This post is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

*The sponsors I work with provide fun opportunities to share things we love, and I enjoy these occasions to talk about both products we’ve always used and new things we’ve discovered in a way that fits with how I write and share on this blog–and hopefully feels fun for you to read as well. These partnerships help support our family and the time and work that goes into writing this blog–time and work that, thankfully, I truly enjoy. This partnership was especially fun and easy to support because Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board simply asked, “Want to join our Friday Night Pizza Party?” I mentioned the opportunity to Brett and he smiled. “Seriously? We LOVE Friday night pizza parties. You said yes, right?”

Making pizza at home with our family is one of our favorite things to do, and Friday nights set the perfect tone for a party.  The best homemade pizzas include–yep, you got it–Wisconsin Cheese.

Also, Happy Almost Halloween!

For this pizza party, we invited our friends Vinny and Wylie to join us because they are the experts of pizza–Vinny’s family used to run a pizzeria in Brooklyn–and because, well, we like them. I set my standards high for this pizza. I wanted to attempt the Chicago deep dish, something I’ve never done from scratch. I grew up taking the Amtrak into Chicago and never visited without hitting up either Giordano’s, Gino’s or Uno’s.

(from our Chicago visit in 2012)

It was time we recreated this cheesy wonder of the world in our own home.

Deep Dish is serious business though, and you don’t approach it lightly. Our friend Vinny knows pizza like the back of his hand, but he’s an Italian New York boy, so I gave him what he’s good at–sauce, cheese and toppings–and I took over the responsibility of the Chicago deep dish crust. I researched that mother like I was writing a thesis on it, and the recipe I chose turned out to be nothing short of perfection. I followed Sally’s Baking Addiction deep dish crust recipe to a T which uses flour, salt, sugar, yeast, warm water, butter and cornmeal. The secret of a deep dish crust which resembles a pie crust more than a pizza crust is three things: cornmeal, sugar (it’s a little sweeter than regular pizza dough) and laminating butter into the dough.

So I pre-made the deep dish dough, set the table for company and then watched as my friends arrived and took over our kitchen LIKE A BOSS. Friday night just got real.

The dough recipe I followed rolled out beautifully to make two deep dish pizzas. We lined the bottom of two 9-inch tall cake pans, lightly oiled, with the dough and brushed it with an olive oil mixture with fresh garlic and Italian spices.

You can add whatever toppings you’d like to a deep dish pizza. We sauteed red peppers, cooked sausage and added pepperoni.

I thought a good homemade pizza sauce would be pretty complicated but was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was. Vinny says you don’t need to add much to a good can of crushed tomatoes and not only that you can add it right to the can; don’t dirty another dish. He also says don’t cook pizza sauce because the tomatoes will taste old if you double cook them. We topped off a can of crushed tomatoes with fresh basil and oregano, a heaping tablespoon of sugar (I like a sweeter sauce for deep sauce), a swig of olive oil, and salt and pepper. Stir together and that’s it!

The other secret of deep dish pizza is you reverse the toppings–do not pour sauce directly on crust. It’s CHEESE FIRST. I’m sure Wisconsin Cheese would agree with this life motto–cheese first.

Then toppings.

And finally sauce.

Repeat those layers, fold in the dough that overlaps the pan and then shave some fresh Wisconsin Parmesan on the top. Bake at 500° for around 40 minutes depending on your oven, but keep checking until crust looks golden, cheese is fully melted and consistency is to your liking. Important: let it set for at least 10 minutes.

We made some regular dough for the kids so they could make their own mini pizzas, have fun with the dough and watch Vinny throw it in the air.

The kids loved theirs…

And ours? Sweet Mother of Melted Cheese. Best pizza ever. Even Vinny–the king of pizza–was raving, taking pictures of it, texting it to family.

And now comes Brett’s favorite part. He used to work in a pizza parlor when he was in his 20’s and for years has been raving about the cool pizza cutter he used to use that stretched across the entire diameter of the pizza–talked about it so much that my mom finally found one and gave it to him for Christmas last year. He loves every opportunity to whip it out.

And I love any opportunity to be with friends, eat pizza and enjoy a Friday night together. Success! Mad success.

Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board has a lot more Friday Night Pizza Night fun and a slew of great pizza recipes for you to try.

Plus, they’re giving away a prize package full of Wisconsin Cheese and pizza-making supplies (Epicurean Pizza Peel, Williams-Sonoma Pizza Chopper, and Silicone Trivet) so you can host your own Friday night party.

Use the below Rafflecopter widget to enter for a chance to win and have Friday night pizza party fun of your own! The giveaway is open through 11/5. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For another chance to win a #FridayNightPizzaNight Prize Pack, share a photo of your Friday night pizza on Instagram using the hashtag #FridayNightPizzaNight and tagging @WisconsinCheeseTalk.

With Halloween one week away, I thought it would be fun to do a memory lane costume post. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to gather all the photos considering the years span out on several different drives. I started making Halloween cards that we mail out to family every October back in 2009, and realized I missed one year–2011. Our 2013 Halloween card file is on a drive that got corrupted, so a picture of the card is all I have. But here we are…7 years of Halloweens.

I think dressing up should happen more than once a year. Looking back on all these makes me all excited for next week.

2009 50’s Girl

2010 Cat & Mouse

2011 Little Bo Peep and Her Little Sheep

2012 The Princess and the Frog

2013 Family Circus

2014 Wendy, Tinkerbell and Peter Pan

…and some more costume fun from an eHow costume article I did last year.

Chimney sweeper, artist, Fraulein Maria.

