new blog...

i've had so much fun here at the craft pirate lounge...arrrrr, catch more pirate shinanigans over here... http://yogapirate.wordpress.com/

love to all of my four readers...

pizza muffins

i got lazy a couple of weeks ago and didn't want to roll out my homemade pizza dough...i got the idea of just putting them on the bottom of muffin cups and making little pizza muffins...lo and behold, they were delish! i told a co-worker about the recipe "a-ha" moment...she said i should enter a contest...

a taste of home just happens to have a pizza recipe contest that closes tomorrow...i have spent the last week perfecting a writing down the how-to of it all...

the top prize? 500 clams...i am totally envisioning winning this grand prize...

here's the scoop:

These deep-dish, oregano-infused pizza muffins make a great meal with a green salad or as an appetizer. Use a bread maker or hand knead this easy dough recipe. Use the ingredients recommended or substitute your favorite pizza toppings: chopped olives, pineapple, Canadian bacon, artichoke hearts, pepperoni--the sky's the limit. The key is to chop all toppings into small pieces. Pop these into a lunch bag--they reheat in a microwave in one minute. Freeze a batch for later.

SERVINGS: 12

CATEGORY: Main Dishes

METHOD: Baked/ Broiled

TIME: Prep: 90 min. Cook: 20 min.

Ingredients:

• DOUGH:
• 1 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbs. oregano
• 2 tsp. baking yeast
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 cup + 2 Tbs. warm water
• 
  
• TOPPING:
• 3/4 cup favorite pizza sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 lb. ground Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup diced bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced mushrooms
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 
  
• OTHER:
• non-stick oil spray
• 1/4 cup corn meal for dusting muffing cups
• standard 12-cup muffin tin
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Directions:

DOUGH:
Place room temperature ingredients into bread maker in the order recommended by the machine instructions. Hand mixing is simple! Mix dry ingredients well in a bowl, drizzle olive oil over dry ingredients then slowly add warm water while mixing with a spatula until dough ball starts to form Begin, then, to knead by hand for approximately 3-5 minutes. Transfer dough to a bowl lightly coated with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area (70 degrees) for 1 1/2 hours to rise.

When dough is almost done rising, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Place rack in the middle position. Saute' ground sausage until almost brown. Add onion, mushrooms, bell peppers and salt. Continue to saute', stirring until sausage is well browned and the veggies are tender.

Spray muffin cups with non-stick oil spray and sprinkle corn meal,making sure all sides of the cups are covered.

Pinch off about an 1/8 cup-sized piece of dough, gently patting into a circle bigger than the bottom of the muffing cup and about 1/2 inch thick. Place dough in the bottom of muffin cup and pat into cup shape. In the dough cup add 1 Tbs. of pizza sauce then 1 heaping Tbs. mozzarella cheese, then 1 heaping Tbs. sauteed toppings.

Place in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove when done. Let sit for 5 minutes. The pizza muffins will be easy to remove with a small spatula or fork. Enjoy. Yield: serves 12

a commitment...

i've joined a facebook group to go through this 12 week workbook...the artist's way...as already mentioned, i have no studio in which to do art...so i must do what i can (i've been going slightly crazy not being creative daily)...but i can find a way...drawing is not my strong suit but i can work on becoming a better one, plan out my sewing projects, writing the requisite "morning pages" from this book...


i have a creative writing degree...haven't written is quite a long time....blog aside...

now, this book has been around since the early 90s...i once thought about doing the lessons....now is the time to plumb the depths...there are many ways to be creative...

this is my current fave mag...where women create lets me see how others make a space for their art...studios, stores, homes...i can dream of my attic space one day going from a dusty, wall paper falling off the walls room to a reflection of me...how do you make space for your creativity?

sew what!

been down that i can't have a permanent place to play at art in...won't be available probably until next winter...so, what's a crafty pirate to do? take over the laundry folding table, that's what!

i quickly got overwhelmed by having to follow directions on the pattern...i don't play by the rules very well... but i did make my way through to come out the other side with my friend jen's birthday gift...a full apron! turned out swell...






thanks for being one of my four readers who cares about what little ol' me is crafting up...i appreciate being seen up on the "internets."

eat, pray, love...

here is a long-ish video of the author elizabeth gilbert speaking about creativity....totally worth 20 minutes of your time...happy creating and...ole'

you make me wanna shout...

i've been toying with the idea of guerrilla art...what does this mean to me...why do it...what form or media...with whom might i do it with...here's another taste of the fun...

...eary january

...finally hanging the art...







...not acting my age...




...replacing the old aluminum, single pane bathroom window...




...reading the new york times magazine and knitting what's supposed to be a baby hat...



....getting my ebay score framed...and hung...


...january and february are my least fave months...trying to find the silver linings in all the clouds...

and that calls for a party! had an open house/house warming party on saturday...no pix, just great memories of having 45 or so of some of my fave peeps in our new home...120 homemade enchiladas, brie, pears and grapes, chips and salsa, punch and vodka shots...lots of great conversations, house tours, even our mortgage lender and the selling agent showed up...looking forward to a snowshoe day trip in feb and a team snow shoe charity event in march...

we are blessed...

if we have friends and family and a warm roof over our heads...

bless those in Gaza



...and the homeless




and the people who still deal with the fallout from chernobyl decades later




and the folks in tennessee who are knee deep in heavy metal waste in their backyards for xmas...





i know it's sappy but i love this scene in a favorite movie...





we are blessed...thank you for joining me here at the pirate lounge...

happy happy...

to you...and you...and you...

guerrila art

there are times when a grrl has to shout out, do something subversive, become less sedate...dneese, of grrl+dog , has been sharing her adventures down under doing some great knitting graffitti...

if you don't know what that is, check out these grrls who knit and tag around the world...





it tempts me to skulk around little farming town Ault where i now find myself living and introduce them to some pole art, maybe a little library door handle tagging...