Merry Christmas!

Love,

The Beals Family

Speedy Grilled Pizza

Last night it was 5 o'clock and I was cursing myself for waiting until the last minute to figure out what to make for dinner. Nothing sounded good and I was about to resign myself to grilled cheese sandwiches when I remembered a recipe in one of my Cooks Country magazines (the secret to my success as a cook) that I had bookmarked to try. I grabbed it and started making it. 1 hour later we had the best pizza I have ever made (and not to toot my own horn, but I have some pretty good recipes for homemade pizza). I doubled the recipe because our family can put down pizza and it was still done an hour later start to finish. The dough only needs 15 minutes to rest so you don't have to worry about it taking all day. Anyway, I had Jeramy take some to my sister because I had a lot left over and she sent me an email this morning saying that the pizza was the best thing she had ever tasted and to please send her the recipe. So, I'm passing it along. Feel free to add whatever toppings sound good to you. I had some left over cooked chicken that I had just tossed in a bit of BBQ sauce and some cooked and chopped kielbasa sausage so I added that to my sister's pizza. Enjoy!

Quick Grilled Pizza

Makes four 9-inch pizzas

*Don’t move the dough during the first minute of grilling or it will tear. Keep the first batch of cooked pizzas warm on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet in a 200-degree oven. If you like pepperoni, arrange 2 ounces pepperoni slices over each pizza after you’ve topped it with sauce.

Sauce:

2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained well

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon salt

Pizza:

1 cup water, heated to 110 degrees

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing dough

1 tablespoon sugar

1 envelope (2 ¼ teaspoons) rapid-rise or instant yeast

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional as needed

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. MAKE SAUCE: Combine tomatoes, basil, oil, garlic, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.
2. PREPARE DOUGH: Whisk water, 1 tablespoon oil, sugar and yeast in large liquid measuring cup. Let sit 5 minutes. Pulse flour, Parmesan, and salt in food processor until combined. With machine running, slowly pour in water mixture and process until dough pulls away from sides and forms shaggy ball, about 1 minute. (If dough seems too sticky, add yup to 2 tablespoons more flour.) Turn dough onto floured work surface and knead 3 or 4 times until cohesive.
3. SHAPE PIZZA: Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, press into small circle. Using rolling pin, roll and stretch dough to form 9-inch circle. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and dust dough with flour. Repeat with remaining dough, stacking each round on floured parchment.
4. HEAT GRILL: Meanwhile, heat all burners on high, covered, for 15 minutes. Leave primary burner on high and turn other burner(s) to medium low. Scrape and oil cooking grate.
5. GRILL PIZZA: Brush tops of 2 dough rounds lightly with oil. Peel rounds off parchment and place, oiled side down, on cool side of grill. Grill, covered, until undersides are spotty brown and tops are covered with bubbles, poking large bubbles with tongs, 3-5 minutes. Brush each lightly with oil and clip. Top each round with one-quarter sauce and one-quarter mozzarella. Grill, covered, until undersides are spotty brown and cheese is melted, 3-5 minutes. Move pizzas to hot side of grill to crisp, about 1 minute. Repeat with remaining rounds. Serve.

Family Photos

After 10 years, it was finally time to get a good professional photo taken of our family. We used Brinkerhoff Photography and took them at Stonebridge Mansion. He did a good job and for the most part the kids were good. Here are some of the good ones.

Cooper Earned His BEAR!!!

Cooper worked really hard this fall to earn his bear. He got it at his last pack meeting. He got to "fight" the bear in the cave and come away with "bear jerky". We are very proud of him.

Jeramy's Birthday

Jeramy celebrated his 34th birthday this month.
We had Chocolate cake and were all very happy!

Sadie's Photo Shoot

When the boys got their school pictures back, I realized I didn't have any "professional" pictures of Sadie since she was an infant. I asked my brother to take her pictures because he is an aspiring photographer and very talented. He did a great job! Here is a sample of some of the pictures:

Her First Smile of the Day

Finally after two hours of being awake.

It had better not be her last or it's going to be a long day.

With peanut butter and Everything but the hole in the middle...

That's how Sawyer eats his bagel every morning. When I asked him why he won't eat the hole in the middle, he told me, "I don't like how the hole tastes."

My Next Project...

...if I ever actually have time for it. I'm going to glue these pieces on the board and find a frame for it. (Yes, I am aware that I need to move the "Family" down one square so that I can make the other one say "Eternal".) It took me forever to make the pieces work together to make our names and words that fit our family. Then as soon as I'd have it just about done, Sadie would bump it and mess it up. We ended up just taking a picture so that we can remember where to put the pieces when I actually get to it.

Halloween...

...filled with sugar and cute kids!

Carving

Every year, the Monday before Halloween, we carve pumpkins and watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" for our Family Home Evening. It was fun, as usual and the kids were pleased with how the pumpkins turned out.

(P.S. If you are wondering about all the collages in the last few posts, I've just found it faster to make a collage to post pictures. And since I'm all about time efficiency, this is the way to go for a while!)

FHE, Uno & Pazookies

We have fun sometimes.

Mostly when games and treats are involved.

Bedtime Stories

Jeramy walked in to tell Sawyer to turn off his light and found them like this.

Sometimes they get along and it's really sweet on those rare occasions when they do.

Gutter Rug Rats

Because it doesn't rain much here,
we make the most of it when it does.

Quick Cheesesteak Subs

I haven't had time to blog in sometime now. I realize I still haven't posted pictures from July of our California trip, and many other events that have taken place over the past few months. But between going to school, taking care of the kids and doing things for Primary, I just haven't had the time. I'm learning that I can't continue to put the time and effort into cooking as I would like because there is so much going on, so I'm trying to find easy and really good meals that will keep my tummy (and my families) satisfied without lowering my "food snob" standards in regards to my own cooking. Here is one family favorite that we all love (excluding Sawyer, of course.)

Quick Cheese Steak Subs

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 lb. thinly sliced rare deli sliced roast beef, cut into 1 inch strips

1 onion, halved and sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon A-1 Steak Sauce

Salt and pepper

4 (6-inch) sub rolls, split partially open lengthwise

8 slices deli provolone cheese (see note below)

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat broiler. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and cook until softened and golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add A-1 sauce and beef to skillet and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Divide beef mixture among rolls. Top with cheese and broil on a rimmed baking sheet until cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Serve.

Note: Provolone cheese is traditional here, but you can substitute any easily melted cheese.

More flowers...

I just found out about this blog, and now I'm going to have to make these. From her tutorial, they look super easy and just plain adorable. Hope you like them too.

First Day of School

Our kids are getting so big!!!

Mass Posts

I am trying to clear off the camera so there is room for pictures when we go out of town next week, and realized how few pictures I've posted over the last 3 crazy months. So, I'm almost caught up, I'll get to the rest later!

Sadie is 2!

Sadie has been really sick the last couple weeks, so her birthday wasn't as fun as I had hoped to make it. But, she got a chocolate cake with pink frosting and brown polka-dots.

And Grandma gave Sadie princess dress-up clothes and she has been clomping around in those cute heels for 2 days now!

Just one reason I love having a daughter...

Jackson is 7!

Camping with the Johnson's

We went camping a couple weekends ago with some of our family friends. It was a blast!

We got extremely dirty.


Threw some tantrums.

And enjoyed the outdoors.

Cooper got his wolf!

And we wore the purple mark of "pride" proudly!