[savoir fare] thin crust margarita pizza

I've been wanting to try my hand at food posts for awhile now, but I always forget to take photos when I'm cooking something.  It's too easy to get in the zone and think more about my impending hunger than snapping step-by-step pictures.

But tonight, as I prepared the toppings for the home made pizza I was throwing together, they just looked so lovely and reminiscent of the Italian flag that I had to grab the camera:

Before I get ahead of myself, the beauty that is this pizza starts with the super thin, crispy-but-chewy crust, courtesy of this recipe on food.com.  Over the years I've tried several thin crust recipes, and I haven't found one that holds a candle to this one.  The consistency is perfect, or at least exactly what I'm after in a pizza crust.  Plus, it's dead easy and the recipe makes dough for two pizzas - one for making immediately and the other for freezing, thus making the next round of pizza even faster/easier.  Here's the dough after step 7 - I mix in my KitchenAid with the dough hook for maximum ease:

After it rises comes the hardest part (for me):  Forming the dough.  It's a little tricky to get it thin enough without breaking holes in it, and it's even harder to transfer it onto the pizza stone without the dough flopping over onto itself.  Plus, if you use a stone (you don't have to - you can use an oiled pizza pan or cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal), you have to preheat it with the oven.  So it's not like you can manipulate the dough once it's on there since it's 425 degrees at that point.  Once you get past this sucky step, though, you have this:  

The recipe states that you don't have to prebake the crust, but I always do for 8-10 minutes.  I basically watch it until it has a few toasty brown points on it:

From there, you pull it out of the oven and top it.  Enter the fresh mozzarella, roma tomatoes, and basil chiffonade from earlier, plus homemade tomato sauce (mine is a simple mix of tomato sauce, paste, and a mess of herbs/spices) and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil:

Okay, there's also pepperoni on here, which is not typical of a margarita pizza.  Margarita purists and vegetarians can skip this part, but if we have turkey pepperoni in the house, I'll be damned if it isn't going on my pizza.  This beauty got a dose of cracked pepper and fresh grated parmigiano before going into the oven for the second time:

Ten short minutes later, it's done!

Mmmm...melty and awesome looking.  But how did it taste?

Great success!  

[haute mama] w22 ~ 1...2...3...repeater

I only got to wear last week's purple Gap dress for a matter of hours to Sarah's party, so I repeated it yesterday for work.  I'll admit to doing this fairly regularly when I'm excited about an outfit or particular article of clothing, especially if I'm seeing different people on different days.  Provided I haven't spilled anything on myself.  Normally I wouldn't take a new set of photos of the same outfit, but something magical happened in ye olde Texas this weekend - fall started to make an appearance.  And I like seeing how people style the same article of clothing in different ways, so I give you the Gap dress, a few degrees colder and a few days more pregnant (w22d4):

I also got an unusually high number of compliments on this color combo yesterday, which motivated me to photograph it again.  I've always liked purple & yellow together, and I really love this bright purple with the mustard cardi.

And don't our hibiscus plants look lovely?? 

dress: Gap Maternity, cardi: JCrew, shoes: Calvin Klein, bag: Rebecca Minkoff, necklace: gift from Rod

Today's post will be a double feature, so let's rewind it back to last Friday, i.e. week 22, day 1.  I promised separates this week, and separates you will get.  This isn't a terribly exciting ensemble, but it is a good representation of my more day-to-day maternity wardrobe when I'm not being all fancy in a dress. 

Skinny jeans? Check. T-shirt? Check. Accessories? Check.  If I had to define my uniform (pregnant or not), this would have to be it.

My favorite part of this ensemble?  The shoes, which I bought myself for my birthday this year after some diligent stalking at my local DSW (80% off, yo - it was worth it):

jeans: Loved by Heidi Klum, tee: Gap Maternity, shoes: Miu Miu, scarf: Old Navy, bag: Rebecca Minkoff, cuff bracelet: street vendor

[haute mama] w21d7 ~ let it rain

I'm thinking maybe the name of this blog should be 'another day, another dress.'  I do wear separates, too, I promise, but it's pretty much been some variation of jeans and a tee lately.  Nothing that inspires me to whip out the camera.  Perhaps that will be my goal for next week, to come up with interesting ensembles involving separates. 

But in the meantime & in between time, I was really happy when I tried on my DVF Lluvia dress and it totally worked on my pregnant bod:

The pleat under the bustline makes just enough room for mah belleh:

I almost sold this dress in the past because I have a wrap in a similar print, but I'm so glad I hung onto it!

dress: DVF, shoes: No. 704b, bag: Reggio Veneziano, earrings: self-made

[haute mama] w21d6 ~ mind the gap

As far as actual maternity clothing goes, Gap's offering has been my favorite by a landslide.  It's well made, their styles are cute and relatively on trend, and it's not terribly expensive either, especially if you hit a good sale.  I was eyeing up this dress earlier in the summer, but passed on it at full price.  However, last night when I spotted one lone electric purple beauty on the clearance rack, in my size, marked down to $14.97, I couldn't help myself.

