Pizza Bites

Super yummy and super easy.  Got the recipe from lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com (via Pinterest) and adapted it for my own nefarious purposes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

combine in one bowl:
3/4 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 TBS Italian seasoning
dash of salt
3/4 C milk
1 egg
1 C grated cheese  (original recipe calls for an additional 1/4 C parmesan but I rarely have that on hand so I just do an overflowing cup of whatever - mozzarella or colby jack, etc.)

Spray mini muffin pan.  I found my silicone pan to be the perfect size because it uses all of the dough exactly.  Scoop the dough (it's very wet) into the pan.  I end up filling them most of the way.  The recipe also said to wait 10 minutes before baking (I assume to let the baking powder start to work), but I use that time to cut up the pepperoni.  I've done the pepperoni in full-size slices, but I like it better cut up.  Put them in how you like and as much as you like.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Dip in pizza-type sauce if you like.  My kids adore these!

Homemade Wire Baskets

Someone online was creative enough to make their own wire mesh baskets using this stuff.  It's called Hardware Cloth and it's found in the gardening section of stores like The Home Depot and Lowe's.  I got my roll for like $13 and in this picture I've used a bunch already.  It started out like 10 feet long by 2 feet wide.  There are different sizes.

Considering that purchasing a basket costs anywhere from $8 to $30, I think this is a deal!

 I didn't take any pics of the cut out shapes, but basically I used a bunch of the wire just figuring out what I wanted.  My husband requested something (3 of them actually) he could hang on the side of his desk.  I cut it using wire cutters (gave myself a blister - it's work cutting so many pieces of wire!) and there was a lot of trial and error.  I did make a basket that was the same size at the top as at the bottom, but I thought it would be too difficult to put your hands in. 

 Also, since the edges were newly-cut wire, I needed something to make them less poky.  I was going to make a liner, but duct tape was a whole lot less effort.

 I "sewed" the raw edges together with 18-gauge crafting wire that I had just hanging around.  Yeah, I have lots of supplies like that hanging around, but if I didn't, it would cost something like $2 for a roll that makes 2 or 3 baskets.

 One of the final products.  I made 3 of them that match.  I think they turned out quite nice and I still have plenty of wire to make more baskets.