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. 😊

(Normandy, France May 4, 2016)

Creativebug!

Creativebug is here! What? Should you be afraid? Is it running rampant in your house? No. Just kidding. Nothing to fear here. Just a lot of creative know-how and fun made available to you for free from the Clarkston Independence District Library. Creativebug is our new database of online video classes for our patrons who love to create, make or DIY. Creativebug is the surprise I hinted about in my last blog post. 😊

To get you started, here is a quick link to Creativebug to use now:

https://www.creativebug.com/lib/cidlibrary

How will you find and access Creativebug on a regular basis? There are currently two links to Creativebug on our CIDL website, www.cidlibrary.org. The first, is from the homepage. You’ll find it in the carousel that’s just below the blue toolbar of options near the top of the page. As the carousel rotates, you’ll see some of the cool programs or services we are currently highlighting at the library. And when you see the picture for Creativebug, click on it where it says “find it here” and away you’ll go. You will also find Creativebug in our A-Z Database list, found under the Research tab on the blue toolbar of options.

Creativebug is, as I previously mentioned, provided to you free by the library. To use it, you’ll need your library card to log in. Type in your library card number, as well as your pin. This is the same pin you use to place holds at the library. As long as you’ve never changed it, your pin will be the last four digits of your phone number. You’ll then create an account using your email address and a password of your choice.

Go ahead and log-in and discover all the joys that are Creativebug! It has thousands of award-winning art & craft video classes taught by recognized design experts and artists. Whether you are looking to learn a new craft or brush up old skills I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for here.

As you can see from the class list above, Creativebug offers instruction on many of the most popular crafts such as knitting, crocheting and sewing. But, there's so much more here to satisfy your creative moods. Are you interested in help with a DIY project around the house? You’ll find that in the FOOD + HOME section. Creativebug can help you plan a party or decorate for any occasion or holiday. If you are striving to bring out your inner artist, then check-out the ART + DESIGN section. There you’ll find how-tos for drawing, painting, textiles and so much more.

Do you have children or grandchildren that are makers as well? Creativebug also offers video instruction for them. To help you pick age-appropriate crafts, they are categorized as crafts for kids five and up, and also ages eight and up. What are quick crafts? Just what they imply, easy crafts that don’t take a lot of time.

Did you notice the tab called Daily Practice? These videos are 5 to 10-minute creative exercises and projects designed to keep your creative skills sharp and your creativity inspired even when you only have a few minutes a day. As the Creativebug site suggests, creatives (that would be you!) can take “a few minutes every day to experience the satisfaction and joy of exercising their creative muscles.”

Let’s navigate around one of the video tutorials to get a feel for how they work. Lately I’ve been interested in, and eager to do, a little creative mending, so I chose “how to mend clothing” by Cal Patch as the first video I viewed in Creative Bug.

Below the above picture of patched jeans is a toolbar of icons that you’ll use to navigate through the content of this tutorial. Description, pictured on the right, will tell you what the class is about and how long the total tutorial will run.

Chapters break down the classes into the different video segments or chapters that they're composed of. In this mending tutorial, there are five chapters of varying lengths. Each is a separate video. You can watch them all at once or watch them one at a time at your convenience. You can also return to them at any time and watch just one segment or all of them over again.

Materials will give you a list of the supplies you’ll need to work a class or project.

Gallery is where you’ll find pictures of the projects in the tutorial.

Discussion gives you the option to ask questions, make comments or just chat with others who’ve watched this class.

Notes allows you to make notes for your self about whatever you want as you view the videos.

Watchlist is a great tool to help you remember the videos you really liked or maybe ones you didn’t finish and will want to return to. Add them to your Watchlist, and they’ll be there as reminders for you to refer back to as needed.

Transcript is just that, a written transcript of each video. It allows you to go back and clarify any point or instruction you may have missed, or would like refresher of, in the future.

We hope you enjoy Creativebug and use it often. There is so much to see and do on this website! It will keep you busy and provide hours of enjoyment and knowledge to you and your family. I’ve only scratched the surface myself. I cannot wait to dig deeper. 😊

If you make any projects from Creativebug, and would like to share them with me and my readers, please send a picture to graib@cidlibrary.org and I’ll post it to the blog.

Speaking of a picture sent in by a reader, I want to share with you one that I received from M.J. last week in response to the gardening talk from the Recycled Tin Can Flower Pots post. This year, M.J. decided to start some lettuce and flowers in pots from seed, just in case the local nurseries didn’t open this spring. What do you think? The flower seeds were just newly planted, but it sure looks like M.J. will be enjoying some homegrown lettuce this summer.

M.J. also shared with me that she’s made my recipe for Grandma’s Chicken Casserole two times since she read that particular post. I’m happy to hear that M.J. says they really enjoy the casserole. Thank you, M.J., for your emails and sending along the picture. Much appreciated.

That’s it from here. I’m sorry I haven’t posted to the blog in a while, but I was working hard this past week on getting to know Creativebug so that I could explain it to you. Additionally, I made a video for our Explore in 4 series on our very own YouTube channel. My video is still being edited, but do take some time to check out our other offerings. They are short intro videos about our online services. We’ve gone virtual!

Here's the link to our channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPxfqmSTUnuJEeTcPN0FGERfkLJVlYOWi

Have a great weekend! Stay home and stay safe. Be creative!

Recycled Tin Can Flower Pots

I don’t know about you, but I am ready to get outside and start gardening. For me, gardening means nurturing tidy spaces filled with beautiful flowers and perennials. I gave up on growing vegetables more than a few years back. We live in a neighborhood frequented by deer and rabbits, and I fight a battle each summer just to keep them from eating my hostas. Fighting a similar battle with critters over fresh vegetables isn’t how I want to spend my time out in the garden. Besides, I just love beautiful flowers.

