Rotisserie Chicken Series: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Oh the things that can be done with a store bought rotisserie chicken!  Swing by on your way home from work and dinner's basically done.  I've added 'rotisserie chicken' to my grocery list for the last few weeks.  Not only is it a good snack, it's so versatile and one chicken can give you enough poultry for two pans of enchiladas, a few chicken pizzas, soup, salad....endless possibilities here! 

I like to buy my rotisserie chickens at Costco, it seems like the ones in smaller grocery stores are really tiny.  Plus, it's cheaper than buying one to cook myself!  I pull the meat off and chop it up, keeping white and dark meat together.  A lot of recipes call for just chicken breast (white meat), throwing some dark meat in there adds a little more fat and a lot more flavor.

Pizza is big in our house.  We love to order it, we love to make it and this is one of our favorite's.  This recipe assumes your pizza dough is ready to go.*

BBQ Chicken Pizza
Makes 1- 12in. pizza; or 8 slices

1 c. chopped chicken
2 T  (heaping) Cilantro, chopped
1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion
1/2 c.  sweet BBQ sauce (We like KC Masterpiece.)
2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella or jack cheese, divided
Your choice of pizza dough.*

Preheat oven to 425°F. 

Pour BBQ sauce in the middle of dough. Using the bottom of a ladle, make circles to spread the sauce.  Cover sauce with 2 cups of cheese.  Top with chicken, cilantro, and onion.  Add remaining cheese.  Bake for 12-18 minutes.

After pizza is out of the oven, let it rest for about 10 minutes, then slice and dig in! 

Yum!

*I make my own dough, or use frozen bread dough for the crust.  Here's my method; on a large, lightly floured cutting board, roll dough to desired diameter (about 12 inches).  Pick dough up and sprinkle board with cornmeal, replace dough. Shake to make sure dough isn't sticking to the board.  Add toppings, shaking every so often to keep dough from sticking to the board.  I use a stoneware pizza pan and I leave it in the oven while it's preheating.  I very carefully scoot the pizza on to the stone. 

Fresh Strawberry Bread

 

I am ready for Spring.  Living in the Pacific Northwest, we really don't see the sun a whole lot.  But when we do, it's glorious.  I can't wait to soak up some rays (as long as it's not too hot)!  On my grocery run this week, I saw them....beautiful red strawberries.  We've been snacking on them, but I'm saving some aside for one of my favorite strawberry recipes. 


This is, hands down, my favorite thing to bake in spring and even summer! 
I got the recipe from My Baking Addiction, my favorite baking blog.


Fresh Strawberry Bread
Makes 1 loaf

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups strawberries, rinsed, dried and chopped

Large sugar sprinkles, optional. (They add a fun crunch to the crust!!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

With electric mixer cream butter, sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend flour mixture with butter mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk and only stir until just combined; do not over mix.

Carefully fold in strawberries. Batter will be thick.

Pour batter into prepared pan.  If desired, top with sugar sprinkles.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

I like mine warm!  With coffee.  :)

Vacationing Without the Kids

Right before Christmas, my husband and I took a long over due vacation.  A 5 day trip to Disneyland. Alone.  Without our daughter.

{I know what you're thinking.}

We had always wanted to go Disneyland together but life just got in our way and we were never able to make it work.  But that all changed when we started planning for our trip in June.  Our daughter knows about Disneyland, but doesn't really know what it is and we wanted to go before she knew what she was missing!  (We plan on going back with her in 2 years.....I can hardly wait!)

My parents were generous enough to come stay at our house while we were gone.  Our girl was over the moon.  She loves her Grandma and Papa and doesn't get to see them often.  I completely trusted my mom and dad with her, but in 3 years, we had never left her for even a night.

6 months was plenty of time for me to worry about leaving our daughter for that long. I scoured the Internet for tips to make it easier on her and her caregivers. There wasn't a whole lot out there, so I did it myself. I thought I'd put it out there for anyone else in the same situation!

