After another long silence a blog post from Caroline! I have been meaning to update but then either get too busy or get too lazy. Paul and I are very happy in our new place back in Ohio. It feels so good to be home, finally! Looking back at our time in Virginia it just feels like a long trip away from home. Not so much a vacation, because it wasn't all sand & sun, but a lot of work, stress & missing family & friends. Not that there weren't good times, there were. Not that there weren't friendships built & cultivated, there were. But it is nice to be home regardless!


I have been happy to be getting back in touch with people here, doing some lunches with the girls, dinner parties at our place, going to dinner at friends homes & spending time with our families. Paul is loving his new job at Suarez. He is allowed much more creativity then at CBN so that is making him happy. He is planning on taking on some freelance or part time work for the evenings/weekends to make a little extra cash. Our goal is to be debt free. The cost of living has gone down for us, well except for gas prices so the goal of being debt free is getting closer. I am still searching for employment but have some very good oportunities in front of me. I am training right at the moment to be a server at Bravo, and so far that is going well although it is a lot of information to take in. We are still looking for a church to call home, but have visited a one that we did enjoy. I have been doing a lot of cooking in my new big kitchen here at our apartment. Below is a picture & recipe for a margharita pizza that is absolutly amazing!

The Margheritan Pizza - Grilled

1 grilled pizza crust *

1 tablespoon Herbed Grill Oil **

1 tomato

1 ball (8 ounces) fresh mozzerella

Garnish - 2 tablespoons basil leaves

1: Brush the grilled side of the pizza crust with the Herbed Grill oil. Lay on fresh tomato slices and fresh mozzerella slices as desired.

2: Grill pizza. Garnish with the basil leaves before serving.

* Pizza dough, you can either use a mix or make your own. Roll out on a floured surface in a size that is good for your grill & serving dishes. I don't have an outdoor grill so I use a large cast iron electric griddle set at 400 degrees. After pizza dough is rolled out, put in griddle & grill each side about 2 minutes or until "grill marks" apear. Take out of griddle. After toppings are put on place back in the griddle for about 8 minutes. Take out & place on broil pan, broil for about a minute or two.

** Herbed Grill oil -

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Makes 1/2 cup

Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl or glass jar, mix well, and refrigerate. If it solidifies, take it out a few minutes early or microwave it at 5-second intervals until it starts to liquify.

ENJOY!!

The second time I made this pizza, instead of using tomato slices on it I made Chunky Tomato Basil Sauce and did everything else with the pizza the same, just used the sauce instead of tomato slices.

Chunky Tomato Basil Sauce

2 small cloves garlic

8 large fresh basil leaves

1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) rip tomatoes, cored & quartered (or use canned, diced, well drained tomatoes)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (or more)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 Place garlic & basil leaves in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and pulse briefly (unless canned tomatoes are used, then I didn't put those in the processor). Do not puree the tomatoes, as the sauce is meant to be chunky. Or chop all by hand.

2 Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and sugar until mixed well. If the sauce looks watery, add more tomato paste until you see no more juice.

3 Refridgerate the sauce for an hour to accentuate the flavors.

Happy pizza eating!

Ciao, Caroline