Happy St. Nicolas Day and a Pizza Dough Recipe

In my sister's house, St. Nicolas comes and leaves little surprises in the kid's shoes on December 6th. I hadn't started that tradition with little Pumpkin yet, but after hearing that my niece received "a reindeer that poops jelly beans" I immediately felt the need to get it going. So, I had my niece write St. Nick a really nice letter letting him know that baby Pumpkin had been born and now he could start visiting our house. Lo and behold the very next day, this cute bath toy was deposited in his shoes! It's no pooping reindeer, but Grant seems to like it!

I also finished baby Pumpkin's new stocking, which is hung by the fire with care in hopes that Santa soon will fill it with a little bit more hair and the ability to sleep through the night consistently. Sure looks cute, doesn't it?

And, completely unrelated, but related to yesterday's post is the recipe for Jason's pizza dough. Here goes:

1 1/4 C warm water
1/2 pkg. active dry yeast
2 T EVOO (if you don't know this term yet, you're missing Rachael Ray)
3 1/2 C flour (you can use a bit of whole wheat if you like...2 C maybe?)
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
some rosemary (to taste)
handfull of cornmeal

Mix the water, yeast and oil in a bowl. Add the flour, salt, pepper and rosemary and stir until it forms dough. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and knead dough until it's smooth (5 mins?). Lightly oil a bowl, put the dough inside and cover it with a warm, damp cloth. Let it rise about an hour. Divide in half and let it rise another 20 minutes. At this point, you can roll it out (we like it rolled out *really* thin) or freeze it in a ziplock for about a month. Just make sure to let it completely thaw for about a day in the fridge before you try to use it. When you do roll it out, make sure to use the cornmeal on a pizza peel (a big wooden dealie) or baking sheet. Stretching it with your hands works okay if rolling with a rolling pin doesn't do it. Then, top it, bake it (10 - 15 mins?) on high heat and eat it!