Be advised, I found all kinds of ways to offend grandparents while they are watching the kids!  There's even an entire forum dedicated to the subject!  I called my mom to ask her if she minded if I put something together. She thought it would be helpful, so I went for it. I didn't schedule every moment, I didn't lay her clothes out for every day, I didn't leave cooking instructions for Macaroni and Cheese; all no-no's according to that forum!  I was more concerned with letting my parents know about our girl's quirks and emergency information.

I bought a cheap red pocket folder and just put the paperwork in the pockets.

All of the emergency information was in the left pocket:

• Emergency contacts
• Doctor info
• Our address (very important)
• The address and phone number of where you're staying, flight info, etc.

(All of that was on one sheet of paper). 

Behind it, I included a medical release form; I just googled it and found one that covered the bases.  It basically authorizes medical staff to treat your child as they normally would if you were there.  There was a place on the pocket to slide a business card, I just slid our insurance card in there.

In the other pocket were several pages:

• Working the TV remotes (why is every TV different??)
• Our daughter's typical meals, snacks and drinks.  At the top, I wrote that it was okay to deviate from 'the list', that it was okay for them to spoil her while they were there.
• Her 'schedule'; this included wake up time, TV time, eating time, nap time...you get the idea.  And again I reiterated that it was okay to do their own thing.  (It really was okay with me, but it made me feel better to leave them with something to go by if they needed it.)
• Discipline; time outs, etc.
• Dosages for medicine in case she got sick
• Leaving the house; what she likes to bring with her, etc.
• A list of stores and fun places to go with their addresses
• The last page was just random stuff like when to give her a bath, her favorite show on the DVR, where kid movies are...that sort of thing.

Another thing I did to make it easier was to have the diaper bag ready with plenty of diapers, wipes and a change of clothes.  I had aspirations to pre-pack snacks for the diaper bag, but that didn't happen. 

Since it was Christmastime, there were all sorts of easy art projects at Michael's.  I bought a different one for each day we were gone.  A 'ready to decorate' gingerbread house, a new awesome coloring book, a few of those 'foam' crafts.  It didn't matter to me if they used them.  I just wanted to make sure my parents had plenty of things to do with her if they wanted.  Turns out they used them all!  We had all sorts of fun art projects waiting for us when we got home

My parents said that they really appreciated having the folder and that they used it every day.  It took a lot of guess work out for them. 

It was hard to leave my little girl for that long; and giving up control.  I cried all the way to the airport!  But in the end, the trip was so good for our marriage; and our girl was no worse for wear when we got back. She had a wonderful time with her grandparents.

Valentine Shortbread Pops

Valentine's Day is right around the corner!  For us, it means Teacher Appreciation at MOMS- a group where I can fellowship with other moms, eat a lovely meal (that I don't have to share), and hear a new speaker every week who encourages me in my role as 'Mommy'.  Last year I waited till the night before to even think about teacher appreciation, so I was determined to put a little more thought into it this year.  I really appreciate that while I'm NOT sharing my meal, my daughter is well cared for!

This is a basic shortbread recipe, it's flaky and delicious.  Making the shortbread into cookie pops is a little time consuming, but the end result makes it worth it!






3/4 lb. butter (yep--that's three cubes!)
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

cookie pop sticks
1 package of milk chocolate chips
Valentine sprinkles

Combine flour and salt and set aside. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Cut in flour and salt with a pastry cutter or 2 forks. (A stand mixer can probably handle the task with the paddle attachment.) Form into two balls, wrap in waxed paper and chill for 2 hours. Roll out to just over 1/4 inch thick on a pastry cloth, or lightly floured surface. Cut w/ heart cutter.  Carefully insert the pop stick into bottom of cookie, going about 3/4 of the way up. Carefully lay on cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and using a spatula, place shortbread pops on a cooling rack. 

