Pizza crust and brownies

Remember how last week I wrote about how things seemed more normal at work and I was glad the fall semester had started? I take it all back. This week has nearly killed me. On top of the chaos of a new semester and a new schedule, we attempted to launch new apps and a registration system. It's been a disaster to say the least.

But instead of writing about that, I'm actually going to write about cooking! I tried a couple of Pinterest recipes in the last week that I thought I would share.

I love making my own pizza crust and having some in the freezer as an easy dinner option. I've tried several in the last couple of years, and it felt like time for a new one: Perfect homemade pizza crust. The instructions are pretty useful, and actually included instructions for freezing. I didn't have the right mixer or attachments, so I did it all by hand. It turned out thicker than I would have liked. I rolled it out thinly, but it puffed up a lot when it was cooking. I'm not sure if that is how it is supposed to be or if I did something wrong in the process. I have two crusts in the freezer, but I'm undecided about whether I'll make this one again.

For the first day of school, I decided to make treats for work. I had some brownie mix and a recipe for peanut butter brownies on a Pinterest board. I love chocolate and peanut butter together, and this was a great combination. They were a hit with J and students in the newsroom (not that it's a tough crowd).

Lastly, I have to share about my Amish experience. J and I went out to Amish country several weekends ago. It was interesting and a fun day trip. I thought it would be more of a village where we could walk between the different stores. Instead everything was separated by about a mile of gravel road. So it was a lot of getting in and out of J's truck, but we happened on some cool places.

The main spot on my list was the bulk foods store. I stocked up on dried spices (a whole tub was $1), pepitas (aka shelled pumpkin seeds), sprinkles for baking and some other cooking staples. They were also selling packaged mixes for buttermilk biscuits and pancakes. I bought a bag of each. It wasn't until I got home that I realized there were no directions on either one. I just had this flour-type mix with no idea what to add to it to actual make biscuits or pancakes. I let them sit in the cabinet for weeks, and this I finally did some Googling and found out I just needed to add water, and I eventually figured out the right proportions and cooking time. I just felt so dumb for not asking about that when I bought it from the girls working at the store.