Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Once you start making homemade pizza it is hard to be satisfied with any other kind. It is so nice to control exactly how your pizza is made and what goes into it.  I found a great recipe for pizza dough at Annie's Eats and try to keep one in the freezer so I am always ready for when the pizza craving hits me.  I move the dough to the refrigerator the night before.  

If you don't want to go the homemade dough route some other options include:  refrigerated homemade dough in the bakery section of your grocery store, sometimes you can find frozen balls of dough in the freezer section or you can usually find a premade, baked pizza crust.  Any of these will work. We like trying different topping combinations and our latest flavor is buffalo chicken. 

For sauce combine 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and 2-3 tablespoons Frank's hot sauce. Spread over pizza dough rolled onto parchment paper.

Top with cooked chicken and green onions and then cover with shredded cheeses (colby-jack and cheddar)

 Transfer to hot pizza stone and bake at 450 degrees 12-15 minutes.

 Top or serve with a side of Ranch or blue Cheese dressing.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
pizza dough of your choice, here's a homemade version I like to use from Annie's Eats


SAUCE
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Worcestshire Sauce
2-3 Tablespoons Frank's RedHot Sauce
Mix together, then spread on dough


TOPPING
2 diced green onions
4 oz colby-jack cheese, shredded
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked, diced and mixed with 1 Tablespoon Frank's RedHot Sauce


Cook pizza in 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is lightly browned. (If you are using a non baked pizza dough) otherwise follow the directions that  came with your pizza crust.

Loving my Body Media

About two months ago I shared my yearning for the Body Media.  As far as I was concerned it was the answer to my fitness and nutrition needs - period!

My sister bought one soon afterwards and fueled my fire by taunting me with texts of calories burning updates and excitement for her new gadget.  I think my husband got tired of hearing me talk about it non stop so he gave me one for Father's Day.  A little unusual, but very much appreciated.  Don't worry, he got something wonderful for Father's Day too.

This device is fabulous!! It keeps track of almost everything from calories burned, steps taken, minutes of activity and even sleep efficiency. After setting up my target numbers for each area, the only thing I have to enter on a regular basis is what I eat.

Each area tracked can be looked at in detail. For Calories Burned you can see how many you burn during a workout and also see what the afterburn for that exercise is too.  The tall blue lines on the left represent my morning run. 

Every day I need to enter what I am eating so I can track the calories I am consuming and also see how nutritional my food intake is or isn't. I wish I could just take a photo of my food and it would calculate it for me.  This is the part I like least.

By looking at the whole day I can see when I move the most.  I am basically a slug at work, chained to my desk, but move more when not working.  (Is that a good enough reason to stop working?)

I used to use a pedometer before I got the Body Media and this next screen keeps tracks of how many steps I take and when I take them

My target number for sleep is 8 hours.  I've found that I usually sleep about 7 hours a night, but my sleep efficiency is about 85%.  It shows me when I am really sleeping or when I am just lying there.  I have no memory of some of these light gray bands in the middle of night that show I was not sleeping. I thought I was sleeping.

In this example I slept for 9 hours and 12 minutes but my sleep efficiency was only 77%.  This part is particularly interesting because I've never had this information about myself before.

When first using the Body Media I just collected information on my usual exercise and eating habits before trying to lose weight.  I wanted to see where I needed to improve.  I found that I am not very consistent.  I like to eat a variety of foods including sweets and have days where I eat more than others. Over a period of a week I ended up being even in my calories in and calories out, but that doesn't lead to weight loss.  

I set my goal to burn 500 more calories than I ate each day so I could lose 1 pound a week.  I have not been perfect, but have lost 4.8 pounds. Unfortunately, just wearing the device does not lead to weight loss, you have to work at it.  (which I don't feel like doing right now) But if you are dedicated to losing, it sure gives you all the information you need to make it happen.

I wear my arm band everyday and I don't even notice it.  I take it off when I swim or shower, but other than that, its pretty much on.  I  just got an extra band, because it does get stinky and sweaty, so now I have one for exercise and one for other times.

I bought mine on Amazon and I also got the display too.  The display gives you real time updates on calories and steps, but connecting the device to my computer once a day has been enough for me.You really don't need to spend the extra money.  I plan on selling my display. 

If having all this information about yourself sounds exciting, this might be the gear you need.

I am so glad I got one!

Summer's End

Yep, school has started and that's the official end to summer around here.  No more mid morning breakfasts or afternoon naps. It's back to work and 5am wake up times.  Although I am a teacher, I am  assigned to our district curriculum office and it has been at least 5 years since I have not worked through the summer, until this year.  I had the month of July off and it was heaven!

