Honey Wheat Pizza Dough, Thai Pumpkin Soup, Harry's First Birthday Cake

 I made all this this past weekend. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen....and really only one thing came out exactly as I wanted. But that's how it is sometimes.

First up, Honey Wheat Pizza Crust.  I've made a ton of pizza crusts throughout the years and I think the best one I hav done had Semolina flour. I have never put honey or any type of whole grain in my pizza crust...I was a little hesitant. But I should have done it years ago. I changed the recipe kinda a lot. I had some old whole wheat flour that went rancid so I used Rye flour. I've used Rye flour in a few other things like muffins and it comes out great. So I used a cup of Rye Flour, half a cup of pizza flour, half a teaspoon of dough conditioner, and half cup regular flour. This crust isn't crispy...but maybe if I turned the oven up or pre-baked it or even let the dough sit overnight because that always makes a better crust. But this was bomb. It's definitely more filling because of the whole grains. It had more flavor. I also made a five minute pizza sauce, my favorite type of sauce.  And then topped with mozzarella and a cheese blend that's my favorite but IDK what kind of cheese it is, and some peppers.. I think I might have a go to pizza crust. I did the most and cooked the crust in the oven on a pizza stone. 

I made Vitamix Thai Pumpkin soup. I'm not a big pumpkin fan...but I did buy two mini pumpkins to roast and make this. I think this mostly tasted OK, except I didn't like the canned coconut milk taste. Sometimes I blend coconut into water in the Vitamin for a DIY coconut milk and use that. I should have done that here instead of the can. This was almost Vegan but I added Heavy Cream. I had it with Gochuchang Salmon and probably should have made rice but I was feeling lazy and tired by then.

Last up, Harry Potters birthday cake. The one Hagrid baked for Harry. I was very unsure about the recipe so I skipped making the chocolate glaze and frosting. I didn't want to waste even more time and ingredients. I used my best Cocoa Powder and feel it was a bit wasted. This chocolate cake is the opposite of my favorite kind of cake...the layers didn't rise. And the cake itself is more on the sweet side as opposed to the deep chocolate/less sweet taste I prefer. That's why I skipped the glaze- too much extra work and just opted for the whipped cream and raspberry as a filling. It's not a bad chocolate cake. But it is weird. It only uses one cup of flour...when most layer cakes use more than that. I made it work but I wouldn't make this cake again.