The jersey is nice & thick, so I think this will transition nicely into fall with tights & a cardigan or jacket.

dress: Gap Maternity, necklace: Kohl's, shoes: Ciao Bella, bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

I wore this last night to my friend Sarah's leaving-her-old-job-for-a-much-awesomer-one party (congrats again!).  It was a good evening with good peeps, and the bar, City Tavern, even had a good non-alcoholic beer (Beck's).  I discovered a few weeks ago that I actually enjoy NA beer, but it's surprisingly hard to find, both when you're out & about and even in some liquor stores.  I mean, I'm sure it's not the most popular item in these establishments, but this gal sure appreciates when it is available.  It does the trick when yet another Sprite sounds about as exciting as watching grass grow.

[haute mama] w20d7 ~ Target love

It's been awhile since anything in a Target Go collection has moved me enough to haul out my wallet, so I was pleased when a few of the Tucker items a) appealed to me, and b) fit me.  Granted, my bump pushes this dress (and most of the other things I tried on) into tunic territory, but that works too, and I'll be able to wear it as a true dress down the road.

Of the signature dresses, I liked this print the best.  I'm not much for florals usually, so I was glad for this alternative.  I love the pops of fuschia in the diamond print.

dress: Tucker for Target, leggings: Forever21, bag: Hayden Harnett, shoes: Via Spiga, belt: Club Monaco

[haute mama] w20d6 ~ layer cake

My friend Julia recommended this Target dress to me, as she thought it had great maternity potential, and she was totally right.  I think I need to shorten the straps a little bit because it sits scandalously low when I don't have anything layered underneath.  But I do like it with this tee for the time being:

A lot of the reviews on this dress complained about the length being too long, but I think it's perfect.  It also gives me some room to grow, as my hemlines start to creep up in the front. 

Yay for bumps!

The morning sun finally got to me...*squints*

dress:  Mossimo, tee: American Apparel, shoes: Givenchy, necklace: Kohl's, earrings:  Michelle Chang

[haute mama] w20d5 ~ ruffled

I got this Manoush dress ages ago at a Loehmann's in Houston, and it tends to get buried/forgotten in my closet.  Whenever I do pull it out it makes me feel instantly put together and cute, plus it's a great cotton/linen blend that's perfect for hot, muggy weather.  Which is still going strong here, ugh.  I'm ready for fall, but it doesn't seem to be showing up anytime soon.  No matter, I have a lot of great summer frocks that I'm happy to get a bit more wear out of.

You can't see them in the pics, but I got a new pair of studs from one of my favorite Etsians, Michelle Chang Jewelry.  I have a pair of her gold pyramid studs that I wear to death, and I needed a pair of go-to silver studs.  These baby skulls were just the ticket:



dress: Manoush, bag: Marc Jacobs, shoes: Ciao Bella, earrings:  Michelle Chang

[fiesta, forever] let's shower together

My lovely friends and mama threw me a baby shower during our trip to Wisconsin over Labor Day, and it was nothing short of the best shower, ever.  We had the perfect weather, and my parents' back yard provided the perfect setting:

And it wouldn't be a party without a huge table full of beautiful and delicious eats:

I had to make these Better-Than-Crack Brownies that a friend tipped me off to on How Sweet It Is:

I have always been a sucker for anything with peanut butter involved, and pregnancy has only strengthened my relationship with the PB.  Needless to say, I was very happy when this recipe came into my life, although I may be singing a different tune as I'm trying to lose the baby weight later.  But I digress.  As you may have guessed by my dessert's accessories, the theme of the shower was nautical, in keeping with our plans for nursery decor.  This sign (along with this hunky cater waiter) was one of my favorite touches:

Rod, my dad, brother, and uncle all were super helpful, not to mention excellent sports, and helped the hostesses by refilling drinks, dishing out desserts, etc.  They all donned sailor hats with Rod in a captain's hat.  I'm still kicking myself for not getting a photo of all of them together!  Believe me, it was pretty damn cute.

But speaking of cuteness and sailor hats, I'd be remiss if I didn't pay tribute to the hostesses with the mostestsses in this post - Toby and Julia.

I can't thank these girls and my mom enough.  Love yous!

And for good measure, the outfit details:  dress: H&M, necklace: Kohl's, shoes: Boutique 9

[haute mama] w19d2 ~ labor day weekend

A belated happy Labor Day weekend to everyone.  We headed north to Wisconsin to visit my parents over the long weekend, and were greeted by crisp, early fall weather.  It was admittedly a little cooler than I expected, but still a nice change from the sweat box that has been Texas for the past few months.

My mom is a fantastic gardener, and although she claimed her garden wasn't very colorful or exciting at this time of year, I think it looked amazing:

dress: Motherhood, cardi: Urban Outfitters, flats: Ted Baker

Stay tuned for part II of my Labor Day weekend with some shots from our fabulous nautical baby shower.  Ahoy!

[haute mama] w18d6

Some days I think 'wow, I don't really look that pregnant yet,' but I know I really do.  Case in point, I've worn today's exact outfit before on the blog (check it here), and yeah...there's a difference!  But once again, it's nice to be finding a lot of pieces in my existing wardrobe that work for me right now.

This deserves a 'before & after,' especially since I posed EXACTLY THE SAME the last time I wore this. Embarrassing, but funny.

Heee!  I'm definitely filling out the top portion of this dress a little more now, too.  *ahem*

dress: Wal-Mart, shoes: Miu Miu, bag (in today's version): Tylie Malibu