BBQ Chicken Pizza

Hrm... what to do with this?

A lil' pizza I reckon :) Mmmmm... I'm giving this one a little twist.

So first we need to get a batch of pizza dough going. Mine takes 1 hr and 40 min in the bread-maker on "dough" cycle. The recipe can be found here.

So I take that chicken and shred it on up. Then I take a little of this:

And this:

Yes, that's an apple. And then some of this:

I'd prefer Sweet Baby Rays but for whatever reason, this is what we had in the fridge. I never buy this... where did it even come from?! Anyway.

Slice up that apple (remove the core please.)

Then heat your pan with some oil.

Throw that onion on in...

Saute it until it's nice and caramelized. Yum. I forgot to take a picture.

Now remember that pizza dough that we started with? Now it's go time. My recipe makes two crusts so split that baby in half and you can either make two types or it freezes well.

Throw down some cornmeal and roll that sucker out to your desired thickness on a pizza stone or you can press it into a pizza maker like I've been doing. I loooooove my pizza maker :)

Slather on that BBQ sauce.

Then I topped it with mozzarella cheese, chicken, bacon (I had leftover from breakfast), those yummy caramelized onions, and you guessed it... apple slices.

Now all I did was plug in my pizza maker and in 8 minutes my pizza was done! I've used my pizza stone in the past as well and you'll want to cook for 18-20 min in a 400 degree oven.

The apples really melt into the pizza and just add a little tang... sort of like a pineapple?! Anyway, enjoy!

Pizza... My Way!

Have I mentioned I hate pizza?

Nooooo! I don't hate pizza in general but unless it's from Coverleaf... no thanks. I'd rather make it myself than buy something from the freezer section {which really isn't just limited to pizza?!} or from a chain pizza place. Blech.

So I finally found a pizza crust that I enjoy AND a sauce that we like! The following recipe is most definitely our favorite pizza to make at home but I also enjoy good old homemade {or Cloverleaf} House Favorite... with Olives of course! :)

Homemade Pizza Crust {Bread Maker}

Ingredients
1 cup water plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

 
Directions

1. Place ingredients in pan in order listed or as directed per machine instructions. Select white dough cycle.
2. When machine is finished, remove and form into crusts. Top with desired toppings and bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until crust is light brown

White Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/16 teaspoon pepper

1/2 garlic clove , minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil , minced

1/4 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese , shredded

Directions

1. Heat butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir until thoroughly mixed.
2. Slowly whisk in milk, adding gradually. Stir in remaining ingredients. Will thicken upon standing.

For OUR pizza we top with with shredded/sliced chicken {usually leftover from a previous recipe}, 1 small onion sauteed in butter, and about a half dozen sliced mushrooms. Along with mozzarella cheese of course! YUM!

Cheers!

Meal Plan 23!

Well, that was fun last week kind of having a week off from shopping at least! :)

We are in full force of our new budget and I have to say, it's kind of nice knowing exactly how much I have to spend on what! We are doing the envelope budget... gas, groceries, diapers, dog food, and fun money. The rest goes into our account and I have the monthly bills split equally so I pay half with Adam's first paycheck on the 5th and the rest with his check on the 20th. Leaving the rest to be transferred to our savings. I imagine there is a much better way to do this and I probably will end up adding more envelope categories as we go. OH, and any money left in the envelopes.. yup, goes directly to savings!

So, on to week 23! Again, I'm going to try to limit my grocery list for the sake of having something left over to save on the 20th :) But I also still want to try new stuff... I'm really enjoying cooking again. I know, I go through phases...

Spanish Rice Bake - I will probably use ground turkey instead of beef since I already have it on hand.
Biscuits and Gravy - Adam's absolute breakfast fav! And we bought everything to make it on Sunday but he ended up going hunting so I think I'll surprise him with it one night this week :) Also, we don't have a recipe... just buy sausage, gravy, biscuits and cook according to package directions. I imagine one day I should attempt this from scratch. I linked to the Allrecipes.com search for recipes... you're welcome! :)
Split Pea Soup - Adam said he'll hate this so I imagine I'll do this in the crockpot one day and have most of it for lunch but I wanted to include it for the recipe. I'm going to take some of the advice given in the comments to make it better :) I've been craving it for a while with all this cold weather! It's not a crockpot recipe but I'll probably make it and then throw it in the crock to simmer and stay warm.
Beef with Snow Peas - Have I mentioned I love the Pioneer Woman? Anyway, this one has become one of my favorites. Seriously.
Calzones - I linked to a recipe for your convenience but I'm going to take my pizza crust recipe and fill it with our fav ingredients {pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, onions, maybe some sausage if I can fit it in the budget}. That's called winging it. :)

The Grocery List:
1 pound lean ground beef {turkey!}

green bell pepper

1 (14.5 ounce) can canned tomatoes

1/2 cup chile sauce

ground cumin

Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

cilantro

Grands Biscuits
Packaged Gravy
Breakfast Sausage
1-1/2 cups dried split peas
1 pound ham bone
onions

dried marjoram

celery

carrots

Potato

1-1/2 pound Flank Steak
Soy Sauce
Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
Brown Sugar
Cornstarch
Minced Fresh Ginger
8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas
Scallions
Long Grain Rice
Pepperoni
Pizza sauce
Mushrooms
Black Olives
Sausage {maybe}

Not TOO bad of a grocery list {remember stuff I need is in bold} - definitely won't break my budget! :)

Baja Chicken Taco Pizza

I think a recipe post is way overdue :) This was from a couple weeks ago but I'd been really been wanting to utilitze my bread maker and what better way than to make some pizza crust dough! I have to say, this turned out awesome! I've made it by hand many times but it's never been like this.

