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Perfect Pizza Dough

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*Disclosure: Affiliate links contained in this post.  You purchase like you would normally, but we receive a small commission.

5/11/2017 Update:  We had no idea this perfect pizza dough recipe would ever be as popular as it is! We’ve officially updated our images!  Thank you for the love and support!

This perfect pizza dough recipe is literally perfect every single time as long as you following the directions. Yeast dough that rises needs to be pampered a bit and it’s important that the directions don’t get messed with.  I promise it’s not super difficult to make perfect pizza dough if you keep working on it.  I’ve been making this dough recipe for what seems like forever. It literally works, without fail, for us every single time.  I’d encourage you to try it for yourself and let us know how it turned out!

 

  

Voila!

I wanted you to be able to look at the amazingness that is making pizza dough without any interrupting words or thoughts on my part.
I didn’t really learn to start cooking at all until I was in college. Being transparent, I didn’t start learning to make food from scratch until I had our first child.  So much of what we ate before having her was processed, boxed foods. I’ve done a lot of trial and error since then.  I was always daunted at the thought of making pizza dough, but surprisingly it’s one of the first things made from scratch that I perfected.
For a long time it was always too stiff or too runny. I couldn’t figure out the balance to get it just right forever it seemed. Finally, I have perfected the combination of ingredients and it’s the most simple homemade perfect pizza dough.

Looking for our recipes using this pizza dough? Check out our:

As stated above, it’s really important to follow the directions to a tee, so let’s get to those.

5 from 1 vote
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Perfect pizza dough
Author: Larisha Campbell
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour divided into 3 parts
  • 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 package
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil vegetable oil would also work
  • Extra flour for surface
  • Desired pizza toppings Don't skimp on the cheese
  • Optional: Italian seasoning or Garlic Powder to season dough
Instructions
  1. In medium sized bowl, mix 1 3/4 cups flour with the yeast and Salt. (If adding optional Italian seasoning or Garlic Powder, add it now)
  2. Add the warm water and oil.
  3. Beat with a whisk until a thick pancake like batter forms.
  4. Add 1 more cup of flour to the mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir together, enough so the mixture holds together by itself.
  5. Lightly flour a flat surface and with a little flour on your hand, remove the dough mixture from your bowl onto the surface.
  6. Knead in another 1/4 cup flour (may need to add up to 1/2 cup) stopping once the dough is lump free. Do not overwork your dough.
  7. **See tips below for thin crust**
  8. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a tea towel (or other kitchen towel that is large enough to cover bowl completely)
  9. Let the dough in the bowl sit, covered, for approximately 45 minutes.
  10. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  11. Lightly flour pizza stone or lightly greased baking sheet.
  12. Roll dough out onto floured surface.
  13. Place in oven for 8-12 minutes. Thin crust - 8 minutes, Thick crust - 10-12.
  14. Remove the dough from the oven and place desired toppings on top of the crust.
  15. Place back into the oven for an additional 8 minutes or until the cheese has completely melted and is bubbly.
Recipe Notes

1. Make sure you are adding warm water. This is what activates the yeast.
2. Do NOT overwork the dough. Each step should be just enough that you can move to the next one. This is especially important when you are kneading.
3. If you want to make a personal pizza size or very thin crust, you may cut the dough into two equal parts after kneading. You can make two pizzas this way or freeze half for later use.
4. You could technically use the dough after 20 minutes of rising, but it's really ideal to let it sit for at least 45 minutes, up to 2 hours.
5. Don't put a lot of sauce in the center of your dough or it will get soggy.

What’s your favorite toppings?  
Comment below and let me know! 🙂  Thanks for reading! Share & enjoy!

**The pictures below were the original pictures for this Perfect Pizza Dough recipe, posted on 6/16/2012, which you may have seen floating around Pinterest.  It’s the same recipe, we’ve just gotten a lot better at photography!

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Crunchy Spiced Pork Chops

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So I will admit…I haven’t really been cooking that long, so many things we have for dinner are trial and error.  I have attempted pork chops before and my fiance hated them, so when I saw them on sale this week at the store, I figured I would have another go at it.  I mean if I ruined the pork chops, at least I didn’t spend a ton of money on them. 
Regardless of my Pinterest obsession and ease of finding recipes on the internet, I actually had a difficult time finding something that balanced our desire to eat healthy with taste, so I ended up combining a few different things to come up with the perfect meal and it was actually a HUGE SUCCESS!!  
 