I had forgotten how wonderful extended time away from work is.  With no young children at home the time was all mine to spend anyway I pleased.  I read, cooked, ate, ran spent an obsessive amount of time on Pinterest  (you can follow me HERE) and bought a house! ( I'll be sharing more about the house later) It was an adjustment to have all that time off, but just as I was getting used to it, it was time to return. Isn't that the way things work!?

This was the Back to School photo in our house.  I have been inspired by all the ideas on Pinterest, but my kids are getting to old for these. Where were all these ideas when I needed them?  This will most likely be the last.

We have a new addition to our family --> this frog -  I thought he was just passing through  when I snapped this photo, but he is a permanent border on the porch.  The other day when I came home it was pouring and he was up to his chest in a puddle and as happy as can be.

This is him in all his glory - Check out that hand!  Hard to believe it's the same frog!

I got a bike rack this summer for my car and the box it came in turned into a playground for my cats.  Something about boxes, cats can't resist!

It reminded me of this photo on Pinterest. If you have a cat, you should try it, they must have cat magnets in them.  

Source: kellyoxford.tumblr.com via Kelley on Pinterest

Cool Finds

Here are some of the latest things I've been playing with...







1. I found this site where you can spell any word using photos of letters. The possibilities are endless. Try it, its fun!


2. I added a new song to my running playlist, Wild Ones by Flo Rida . I usually listen to books or podcasts, but I like to change it up with music to keep me motivated. I first heard this song on a wild animal segment on the Today show and it stuck in my head.

3.  Cate @ Good For You Blog introduced me to the Fooducate Blog. I use the app, but didn't know there was a blog        too.  The posts are short, but give great info about making healthy choices in the grocery store and it is all designed to help us eat a bit better. The app can be found here and its FREE! You scan an item you want to buy and it tell's you     how good for you it is and suggests similar products that may be better for you.





4.  Pick Your Plum - Every weekday at 9am Eastern time this site has a deal of the day.  They offer a limited quantity at a great price until they sell out.  I have my phone set to remind me to check it.  Many of the items are craft or baking      related but they have quite a variety.  I have bought, push up pops, craft twine, cupcake wrappers, washi tape, etc...


5. For any of you that used to use the site Picknik to edit your photos, I have found an even better one and its all free.  PicMonkey is so easy to use and you can add text, clip art, make collages and more. 




Thanks for stopping by,

     

Weekend Happenings

My daughter Caroline just returned home after spending a year in Americorps.  She spent the past 12 months working in communities all over the Southwest from Joplin, MO to Yuma, AZ.  She had many great stories to share of her adventures.  She will be with us for the next two years as she attends graduate school.  I am so happy to have her home!

Mini Carrot Cake-Take Two

I made her favorite cake for her.  It is a carrot cake with cookie dough frosting.  Its super sweet so I made half a recipe and baked it in a smaller, deeper cake pan.  I was so proud of my great idea until I went to cut it in half to frost it and found out the center was raw!  I had cooked it a little longer and stuck a toothpick in the center to check for doneness, but the toothpick is about the color of the cake and it doesn't go in very deep.  I couldn't believe it!  How was I going to salvage this?

I decided to cut out the uncooked center section and make a doughnut cake. I frosted it with a cream cheese frosting which we usually do (except Caroline only likes cream cheese on a bagel not as frosting).  Needless to say I had to bake another cake for Caroline.  I did learn from my mistake and cooked it much longer and inserted a knife to test for doneness.  It all turned out okay, but I spent much more time baking that day than I had planned.

At the top of the hill.

Sunday mornings are the best time for long bike rides, because the roads are practically empty.  I had a great 19 mile ride and despite the heat it felt great out there. (maybe because I created my own breeze)

I almost didn't go, but as I laid in bed debating a ride, I made a deal with myself.  If I weighed less than I did last time I didn't have to go, if not I needed to go.  I stepped on the scale to find I weighed exactly the same, but that still meant I should go, so I did.  I needed that push to get going, but it was a perfect ride and I felt great!  (If only my running felt this good) There were many other bikers and runners out too, which is very motivating for me.

On my ride I pass through some neighborhoods and by some cow pastures.  The cows were taking an early morning dip in the lake to cool off.  

We had a visitor on our back porch. This guy was perched on top of the door to the garage.  He was about the size of my hand.  He reminded me of Jaba the Hut from Star Wars. Not sure how he plans to get down - that is a long jump.

I have only one more week until I return to work.  I have a huge list of things I would like to get done before then.  We'll see how that goes...