I found this recipe

CDKitchen.com but there are hundreds of similar recipes online.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup and 2 tbsp warm water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp pizza seasoning {not in the original recipe} 

Directions

1. Place ingredients in pan in order listed or as directed per machine instructions. Select white dough cycle.
2. When machine is finished, remove and form into crusts. Top with desired toppings and bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until crust is light brown.

Now, on to our "desired toppings." :)

 

I like to experiment with my homemade pizzas so this week I found the

Baja Chicken Taco Pizza in my Simple & Delicious magazine. I also have to make a "regular" pizza for Adam just in case he doesn't like my creation :) His usually includes a garlic alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, grilled onions and mushrooms. Topped with a little cheddar cheese.

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 prebaked 12-inch thin pizza crust {obviously, I used the homemade version above}
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups shredded lettuce
• 2 medium ripe avocados, peeled and thinly sliced
 

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the salad dressing, salsa, lime juice and cilantro. Cover and process on high for 1-2 minutes or until smooth; set aside. In a small bowl, combine chicken and taco seasoning; set aside. 
2. Place crust on an ungreased 12-in. pizza pan. Spread salsa mixture over crust. Sprinkle with the chicken mixture, tomatoes, onion and cheese. Bake at 425° for 17-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with lettuce; top with avocado slices.

Word to the wise... don't taste the sauce before it's cooked. It totally tastes weird and I thought I'd had a horrible recipe on my hands... it turned out SO good. Even Adam liked it and he doesn't usually care for recipes like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Meal Plan #7!

April 17th - 23rd

I realize it's the 18th already... I have no excuses - OOPS!

Last week was awesome! I did every single recipe on my list - not all on the correct days of course but that's the first week so far that I didn't totally go astray! :) Wohoo! Go me! Additionally, not one thing was bad! Every.Single.Day was oh so yummy! I have to share some pictures because it was all just that good!

Enjoy!

The Pizza - which I ended up making on Tue... then again on Sat! =/

The Aussie Chicken!

The Wet Burritos!

Oh, and the Orange Chicken (which I posted here)!

:::drools::: 

Ok, on to week 7!

Sunday: We didn't cook... anything =/

Monday: Stuffed Pork Chops <--- My own recipe!

Tuesday: Rotisserie Sirloin Tip (I think?!) Roast <--- This is Adam's deal... rotisserie anything is goooood though!

Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans

Thursday: Broiled Tilapia with Garlic

Friday: Refraining from using the Pizza (again?!?!) It's so good! Ugh, K - Tator Tot Casserole

Saturday: TBD... as usual?!

The Grocery List:

Pork Loin Chops

Stuffing

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can black beans

1 can corn

Salsa

8oz cream cheese

3 Tilapia fillets

1 lemon

1lb ground beef

Cream of Mushroom soup

1 onion

1 bag tator tots

mushrooms

Swiss cheese

Broccoli (cause I like to use broccoli in the casserole rather than spinach)

Cheers!

Meal Plan #6! And then some :)

April 10th - 16th

Well, week 5 was a bust! Other than the French's Onion chicken the rest of the week just went to... well... shit. That chicken is always good and the tweaks I make were just mouth watering. Yum. The only other day I kind of followed the meal plan was Wednesday - word to the wise - don't follow that link or try the enchiladas. Bleck. After spending a pretty penny on that cut of meat, following the directions to a T and spending the better half of my afternoon in the kitchen prepping things... it wouldn't shred and was SO dry. I ended up thawing out a pound of ground venison real quick and frying that up for the filling. They were pretty good but dinner was over an hour later than I had anticipated. 

Thursday though we went to Northern Lights Brewery for dinner. Here's a little restaurant review for anyone who's thought about trying them out... DO IT! O.M.G - so good. 

I knew they had good beer cause we've been a few times but I'd never eaten dinner there. We started out with some drinks; Adam got the Solar Winds - it's a seasonal beer there and while it's pretty hoppy, boy was it good. 

We got the Sesame Seared Ahi and the Manila Clams for appetizers - I was a little skeptical of the Ahi cause I've never had sushi before but it was SO good and the little crusted cheese thing that comes with it was to die for :) The clams were really good too - they were in a buttery sauce that was FULL of whole cloves of roasted garlic, YUM!

We were all over the pallet for our entree's - from a burger to the Fish Taco's, a Reuben and the Cod Fish and Chips - everything was so good. I have to say... I make a mean fish taco, but this thing had the best peach mango salsa on top that my mouth is watering thinking about it! 

OK - so on to the meal plan...

Sunday: Kalua Pig

Monday: Panda Express Orange Chicken w/stir fried vegetables

Tuesday: Wet Burritos

Wednesday: Pasta Primavera with Smoked Gouda

Thursday: Aussie Chicken --> Have I done this? I feel like I have but it sounds so yummy!

Friday: Homemade Pizza (I'm listing my preferred toppings in the grocery list)

Saturday: TBD :)

The Grocery List:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Bacon

Mushrooms

Colby Jack Cheese

1lb ground beef

Onion

Diced green chilies

Refried beans

Chili w/out beans

Tomato soup

Enchilada Sauce

12 inch flour tortillas

Lettuce

Tomato

Mexican cheese blend shredded cheese

Green onion

Whole wheat penne pasta

Zucchini

Green Pepper

Carrots

Stewed Tomatoes

Parmesan Cheese

Smoked Gouda Cheese

Chicken Broth

Soy Sauce

Sesame Oil

Scallion

Frozen stir fried vegetables

Pork Butt :) 

Hawaiian sea salt

Liquid Smoke

Dry Active Yeast

Pepperoni

Italian Sausage

Black Olives

Aaaaaaand... For your viewing pleasure - we had our last session with Moxie Images right before Landon's birthday. Here's a few of my fav's!!!

Cheers!