Lissy In Italy

Quoting Rachel Ray... "Yum-O!"

I'm busy making pizza for tonight... I hope it turns out as good as last time.

Here's a shot:

While I'm no Betty Crocker or Rachel Ray, I do seem to have a knack for making kick ass pizza lately (the proof is in the picture above). I made pizza the other day and it was soooo good! Even Isabella ate more than usual (ok so that's like 2 more bites than her usual 4 as she isn't a pizza person) then I used the same dough (using mother yeast - I'll explain in a bit) to make mini calzones cuz I was at the end of my wits trying to find something to make other than pizza and rice the other day (I didn't go shopping so the cupboards were limited). I saw mini calzones on the Kraft Kitchens website and decided to try to make my own. (Yes, that's the mini calzone below in all it's yummyness.... with ragus sauce and cheese....mmmm)

EUREKA!

Isabella actually ate 2! That's a big deal in our house AND she kept saying "Yum mommy, buono!" Well, that little comment from my food critic was enough for me to decide to try it again in the future!

Ok so I know you are wondering what mother yeast is and for those who are cooks, you probably know...

Mother yeast is when you make dough and save a portion in the fridge, the next time you go to make bread or pizza (like me) you use it and add to it - flour, water, oil, salt - NO MORE YEAST PACKETS. The end result: much yummier pizza with less of a yeasty taste. Believe me, once you try it, you won't really want to go back. We learned this trick from Giovanni's Auntie Evelina - that woman can make pizza! (Probably helps too that she has a real wood burning pizza oven!)

So tonight I'm trying it again... hope it works, it's been in the fridge a few days. Oh yeah, if you want to try this mother yeast thing out, you need to work the dough at least once a week... yeast like us, gets hungry.... you need to feed it flour and water to live....

Good luck if you try it out!