Who had pepparoni pizza and who had cheese?
Tag: pizza
Homemade pizza
As I’ve mentioned before, the nights Laurie is out and about are always a bummer — but they also give me a chance to “experiment” with new recipes and meals.
(Which I’m sure Laurie’s happy about that — she doesn’t have to pretend she likes whatever it is I’m experimenting with :-).)
Last night was no different.
I decided I’d try something new with homemade pizza.
Continue reading Homemade pizza
Fried egg pizza
It’s been a while since I’ve added any recipes or food ideas to the blog, so I thought this week would be a great week to catch you guys up on some of the eats around Casa de Blundell.
No thanks to some of her new meds, Laurie wasn’t feeling too interested in eating anything but crackers and cereal last week, so I took the opportunity to try a couple ideas that had been rolling around in my head recently.
I recently found, thekitchn.com and a couple posts related to fried eggs stirred my imagination.
We LOVE the Royal Red Robin burger at Red Robin (with the fried egg on top), so I’ve been trying some other unique ways to eat fried eggs as well.
Continue reading Fried egg pizza
The question of multi-site churches
Over the last few weeks a group of guys in my tribe have been having a discussion via email about what it means to be a leader/pastor in a church.
Brian sent a link to an article from Pastors.com about multi-site churches today. The article raises some interesting points. He asked for our thoughts and thought I’d share them here and get your input as well.
Many churches across the country are moving beyond their original building to become one church in many locations. Some construct a beautiful new campus sporting state-of-the-art sound, light, and video systems at a cost of several million dollars. While this strategy is often successful, it sets the bar much too high for the average church considering a multi-site strategy. Few congregations can invest massive sums of money to open a second or third location, and with the current challenges in the economy, the number of churches is dwindling that can tap that level of cash. So how can an average church develop an affordable multi-site strategy?
I thought the article brought up some good ideas. I liked this statement…
We have discovered that the further the new campus is from the original site, the less you need to spend to replicate your original campus.
I think wherever the replication takes place, the site should take on the look/feel of the community its in. Whether its in Red Oak, Waco, Mesquite/Forney or Alaska – let the people coming help form what the church looks like, sounds like, feels like.
The article also points out ::
In a small group of 12 people, the only equipment you need is a good coffee maker. A group of 50 can have a great worship experience with an acoustic guitar and a microphone.
It just ads to the idea of a site replicating the culture/feel/ideas of where you’re at.
I saw a great video from Andrew Jones (tall skinny kiwi) yesterday about how to make pizza (I’m thinking about doing it one week with our community group leaders). He makes the point about how Jesus talks about two kinds of yeast. The yeast of the Kingdom and the yeast of the Pharisees. And as Christians, naturally we want to be the yeast of the Kingdom – always duplicating – bud emergence. He also says, if you want a great way to start a church – throw a pizza party. Gather up folks in a home, and eat pizza and then go from there.
One thing the article didn’t touch on was/is the technology aspects. Would encounter multi-site utilize the same messages across the board? Would it use a video taped message each week? Would we up our video streaming quality and use it? Or would the “pastor” of the multi-site church lead? Those are all options.
Also, talking with Eric Bryant (executive pastor at Mossaic in LA – author of Peppermint Filled Pinatas) this week for our podcast, I asked how they had such a large church and kept the gatherings personal. He said they have volunteers leading each multi-site who work very hard at meeting people, getting people plugged in and really pastoring those who come each week. He said there are times that people might slip through the cracks, but overall the volunteer staffs work to be sure each person feels just as welcome as they might in a group of 5 or 6.
(Watch some other thoughts with Eric and Erwin McManus :: http://vimeo.com/3427533)
I think that’s a great point and something we as “leaders” need to work on more and more each Sunday at encounter – multi site or not. Are we doing our best to talk with people, meet with people, lead people? Are we getting caught in the business of each Sunday where we miss the opportunity to hear someone’s story? Are we staying busy and avoiding hearing the spiritual/physical/emotional needs of those in our tribe?
Fast and Easy Pizza Dough and Sauce
We haven’t posted any new recipes lately but we do have several new ones we’ve tried that we really liked – just have to take some time to post them. I need to get Laurie to post her spaghetti pie recipe, potato casserole and toffee recipe before too long. Although she may want to keep those as “family secrets.”
But here’s a nice quick recipe I found today that I want to try out. I’ve got a good recipe for pizza already but this one looks good as well
Via wise bread:
Pizza Dough (15 minutes for prep)
- 1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast (if you use the kind that comes in packets, you need about 1/2 of a packet per batch of dough)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Your favorite pizza spices — I use about a teaspoon each of garlic, dried onion, basil and ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus an extra teaspoon
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra as needed)
In my largest mixing bowl, I combine the yeast, salt, and spices. I add the water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and give it a quick stir. I add the flour a cup at a time. After the second cup, I usually can’t stir in any more flour and have to switch to kneading it in. I knead until the dough is smooth. If the dough is too sticky I add flour in slowly until it smooths out. I pour the remaining olive oil into the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around until the oil coats the outside of the dough. I cover with a damp cloth and stick the whole bowl out of the way to rise. It should double in about 2 hours.
For pizza, I preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. I form balls out of the dough and roll them flat on a floured surface. I place the pizzas on a lightly greased baking shet and pop in the oven for about 15 minutes. The cooking time entirely depends on the thickness of your crust and how many toppings you pile on — thin crust pizzas can take as little as 8 minutes.
For calzone, I preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Set up is essentially the same up to the point when I start adding toppings. Toppings go into the middle of the dough and the dough gets folded over them. I then pinch the edges shut. If they aren’t staying closed, trying running your finger over the edge with a little water, then pinching. I then bake them for about 30 minutes.