# 27 Lazy Sunday

Today was a lazy Sunday. My mom was out of town, and while I had some precious alone time at the house I ran downstairs to play some piano. Afterwards my dad got home and insisted we do something fun for the night. So we got out the scrabble board. You should know that my dad is an intense scrabble player. He thinks of words that Webster himself hasn't even thought of yet. He always wins. Always. It has been my lifelong goal to beat him (and by lifelong I mean since this fall). After a lively game of scrabble and a skype-date with my brother and his wife, we went on a short walk outside, where my dad told me about his childhood. It was fun to hear all the stories. He told me lot's of interesting things, like about the time that he lived in Europe and the most exciting thing he ate was French Fries (I'm just kidding) (Kind of). And the time he ate pizza in Italy. And the time his brother made up a song to tease him about a girl. (Dear Uncle Crawford, Thank you for doing your best to tease my dad! It's good to know that someone took responsibility for that before I came along.) All in all, it was a nice night!

Also Last night I made some dinner for the Pops and I. We had Chili Lime Grilled Chicken with mango salsa. And on the side we had grilled squash. If you like yellow squash or zucchini, then you have to try these. Here is the recipe

Grilled Squash for 2

1 yellow squash or zucchini

1 T Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Using a cheese slicer, or veggie peeler, or just cutting super thin (Like a long potato Chip but slightly thicker). Slice up long strips of squash

toss in the olive oil. Salt and Pepper Liberally (and I mean liberally) and toss again. Place on hot well oiled grill. Flip when you start to see grill marks. Take off and enjoy. Try your best not to eat them before they get to the table.

#10 Grilled Pizza, or Me versus the man

For a long time now I've wanted to find a good way to make grilled pizza. Last summer I attempted making grilled pizza and all I got was a charred mess. Today was my first day seriously cooking since I've been home and I wanted to go big or go home. So after some research online and a little motivation I got to work.

Round 1 was an idea from a blog I found. It made it look so simple: just put the rolled out dough on the grill and flip when you see grill marks, throw all the ingredients on the cooked side while the other side cooks, let the cheese melt, and you're done... WRONG, it was more like, throw the dough on, untangle the dough, attempt to fix the holes and lay the dough flat, and then, oh wait, the otherside is already burning, flip the dough, then flip all the parts of the dough that break off, desperately chuck the other ingredients on, and there you have it, a beautifully charred mess of a pizza.

Round 2 went much better. I rolled out the pizza on a pizza stone (if your trying this at home, MAKE SURE you roll it good and thin, otherwise it wont cook evenly), decorated it with the toppings, and slid the pizza stone into the medium heat grill. Let it cook until the bottom of the crust was very light brown, took it out of the grill and put it under the broiler until the top of the crust was light brown and the cheese was perfectly melty heavenly goodness.

And the winner? Round 2. Luckily for Round 1 even charred pizza crust tastes good dipped in hummus.

If you want to know, I made a margarita pizza with Wolf Gang Pucks pizza dough recipe (my absolute favorite pizza dough). Margarita pizza is simply dough smothered in olive oil, sprinkled with fresh garlic, topped with fresh basil and tomatoes, and covered with fresh mozzerella. yum.

For dessert we had a Strawberry cream pie. I thought I would share the recipe while strawberries are still in season.

Strawberry Cream Pie

From Our Best Bites

2 Cookie pie crusts. (you can use anything from graham cracker to oreo, I used a shortbread crust) OR 1 large crust

1 4-serving size box of instant vanilla pudding

1 cup cold water

14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 pint whipping cream

2 T powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

lots of strawberries sliced thin

Mix pudding, water, and S.C. milk until pudding mix dissolves. Put in fridge.

Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla.

Fold half of whip cream into pudding.

Spread thin layer onto pie crust. Pile on strawberries. Cover with the rest of the pudding mix. (if your using 2 pie crusts split up the filling and strawberries accordingly) Spread the rest of the whipped cream over top and chill for at least 2 hours.

Note: If you want banana cream pie you can simply substitute bananas for the strawberries.

#9 Cinco De Mayo

5 things to love this Cinco De Mayo

1. Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends. My favorite is Tart Honey.

2. My favorite brand of lotion.

3. In my 3rd grade class, it was the cool thing to have one of these water bottles. I just bought myself a new one, and I can kind of see why!

4. They might be men's T's, but I vote they make some of these babies for women too! I love those comfy shirts! All in favor say "yes please"!

5. I tried to get a picture of this blog but I couldn't get it to work. Anyways, I haven't tried any of the recipes, but they sure sound delicious. I'm looking forward to some cooking adventures!

#8 Home cookin

I'll let you in on a little secret: My Mom makes the best Strawberry rhubarb crisp this side of the mississippi, (confession: I never checked the geographic locations of good ol strawberry rhubarb cookin, I just wanted to use that phrase) and guess what, you lucky reader you, my mom gave me the recipe, and now I'm giving it to you.

Strawberry rhubarb crunch

1 Cup Flour

1 C packed Brown sugar

3/4 C quick-cooking oats

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 c butter (or margarine)

4 c. Sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb

1 pint fresh strawberries halved

1 cup sugar

2 T Cornstarch

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 whole lotta love

Directions: In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press half of mixture into 9-in square pan. Combine rhubarb and strawberries and spoon over crust. In saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch, stir in water and vanilla. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Pour over fruit. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top. Bake 350 for 1 hour. Bring some to Catherine. Just kidding. Serve with ice cream.