Happy Halloween!

I realize not everyone celebrates Halloween. So, if you don't, my wish for you is that you had a beautiful autumn day. I also realize that most of you will see this post tomorrow, after Halloween.

Gone are the days of helping my kids dress up in costumes. But then again, gone also are the days of freezing in the night air while I took the kids out into the neighborhood.

Here's our family's Halloween this year.

We get about 30 trick-or-treaters each year. This year's treats are a choice between individual packs of Circus Animal Cookies or mini containers of dinosaur slime.

Outside, by the door I've set up the fake pumpkins. Real pumpkins kept outdoors are a snack to the local squirrel population.

The real pumpkins are indoors on the dining room windowsill with my other fall decor. I bought 5 medium size jack-o-lanterns to supplement our homegrown small pumpkins. I likely won't carve a jack-o-lantern today, as that would mean I'd have to cook up the pumpkin tomorrow, and I don't have time for that this week.

We decided we'd each contribute something to tonight's dinner. One daughter is making hamburgers, another is making a batch of brownies, my husband is cutting up celery sticks, and I'm making broccoli with cheese sauce. Dinner will be tasty, and no one person has to do all of the work.

One of our family's traditions is to watch a movie while we wait for the trick-or-treaters. So we'll do dinner and a movie this evening.

Halloween wraps up around 8:30 in my neighborhood, so I will still get my early bedtime.

Wishing you all a lovely afternoon and evening. Be back tomorrow evening!

Herb & Parmesan Focaccia Recipe

When I make scratch pizza, stromboli, calzone, French/Italian bread or focaccia, I use this dough for the bread part. That recipe will make enough dough for 2 large pizzas. When I made focaccia last week for the 4 of us (yielding 2 large squares each), I made a half recipe, using:

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1  1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 1 tablespoons oil (the oil tenderizes the dough, so if you like a chewier crust, use the lesser amount, and if you prefer a softer bread crust, use the greater)
about 2 cups of flour (half white, half wheat is my preference)

1) In a large mixing bowl pour water and sprinkle with yeast. Stir in salt and sugar.

2) Mix in 1 cup of flour and the oil.  Add remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough is just a tad bit soft still. If it's too stiff, it's difficult to stretch on the baking sheet.

3) Knead right in the bowl, for about 3-4 minutes. Allow to sit for about 40 minutes.

4) Grease your baking sheet.

5) Punch down dough. Stretch onto the prepared baking sheet.

Focaccia is more of a bread than a pizza crust. You'll want to press the dough out until about 1/2-inch thick all over, as opposed to stretching a pizza crust as thin as you can get it without tearing. Dimple the top of the crust with a fingertip.

6) Allow the pressed dough to rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Now for the topping part.

For the herb and Parmesan topping:

generous amounts of olive oil (see my notes below for saving on olive oil)

chopped fresh (or frozen) rosemary

crushed dried oregano

shaved Parmesan cheese

optional -- some folks add a sprinkling of coarse salt to the topping

optional -- you can add some freshly cracked black pepper, if desired

Preheat the oven to 405 degrees F.

After the dough has risen, drizzle it with olive oil. It will puddle in the dimples. Sprinkle with lots of the herbs. Shave generous amounts of Parmesan over the top. I use a vegetable peeler to shave block Parmesan. If Parmesan is not your thing, you could substitute some shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese.

Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes, until the focaccia is golden. Cut into sticks or squares.

Interesting, while the olive oil still sits in pools while baking, shortly after removing from the oven, the bread absorbs the oil. Delicious.

My method for stretching expensive olive oil -- I blend half and half olive oil with vegetable oil in a bottle kept in the pantry. This is what we use for salad dressings and cooking. When I really want the flavor of the olive oil to stand out, I will use undiluted olive oil.

My rosemary survives winter about half the time. During the summer months, I chop and freeze rosemary. In this focaccia, I didn't feel like chopping some fresh rosemary, instead I used frozen chopped rosemary. It keeps its flavor in freezing.

Buon appetito!