Who doesn't like pizza?

My recipe will be listed at the bottom of this post.

I've recently discovered a tasty version using Barilla pesto sauce and cubed chicken breast.

 A warm pink binding finished off the new log cabin.

It took over an hour to get it hung up today.  It's a tricky area needing a ladder and push pins in the wall set just right.

Three yard sticks were taped together with painters' tape to equal the width of the quilt.  A small drill bit set a hole in each end corner and thin wire was run through to form a small loop.  The wire loops go around push pins.  The middle of the yard stick sits atop other push pins.

This is a portable method allowing me to move quilts of varying sizes around often.

Here's Dolly enjoying the late afternoon sunshine on her rug in the middle of the great room.

Pizza Dough Recipe (Piroshki)  - (given to me by Suzy about 20 years ago)

1 package yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup warm milk
3 Tablespoons melted butter
3-4 cups - combination of high glutton flour, bread flour, regular flour (I bought high glutton flour from my favorite pizza restaurant.  It makes a huge difference.)
1 egg

Dilute yeast and honey in warm milk.  Add butter and enough flour to make a batter.  Let rise in warm place until double.

Add dash of salt and one egg.  Add enough flour to make a soft dough.  Knead well.  Let rise until double.

Heat your pizza stone to 425 degrees for at least 15 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Roll out dough forming the edges and place on heated pizza stone.  Brush a light coating of olive oil over the dough including the crust edges.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Having cubed and cooked the chicken, it was coated with about 2 tablespoons of pesto.

I sliced one onion thinly, added a jar of rinsed mushrooms and heated through until onions were limp and fairly dry.  In the pan went one half cup of thickened spaghetti sauce.  Then the cubed chicken so everything was warm.

Once the crust had cooked 10 minutes, the chicken mixture was added, topped with shredded mozzarella cheese.  I grate my own cheese so it does not dry out.

Everything bakes at 400 degrees for another 10 minutes.

This makes enough to feed 3 adults or 1 teenage boy.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Fried chicken and . . . .

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¾ cup shortening (or a mixture of butter and shortening)

1-1/3 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add shortening.  Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in thoroughly. 

Stir in buttermilk and mix until dough holds together.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ½ inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2-1/2" cutter.  Gather up scraps of dough and roll out.  Cut additional biscuits. 

Place biscuits on a lightly greased cookie sheet, bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned on top and dry on the sides. 

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When time allows, baking bread is something I love to do; however, I've learned that biscuits require a special touch.  The mixture should be worked as little as possible so as not to toughen the dough.  Remember not to twist the cutter as it goes in the dough; a straight up and down motion is best.   

This recipe comes from a 1987 Early American Life magazine article entitled "A Picnic in the Deep South", so you know it's good.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .