Easy Sweet Potato Pizza Pie!

This recipe is a favorite at our house. It's easy and unexpectedly delicious! Give this unique pizza a try and taste how surprisingly good it is.

Ingredients:

*3 large sweet potatoes (Peel, cut into cubes and boil until tender, drain water. Mash the sweet potatoes in a bowl with the butter, 2 Tbsp. of milk and a Tbsp. of brown sugar.)
*1 pound ham, cooked and chopped in small cubes
*16 oz. mozzarella shredded fine
*salt and pepper to taste
*Tbsp. brown sugar
*Tbsp. butter, unsalted and a bit of light olive oil to brush on the crust
*2 Tbsp. milk
*Fresh Pizza Dough (Grocer's Refrigerator Section) and a dusting of flour to roll out dough.

How to Make Pizza:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out pizza dough and place in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Brush olive oil on top of dough and bake for approx. 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
2) Spread mashed sweet potatoes on top of crust, then top with the diced ham. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper and top with the mozzarella cheese. Bake pizza for an additional 15-18 minutes or until crust is baked.
Let cool slightly, enjoy.
Optional: Add freshly grated Parmesan before serving.

Newport Winter Festival, Biscotti & Friends!

The kids have been on winter break this past week. It's been great having them around. On Friday we headed off Cape and went to the Winter Festival in Rhode Island. We had a good time. We went to an Illusionist show, a nachos tasting and then a pizza cook off.

The best part of the trip for me was on Saturday afternoon we did the Cliff Walk together- it was an unusually warm and sunny day (picture from Cliff Walk). I think the kids probably liked the all you can eat pizza event and swimming in the hotel pool the best.

As for my biscotti -we arrived home just in time to head over to a friends house last night. They were having a 'winter break' party. My friend introduced me as someone who bakes the best biscotti she has ever tasted. Naturally, I loved her feedback.

She said, she usually buys biscotti from the store and that it's dry and not very tasty. I make a cranberry biscotti with white chocolate that is just delicious. It's very flavorful and since biscotti is simply a twice baked cookie I do bake mine twice but I am careful not to over bake it. I drizzle it with just enough white chocolate to balance out the cranberries.

My cranberry biscotti recipe is included in Meet Me in My Cape Cod Kitchen.

Sharing the Love....

These are pictures from the little champagne and chocolate soiree I put together for early yesterday afternoon as a way to celebrate Valentine's Day.

The chocolate cake balls were delicious!

We made a toast simply--'to love'.

I was thinking not just romantic love but ordinary friendship, kindness and good will too.

In the morning I gave each of my three children a valentine; a carefully chosen card, a dvd for my oldest, a soft pajama set for my middle daughter and a cuddly red with hearts fleece blanket and pillow set for Sophia.
For my husband, a box of chocolates and later last night dinner at Asia in Mashpee Commons and a trip to see "Valentine's Day" together while my teens babysat Sophia-I was so surprised because I think he liked the movie more than I did.

I hope you had a love-filled valentine's day!

Giving the Easy Way a Try, Writing a Book & Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Sometimes I wish I had one of those 'easy' buttons. Some weeks are so hectic with things that need to get done that it's nice to simplify when possible. Case in point: look at the photograph of our house to the right and notice the tall evergreen.

During the holidays we cover the tree with bright lights. I love it because when it's lit you can see it from the end of the street as you round the corner of our road. Although to do it is a bit of a hassle because as you can see for yourself the tree is pretty tall.

We finally decided to simplify and give the' easy' way a try-we unplugged the lights for the season but left them on the tree. You can't notice them while they are not lit and how cool will that be when the next season rolls around and the hard part is already done?

My point: How much easier life can be when I am willing to give the 'easy' way a try!

As for writing a book: I have been working on a new writing project but recently my sweet Sophia wrote a darling book of her own. It's precious! The book is five pages long with sweet stick figure drawings of smiley faced girls with large hands and no necks! She called her book "Mom and Sophia". The book begins with her writing Mom plays with Sophia and ends with Sophia loves Mom.
As for the cookies, I brought a batch of chocolate chip cookies to the women in my work book-club last week and a batch of cookies to my students too.