No Yeast Homemade Pizza Dough {Low Sodium}

Last night I wanted pizza. Actually, I wanted homemade low sodium pizza. I looked around the kitchen and found everything I'd need EXCEPT yeast. I mean you need yeast to make pizza dough right? I've been making this for years and you HAVE to have it. Well, that's what I thought anyway. Really yeast is entirely overrated when it comes to making pizza dough and it was much quicker to make it this way and it tasted better! Pinky swear. 

When I realized (seriously, I swear I live under a rock sometimes) that by adding only 17 grams of yeast to my pizza dough, I was also adding 18 calories, 5 mg of sodium, and 3 grams of carbs. That's craziness. So I set out to make the dough without the yeast to make our pizza even better on the heart, the hearing, and the waistline.

All you need are 3 simple ingredients you already have in your pantry, plus water (yields 1-12" pizza):

• 1.5 cups bread flour
• 2 tbsp Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb (or any no sodium seasoning of choice)
• 2 + 1 tbsp Olive Oil (you'll need to separate them out)
• 1/2 cup water

Mixed the dry ingredients together, add in the water and 2 tbsp of olive oil, mix. Knead the dough for a few minutes and form a ball.

Place the dough ball on a pizza stone or pan, pour the other tbsp of olive oil over the dough. I know a lot of people use flour to roll out their dough but we don't like the texture that gives it so I use olive oil instead.

Roll it out. I use a rolling pin because I feel like June Cleaver or something. You can do this with your hands just as well.

Crimp up the sides of your dough to form the well for all of your fabulous toppings. Prebake the dough in the over for 5 minutes at 425 degrees.

Cover with sauce. You can either make your own like my Low Sodium Marinara Sauce or you can use your favorite jarred sauce (that will significantly increase the sodium content in this recipe though). Then top with whatever meats and veggies you like. I put 2 Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips in the microwave for 1.5 minutes, just long enough to thaw them so I could chop them up, and added jalapenos for a little zing.

Then top with your cheeses of choice. I always put the cheese on top of the other toppings so that it melts more evenly.

Bake the pizza on the center rack of your oven for 20 minutes (for a crispier crust and well cooked cheese which is how I like mine) or 15 minutes (if you like your cheese less brown and all melty, which is how B likes his) at 425 degrees. That's it. Low sodium, no yeast pizza deliciousness.

 

Serve with peppers and a side salad if you'd like, and ENJOY!

Disney FROZEN Fun Family Night featuring Norwegian Meatballs {Recipe}

Before we get onto the Disney #FrozenFun, I should probably tell you that I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

Disney's FROZEN the movie is all the rage in theaters right now. Have you seen it? Unfortunately, we have not. We were invited, as a family, to a pre-screening in Houston but due to school schedules, and the sniffles, we were unable to attend. *SIGH* But that didn't stop us one bit from celebrating its release. You can't hold a Disney family down. Instead, we decided to celebrate at home with a FROZEN themed dinner party, complete with Walmart toys, fun themed foods, and lots of imaginative play!

For us, family fun nights have to have a theme. I often get my inspiration for that theme from movies. Disney movies of course! We headed to Walmart to pick up the supplies for our dinner and of course I was roped into the usual "Mom, can we stop by the toy aisles please and thank you?" routine. And I was happy we did! There we found costumes, gift sets, cameras, and a little surprise for an unsuspecting recipient (more on that later). We had fun shopping together, as a family, and inspired by a healthy lunch and the FROZEN merchandise, we headed to the grocery section to pick up our dinner supplies.

We started with an appetizer platter of Olaf noses (so yea, baby carrots) and chips that we dipped in Glacier dip. Why yes, our dip is blue. There's a theme here. This was a simple sour cream mixed with vegetable soup powder dip but it was a fun way to get the kids to eat their veggies and the adults liked it too.

Then we moved into the main course...Norwegian Meatballs. Since the movie is set in Norway, I felt it was only fitting. I had to Google Norwegian meatballs and adapt a combination of several recipes to suit our dietary needs but apparently these were the BOMB according to the meat-eating members of my family. If you'd like to make these yourself, here you go:

What you'll need:

• 1 lb ground chicken (you could use ground beef but we tend to avoid it)
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash original seasoning mix
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted crackers
• 1 tbsp low sodium brown gravy mix
• 1/2 tsp ginger (I just used the powdered stuff but you can use freshly ground ginger)
• 2 tsp bread flour
• 1 cup vegetable broth

What you'll do:

• Mix all of the ingredients, except for vegetable broth and flour, together in a large mixing bowl.
• Roll into one inch balls and place in ungreased baking pan.
• Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes and remove.
• Whisk the vegetable broth with the flour in a mixing bowl until you have a gravy mixture.
• Place prebaked meatballs in pot, pour the gravy mixture over the meatballs, cover and simmer on stove top for one hour. 
• Serve over cooked riced or egg noodles.

