Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Andrew

Guess who's 6th birthday is today?!

This Guy! 

Today, we are celebrating my handsome, hunk of a husband's 6th Birthday.... yep, that's right. His 6th. :) 
{For those who haven't realized yet, today is February 29th...I'll let ya'll do the math and figure out his actually age. :)} I'm so excited to celebrate his first married birthday, and his first real birthday in 4 years! 

Happy Birthday, Andrew. I love you SO much! 

Monday, February 20, 2012

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Again, like the cake dots, the idea for this pizza came from having it out in a restaurant and falling in love! California Pizza Kitchen has the BEST BBQ chicken pizza ever! Oh, it is so good. I love it so much, I decided to try and make it at home... because we all know homemade pizza is the best pizza there is! :)

 I've made this pizza twice now, and each time it has been a hit. Sadly there has never been any leftovers. haha So I've decided to share it. I'm going to try and give you measurements of the ingredients, but honestly, it's all to taste. If you are a strict recipe follower, this might not be for you... that, or you'll just have to let loose for this one. :)


I'm going to be completely honest with you... i cheated. I didn't make the dough. Our grocery store here just makes it so easy, they have freshly made pizza dough that you can purchase right from the bakery. All you have to do is, bring it home, let it rise, and the roll it out! So easy. They even have whole wheat, which is even better! So, if you're looking for the crust recipe... sorry, it would just be totally dishonest if I posted one, because I didn't make it.... BUT my favorite-ist, role model chef Giada De laurentiis has a simple pizza dough recipe that you could use if you don't already have one. :)

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

Your favorite pizza dough, rolled out into your favorite shape pizza to desired thickness
2-3 thinly cut chicken breasts
Mozzarella cheese
BBQ sauce {I used honey BBQ sauce for the sweet tangy flavor}
1/4 of a Red Onion, sliced thinly
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro {Give or take a bit}

First, bake your chicken breasts in a bath of BBQ sauce at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked. Just make sure the chicken is coated well in the sauce, you don't necessarily need to to soak it. Once cooled, cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces and set aside.

On a well floured surface, roll out your dough to desired thickness. Then spread BBQ sauce on the dough, as if spreading pizza sauce. Leave about an inch border around the outside. Sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top of sauce. Top with chicken, sliced onion and chopped cilantro. Then drizzle thin layer of BBQ sauce on top. 

Bake at 400-425 for 18-25 minutes. {This really depends on the dough recipe you use. :)}

Enjoy. :)



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Champions!



This past weekend, we played in our 2nd tournament of the season and WON! :) 
I am so proud of these girls and I am having so much fun coaching them! 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentines Day


"We love because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19

Monday, February 06, 2012

Cake Dots

I am not a huge fan of cake... I've just never like it. But when I was in Starbucks not to long ago, I tried on of their new cake pops, and I LOVED it! So, I decided I was going to try and recreate them. :)

After looking online and a using few ideas from different recipes I found, I created this very simple, easy as can be, recipe to make cake dots. 

I love recipes that allow you to be creative and don't limit you. This is one of them. There are so many different combinations of cake and icing mixtures you can use, different ways to decorate them, you can choose to dip them in chocolate or you can just leave them as cake dots. {personally, I don't see why you wouldn't dip them in chocolate... the more chocolate the better! ...but to each their own, I guess. :)} You really can't go wrong with these. There is no wrong way to do it! 
 They just melt in your mouth!



Ingredients:
1 box cake mix
3/4 container of icing
2 bags of candy melting chocolates
sprinkles (optional)
white chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Directions:

Bake cake mix according to box directions. Let the cake cool. Then, cut large sections and put in separate bowl and break up with a fork. Then slowly add spoonfuls of icing and mix into the cake until it is gooey and moist and there is no visible icing bits. {I find it easiest to do this a little bit at a time. Saves a huge mess!}

Next, take small portions of cake/icing mixture and roll into balls and put on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

Refrigerate the cake balls for at least an hour.

Melt chocolates according to package directions. Then take chilled cake balls and dip into chocolate. Set dipped balls back on the wax paper lined baking sheet and decorate them to your liking. :) If you are going to use sprinkles or anything that will not stay on by itself, you will need to decorate while the chocolate is still wet. It dries quickly so have everything ready to do it right away. If you are going to drizzle them with white chocolate, wait until they have dried and hardened, then use melted white chocolate and just simply drizzle it over the

Then the best part... EAT THEM! :)


Sunday, February 05, 2012

Mom

Today is my Mom's 50th birthday. Yep 50. She doesn't look 50 does she?! :) 


Happy Birthday, Mommy! I love you so very much! <3