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It is Friday! And, it is also a three-day weekend. I wanted to dance or do cartwheels down the hallway at school. Yes, I was honestly that excited!
It was another busy day, but I knew that I could do anything today because we have three days to just relax, play, sleep late, and watch college football.
Just in case you are wondering…the washing machine has not lost its entertainment value yet. I love it.
But, what I love even more is that my boys love each other so much. Yesterday Gabriel said, “I hope that Ethan can talk one day, but if he cannot, I will still love him just the same.”
I made these cupcakes today, and it made my day. When I received the order, she said that she just wanted to do something special for her husband. How that email made my day! I love “just because” events. I think that almost any day can be made into an event, a reason to celebrate. I love that about being a wife and a mom. It is the “just because” days that create the moments and memories that we catalog into a scrapbook in our minds.
As I was thinking about that today, I realized why it is so important to do things like Pizza and Movie Night.
It is about traditions, but it is also about the very thing that defines a family – unity, love, moments, togetherness, joy, and memories. When I go to bed at night and flip through the scrapbook in my mind, I love seeing the pictures of all of those moments, those memories, that we created out of “just because” things, both big and small.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup soy milk
- 2 cups brown rice flour
- 1 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1/2 cup white rice flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Mix together the flours, starches, salt, xanthan gum, unflavored gelatin, and Italian seasoning.
- Add the yeast mixture, soy milk, canola oil, and egg. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes.
- Put the dough in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes. I put mine in the oven, after heating it on the warm setting for 10 minutes and then turning it off.
- Remove the dough from the oven, and preheat the oven to 450.
- Spray a baking pan with cooking spray, and sprinkle it with some white rice flour.
- Press out the pizza crusts. This dough is very sticky. So, I sprinkled flour onto the top of it, and then I sprayed some cooking spray onto my hands. Press the dough out, however big or small you would like. I made 5 personal pizzas and had enough dough left over for 1-2 more.
- Bake the crusts for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Add toppings, and cook another 10 minutes.
In all honesty, this pizza crust is delicious. Everyone liked it. I have not been able to get Summer to enjoy my homemade pizza since we started this journey. Tonight, she took one bite and said, “I like it, Momma!” Those were sweet, sweet words, indeed. I love that we are still on this journey together. Yes, there are some things that Sean, Summer, and Gabriel do eat whenever they are not with Ethan, especially now that school is underway. But, as a family, we stick together, continuing to fight for our sweet Ethan. Gabriel is right, if Ethan does not ever talk, we will still love him just the same. But, if there are things that we can do for him to help him continue to achieve great things and be the best Ethan who he can be, we will absolutely go that extra mile.
Have a great weekend…and make sure to enjoy those “just because” moments.
