Pizza, Puzzles, and Puppy Paws

Hi, guys. Looking for new recipe that will appeal to all members of your family? I think I might have one for you: Pizza with Stuffed Crust. It’s a great pizza that tastes every bit as good as take-out! I love it because it’s a home cooked meal, but it’s also quite easy to make. That’s a win-win scenario in my book.

The recipe I’m about to share with you came from the magazine, Taste of Home. My Mom subscribed to this magazine for a long time, and always passed her old issues on to me when she was done with them. I’ve gotten many good recipes from this magazine over the years. So many, that when I tried a new recipe, if my kids were skeptical of it, I’d simply say, “It’s Taste of Home.” And they’d calm down and eat it. 😊

By the way, did you know that you can read Taste of Home for free via the library and RB Digital? RB Digital Magazines allows you to check out full color, digital, issues of your favorite magazines such as The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Reader's Digest. Read them on your smartphone, tablet, or PC, all free of charge with your library card. Go to the library’s website, cidlibrary.org, click on eLIBRARY, and look for the red RB. Have your library card handy to create your account.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Taste of Home. I’ve made it numerous times over the years, and I think it’s delicious. Give it a try. Enjoy!

STUFFED CRUST PIZZA

Ingredients

2 teaspoons cornmeal

2 tubes (13.8 ounces each) refrigerated pizza crust

8 ounces string cheese

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce

1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni

1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained

2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

Sprinkle cornmeal evenly over a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Unroll pizza dough and place on pan, letting dough drape 1 in. over the edges. Pinch center seam to seal.

Place pieces of string cheese around edges of pan. Fold dough over cheese; pinch to seal. Brush the crust with butter; sprinkle with basil.

Bake at 425° for 5 minutes. Spread sauce over crust. Place two-thirds of the pepperoni in a single layer over sauce. Sprinkle with mushrooms, olives and cheese. Top with remaining pepperoni.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust and cheese are lightly browned.

Editor's Note: 8 ounces of bulk mozzarella cheese, cut into 4-in. x 1/2-in. sticks, may be substituted for the string cheese.

My Note: We’re not a fan of black olives, so we subbed chopped onions in for them, as we always do. Yum!

Nutrition Facts

1 slice: 377 calories, 20g fat (10g saturated fat), 50mg cholesterol, 1141mg sodium, 27g carbohydrate (5g sugars, 2g fiber), 21g protein.

Are you puzzled out yet?

Changing gears, how’s your puzzle game going? Are you still enjoying putting them together or are you sick and tired of puzzling by now? More importantly, if you’re still enjoying the art of the puzzle, how’s your supply holding up? I know it’s hard to order them from just about any place right now. Oh, Amazon still has a few, but they’re from a secondary market source, and these sellers have jacked up the puzzle prices and are charging too much money for shipping as well.

In my family, we are still going strong with the puzzles. We are all taking the stay-at-home directives seriously. My oldest daughter, Laura, lives in New York City. My youngest daughter, Janelle, lives in Los Angeles. Yes, they are surely taking this stay home, stay safe thing seriously. They have to as their lives depend on it. And, they lecture us to do the same. (Don’t go to the post office! Did you wipe your groceries down?!?!) Wow, how the tables have turned. 😊

Both girls are able to work from home and continue to do so. Yes, work fills a good portion of each of their days. But they still have excess time on their hands inside the confines of their big city apartments. Cooking, socializing online, Netflix binging and calling Mom and Dad to let them know they’re still OK fills time as well. The rest of the time? Puzzles!

As the puzzle shortage has become more dire, we have resorted to sharing our puzzles. Yes, we sometimes pay more to ship a puzzle than what the actual cost of the puzzle is. But we’ve got to do, what we’ve got to do, to keep the puzzles coming! The puzzle pictured here, the one I’ve taken to calling “the tunnel of love,” has now gone full circle. It started with Laura in NYC, who then shipped it to Janelle in LA, and on Monday it was delivered to little old Oxford, MI.

I’ve ventured out twice, very cautiously, to the local post office to ship my used puzzles off to the girls. As I mentioned, they don’t like it that I go out, but I have to do my part in the great puzzle exchange. I’m in and out in a flash, wearing a face mask, and scrubbing up when I get home.

Here's the latest puzzle I just finished, Nevertheless She Persisted. A good reminder of strong, smart women who have given much to our world through the years.

They also sent me puzzles (among other lovely gifts) for my pandemic birthday and for corona virus Mother’s Day. Somehow, they each managed to get a hold of new puzzles for those occasions. When I finish putting them together, if we’re still self-isolating, they too will find their way from sea to shining sea.

Pampered Puppy?

OK, our dog, Baxter, is far from a puppy as he’s 14 years old now. But, please humor me on my alliteration goals for this blogpost’s title: pizza, puzzles, and puppy paws. Anyway, poor Baxter was in desperate need of a good haircut/grooming. He last went to the groomer before Christmas and would have been ready for a nice spring clean-up in March.

But of course, that has not been able to happen as dog groomers are unable to operate right now, just like people groomers. I haven’t had a haircut since the day before my surgery back in January. My hair is longer (and grayer) than it’s been in years. However, I am not crazy or desperate enough to attempt to cut or color my own hair.

I felt sorry for Baxter though as the fur on his cute little paws is so long, I thought he might actually trip. Fortunately, we were able to get him into the vet in March for his annual check-up, and they trimmed his nails at that time. So, those aren’t too bad, but he is looking rather shaggy overall.

So, I’ve been trying to groom him myself. He is not a big fan of the process. He actually won’t sit still for me. So, my husband has to hold him down. We bribe him with treats, but Baxter still does not like it. What would be a one and done at the groomers, has become an ongoing process at our house. We do a little each day. First the paws, then the underbelly or skirt I think they call it.

The next thing we really need to tackle are his ears. I’ve been noticing lately they seem to be wet a lot. Of course, they are: they fall into his water dish when he gets a drink of water. I really need to shape them up and comb out his tangles, but I just don’t know if he’ll cooperate. Or, that I have the fight in me to get the job done. We shall see.

In the meanwhile, check out the before photos of Baxter. He’s pretty darn cute, but he really needs a professional haircut!

It’s Memorial Day weekend as I write. This will definitely not be a typical Memorial Day for us all this year. But still, try to make it memorable, in your own way, as we remember and honor the brave men and women who died while serving in our military.

Stay home and stay safe! Even if you do venture out this weekend, please stay safe. 😊