And what family fun night would be complete without the desserts? We all know this is NOT my strong suit, but I try! I had HUGE plans for dessert. They fell short in my eyes but in the eyes of my children? These snowball cake pops and snow-capped waters made the night complete! I simply used a cake pop boxed mix that you can find at your local Walmart in the baking aisle, and I used Jell-O and mini marshmallows to put together my ice-capped waters to fit the FROZEN theme. Seriously simple. Follow the cake pop directions (and hopefully yours won't be as messy as mine) for your snowball pops. And for the snow-capped waters, simply prepare the Jell-O according to the package, melt in some mini marshmallows, cool in a glass baking dish in the refrigerator for an hour, and cut them into squares. How easy is that?

We had a ball with our #FrozenFun night, but let's be real here. It wouldn't be fun for ME if there wasn't a lesson involved. My babies have a lot. Everything they could need, want, or dream of in fact. And luckily, I can provide them with all of their needs and wants with a wave of my magic wand (well, a swipe of my debit card but I love that they think I'm magical so I play along). But we found out that one of our friends was unable to fulfill one of her daughter's wishes this Christmas because she couldn't find the elusive Elsa doll she had asked Santa for. Guess what? We found it! And so Bug learned another pay-it-forward lesson and happily gave up some of her "budget" to buy this Elsa to make another little girl feel the magic. We've shipped her off to her new home and know that she'll be loved and cared for. I just love a happy ending!

Host your own Disney #FrozenFun night at home. You can find all of the food items and fun merchandise at your local Walmart. The toys are conveniently stocked all over the place in the toy section (we even found some in the clearance aisle!), and of course, you know where to find the grocery section. Get creative with that. Our whole night was inspired the minute we walked into Walmart and headed to Subway for a quick lunch before shopping. 

We're all about healthy meals and thankfully select Walmart locations house Subway Restaurants which offers the FROZEN Fresh Kit for Kids Meal. Bug loves a good Ham and Wheat Bread Sandwich (hold the cheese..weird kid). Add in a fun bag that she can carry all of her FROZEN toys in, plus a key chain (only available at Subway Walmart locations), a drink, a cookie, and inspiration for a fun night at home? SCORE! Apparently the offer for the FROZEN Fresh Fit for Kids Meal expired on 01/06/14, but check your local store. We still have them here, and you might too. Your kids (and you) can thank me later. Bug and I would pick a healthy lunch alternative over the "other option" in a lot of Walmart locations nationwide every time. I'm thankful to have a Walmart with a Subway close by. 

So, have you seen Disney's FROZEN yet? What did you think? Are your kids FROZEN-obsessed like mine? We had a blast and can't wait until the movie comes out on Blu-ray and DVD so we can watch it over and over again, just like all of the other Disney classics!

If you haven't seen the movie yet, be sure to follow along on Facebook and Twitter to see what you're missing. AND check out this Pinterest board for more awesome FROZEN party ideas. Be sure to come back and tell me how your party went. I can't wait to hear all about it!

2014: My Word of the Year is Passion

I know I've seemed a little absent these days. I haven't been posting much. I've been kind of quiet. I've even been somewhat non-existent on my social media channels *E-GADS*. As I worked away through the holidays, watched last year fade into the distance, and a new year unfold before me, I also took a step back to look at myself, and my surroundings. I often forget to do that. 

I work a lot of hours. I cook, I clean, I fix lunches, do laundry, and I do the back and forth to school shuffle. I do everything a robot should. I care about everyone and everything and attend to their needs. If you know me, you know that to be true. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I feel, and love, deeply. But I often get so busy in the robotics, in my obsession to succeed at everything, that I forget to show the ones I love the most my heart. 

So I took that step back to re-evaluate and I like what I see. 

Everything around you reflects the kind of care it gets. I don't mean the robotics of it all, I mean the HEART and PASSION of it all. This includes your children, your marriage, your friends, and even your career. I was going through the motions but I wasn't expressing my passion. 

And so this step back, this look in the mirror, reminded me who I am and it reminded me what's important. I have to keep my PASSION alive and remember to wear it on my sleeve. That's who I am and that's what brought me to where I am in life. I love my life and I love my surroundings. 

I won't forget to care anymore, not even for a minute. This year, I will remember my passion. My passion for my marriage. My passion for my family. My passion for my career. My passion for life! 

Stay tuned everyone, 2014 is going to be the best year ever!

Can an Online Friendship be a True Friendship?

Now that's a great question! I believe the answer to be yes for so many reasons, well 5 actually. I should talk about this more. I don't believe in dating sites, I don't believe in chat rooms. But I do believe in online communities and I KNOW for a fact that having a tribe, an online network, keeps me grounded. I love my friends. Sometimes I lote (love + hate) them because they do keep me grounded, but I'm happy to be a part of my close-knit group. Sometimes I find it hard to put into words how much they mean to me. And why would I when one of them put it so eloquently and allowed me to share it with y'all here? Without further ado, my friend, Janet from Going Crazy Wanna Go shares her story.

