prom hair do

{3.30.13}
One of our favorite babysitters asked ME if I'd do her hair for Prom. !!! She said Alivia's hair was always cute for church and she didn't really care what I did with it.

We had a practice run the week before, and it was a good thing. I got off to a rocky start. :/ But we pushed through and were happy with the results.

I looked at The Small Things Blog for some inspiration. I used ideas mostly from her fancy side pony tail, and some more ideas from her Sideways French Twist. She has a cool blog with great "how-to" videos. I'll be checking those out again.

Notes for myself for the future:
After I did the half up flip over in the middle, I took small sections from each side, twisted them and pinned them over the middle piece. I put the rest of the hair in a low, side pony tail, wrapped the ponytail elastic with a piece of her hair and pinned it in place. Then I sprayed and curled her hair and pinned it above the ponytail base to make a faux bun. Sprayed wispies like crazy and added her cool feather hair piece. She looked beautiful all dolled up!

sugar cookie bars

When it comes to my cookies, I'm not all about meticulously beautiful. I prefer easy and DELICIOUS! So, you can see why I'd think making sugar cookies is a LOT of work. You have to roll them all out and cut them, and after they're done baking and cooling, you still have to frost them and decorate them too! It's just hard for me to sit still doing that same thing for so long, especially since I don't actually LIKE to do it. :/ This recipe solves all these issues, AND it's delicious! Hooray!

Picture from Real Mom Kitchen

SUGAR COOKIE BARS

Cookie:
1 cup butter; room temp.
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13 x 18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 of an 8 oz block) softened
1 tsp vanilla (I used almond extract for half of the frosting)
¼ tsp salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)

Directions:
Combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk a little at a time and mix until smooth and spreading consistency. You may not need all the milk! Spread over cooled cookie bars.

Sources:
I used the bar cookie recipe from Real Mom Kitchen and the frosting recipe (using cream cheese addition & shortening omission- eww) from The Girl Who Ate Everything. I'm really pleased with how well they turned out! They really "hit the spot" on my rainy day today. ;)

Pizza Hut Pan Pizza

Thank you Pinterest! Another great find from Six Sisters' Stuff

I wasn't sure if this single batch would be enough for our whole family to get full on, but this crust is really filling, so we even ended up with leftovers! I'll add this to the Friday night Pizza rotation. :)

Homemade Pizza Hut Original Pan Pizza Recipe:

Makes three 9" pizzas

Pizza Dough:

1 1/3 cup warm water (105 degrees F)
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 t.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for dough)

Directions:

1. Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in a large bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Allow to sit for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed.
2.  Turn out on to a flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into three balls. In three 9" cake pans, put 3 Tbl. of oil in each making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9" circle. Place in cake pans.
3. Spray the outer edge of dough with cooking spray. Cover with a plate. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Sauce:
1 can (8 ounce size) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt\

Directions:

1. Combine tomato sauce, oregano, marjoram, basil and garlic salt.

Other Ingredients:
Mozzarella cheese, shredded (2-3 cups)
Desired toppings 
9 Tbl. vegetable oil (3 Tbl. per pan, or less if preferred) vegetable oil spray
Butter flavored cooking spray

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
2. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on dough and spread to within 1" of edge. Distribute 1/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese on sauce. Place toppings of your choice in this order: pepperoni or ham, vegetables, meats (cooked ground sausage or beef). Top with 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese (or as much as you prefer). Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown (between 10-15 minutes).

(Recipe from CDKitchen)