He even took the leftovers with him for lunch today! So let’s get started…
First mix together yogurt, water, salt & pepper…I use this instead of flour/egg mixtures because its much healthier and I think it also tastes a lot better! Next, Mix together panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and both types of Mrs. Dash seasoning

Now, the next part is completely up to you.  The pork chops I bought had a small bone on the outside of each along with some fat.  My fiance hates any meat with fat, so I cut the bone and fat off each one as shown.

 Next you, will put each pork chop into the yogurt mixture, then the panko mixture…making sure to coat each side evenly.  Make sure you do not soak the pork chops in the yogurt mixture. Just a quick turn on each side will do.
 After coating in the panko mixture, transfer to a greased baking dish. And place in the oven on 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes (the time will depend on your desired doneness– Medium for pork is 145 degrees and well done is 160 degrees).
Then broil for 5 minutes to get a nice crispy golden color on the top.

 Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

I decided to serve them with corn and our infamous loaded mashed potatoes and it was all amazing.
Enjoy!
 
0 from 0 votes
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Crunchy Spiced Pork Chops
Author: Larisha Campbell
Ingredients
  • 4 Pork Chops thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon Mrs Dash Table Blend seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon Mrs Dash Extra Spicy seasoning
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
  2. In shallow dish mix together yogurt, water, pepper & salt. Set aside.
  3. In another dish mix together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and both types of Mrs. Dash seasoning.
  4. Dip each pork chop in the yogurt mixture, then the panko mixture, making sure to cover with the panko entirely before transferring to the greased baking dish.
  5. Place in preheated oven and cook for 20-25 minutes. Then broil for 5 minutes until a nice crispy golden brown color (Depending on your broiler, you will want to watch to make sure it does not burn).
  6. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving with your favorite sides.
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Make Money Selling Old Books

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*Disclosure: Affiliate links contained in this post.  You purchase like you would normally, but we receive a small commission. 

I went to college at the one and only West Virginia University (Let’s Gooo… Mountaineers).  While there I collected an ENORMOUS amount of books (I also paid an equally enormous amount of money for them).  If you were like me, you swore that there was no need to trade the books back in at the end of the semester because you would DEFINITELY use them again one day.  Boy was I WRONG! I was left with boxes upon boxes of old books and reading material that I am never going to use again.

I recently came across an article on The Krazy Coupon Lady about an amazing website that tells you what is the best site to sell your textbooks back too. And thus I introduce to you, BookScouter.  All you have to do is type in the ISBN number that you find on the back of the book….

 Hit enter, and it gives you a list of various websites (approximately 20) around the web and the cost that they will pay you to trade-in your books.

I decided to start with books that I could return to Amazon’s Buy Back program.  I wanted to start here because I am very familiar with Amazon and know they have great customer satisfaction policies in case anything happens.  In addition to paying you for your used books, Amazon also pays for full shipping costs.

Once I figured out all the books that would give me the maximum value at Amazon, I put them all on the trade in list and one by one they added up.  Once finished, I hit trade in, confirmed my address, and hit submit.

This was seriously just as easy as adding stuff to you cart and hitting check out.

The site took me to a screen where I could print out both the packing slip and the shipping label.

Amazon lets you choose between USPS and UPS to send (both are free shipping).  All you have to do is pack in box, add the packing slip and the shipping label and take to your choice of location.  Their site estimates up to 10 days max to process the claim and once completed within 2 days an electronic Amazon Gift Card is added to your Amazon account.  While some other sites pay you by check or PayPal, I use Amazon often enough that a Giftcard is perfect for me.
Lastly, while some of the books were only $4 or $5, I was able to get almost $25 for some.  With only 9 books, I got over $100.  Well worth it to me!
A few last quick tips:
1. While not all books will have sell back value, I still found enough that I am able a nice profit years after I got the books, and I no longer have to lug all these heavy boxes around!
2. Many of the sites have a minimum limit to send back, while Amazon does not have a minimum.  I also had success with Textbooks.com who seems to offer higher value for the books they do accept even though they have a minimum.  Shipping is also free there.
3.Make sure to check out donating to the books you cannot sell to your local library. 🙂
So I challenge you to scour around your house and see what you can find and see what money you too can make!  Good luck!

