This is late and I'm ashamed

So.

It's been a freaking long time since I bothered everyone with how annoying I am. Har. I don't even have the excuse of no WiFi anymore.

I'm just lazy.

So how do you feel about a catch up post, yeah? And from now on I shall post more than once a week!

 HAPPY EASTER!!!!! He is Risen! *dances because Lent is over* (Actually, I really like Lent, it's good for me. But I like food and Lent cuts out a lot of food.)

We wanted to make it a really fun Easter, so we older girls went out and got a bunch of candy and plastic eggs and extra Easter baskets, and then we decided to make Ravioli from scratch. We normally buy it and make our own sauce. But this year, we thought we ought to be really Italian and make everything.

So we started preparations on Thursday evening because we all work. We got so much chocolate, and so many fun things to stuff Easter baskets with. (We got a lot because A.) We never get enough chocolate in our baskets to satisfy us, and B.) we had fifteen baskets to fill, okay?)

Kat and me

And we split up. Two of us piled baskets full of yummies and pressies, while the other two started working on ravioli filling. (As an aside, please don't ever say raviolis, in Italian, "i" at the end already makes stuff plural. So ravioli is already plural, and adding an "s" to the end is redundant and annoying. Please don't do that.)

Meats, and onions, and spices and stuff, and then you put it all in a blender and turn it into paste. 

After that, we stopped for the evening, because it takes a long time to stuff that many baskets and make filling. (Also because we didn't particularly feel like working anymore so... yeah.)

The next day we made the dough for the ravioli, and started putting it all together. Let me just say, it takes for freaking ever to make ravioli by hand, guys. We didn't finish until late.

You need to roll it really flat, and then fold it over and roll it out and fold it over and roll it out.... I forget how many times. In the voice of Treebeard: A huuuuge number.

And ravioli dough is very tough so that it doesn't fall apart when you boil it, which makes it difficult to roll out. (By difficult, I mean, IT WAS A GIANT WORKOUT.)

It took so long though, lots of hysteria ensued before the night ended. I think we filled up three or four cookie trays with delicious food.

We went down to Easter Vigil for the first time in ages. (It's kind of like Midnight Mass, but for Easter. It's a bit longer, but so worth it) Because of how far away the church is from where we live, we didn't get home until almost four in the morning.

We girls who've moved out had a small breakfast at Amy and Mahri's house, with coffee and French toast and fruit salad.

A little after noon, everyone met at the parent's house (home base, I like to call it.) for basket finding and dinner.

I think Mother Nature is a bit confused though, because we did not get snow for Christmas but we had some for Easter. (yay)

We had drinks and appetizers and visited.

Amy made this beautiful arrangement for the dinner table...

And we basically had a really relaxed, laid back Easter Sunday.

Bella was right next to the window, which is why she looks like a ghost.

The ravioli was delicious, in case you were wondering. We were a bit nervous because it was the first time we'd ever made it, but I think it was a success.

I GOT THIS REALLY AWESOME DOCTOR WHO MUG WITH A TARDIS THAT DISAPPEARS WHEN YOU FILL IT WITH HOT LIQUIDS.

It was a really beautiful Easter.

So what did you do for Easter? Anything special? Did you try something new? (Do you make the mistake of calling them raviolis?) 

Let me know in the comments, because I'm nosy...

Cheers!

And this is how we cook pizza

This has been a while in the making.

I am sorry.*

Things got super busy, and then editing had issues, and then I got lazy, and then I sort of, might have been putting it off.

*not really sorry.


I mentioned a few posts back that Amy and I had filmed a pizza vlog, because apparently we talk about food so much on our blogs that it makes our minions slaves followers hungry, and a couple of you actually requested the recipe for our pizza. (It was Hannah's idea to film it, but whatever.)

SO if you want to make delicious pizza the DeLallo way, here is our recipe for it. (And trust me, it's fabulous, we are pizza snobs.)

However since this is our first cooking vlog and we kind of suck at it, here's the recipe written down in case you have no idea what we're talking about.


Dough: 

1c warm to hot water 
1 package yeast
1 glug (about two tablespoons) oil
3 c (give or take) unbleached white flour

In a medium to large bowl, mix water, yeast and oil. Add, little by little, 2 1/2 c flour, and knead together. Move the dough to a floured surface and knead in the remaining 1/2 flour. Your dough should be soft and not overmixed. A good way to test, is to stick your finger in and if it comes out clean or mostly clean, your dough is probably ready.

Rub it down with oil (so it doesn't crack) and put it back in the bowl, covered. Set aside to rise for about an hour, your dough should double it's size.

Makes 1 pizza.


Sauce:

1 medium sized can (16oz) unseasoned tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/4 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced.
2 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp basil or sweet basil
Pinch of salt
Pepper to taste.


Dice the onion and garlic and put them in a sauce pan with the oil. Saute over medium heat until the garlic is browning and the onion is sort of transparent and soft. Add the sauce and stir. Mix in the spices, and let them cook into the sauce for about ten minutes. Then turn the sauce down to about med-low or low and let it cook down for about an hour. (This makes the sauce super flavorful and yummy. :)

Good for one pizza.


The Pizza: 

Preheat oven to 375*f.

The dough
The Sauce
Whichever toppings you're going to use (Optional, you don't need toppings, but whatever)
1 c cheese (Mozzarella is best) Or as much as you want, the more the merrier, I say.

Roll out the dough onto an oiled pizza tray. Spread the sauce fabulously over the top, and add toppings if you have them. Sprinkle the cheese and stick it in the oven for 12- 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown on the bottom.


And then all you need to do is partake of delicious goodness.

Just FYI, we are at a pretty high altitude, so the timing and cooking temperature might be a little off if you're closer to sea level. 'Pologies. :)

IF YOU FEEL BRAVE, YOU COULD DO A VIDEO RESPONSE.

But seriously, try it out and let me know what it goes!

Cheers!