5/25- HH6 May Challenge- Veggie Goddess Pizza

This month, our challenge was to make a pizza without using any tomato sauce. Pizza is a big thing in my family, but generally it must have sauce, cheese, ham, and pineapple on it. There is no other kind of pizza as far as Scott is concerned! I knew I'd have to get creative if I was going to get it to pass muster, so I started thinking. It didn't take me long to come up with what I hoped was a brilliant idea.

One of my husband's and my favorite restaurants is The Melting Pot. A couple years ago, a friend gave me their cookbook for Christmas, and I've used it for fondue nights several times since them. Every time we have fondue, I always make their Green Goddess dip. It is seriously the best veggie dip on the planet! It's a cream cheese, white onion, and herb dip that is to die for. For some reason, that dip came to mind almost instantly when faced with making a tomato-less pizza. I decided to use that as the sauce, and top it with cheese and veggies. (I thought about chicken too, but decided to go simple the first time out. Maybe next time I'll add it in.)

Green Goddess Sauce

3/4 c cream cheese
1/2 c milk
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c finely chopped fresh chives
2 T minced white onion

Whisk the cream cheese, milk, sour cream, parsley, chives, and onion in a bowl until combined. You may also beat with an electric mixer or a hand-held mixer for 1 to 2 minutes. Chill, covered, until serving time.


I made up the sauce and spread it on the pizza dough. (I used the recipe off the back of the pizza dough  yeast packet... not the greatest but I was pressed for time). I topped it with a pizza mix of cheese from Food Lion, and then arranged yellow and red bell peppers on it, as well as broccoli. Then, just for good measure, I topped it off with a bit of shredded mozzarella. I believe you should be familiar with my family's policy on cheese..... there's no such thing as too much!

Since I was the only adult around to sample this new invention of a pizza, I made a Hawaiian one as well to appease the boy. He doesn't do onions, so I knew I couldn't get him to try it. I thought the Veggie Goddess pizza was delicious though! I look forward to trying it again sometime and trying to make it even better! Thanks for a fun challenge!

5/24- mainly music cake

My Church started a program called mainly music this past fall; it's a music and movement class that originated in New Zealand. It meets once a week, and there's a half-hour of singing and dancing around, then snack time, then an optional Bible Study for moms while the kids stay in the nursery (lunch is served to both moms and kids as well). I've really loved this program this year, and it's been so much fun to watch my kids enjoy it and grow up with it over the past few months.

This past Tuesday was our final session until the Fall, so we had a big picnic after the music portion was over. We had hot dogs and hamburgers, other picnic foods, as well as some fun play time outside. God graced us by letting the sun come out on what was supposed to be a cloudy day! While we were planning the picnic, I got the wild idea that I wanted to make a fun cake for the picnic. The other ladies graciously let me have my fun, and I debuted the cake at the picnic that afternoon.

Now before you look at the cake, let me explain it a bit. It's based off of some songs that we sing at mainly music. One of the biggest favorites of all is a song called "Five Little Ladybugs." Another one is "I Spy"..... "I spy a creepy crawly caterpillar crawling by me.... a teeny weeny tiny flea....... a busy buzzy bumble bee.... a flashy dashy butterfly...." you get the idea. Fun songs for kids to learn with lots of little critters in them. So I decided that the cake needed 5 ladybugs, some bumble bees, a caterpillar, 2 fleas, and of course some butterflies. The wings on the critters that needed them didn't work out like I wanted them to AT ALL, but the rest of the cake I was completely satisfied with. It seemed like everyone there loved it too, which was what it was all about, so that's all that matters. :) Luckily, I've got a year to think up a design for the next one!