.

I started by finding a coloring picture of a dalmatian online - well, a lot of them actually, and showing them to Marissa (the birthday girl) to pick which she liked most. This was the one I had already decided to draw on poster board for a "Pin the Dog tag on the Dog" game, and it turned out that she liked it best for the cake.

I baked a half-sheet cake (11 x 15") homemade strawberry cake several days earlier and froze it.  It frosted beautifully with no crumbs at all....wonderful!

I gave it a base coat of white buttercream, chilled it a little, then went to work.  I had enlarged the picture of the dalmatian to the right size and cut it out. I placed it on the cake and traced around it with a toothpick.

Then I filled in the details and used buttercream tinted black to trace the outline with the Wilton Tip #2.  I also used that tip for the writing and the butterfly.

Then I used the grass tip to pipe on the green grass....Tip #65 for the stems and leaves, and Tip #4 to make the flower petals.
The yellow I just put in a ziplock bag, snipped off a tiny corner, and filled in details without a tip.

I used Tip #13 to pipe tiny stars all over the puppy to give texture and add extra frosting.

I honestly can't remember which tips I used for the borders......silly, isn't it?  I just  made the cake 2 days ago.  But I was trying out several different tips to see what I liked and I can't recall which I ended up using.  I think it was #17 for the bottom border and something smaller for the top, I know that.

Anyways.

The birthday girl was delighted throughout the whole process of watching me decorate the cake and was just beside herself with joy at the final product.  It's really rewarding to make something for someone who truly appreciates your effort.

This recipe is linked to the Ultimate Recipe Swap: Birthday Cakes. 

Italian Cheese Bread

So this is really just a cheese pizza, but that's okay.  We can still call it Italian Cheese Bread, right?  

My whole family loves this stuff.  It's dee-licious.  Not to mention easy.  I'm thinking it could make some great breadsticks, if you  made it in a cookie sheet or something.  

Recipe: (from Tammy's Recipes)

Bread:

2-1/2 to 3 cups flour, (whole wheat, all-purpose, or bread flour)

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

1 T. active dry yeast

1 c. warm water (110-115°)

1 T. olive oil

Topping:

1/4 c. prepared Ranch or Italian dressing (I've only used Ranch)

1/8 t. salt

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. ground oregano

1/4 t. dried thyme

Dash pepper

1-2 T. grated Parmesan cheese

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

• In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients.
• Combine water and oil; add to flour mixture.  Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a floured surface; knead for 3-4 minutes or until smooth and elastic (or use Kitchen Aid Mixer)
• Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.  (Optional: if in a hurry, just skip this rise)
• Punch dough down; place on a greased 12-16" pizza pan and pat into a circle.  Brush with salad dressing (use the back of a spoon)
• Combine the seasonings; sprinkle over top.  Sprinkle with cheeses.
• For a fluffier cheese bread, at this point allow the bread to rest for 15 minutes or so.  If you're in a hurry, just skip this rise.  Bread will still rise in oven.
• Preheat the oven to 450°F.  Bake for 11-15 minutes or until golden brown (12 minutes for me). 
• Slice into 8-12 slices. Serve warm. 

This post is linked to Finding Joy in My Kitchen - Countdown to 2011: Breads.

Check it out to see other delicious breads!