:: Family Weekend- just the four of us ::

Love weekend mornings when we are all in bed together!

We all went to the gym, then had a nice little lunch together at the local "Kanza Yanza" restaurant.. love how Lillian is looking at me and dad is telling Isabelle that Lil is too heavy for her to hold. 

Look at those smiles.

 Sunday morning was home made biscuits and gravy... yum!

I made the first batch too thin {misread her measurement} so I doubled them up on the second batch to make them thicker like the picture in the recipe.. they were really good!

I was even able to make veggie gravy {just make a roux like you would for any white gravy, add fresh ground pepper, a little curry powder {I like the hot yellow one from Penzey's} and any other spices you like, then 1 1/2 C milk {used Almond} + 1/2 veggie stock or more milk if you don't have stock and stir until it thickens} and Jacob liked it!

I found a great + simple biscuit recipe via Pinterest, I would definitely make them again.

Foolproof Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits from 'tracey's culinary adventures'...

9 oz {about 2 C} all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

5 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 

3/4 C cold buttermilk {I made my own buttermilk with 1 C almond milk, 1 T white vinegar.. put 1 T vinegar in a measuring cup and pour in milk until it hits the 1 C line, let stand for 5 mins, then measure out 3/4C}
3 T honey 

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter cubes, and use a pastry cutter (or your fingertips, if you'd rather) to cut in the butter until the pieces are no bigger than peas - the mixture should resemble coarse meal. Stick the bowl in your refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the buttermilk and honey in a measuring cup. Add to the bowl with the butter/flour mixture and stir gently just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently about 3-4 times to bring it together. The dough may still be a little crumbly, that's fine. Roll the dough into a 9x5-inch rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter (using the long sides of the rectangle). Once again, roll the dough into a 9x5-inch rectangle about 1/2-inch thick, and again fold it into thirds like a letter. Roll the dough out to 3/4-inch thickness (the shape doesn't really matter). Using a 1 3/4-inch round cutter, cut biscuits from the dough (don't twist the cutter, use a straight up and straight down motion) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch of space between them. (I gathered the scraps and cut more biscuits once or twice to get as many as possible.)

Bake for about 11-12 minutes, or until the biscuits have risen and are golden brown on top. Remove the baking sheet and transfer the biscuits to a wire rack. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve warm. Or, if you won't be serving immediately, pop them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds when you are ready.

Isabelle picked out this princess wand for Lillian at the toy store so she was trying to get her to hold it {this is what was going on while I was cooking}, but I think it was too big for her.

And she just wanted to put it in her mouth and it had so much glitter on it, I had to take it away from her.. she had glitter all over her face.

This is one of Isabelle's photos.. wish it wasn't blurry because look at that happy face!

We finished our weekend with home made pizza on the grill.. look how pretty!

tomatoes and green peppers from our garden!

We did try a new pizza crust recipe because we wanted it to be like the crispy cracker type crust and we found one that was really good on the Food and Wine website.. it was really simple and delicious!  There is just nothing better than pizza on the grill {with garden veggies and fresh mozzarella of course}!

Crispy Pizza Dough

3/4 C + 2 T warm water
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 C all-purpose flour, + more for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
extra virgin olive oil

1. In a large bowl, mix the water with the yeast and sugar and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the 2 cups of flour and the salt and stir until a raggy dough forms. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
2. Lightly oil the bowl and return the dough to it; turn the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 balls.

MAKE AHEAD The balls of dough can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated overnight or frozen for up to 1 month. Let the dough return to room temperature before rolling out.

We had such a nice little weekend as the four of us.. love when that can happen and think it's important to do every once in awhile.