Allow to cool completely.  Cover cool cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.  Melt chocolate according to package directions, usually about 2 minutes on 50% power in the microwave.  You can add a little canola oil to thin the chocolate out if you need to.  Carefully dip the shortbread pop in the chocolate covering the front, tap gently to get rid of the extra chocolate.  Lay pop on covered cookie sheet and decorate with sprinkles.  (Fun for the kids!) 

Out of 14 pops, only one stick came loose, I dipped the stick in chocolate and reinserted it into the cookie.  It doesn't look the prettiest, but it got the job done!  I used a medium sized heart cutter and got about 14 shortbread pops and 6 regular cookies (no sticks).

 **If you roll the dough too thick (1/2 inch or more), the sticks will not stay in...I don't know why, I'm not science-y like that, but I made the mistake!

You can get the lollipop sticks in different lengths to make a cute cookie bouquet, but I plan to wrap them in cellophane and tie with a ribbon.

Off I go to dip one of these treats in some coffee!

What you never knew about Candy Corn...

I'm addicted to Pinterest. Addicted, I tell you! I was browsing last night and came across something very yummy and interesting. Homemade Butterfingers; using candy corn (yes, CANDY CORN), peanut butter and chocolate. My hubby and I were SHOCKED at how good and butterfinger-like they were!

I wish I could say that I came up with this little dandy, but alas, I'm not known for my ability to make up a recipe!  It came from Six Sisters Stuff.  Love them. 

I'm working on my photog skillz....right now it's more like 'faux-tog' skills!  For now, here's a cruddy pic off my iPhone!

Smoovies

My daughter loves smoothies. She asks for a 'smoovie' just about every day. The problem is that I'm tired of my two stand by smoothies and I'm not very adventurous when it comes to smoothies. As I was meal planning for the week, I was looking at different websites for healthy treats and came across a recipe for a Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. And it was green. I'm pretty sure the only thing that sounded good about it was that it reminded me of Fall. And like everyone else I know, I love Fall.

It just so happened that I had some pumpkin puree in the fridge leftover from a Paleo pumpkin bread disaster. Now, I like pumpkin pie. I like pumpkin bread. I like pumpkin pastries. The common thing here is that I like pumpkin. When it's baked into something delicious. I do not like straight up raw pumpkin. So I was skeptical.  To my delight, this was actually pretty darn good.

Yes, I had the green straws. I know. I couldn't help but give the darn thing a full on photo shoot! Now, I will list the recipe below and I KNOW it sounds horrifying and disgusting. But I was shocked. SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! It was actually very yummy and even my daughter lapped it up. (After quizzing me about why it was green, of course.)

Pumpkiny Protein Smoothie
adapted from With Style and Grace

1 cup fresh spinach, packed
1-2 cups coconut milk, from a carton
1 scoop of protein – vanilla or chocolate, I used Plant Fusion, vanilla
1 large spoonful [or 1/4 cup] pumpkin puree
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 packet Stevia
ice cubes, it just depends on how you like your smoothie. I like mine on the milkshakey side, so I use a lot.
Put everything in your blender and turn that bad boy on!
This was more than enough for me and my daughter, unless you like a GIANT smoothie. I put some in the fridge and I'll wizz it in the blender tomorrow and see if it's good leftover like that. We'll see.
Update: The leftovers are good, just watered down from the ice melting. If you want to add more goodies, you can, but that would probably give you leftovers again!

Double Chocolate Pecan Muffins: Gluten Free

Yum, right? :)

I'm trying to be more brave these days by trying my skills at making up my own recipes. The tough part is failing. If groceries were free, then who cares, I'd practice all day every day! But, alas, groceries are NOT free. (Can I get an 'Amen'?) Well, these little chocolate muffins are no failure. The only failure is that I may or may not have eaten two.

Recipe:

1 package gluten free chocolate cake mix
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Combine all ingredients, except chips and nuts with an electric mixer. (Hand mixing won't cut it, I tried.) Once well combined, add remaining ingredients. Batter will be very sticky. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full. You can press the batter down, but I liked the odd shaped muffins better; they look cool. Bake for 20 mins until knife inserted comes out clean. Yield about 18 muffins.