Photo by Dancenhance Entertainment

Guest Post by Janet from Going Crazy!! Wanna Go??!!

Before I started blogging, I was a blog reader. I would subscribe to my favorites and just read all day long about the lives of women who worked from home, worked outside the home, couponed to help their families save money, and taught others how to enjoy their children on a daily basis. I would comment where I felt a connection and support others as I often do in real life. I got to know a few of them, but I was just a reader to them. Sometimes the bloggers would respond and sometimes not, but I stayed loyal to quite a few of them for a while.

After I had read for several months, I started to think that maybe I could do this blog thing too. I reached out to a blogger who was near me and asked for her advice. She encouraged me and told me how she thought I could get started and then one day I took the leap. I didn't know what I would write about, but I knew that others told me that I wrote well and were happy to see that I was using that skill for something enjoyable.

On my very first day of blogging (August 1, 2011) I came across another "newbie" and we started chatting. We found out that we both needed a LOT of help and we started learning new things and teaching each other. Not long after that we started a Newbie Blog Hop and a Facebook group for Newbies like us. We talked about the things we were learning and we had a great time. It turns out that my newbie friend is much younger than me and she had some family and marriage issues and the more we got to know about each other, the more we talked about our personal lives almost as much as we talked about our blogs (maybe more!). To this day, we are friends on Facebook and talk occasionally. The Newbie group is gone and the hop fizzled out (we passed it on to some newer newbies and I haven't kept track of it), but our friendship is still there. Her original blog fizzled out and she started a new one, then she decided to move on to living her young, happy life. My blog is thriving, limping on some days and soaring on others, and it has been the source of a lot of happiness for my family. Someday I hope to meet Kristin  in real life and give her a big 'ole hug.

Since making a friend in Kristin, I have continued to "meet" several people online and it amazes me daily that I have made so many friends through online groups and blogging. But, can an online friendship be a true friendship?

I know that Christy has talked a lot on this blog about Collective Bias and you all already know what an amazing company this place can be to its bloggers. The community of Social Fabric is the stronghold of the company and I have met so many great people through working with them. When I was first starting out, I was timid and shy (still am in real life) and I doubted my work. I started up conversations with a few of my campaign leaders (who scared the crap out of me) and it turns out these people are (almost) just like me!

When I needed advice on a series of posts for my blog, Mallery talked to me about the logistics of it all and what she loved about the idea. She encouraged me to just go for it and rock it! I still doubted myself, but her words stuck with me for over a year and one day I took the plunge and started writing about my messy house and then I had the motivation to clean it up!

When I started to get down about my weight and my body and I put myself down too much, Summer stepped in and started giving me pep talks on a daily basis. She told me her story of an abusive marriage and her own struggles with weight. She is unashamed on her blog and she encourages me to just put it all out there. She and Mallery are both Paleo believers and they told me that my healthy lifestyle IS Paleo too! Now, I'm more motivated than ever to get healthy, not worry about size, love myself and my own beauty as I am today, and encourage other women to love themselves as well.

When I needed work, was discouraged by the work I wasn't getting, and was looking to branch out, Jillian stepped in and offered me work, encouraged me to keep writing, found jobs that were perfect for me. She is one of "those" moms - the ones who love crepe paper and parties and make the most amazing crafts - but she encourages me to keep crafting with my boy and just being myself.

When I think that my life sucks and I just need a laugh, Amy will step in with an inappropriate, but very funny, anecdote and instantly I'm laughing instead of on the edge of tears. Amy has encouraged me in my posts to be better, do better, and work hard. She has a full time job outside the home, just like me, and she is a source of inspiration for me.

And Christy, bless her big 'ole Texas heart, she is my rock on most days. I can text, email, call, message her on Facebook, or just think of her sometimes, and life seems more bearable. I know that sounds really mushy and dramatic, but it's true and if you read Christy's blog, you know it is 100% accurate. Christy has "pulled me back from the ledge" more times than I can count. She has helped me emotionally, financially, and spiritually (and yes, I know, she's not "religious", but she has...). She is an amazing person and friend and I was blessed the day I "met" her.

Now, to answer the question of this post, I'll say this. I have met each of these ladies once in real life last May at a conference. I might have spent 30 minutes total with each of them (if that long) because the conference was overwhelming to me and I was more than a little ill. Even though I haven't spent face to face time with these ladies, I consider them my very best friends. When something sad or frustrating happens, I tell them. When something exciting or funny happens, I tell them. When I thought about leaving my husband recently, I told them.

I think you could say that YES, online friends can be true friends. Well, that is if you have online friends like mine.