Beware; It's a Long Post

You need one of these. I mean I need one of these. Adriane purchased a V-Slicer and now I covet.

She had learned how to use it, but still wasn't quite sure how it all went together.

Thankfully, it came with directions. Oh, wait. It was all in German. Forget that.

Let's get to the real reason for having a V-Slicer. It's around so we can make awesome vegetable pizza in no time. Ready? Pull out your premade pizza dough.

Roll the dough out and don't forget to push it all the way out to the edges, so that it fills the entire pan. Yes, Adriane, you need to cover the entire pan! Don't forget that.

Put olive oil and garlic in a bowl together. If you don't have fresh garlic, you can improvise with just about anything garlicky in your kitchen.

Brush oil mixture lightly over the pizza crust. Then bake in the oven. While it's baking prepare the vegetables.

Pull out the awesome v-slicer. Stick a zucchini on there and start slicing away.

Look how thin that zucchini is. Let's see you slice a whole zucchini, that thin, with a knife, in 5 seconds.

Adriane tried to do something fancy here with the tomatoes. I think they're supposed to come out diced. It was a good effort on her part, however I don't think they ended up being diced. I can't quite describe how they turned out. It didn't matter. It was still all good.

The mushrooms were pretty cool too. Stick them on there however you want.

This is how Adriane did it the first time. Cute, right?

Round two got a little fancier. Two at a time!

Super thin mushrooms are incredible.

Look at all those sliced up veggies in just minutes! That's why we all need to get a V-Slicer.

Okay, pull out your pizza dough. It should be done by now.

Have some words with your sister for not fully reading the instructions about pressing the dough all the way out to the edge of the pan.

Move on to prepare the cheese for the top of the pizza. Mix Italian seasoning and mozzarella cheese together.

Then add it to the cheddar and parmesan cheese already waiting.

Sprinkle half the cheese mixture on the pizza. Then add all of your awesomely thin vegetables.

Sprinkle with more cheese and stick it in the oven.

Bake a little while longer. Pull it out of the oven and admire this beautiful pizza that you just created.

Enjoy! Eat it up until your stomach is about to burst. It's so good you won't be able to stop eating it. Seriously. That's what I did. I think I ate half the pizza just by myself.

If you followed this post this far you are amazing. Thanks for sticking it out to the end. And, Mrs. Harrison, if for some reason you decide you just don't have time to use your V-Slicer, I would be happy to take it off your hands for you. I know you're a busy lady and I would hate to have the thing cluttering up your home. ;)

Cheese Garden Pizza

Ingredients
    ◦    1 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated pizza crusts
    ◦    2 garlic cloves, pressed
    ◦    2 tablespoons olive oil
    ◦    4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
    ◦    4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
    ◦    1 medium tomatoes, sliced
    ◦    1 teaspoon italian seasoning, dried
    ◦    1 medium zucchini, sliced
    ◦    1 small onions, sliced
    ◦    1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
    ◦    1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
Directions
    1.    Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
    2.    Place pizza dough on flat stone of your choice. Roll dough to fit stone. Combine garlic and olive oil and brush onto crust. Bake 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven.
    3.    Sprinkle with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Top with tomato and Italian seasoning. Layer zucchini, onion and mushrooms over tomato.
    4.    Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake 15 - 18 minutes more.

Party

Anna and I had an outrageously early flight Saturday morning, so we headed to St. Louis on Friday. This is as close as I was going to get to the Arch. We waved.

We had more important things to do at Adriane's apartment than tour the city. Besides, the guy I sat next to on the airplane told me there wasn't a whole lot of interesting things to do in St. Louis, compared to Colorado. That was good enough for me. You see, at Adriane's there's a stash of marshmallows. These kids were crazy for marshmallows. You can see it in their faces.

What's more fun than throwing marshmallows and having the kids scramble to get them? Turn around boys. Focus and find that marshmallow. It's right behind you.

Oh, maybe I forgot to mention that Adriane lives on the top floor and since we were cooking and the kids were running and jumping around it was hot. Really hot. It was so hot that we actually opened the sliding glass door.

We also had big plans to take the kids out for ice cream. That plan was changed when it started pouring down rain outside. We just hung out instead.

We had plenty going on here. You'll have to see what we made after the kids went to bed.

Chillin' like villain. :)

Outtakes

Lauren has painted some pretty bold colors on some of the walls in their home. They rock! They are so fun. They just sort of put you in an upbeat mood. 

With walls like these we had to have a photo session.

Don't you love that red wall?

Maybe we're a little dorky.

Or maybe we're too cool for you!

Let's not forget the awesome photo with all the kids!

Strangers?

Our first evening at the Braaten's house, Anna was making growling noises at the dinner table. (Maybe I will have to shoot some video of this noise. It's pretty cute!) Anyway, Jason wanted to join in, so he growled right after she did. This made Anna a little confused. She turned, and buried her face on the arm of the chair, and started crying. Her reaction was just priceless. I had to laugh as I was consoling her. She quickly got over that growl and climbed right onto Jason's lap. Crazy, right? They became buddies.

After a few days Anna was no longer shy and made herself comfortable anywhere and everywhere.

The kids enjoyed evening stories read by Jason. Who wouldn't love a story teller that looked like this? :)

Bite Your Tongue Off and Never Miss It!

After a long morning out in Amish country we were famished. The kids were fantastic, considering we drug them around all over the place.

They never complained. Look at how happy they were after such a long morning.

Ollie is such a sweet kid. Look at that face.
Even Anna did well. She, maybe, tried to play hide and seek a few times, but we found her, and Ollie did an excellent job keeping tabs on her. It was so cute.

Lauren ordered this awesome Hog Trough for herself and the boys.

Anna and I shared the Pulled Pork Platter with baked beans and hobo potatoes. Mmmm!!!

Pulled pork must be eaten with barbeque. It's just wrong with out it.

Full bellies equal happy kids!

They were such troopers. I'm pretty sure that it was their nap time.

Stop the cuteness!!!

Adventures in Amish Country

Lauren lives about 20 miles from the Amish. We planned a trip out there one morning. The little Amish children were in school, so Lauren to decided to drive right into their school driveway. They obviously don't drive buses. Instead they have a lineup of buggies.

The little girls wear cute little bonnets on their head. Can you see the little girl in the window?

If there is a place that has "Bulk Foods" in the title then you know it has to be a great place.

This little place is run by the Amish, though anyone and everyone shops there. There is separate parking for people with cars and people with a horse and buggy.

Inside there are all sorts of wonderful goodness. We bought that bacon cheese and made nachos. It was so good!

They have bulk everything. It's great that they don't waste money on pretty packaging. It probably saves us money too, by purchasing things this way.

Since I knew I would be visiting, I started a list awhile back. It was kind of a big list. Most of the things I bought were hard to find items or more expensive in our regular grocery store.

The Amish definitely dress quite plainly and all the ladies wear bonnets on their heads. They had the cutest little baby with them.

After we left Beachy's we drove past a random home on wheels. It's nice to be mobile, I suppose. :)

Our next stop was Miller's Dry Goods. They have a lot of books, sewing supplies, fabric, and some other random things.

The one thing I will never understand about the Amish is that their lifestyle prohibits them from using technology. They can't use electricity, yet they can use propane gas. What's the difference? We were in their stores and they had some really nice cash registers. Don't you think they should be doing all the math by hand? Well, I'd hate be them, adding up my order by hand.

Here's the loot I ended up with. Let's just say I barely got it all packed in my suitcase.