BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ok...I know that a lot of you have already bought The Pioneer Woman's cookbook...and if you haven't yet... come on, everybody's doin it!!
Well, anyway, she has a super simple pizza dough recipe in it. And since I got the book, I'm pretty sure I've made her pizza dough 4 times.
On Sunday's, we rotate houses with family, and instead of going out to eat after evening church service, we trade weeks to host dinner at our houses.
Well last weekend was our turn, and I made pizza.
I made BBQ chicken pizza and Hawaiian for the kiddos.
We loved the BBQ chicken pizza so much that I made it again for dinner last night.
The beauty of pizza is that once you get the hang of making the crust, the sky's the limit as far as toppings go.
Well, with PW's pizza crust, I just use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook, follow the directions and in about 5 min, I have a beautiful pizza dough to set aside to rise. No kneading needed.

Another trick that I have to staying out of a culinary rut is that I have a couple of magazine subscriptions.
A couple of months ago my FoodNetwork magazine had 50 different pizza variations, and this BBQ chicken pizza looked delicious to me.

Here is a list of ingredients:
-Cooked Chicken mixed with 1/4 c. bbq sauce (I didn't measure, I just got it to a point where all of the shredded chicken was coated and called it good)
(I also put a very thin coat of bbq sauce over the pizza dough before adding all of the toppings)
-Scallions
-Pickled Jalapenos (this would be so yummy without the peppers, but Ryan & I love the spice!)
-1 c. shredded cheddar
bake at 500 degrees until golden. 15 min (PW says 8-10 min but it would depend on how thick you spread your dough...so just watch it till it looks done) I also like a thick crust so I didn't divide the dough like she says to do.


While it's really nice to have company over...the nice thing about keeping it all to ourselves...

...we're having it for dinner again tonight!!!!

Yeah!

How Much Is That Doggie...

...In the window??



Next I'm going to try to get him singing "Rita Rita Ronca"

Memory Verses

A couple of months ago, I started working with this little boy on learning memory verses. At first it was great fun for him and he was doing great. Then the excitement started to wane and it became a fight to try to get him to recite them.
We needed something to look forward to, something to bring the fun back into it.
So, I promised him a trip to the Dollar Store and we decided that we were going to make a chart. When it's all full of stickers he get's a special prize. I asked him for a list of the prizes that he wanted. At the top of the list...a music box. (like in Pinocchio)
He's so silly.
Anyway, we are back on track with the memory verses and I don't have to coax them out of him anymore.

Scrapbooking Again!

I've started digi scrapping again.
I have been snapping all sorts of pictures of Allegra, but other than her birth announcement that is hanging on our fridge, and our Christmas card...not a single picture of her adorns our humble abode.
I have them in my "shopping cart" at Costco. Just need to actually order them. In the meantime, I have the frames ready and waiting (actually hanging on the wall, with these beautiful strangers smiling back at me).
Anyway, I really want Allegra to have a baby book...so I started a digital scrapbook that is just going to be of her.
The layouts are not extravagant, they are simple and to the point. But I'm having so much fun scrap booking for my baby girl. Here is what I have so far:

Whoops...What Color is My Hair Again?

I'm gonna tell on myself right now.

Today, we went to the zoo with our friends, Jackie, Luke and Natalie. I am very uncomfortable driving over to any part of the west side of town, because I NEVER do. So, I google mapped the directions and away we went. It was going very well, till I over thought it and ended up taking the wrong exit, (instead of merging on to US26, I took the 12th exit) ended up right smack in the middle of downtown and had no idea how to get back to the freeway. It was at this moment, I discovered that my bluetooth headset's battery was dead. So I had to call Ryan on the speaker phone and have him navigate me back to the freeway. So I told him where I was, turned onto Broadway and hit a very bad traffic jam in the right hand lane. I mean, things were just not moving. Ryan had told me that I was going to be taking a right up ahead, so I wanted to stay in the right hand lane. So, I continued to sit in this traffic jam looking up ahead...back to back traffic as far as the eye could see. I couldn't figure out why traffic was flowing so smoothly in the lanes beside me. I was telling Ryan, "I'm in a standstill".
And THEN I happened to look at the ground under the car ahead of me. What were those notches up there? Uh Oh...I looked at the drivers seat...WHAT? No one in it? "Oh man", I said to Ryan, "I've been sitting in front of a string of parked cars".
What an embarrassing thing to admit.
But, I was so befuddled about taking the wrong exit, and then the bluetooth not working, all while trying to navigate around a city that I will never be comfortable driving in.
All's well that ends well though, I made it to the zoo...we had a great time in the cool, crisp sunny fresh air.

Thanks Jackie, thanks for calling and pulling me out of my cave!

Playing Catch Up!!!

If you haven't given up on me altogether...hi there!
I intend on doing some catch up posts on here, very soon.
I realize that I waste waaayyy too much time playing online games on Facebook. Here's my excuse for that...there is really not very much that you can do with one hand...and the baby girl likes to be HELD. In fact I JUST put her in her crib 1 1/2 min ago...asleep...and she is now awake screaming for me to pick her up and let her sleep in my arms. sheesh. I am going to try an experiment...
put her in the snuggli and try to type around her...
BRB

Ok...I'm back.

Officially wearing one baby and drinking one VERY strong cup of yummy coffee.
Hey...this could work.

The past couple of months are a big blur.
So, off the top of my head, this is a few posts that I really want to make their way to the blog ASAP.

* Allegra's Birth
*Wyatt's First Ski Trip
*Brother and Sister
*Christmas Re-Cap
*Wyatt's 4th Birthday
*Happy New Year

Haha...So I'm not behind or anything.

(snuggli update: she has continued to scream, i'm not sure if this bright idea is going to work, and now Wyatt is up from his nap. Probably due to the screaming of one 'sweet baby girl'. It's a darn good thing I made that coffee)

So here is an update from the "here and now". It's been just a hair over a year since I fell in the snow and dislocated my kneecap. Man, childbirth has nothing on that pain. (they give you the good drugs when you have a baby)
Yesterday, I waited for both kids to be napping to take my shower. Well, Wyatt was napping and Allegra woke up the second I put her in her crib. Anyway, it happened to be at around 3 when all the stars aligned and I was able to FINALLY go take a shower. So, the water was on, and I remembered that my shampoo was next to the sink, so I stepped one foot out of the bathtub and the rest is a little bit fuzzy...but all I know is that the foot that was in the bathtub lost traction and some how I must have "over-corrected" and flew backwards...dislocating my kneecap and hitting my head on the fixed shelf on the way down. All I know is that I ended up flat on my back with the water raining on my face...the shelf that I hit my head on has a 2 inch crack in it and my kneecap had popped back into place by the time the dust had settled. I'm so glad for that, but I could barely drag myself out of the shower to get the phone to call Ryan. Today, my head is tender, my knee is killing, and I can barely walk again. Ugh...I know it could have been alot worse, but it feels like last year, all over again.

Anyway, here's to hoping that I can figure out a creative way to be able to use both hands again...but in the meantime, I have a Multi-million dollar farm, a very successful restaurant named McFatt's, and 2 thriving fish tanks to show for myself on facebook.

Merry Christmas!

Hello again my old friend....
I know it's been a long time since I've updated this.
I'm hoping to get back into a routine of posting again after the new year.
Since I haven't been scrapbooking, I look at this as a place to share some memories and get them written down somewhere.
I'm thinking of everyone that reads this blog, and I'm pretty sure that all of you got a Christmas card and birth announcement from us.
But just in case....
Merry Christmas, and happy new year!