When did we become those people?

Every Monday morning the people I work with come in and rehash their weekends. A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me (yes it took that long) that my weekend plans never matched with theirs. This has been a new thing for me, in utah we were pretty normal. On the weekends we studied (grad school does that to you), did our laundry, saw friends, went to church, rested, and attended Sunday dinner. In dallas, we do some of the same things, we grocery shop, work on our yard, rest, go to church, and visit with family (via webcam). This isn’t what everyone our age does. At some point we diverged from people in our age group- it might have happened when we got married early, or when we decided to live the lives of BYU grads, whenever it happened I failed to notice. Our utah peers did the same things so it seemed wonderfully normal, but now it is a little “peculiar”. At some point we became “grown ups”. Some days the stark contrast makes me miss Utah terribly, other days, I remember why we came to texas, and that not everything is permanent. Either way, our lovely Utah (and CA) friends and family we miss you tons and tons!

This past Saturday night, while other people our age were off doing, well not sure what they do we were making homemade margarita pizza. For those of you we left behind in Utah that spend your Saturday nights with the West Wing, ticket to ride, and cooking we thought we would pass this along- just in case your Saturday evening is currently blissfully free.

ATK Margarita Pizza

Dough

1 ¾ c. all purpose flour

1 c. cake flour (you HAVE TO use cake flour)

2 t. sugar

1 ½ t. salt

1 ¼ t. instant rapid rise yeast

1 c. warm water

Topping

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

¼ c. chopped fresh basil

½ t. sugar

1 garlic clove minced

¼ t. salt

olive oil

1 oz fresh mozzarella cheese cut into chunks

kosher salt

1. both types of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a mixer, combine with dough hook. Pour in water, mix until a ball is formed, let dough rest 2 minutes. Turn dough out on lightly floured surface, knead 2 minutes. Form into tight ball, cover with plastic, let rise in a warm place 1.5 hours or until doubled in size.

2. For the topping: pulse diced tomatoes in blender. Transfer to wire mesh strainer, place over bowl, let drain 30 minutes.

3. Adjust over rack to lower middle position, place baking stone in over, heat to 500 degrees. Leave baking stone in over for 30-60 minutes.

4. Break dough into 2 pieces, form into crust. Brush outer ½ inch with olive oil

5. Combine tomatoes, sugar, and garlic, spread over crust

6. Place in oven, cook on baking stone 5 minutes

7. Add cheese, and bake 5 more minutes

8. Remove from oven, sprinkle with basil, salt, and olive oil

9. Repeat with second crust

*do not make this without a baking stone- I did, it was disappointing.