Mexican Pizza at my Funnel Cake Stand

When I had my Funnel Cake stand I added different foods.  Some of the foods I added were Mexican.  I made freshly made tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taco salad and even Mexican PIZZA.  I guess that was my start of making pizza at market.  The Mexican pizzas I made were either made with chicken for my other Mexican foods, or with hamburg, that had spices added.  The Mexican pizzas were also topped with taco sauce and fresh salsa.  I used the same tortillas shells that I used for taco's and taco's salad.  I bought the corn and flour frozen tortillas from a distributor.  I haven't tasted such good taco salads since then.  I do miss all the Mexican food I used to make.  The Mexican pizzas were also good, in my opinion.  :)  The Mexican pizzas were made in the Panini Grill.  At least there was even top and bottom heat on both flat plates.

In addition to Mexican food and Mexican pizza, I sold freshly made funnel cakes, Hand Dipped Ice Cream, Lemonades, Limeades, Orangeades, Frozen Lemonades and fried Oreos, Twinkies and other foods.  I really loved this stand and if it would have been able to be open all year, I don't think I would have started making pizza. ;(

Pictured in these pictures are my granddaughter that helped me at this stand, her one girlfriend, my granddaughters boyfriend, my friends from NY and me.  I really also miss all the ice cream I ate at the Funnel Cake Stand..  Everyone wanted to make Funnel Cakes the day these pictures were taken.

Norma

Salsa Stand-A few more pictures before Christmas 2008-at Root's Market

These are more pictures of my Fresh Salsa Stand that I owned before I started preparing the stand to make pizza.  These pictures were taken before Christmas in 2008. These pictures were taken a week or two after my husband passed away.  My mother is also on these pictures.

The different kinds of Tortilla chips can be seen on the one stand.  The Fresh Salsa, Tortilla Chips, Dip Mixes, Spices and Chili's can be seen in these pictures.

Norma

Throw Pizza Dough-Official Training Dough

I had purchased the Throw Dough, supposed to be the official stuff the United States Pizza Team uses for training, when I was trying to learn to throw the pizza dough into the air, awhile ago.  It does come with a video.  At another time I will try to throw dough again.  I am not too good at "throwing the dough", but it is fun.

I tried to practice some with this "Throw Dough", but I sure didn't learn much about throwing with this dough..lol
http://throwdough.com/

The dough is rubbery feeling and doesn't open like a real pizza dough.  I guess some people do learn to toss their pizzas, when using this throw dough. :)

Norma

Salsa Stand-Getting it ready to open

These are some pictures when I was getting the Fresh Salsa and Tortilla Stand ready to open.  I do really miss all the fresh salsas I had to eat at that time.

My dear mother is also pictured in these photos.  She helped me lay all the tile for the floor.  What a sticky job that was, but at least we got it done..lol  We had newspapers sticky and stickiness all over us. She even helped me make the chair rail and put it up.  We both also put the border on this stand and painted the whole stand. I painted the shelf on the wall and attached it so it would stay up there. I purchased Mexican things on Ebay to decorate my stand. The deli case I used for the Fresh Salsas now hold my cheese and other ingredients for my pizzas. A big thanks to my mother and my father that basically taught me how to use tools. :)  I wish now, that I would have paid more attention to how my father used all the tools.  At least for a woman, I can get along okay, but not like a man that knows how to use tools.  Was I ever tried looking and dirty that day, not to long ago.  To get that big deli case up on the raised floor sure was a job..lol  The cabinets didn't even have any counter tops on then.  When I think of all that work it makes me tired.

Norma

My Fresh Salsa Stand (The Same Place I now have my small Pizza Stand at Market)

Another market stand that eventually lead to my Pizza Stand at market.

While I had my Funnel Cake, Fresh Lemonade, Fresh Dipped Ice Cream and Mexican Food Stand at Root’s Market, I was wondering what kind of business I could get into over the winter, since my outside stand at Root’s market would be closed due to colder and bad weather over the winter.  I had eaten really good Salsas, when my husband and I visited Mexico.  Since salsas were supposed to be the number one condiment in the US, I thought why don’t I try and make Fresh Salsas, and sell real Tortilla chips manufactured from the best ingredients in another state.  I had researched all kinds of recipes for Fresh Salsas and tried them.  I used fresh Roma tomatoes and all other fresh ingredients in my Fresh salsas.  I could buy bulk Roma tomatoes from a vegetable vendor at Root’s market.  I also bought some spices to sell from a distributor in another state.

I had thought I could possibly open the salsa stand over the winter and if it became successful, then I could hire someone to work over the summer, while I operated my Funnel Cake stand.  It took a lot of work and research to get my fresh salsa stand ready.  It also took a lot of negotiating to find really good Tortillas Chips to sell at my stand that were much different than I could purchase from my area where I live.  I had the Tortilla Chips in all different flavors shipped to me and then repackaged them.  The Tortilla Chips were really good, in my opinion and also the customers that bought them.

Finally my mother and I opened the Fresh Salsa, spices, mixes for dips, and Tortilla Stand.  I only had this stand opened for about 6 months. I also made many kinds of Chili to sell in plastic containers. Although I had some very dedicated customers that really like my Fresh Salsas and Tortilla Chips, I didn’t do enough business to use fresh ingredients and have the Tortilla Chips shipped to me.  The Tortilla Chips were very inexpensive, but the shipping was high.  I would have been able to make a profit on them, but I didn’t sell enough.

Some of the pictures of my Salsa Stand have pictures of my mother.  I also have more pictures of my Salsa Stand, that I will post at a future time.  I even tried to make my own Tortilla Chips, but they didn't turn out as good as one that I purchased.

These pictures were taken right after my Salsa stand opened in November 2008.

I then sold my Funnel Cake stand to be able to open my pizza stand.  You never know what will eventually lead you to what you might be doing in the future.  I really do like my Pizza Stand now.

Norma

Sourdough Starter posted by Slice

I found this article on Slice today, following Donna Currie as she grows a new sourdough starter.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/how-to-make-sourdough-starter-day-0.html

As posted in the article on Slice this is day 0, in starting a starter with flour and water.  If anyone wants to follow along to see how a “wild yeast” is made, this article and the following would be a good place to learn about “wild yeast” starter.

It really isn’t hard to make your own starter from flour and water.  If you really want to make a sourdough pizza, you will be able to taste the difference when using a starter, in the final crust of the pizza.  That is one reason for using any starter.  The crumb of a pizza will be different also when using any naturally leavened pizza dough.  These starters can also be used to make bread or bagels.

At some point in time, I will post on my adventures in using “wild yeast” for starters and post the pictures of the pizzas I made with those starters.

I did also activate the Ischia starter and did use the Ischia starter in different doughs for pizza.  I am now playing around with milk kefir grains and seeing how milk kefir, naturally leavens pizza dough.  I do already have some posts here about milk kefir in a pizza dough.

Norma