Flatbreads and family

I have seen a lot of people I grew up with move away only to end up coming back to live near family.

I get it, especially people who move back after they have kids. It's awesome to be near your family, it's great to have back-up to help with kids as well.

My husband and I live about 5.5 hours away from our parents and siblings, and it sucks sometimes because we miss out on celebrations and we don't get to see our families as much as we would like to.

However, the good thing about living farther away is that we get so excited when we get to visit them or when they come visit us. It's awesome to share things about your life, to play games, to reminisce. It becomes a special treat when it doesn't happen as often as if you lived in the same town.

I especially love when our families get to come to church with us or when we get to visit their church homes. My brother's family ended up choosing a different church than the one that we grew up in, and when we visit, it makes us so proud of them. He plays every week in the praise band, and my sister-in-law runs the nursery. The little girls feel right at home. People speak well of them, like they're family.

It makes my heart about burst that they have a church family that loves them and that are working for the kingdom of God. I love it.

Another thing that we love to do when people visit us is take them to fun places to eat. We have a place in town that has a beautiful view and is known for its flatbreads. We also love the brussel sprout appetizer there.

That was the inspiration for a new dish that I tried.

Pesto brussel sprout flatbread
1 prepared pizza dough
About 2 cups brussel sprouts, stemmed and quartered
1/4 pound bacon, sliced
3 Tbsp. jarred pesto
2 cups mozzarella cheese

1. Place a pizza stone or a baking sheet turned upside down into a 425 degree oven until hot.
2. Meanwhile, begin frying bacon until crispy. Take out to drain.
3. When pizza stone or baking sheet is hot, sprinkle with cornmeal and place pizza dough --- stretched into flatbread shape --- on top. My pizza dough made three flatbreads. Bake for 10 minutes.
4. While dough is par-baking, cook brussel sprouts in the bacon grease left in the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Remove dough from oven. Spread pesto on top, leaving an edge and add brussel sprouts. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese and top with sliced, crispy bacon.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and golden.

A failure turned into delicious pesto mozzarella paninis

We encourage kids to try and fail.

It helps them learn skills. It helps them find their limits. It helps them learn to overcome.

However, I think that as adults, we often don't try for fear of failure. We may think that we've already learned what we need to learn from failure, so there isn't a reason to do something risky. We may think that failure will cost too much.

I am not necessarily a risk taker, but I often do try new things in the kitchen. I get inspiration from Pinterest and try it out.

Sometimes it works.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes there is a happy accident.

I posted about my homemade hamburger buns last week, and we love them so much that I decided to try to make them into hot dog buns.

I wasn't exactly sure how to shape them, so I tried a few different things.

The first ones were hilarious. They came out about 4 inches wide instead of the 1.5 inches I was hoping for. The second batch was a bit better.

I wasn't about to waste the first batch though, so I vacuum-sealed them and froze them, because they looked about the right size for paninis.

I had also gotten some pesto from Aldi, so I created a panini in my head --- Googled it to make sure it made sense and that someone had tried something similar before me --- and tried it out.

It is now on next month's menu as well. It was so unbelievably good, and even microwaved for lunch the next day it was still delicious.

I'll share with you how I made them. I'm sure you could tweak them to your taste as well.

Pesto mozzarella paninis
2 homemade panini rolls
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded smoked gouda
4 Tbsp. pesto
4 slices hard salami, optional

1. Heat up a panini pan or a stovetop grill pan. You can also use a skillet if you want to, they will just be more like grilled cheese, which is totally fine. Make sure to butter your bread if you have a skillet.
2. Slice the roll and put a generous helping of pesto on one side.
3. On the bottom side of the roll, layer half of shredded cheese, salami and more shredded cheese.
4. Place top on the bun and squish down.
5. Place on hot panini pan and squish down with panini pan press. Leave press on top and cook for five minutes or until golden brown and cheese is beginning to melt.
6. Flip, squish down with press and cook for five minutes or until cheese is fully melted.
7. Remove from pan, slice in half and enjoy!

The second batch I ran out of gouda and just used mozzarella. It was also good. You could even sub out turkey for salami or just leave out the meat all together. However, my husband is not a fan of no meat, so that is a must for us.