About Us

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Welcome to our page!  We are a young mid-20s couple that is full of life.

We started our blog in June 2012 in what was a crazy year for us! We got engaged in March and also found out the same week that we were expecting our first child, a girl, in November.

About Us: We met in 2005 in college at West Virginia University, but it wasn’t until 2009 that we started dating. It has been the most exciting adventure and while we had big plans of traveling/exploring the world for a few more years, God had different plans.  We were ecstatic to welcome our first child on November 23rd, 2012 and excited to see where it leads our lives.  Even at 26/27 years old, it’s still baffling to both of us that we are called parents!

We love trying out new products and figuring out what fits best in our lives. We do consider ourselves to be semi-crunchy too! We planned on breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and babywearing, but we never knew we would fall in love with co-sleeping too.  While we don’t think we are super “crunchy” by any means we are trying to be healthy and as natural as possible.

About Larisha: Some passions include cooking, couponing (saving money in general), crafts, and everything else that falls between. Always wanting to dabble in so many different things there’s not just one thing that can sum me up.  I am the primary writer for the blog. I love experimenting with new recipes, always looking to recreate favorite meals from great restaurants and working to make everything that gets cooked healthier since Andrew has high blood pressure, we are always looking for sodium free or reduced cooking ideas (I know *Gasp*, no salt!?)

About Andrew:  The “behind the scenes” designer of the blog.  He gives me lots of great ideas and promises one day he will write some articles for the blog (who really knows if that will ever happen).  Andrew loves drawing and painting, but his true passion is that of a car enthusiast.  His weekends are spent trying to make his car the best.

Almost a year has gone by since we found out we were expecting and all we can still keep thinking is… O-M-G…We’re Parents!?

Thank you for reading & exploring this journey of parenthood with us!

NY Cheesecake Pancakes

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We’ve updated this post to be even better.  View the new post for Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes including homemade whipped topping. 

We love eating out and enjoying amazing food, however, with only one of us working, its not always possible to enjoy it as much as we like.  I try to help by finding recipes on the internet that are “copycat” versions of the real thing, sometimes making my own little twists and usually it comes out great.  While it obviously takes much longer than walking in and ordering it, it’s always cheaper, and even sometimes (including this case) the homemade version actually tastes better!

My fiance is addictive-ly in LOVE with IHOP’s New York Cheesecake Pancakes. He gets them EVERY time we go.  I recently came across a recipe on Food Network and the reviews said they were spot on, so I just HAD to try it for my myself.  I went to the store and got the frozen cheesecake and buttermilk that I didn’t have on hand, and actually forgot the strawberry jam the recipe calls for so I just substituted water and sugar and it turned out perfect.  This is what I did:

Ingredients: 
Strawberry Topping:
1 1/2 cups strawberries, tops cut off and sliced thin
1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon water

Batter:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of Salt
2 cups chopped frozen cheesecake (I just used a small Sara Lee cheesecake found in the frozen section and used a little more than 1/4 of it to equal 2 cups)

Other Needs:
Cooking spray
Powered sugar and whipped cream, for topping

Directions:
Mix the 3 ingredients for the strawberry together in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

In a blender, add together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, egg, and oil. Pulse until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheesecake pieces, keeping them whole (I cut my pieces about 1/4 in).

Coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray and heat over medium low heat. One at a time, pour about 1/4 cup batter into the skillet for each pancake. Cook until bubbly on top, then flip and cook until the other side is golden brown, about 2 more minutes.

Transfer the finished pancakes to a baking dish and keep warm in the oven.

 Once finished serve the pancakes with sprinkled powdered sugar, strawberry topping,whipped cream, and syrup. You can see the cheesecake oozing out of the pancakes.  They were simply amazing! 🙂
ENJOY!
You can also check out our Blueberry Cheesecake Pancakes for even more inspiration!

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