Alex's Ultimate Pizza Crust

I hope everyone had a great weekend! What did you do?

My beautiful roomie from college came to visit and we packed the weekend with our favorite things to do together!

Fashion - I'm not very good at following all the latest trends and keeping my closet current, but that's why I have Alex. She cleaned out her closet and brought me a full tote bin + a bag of clothes + a bag of shoes. Yes!! Friday night I tried everything on and decided what fit and what I liked. Then we cleaned out my closet and got rid of some hideous clothes and shoes. Whew! It's so refreshing to clear out. We ended up with 5 big bags of shoes and clothes to donate. We added a few pics to my Pinterest account with some fashion tips for me. Apparently I need to own more than 2 belts.

Cooking - We always love working in the kitchen together. Senior year of college we had an apartment and we cooked almost every night.

• Alex loves macaroons, so when I found a recipe for Almond & Coconut Macaroon Granola I knew we had to make it. The house smelled so good! Plus it was quick and easy to make.
• Saturday night we made black bean burgers from my new Peas & Thank You cookbook. They held up great on the grill & Alex liked her first bean burger so much she copied down the recipe to try at home! On the side we had kale chips & grilled sweet potato beer fries - I might share the recipe with some how-tos in the future...keep your eye out! :-)
• On Sunday, we made personal pizzas. I always use Alex's pizza crust recipe, but it's even better when she makes it for me! (Recipe below!)

S'Mores - Please note, this does not fall in the same category as cooking. S'mores are a tradition. We made them every Wed. night in college, but they're sooooo much better over a campfire than they were in the dorm microwave!

Roller blading - In college, we would go roller blading a couple times a week. It's still one of my main forms of exercise, but she lives in the country and doesn't get to go very often. We squeezed in a workout between rains on Sunday. Then a couple hours later the sun came out! Should've waited...

Laughing - Constantly. Her laugh is contagious. :-)

Alex's Ultimate Pizza Crust
Makes 2 medium thin crust pizzas

1 c warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 c unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 T extra virgin olive oil

In a large glass bowl, combine water and yeast and let set for about 10 minutes or until the yeast begins to bubble. Add flours, salt, and olive oil. Stir, then knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough to an oiled bowl; cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Divide in half, roll into balls, and cover. Let rise for 15-20 min. Shape into a pizza crust and top with desired ingredients. Bake at 425*F for 12-17 minutes.

Yoga Girl Challenge: Halfway Point

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Ten days into my Yoga Challenge and I'm loving it and feeling great. It's been hard some days to fit it in (especially Friday!) but it's worth it. Even just a quick session helps me ease out some of the tension from the day.

1-Tuesday:

• Body by Bethenny - 15 min. - This ended up being more weight training than yoga, but it still left me feeling stretched out. 

2-Wednesday:

• Denise Austing Fat Blasting Yoga - 15 min. - One of my go-to quick yoga sessions, this was the first DVD I owned that introduced me to yoga. Denise got me hooked, and I come back to her every once in awhile.

3-Thursday:

• Biggest Loser: Weight Loss Yoga - 5 min. warmup, 10 min. level 3, 20 min. level 1, 5 min. cooldown - The Bup joined me for this one. We love Bob & have done this one so often that we can quote him while he's telling us what to do. At one point he actually says, "Oh Bob... "

4-Friday:

• Annnnd my 3 day streak ended here. I had great plans to do a short session after we dug the potatoes to stretch out my back, but then the yellow jackets attacked and there was no doing anything unless it involved an ice pack.

5-Saturday:

• YogaDownload.com - 20 min. Qi Yoga & 25 min. Shoulder Opener #1 - I stepped out of my dvd comfort zone and decided to try these free online downloads. They always intimidated me because they're audio only. Turns out my 3 years of video yoga served me well because I had no trouble following the instructions. I think a complete beginner would struggle a little, but they really explain what to do in detail.

6-Sunday:

• YogaDownload.com - 25 min. Power Yoga #4 & 20 min. Solar Flow #1 - I liked the audio so much I tried it again. It's great to have variety instead of the same rotation of videos. This site has so much to offer! It's making me love yoga more, and challenging me to try new poses.

7-Monday:

• Denise Austin Yoga Body Burn - 10 min. Yoga Legs - I didn't have much time but still wanted to squeeze in some yoga! This is a quickie workout that still feels complete, despite the short length.

8-Tuesday:

• MyYogaOnline.com - 6 min. Let's Fly video - We had company for dinner & a campfire, so my day was packed. I took the time right before bed to stretch out with this super short online video. I think it would have continued if I paid or downloaded it, but as it was it stopped abruptly. I did a little downdog and child's pose to finish it off.

9-Wednesday:

• YogaDownload.com - 20 min. Power Yoga #5 - This one was just okay. It did help me release my tension from the day, but wasn't a fave. 

10-Thursday:

• YogaDownload.com - 20 min. 9 min. Power Vinyasa Flow & 25 min. Yoga for Weight Loss #1 - I did not like the Power Vinyasa Flow at all. I stopped after 9 min. and went to the next one. The Yoga for Weight Loss was a long series of sun saluations, which was great for a morning workout. I don't do the weight loss yoga sessions for the purpose of losing weight, I just find that they are more up-tempo than some yoga, which I prefer.

Has anyone else been doing yoga with me? Any suggestions on some videos or audios that I should try?

Rossetti's Italian Vinaigrette

This is the ultimate salad dressing. The one we use almost daily. It gets requested by my grandparents and several friends, too.

My Grandma Rossetti always hand-dressed her salad. Literally. She'd add the ingredients and then stick her hands in there and mix. Personally, I don't want anyone questioning whether my hands were clean before I handled their lettuce and I don't like getting my hands greasy, so I use a spoon & fork. You can take your pick.

Dad tweaked Grandma's recipe a little, and then Mom tweaked his. She didn't change the flavor, just started using a measuring spoon, mostly to get him to use less ingredients. They were ending up with soggy lettuce and lots of leftover dressing in the bottom of the bowl. No one wants either of those!

The best part about this dressing is that you can measure the ingredients right on top of the lettuce & veggies and mix. No extra bowl necessary.

Added health bonus: vinegar has been known to be a great digestive aid and has a lot of health benefits. This dressing has plenty of vinegar. We always eat our salads after dinner and I really think it works! It's also light on the oil, so it is naturally "light." Olive oil is a healthy fat that helps the body absorb the nutrients from the vegetables.

Rossetti's Italian Vinaigrette
For 1 large salad

1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1 T extra virgin first press olive oil, organic
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 T red wine vinegar

Prepare salad. Sprinkle dry ingredients one at a time onto the salad. (Don't dump them in a little heap! Sprinkle!) Do the same with the wet ingredients. I usually use the salad spoon in lieu of a tablespoon, and it works fine. The main thing is to have the ratio correct and not to add too much liquid. You can always go back and add more if needed. Toss salad well, making sure you don't see any clumps of dry ingredients. Add more vinegar if it is too dry.

Note: It's best to wait until right before dinner is ready to dress the salad. This keeps it nice and crisp.

Rossetti's Italian Vinaigrette