…and finally this year. I asked Lainey if maybe she’d like to have everyone do their own thing this year and thought for sure she’d be all over Taylor Swift or, I don’t know, anything that involved buying something from Justice. But she wanted a group thing again. I suggested woodland creatures after seeing a gorgeous fawn face painting idea, but she wanted farm animals. Actually she wanted to be a cow but couldn’t find a cow costume she liked so pig it is. Nella loves the chicken costume–flapping her wings in particular. And Dash, dear God, won’t be holding that metal rake for long.

2015

Happy Friday from the farm!

I’ve been meaning to share some beloved new artists I’ve discovered and thought Down Syndrome Awareness Month would be a great time to introduce a few of them. There are many young moms of children with special needs who are blogging, clubs for kids with special needs, volunteers who are happy to give time to children because children elicit all the good feels. I’ve never felt short of support in the five years we’ve had Nella. While there are still challenges and many fight for more inclusion and special needs support in educational settings for children, I think most parents of older children would admit that they felt more support and found more opportunities for their kids when they were younger. When the training wheels of the school system are removed from students with special needs who are transitioning into adulthood, that’s often the time when families feel a gaping hole of need. Like anyone else, these friends of ours want a thriving social life, fulfilling jobs, opportunities to travel, contribute to their communities and create a meaningful life. With the extra challenges they face, these things so many of us take for granted often become difficult to achieve.

This is one of the reasons why the mission of Ruby’s Rainbow has become so near and dear to my heart. If we can bridge that gap, provide more learning opportunities, facilitate in any way we can to increase the chance of employment and independent living so adults with special needs can have the most fulfilling life possible, that gaping hole of need closes a bit more.

One more way we can address this need is in shifting our consumer habits. We flip through catalogues, search websites, browse shops and scan Etsy for gifts, pretty things for home and art for our walls. If we transferred that buying over to artists with special needs who depend on selling a few pieces a month to help pay for apartment rent or groceries or dinner out with a friend–money that makes them recognize the importance of their contribution in the world? Then we’ve completed a circuit. Full circle, everybody wins.

I was texting some of these pictures of art over to my friend Liz from Ruby’s Rainbow last night, and she texted back: Maybe some of this art will be from our own kids someday. Can you imagine someone seeing a piece and saying, “Is that a Nella Hampton?”

Yes, I can imagine that. I can absolutely imagine the possibilities for my child to be a famous artist because A: Art is limitless, and B: Nella is limitless.

So please. If you have a wall space in your home you’ve been searching for art for, if you have a sister with an upcoming birthday, if you’ve started your holiday shopping early and want something beautiful and meaningful, if you love switching out art in your kids’ rooms or your bedroom or the wall above your desk, would you take a look at these beautiful artists’ work? Buy something, display it, wrap it up and bestow it upon your best friend. Tell them the story behind it. Share the artist’s name when anyone asks where you found that gorgeous piece.

I found artist Don Larison on Instagram, bought this fun print of a woman in a hammock (“Tropical Beauty“) and love the way it looks in the collage above my desk. I can’t wait to fill our home with more art from people with special needs. You can find more Don Larison art here.

 

And four more talented artists you need to know:

Christian Royal

I was in California last month when a reader sent me a link to Christian Royal’s art. I opened the link sitting at Claire Bidwell Smith’s dining room table and was so smitten with his pottery that I hollered for everyone to come look with me. Hovered around my laptop, we slowly scrolled through his gallery, gushing over each new piece that appeared. The delicate details! The soft colors! I had Brett look at his plates last night and casually mentioned that I wouldn’t mind at all if someday our Thanksgiving table featured a whole mismatched set of Christian Royal dishes.

Christian Royal struggled in many areas of school but showed incredible interest and talent in working with clay. He began making pottery in his homeschool program and over the years and with the help of generous mentors, his passion transformed into meaningful work.  From his site: “A simple beginning has developed into a vocation — one which daily animates Christian’s life with purpose, camaraderie, and identity in society.”

 

Brandon Lack

Brandon Lack’s interest in art started in preschool where he “developed a lifelong method of meditative circle drawing that he used during stressful times, which he had more than his fair share.” I love his abstract art–those meditative circle drawings reflected in them–and the one over the couch above? Swoon. I encourage you to click over to his site and read his bio and some of the stories shared. Brandon has been through a lot of heartache and yet he’s a devoted community volunteer and loves to make people happy. I loved this: “He has always been well loved and his family has always demanded extremely high expectations.”

 

Rachel Handlin

Rachel is a Ruby’s Rainbow scholarship recipient and their first recipient who is going for her bachelor of fine arts. She was accepted into 7 different bachelor programs all over the country as well as Europe and Australia. She’s attending California Institute of the Arts and is already a talented photographer. Her prints can be purchased through an incredible organization, Heart and Sold, which works to give individuals with Down syndrome a platform to educate, promote, inspire and sell their art.

 

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a self-taught folk artist who comes from a long line of artists and musicians. He was introduced to art by his mother, a stained glass artist, and began playing with stained glass remnants on a light box when he was nine years old. The evolution of his technique is a fascinating read, and the description of his current work: a “fearless use of vivid color” made me pause and reread the phrase. How many of us mute our colors because of fear? I sure wouldn’t mind “fearless use of vivid color” on my tombstone someday. With seasons shifting into cozytown, I couldn’t help but be drawn to his Fun in the Snow acrylics piece. How lovely would that look hanging in a child’s bedroom or playroom? And his Central Park piece? So many feel goods!

 

I’d love to periodically share more art from people with special needs here. I chose artists with Down syndrome this month, but there are many needs and many people creating beautiful things. If you know of a talented artist with special needs, please e-mail their info and site where we can buy their art to kellehamptonblog@comcast.net with “artist with special needs” in the subject line.

Thank you!