Homemade Pizza

I have been wanting to make my own pizza for a while, but I was too intimidated to make my own dough and couldn't find any at the grocery store. We get take-out every so often, but what I really like is a blend of unusual flavors and lots of toppings, which is expensive in takeout. Drew and I are fans of California Pizza Kitchen, but there is not one anywhere near where we live.

So, I finally found frozen pizza dough at the grocery store. Its not very expensive and I was able to use a few ingredients I already had in the pantry as toppings. We had one BBQ Chicken (yes, I totally stole this idea from CPK) - it had BBQ sauce, cooked chicken breast cubes, mozzarella cheese, fresh cilantro, corn, Carribean spices, and red pepper powder on it. I wanted to add some black beans, but didn't have any on hand. it was plenty filling with out it. The other pizza was a mix of Mediterannean flavors - it had pesto sauce, mozzarella cheese, sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, and greek spices on top.

I forgot to take a picture, but apart from burning the sundried tomatoes on the Mediterannean pizza they turned out really well. I know we will be making these more often in the future.

Cornish Hens

Drew has mentioned to me a few times that he always wanted to try Cornish game hens. They always look so festive and delicious when they are in pictures.

They also look ridiculously hard to make and like they will take forever! But I love my husband and I want to make him happy. Plus, I inherited a few William-Sonoma holiday cookbooks at our church group White Elephant gift exchange and it included a cornish hen recipe. I was also feeling adventurous and cooking is a good way to satisfy this urge (most of the time).

Here is how they turned out:

So before you comment, yes I am aware that this dish is very orange. I didnt realized everything I made had an orange hue until I took this picture. I was craving sweet potatoes and I like having them more often than regular potatoes because they have more vitamins, and carrots, well because they were easy and what I had on hand. Maybe my body was craving whatever assortment of vitamins and minerals come in orange foods (I am sure Drew could tell us, plus why it is good for you and the pathways it takes to be deconstruction and turned into energy in your body, I dont know how he memorizes all of this stuff!)

Anyway, the birds turned out pretty good. They were a good deal of work, mostly butterflying them - after that you just put the seasonings on and stick them in the oven. Its almost a shame they came out so good because after I slaved away making them Drew took a bite and said, "you have to make these again!" Well, I probably will, I am a sucker for that guy. :) But I will probably wait until next winter.

Snow Day!

Today was a snow day! It has been snowing since around 11 this morning! Here is what it looked like this afternoon from our apartment, and it kept coming down.

Of course, being the Texans that we are we all go a little crazy in the snow. Most of our neighbors have already been out throwing snow balls at each other and I have seen several snow men of varying shapes and sizes. We are trying to keep off the roads to stay safe. I cancelled all the student meetings I had planned for today and tonight. I do not want a meeting to be the cause of an accident that someone could have avoided.

So Drew and I are tucked safely and warmly away in our apartment for now. I was planning on making pasta for dinner tonight, but because of the weather I think I will make chili instead. I found this great recipe for black bean corn pancakes that go great with warm and spicy chili. I will have to post that later.

Sorry for the complete negligence of our blog lately, life has been pretty busy. I do have a few entries started from the last month which I will try to post soon (over the next few days).

Hope you are staying cozy and warm wherever you are...