Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is my go-to pizza dough recipe. Requires 4 ingredients, is super easy, and freezes well. Some pizza purists might balk at dough without olive oil, but I honestly prefer this dough to most other pizza doughs - I'm not a girl that loves really greasy/oily crusts.

Almost Instant Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 cup warm (not hot) water

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp instant yeast

2 cups whole-wheat dough

Combine warm water, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Stir and let sit for about 10 minutes until you see a bubbly patch rise in the center. Add flour in batches, mixing until completely combined. Form dough into a ball, cover with a towel and set aside (preferably in a warm place - I put mine in the windowsill so the sun shines on it). Let rise for 2 hours. When doubled in size, place on a lightly floured surface and roll out flat. Use as a large pizza crust or separate into 6 sections, bag, and refrigerate up to 4 days (or freeze and thaw before using again). 

Enjoy!

Easy chicken

So I had a friend mention this trick to me once, and it is now my favorite way to cook chicken for recipes. So easy, and it is really hard to mess up. Trust me - it took me months to get over my terror of the crockpot, but once I did, I loved it. Perfect for casseroles, chicken salad, pasta, etc.

I'm not cooking for a large family, so usually I only need a few chicken breasts at a time (never more than a pound). You can use any kind of chicken, but using boneless skinless breasts is probably the easiest and healthiest.

For around 12-16 oz of chicken:

Plug in crockpot.

Press "Low" button.

Place chicken in crockpot.

Pour just enough water or chicken broth to almost cover the chicken breasts.

Cover with lid.

Check in about 4 hours. If cooked through, put breasts on a large plate, discard excess fat, and shred with two forks.

Use cooked chicken in recipe. 

Voila! Moist, perfectly shredded chicken with minimal effort. Since I always tend to overcook chicken if I bake it (fear of pink), this was a lifesaver (being dramatic) for me. You can even cook frozen breasts, it will just take a few hours longer. Try it out with your crockpot - if it's your first time, check a few times because some will cook faster/hotter than others. Some people say they can put their chicken in on low overnight - because I only cook in small amounts it's usually around 3-4 hours on low (perfect to do while you're at church on Sundays). Once you get the hang of it it will be second nature. Try it!