We live in Michigan however, and it’s not time to start planting our flowers yet. We have some predicted overnight lows this week that are below freezing. Yikes! I personally like to wait till almost Memorial Day weekend to begin planting to be safe. What to do in the meanwhile?

How about we make some really cute tin can flower pots? Make them now, and they’ll be ready for flowers when it warms up. These pots can be hung en masse on a fence or placed where ever you’d like to add a pop of color outdoors. I found my inspiration and DIY instructions at the I Should Be Mopping the Floor website of Kristi Dominguez. Here’s the link to her site:

https://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2017/05/tin-can-fence-garden.html

One of the things I like best about this project is that it uses empty tin cans, a supply most of us probably have on hand. (Reuse, reduce, recycle!) You could certainly do this project with a clay pot if you had one. But could you easily hang a clay pot on a fence? Not really.

I went to my recycle bin in the garage and found several cans for my project. On her website, Kristi explains that she uses industrial sized cans that a friend, who works at the local school cafeteria, saves for her. I don’t have access to such big cans, so I just chose three random ones from my recycle bin; two were the same size and one a bit bigger for variety.

Remove the labels from your cans and wash them well before getting started. Try to get off as much of the adhesive, left behind from the label, as you can. If you have problems getting the adhesive off try using Goo Gone remover if you have it on hand.

With this project, the catch phrase of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn, “make it work” was a reoccurring theme for me. Working only with supplies I had on hand at home, I improvised or made do. Starting with the paint.

In her post, Kristi Dominguez recommends using chalk-style paint as it adheres well to tin cans without a lot of prep. I would have loved to have used bright colors like Kristi did, but that’s not what I had available. The only paint I could find was red, white, and blue, leftover from a flower pot painting project from last spring. But it was chalk-style paint, and I like being patriotic, so I went with it.

When I do my Maker Magic program at the library, I normally use 1-inch foam paint brushes such as those shown above in the middle picture. I searched high and low at home for a single foam brush and came up empty handed. But I did find two sponge paint daubers, the round foam tools used for making dots when crafting. So, I used the daubers both for painting the cans as well as adding the dots. Make it work! Because I had only two, I had to rinse the daubers out frequently as I changed paint colors.

Let’s start painting. Paint the outside of each can, as well as a couple inches inside the can from the top down. Allow the first coat of paint to dry, and then apply a second coat. Where to set the cans while they’re drying? Put down paper of some sort (newspaper, flyers received in the mail, scrap paper, wax paper, etc.) To keep the painted cans from sticking to the paper, I used toothpicks, forming them into three-legged stars per the picture, to set the cans on. Popsicle sticks would work well also.

After the second coat of paint has dried, it’s time to add the polka dots. I poured the paint into a small paper plate to make getting at the paint easier. Use the circle dauber to dab on the dots in a random pattern.

Once the polka dots have dried, seal the can with a clear, outdoor sealer to protect the paint. I used sealer leftover from last year’s paint project. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what brand of sealer it was, because I poured the sealer into a jar to make working with it easier. Based on what it looks like, I’m guessing I used Mod Podge Waterbase Sealer, Glue and Finish for use Outdoors. I am a big Mod Podge fan. Be sure to seal the bottom of your cans as well to keep them from rusting.

A good pot needs drainage holes to keep your plants from becoming over saturated with water. When the sealer has dried, turn the pot over, and we’ll make the holes. Kristi Dominguez used a drill to make her holes, but I didn’t want to bother with a drill. I grabbed the biggest nail I could find and simply pounded the holes with a hammer. I put three in the smaller cans, four for the bigger can.

If you’d like to hang the pots on your fence, add an extra hole on the side of the can, towards the top. You'll use an "S" hook through that hole to attach it to your fence when it's all planted and ready to go. (See picture above.)

I finished my pots and couldn’t wait to plant something in them. Our local nurseries have opened back up, and I’m very happy for them. Obviously, the next few months are their biggest months of the year. And, they will be open for us to buy our summer flowers, tomato plants, and everything else we want in our gardens. Towards the very end of May, if allowed, I will go wait patiently in line for a chance to buy beautiful flowers. Properly socially distanced, of course. And with my mask on.

But not now. Not yet. It's too early. Then I remembered these cuttings I’ve been nurturing since late last fall on my kitchen window sill. I took them from a green filler plant I bought last summer while visiting in northern Indiana. I didn’t save the plant tag, so I don’t even know what it was. It’s not something I have ever been able to get in Michigan though. Whatever it was, it was beautiful, and lush, and grew like a weed. I loved it and didn’t want to let it go. So, I made about ten cuttings, put them in small, water-filled glass vases and placed them on the window ledge behind my sink. To my delight, they grew roots and lasted all through the winter.

Today I planted three of them into my pots. Fortunately, I had a bag of potting soil in the garage to use. I watered them and now they are sitting on my kitchen table, soaking up the sun. I’m waiting till it warms up and then outside they’ll go. I don’t have a fence to hang them on, so I’ll set them on my patio table. They’ll get full morning sun there, and I’m hopeful they’ll flourish.

If you give it a go and make some tin can flower pots, please take a picture or two and send them to me. I’d love to include your photos in a future post. Send to graib@cidlibrary.org Comments, questions, and critiques are always welcome.

I’m going to close with a little teaser for you. We’ve got something new and exciting coming soon to our library. It’s a database of creativity that offers online video arts and crafts workshops and techniques. So, all you DIY, crafters, and makers out there, get ready to learn new skills or polish up some old ones. I’ll tell you all about it when it’s available. Check back here for details, as well as watch our website for news.

Till next time, stay home and stay safe.