BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Spencer and I ate this entire pizza. Within 15 minutes. I'm not even joking. It made me start thinking about what I'm going to have to do once Landon starts eating everything we do. Am I going to make two pizza? Or give up on my homemade pizzas and start ordering the biggest pizza I can find? Geez. Why do boys eat so much?

Anyway...

Growing up we didn't eat a lot of pizza but when we did we'd get the BBQ chicken pizza from Papa John's with the pineapple. Mmm. So good, but I don't know if they have it anymore. I decided to make something similar tonight, minus the pineapple because I didn't know if Spencer would pitch a fit about it.



BBQ Chicken Pizza

refrigerated pizza crust
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup mozzarella
thinly sliced red onions (I only put it on Spencer's part)

Prebake the pizza crust according to package instructions.

Spread a light layer of BBQ sauce over crust. Mix the rest of the sauce with the chicken. Spread over crust. Add onions. Sprinkle mozzarella over top. Bake 8 - 10 more minutes until crust in browned and cheese is melted.

Wordless Wednesday.

Just a cute picture.

Wordless Wednesday.

Baked Ziti and Olive Cheese Bread.

My new goal is to update my blog on the nights I actually cook instead of waiting until I have time to do an entire week at once. So far, so good.

I made my baked ziti tonight. It was just as good as the first time I made it. I really love the sour cream and provolone... it's a nice change from the super heavy ricotta mixture that I put in my lasagna. Spencer ate two huge plates, and blamed it on the fact that Landon was helping him eat it. My eyes are rolling incase you were wondering.



I made olive cheese bread to go with it. You'll notice that mine's not nearly as pretty as Ree's, partly because Ree is just amazing and everything she does is perfect. But partly because Spencer and I both hate green olives. And Spencer would like you to know that he especially hates green olives stuffed with pimentos. Once again, my eyes are rolling. I also forgot to add the green onions which I specifically bought for this. Urgh... don't you hate when that happens? $1.18 down the drain.



Okay, so I obviously made it using only black olives but it turned out delicious. I'm not a huge fan of black olives because they have a weird metallic taste that kinda freaks me out but I couldn't really stop myself from eating this. I ended up freezing half (using Ree's instructions) and I wish I had gone ahead and baked the whole thing.

Be prepared for more Pioneer Woman recipes this week. I've got atleast once more coming, maybe two if we run out of leftovers. If you get a chance, go read Ree's entire cooking blog. And then read every page of her personal blog. Amazing I tell you.

Meal Plan Monday.

Last week I managed to follow (I just typed "follar". Is living in Alabama finally getting to me..?) my meal plan almost exactly. I didn't make the pork roast and ended up throwing out the meat. I had pulled it out of the freezer to use half for the pulled pork and then we went out to eat the next day so I was too scared to use the roast after that. Kind of sucks because I really love those huge pork tenderloins. Oh well, I'll catch them next time they're on sale.

This week I'm making a bunch of casserole-ish dishes. I think it's because the weather's cooler and I'm craving comfort foods. I also bought some pumpkin butter so I'm hoping to make some fun muffins this week. We'll see if that actually gets done.

Monday: Baked Ziti and Olive Cheese Bread

Tuesday: Leftovers/cereal

Wednesday: Honey BBQ Pizza

Thursday: Cubed Steak Sandwiches

Friday: Lisa's Cheesy Chicken Fondue Casserole

Saturday: Leftovers.

Sunday: Out.

For more MPM, head over to I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Macaroni and Cheese.

I tried a new mac & cheese recipe tonight. Spencer loves the one I make but I'm kinda over it.



I am not a huge fan of this one. It tastes like the frozen Stouffer's ones I used to buy when Spencer would be out of town. I like those and everything, but it's not what I was going for. I also didn't like the bread crumb topping. It got soggy! I prefer the crushed up crackers that I put on my regular macaroni and cheese.

Spencer loved it, of course, because what doesn't he like? He did comment that the mustard flavor was a little strong but it didn't stop him from eating an entire plate full.


Macaroni and Cheese

16 ounces macaroni, cooked and drained
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
4 ounces cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used probably 1/2 cup, maybe less.)
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 400.

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook one minute. Add milk, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and dijon mustard. Cook until slightly thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Stir in macaroni.

Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Spread bread crumbs over top and dot with butter. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken.

I got a roaster oven for Christmas so it was time to test it out. I joined the Yahoo group Nesco Roasting because I had no idea what to do with it. I wanted to make a whole chicken since it seemed to be the simplest idea but even after reading all the group emails and going through their recipes, I had no ideas. I finally turned to AllRecipes.

It turned out pretty good. It just had a hint of lemon which was nice because I'm not a huge lemon fan. Spencer just assumed I'd put lemon pepper on it. I ended up shredding the majority of the chicken for a dinner next week.

This is definitely how I'll be making all my chicken from now on. The meat was so tender! I tried to pull a leg off and the bone came right out of the meat, leaving everything else intact. I will never, ever boil a chicken again.



Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken
from AllRecipes

3 - 4 pound chicken
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried thyme
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all seasonings and set aside. Rinse and dry chicken. Rub 1/2 the seasoning inside the chicken and 1/2 outside. Place chicken in roasting pan.

Squeeze the juice from two lemons and combine with olive oil. Drizzle over top of chicken.

Roast for 1 1/2 hours or until juice run clear.

Spencer's Half Birthday.

Spencer turned 22 1/2 on December 29. It took him long enough. I mean, geez, I was 22 1/2 for ten whole days before he finally got there. In honor of his half birthday, my slow cooker was kind enough to make his alltime favorite meal: stroganoff.

I'd never ever heard of stroganoff before Spencer. I guess my family is full of freaks or something because we just didn't eat that kind of stuff. I'd tried to make it once before for him and it sucked. It was awful! But I had to give it another try for him.



It turned out really good! I'm shocked that I liked it. And I'm even more shocked that Spencer said it was better than his mom's!

Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 pounds chuck roast, in cubes
2 cans golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup onion, minced
1 tablespoon worchestershire
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 pack Lipton onion soup mix
salt & pepper to taste
can mushroom pieces
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon sour cream

Combine meat, soup, onion, worchestershire, beef broth, onion soup mix, and seasonings in slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, stir in cream cheese and sour cream. Serve over hot egg noodles.



I also made him a carrot cake, which he claims is his favorite cake. I say he claims that it's his favorite because shortly after taking his first bite he asked me if there were real carrots in carrot cake. Yup. He did.

I used this recipe from AllRecipes and it turned out perfect! The only change I made was using walnuts instead of pecans in the actual cake, and I didn't use any nuts in the frosting.

I think Spencer enjoyed his half birthday, even though he thinks I'm a weirdo for even acknowledging it. I just look for excuses to celebrate I guess.

Resolutions.

Resolution #1: Get rid of unnecessary clutter.


Landon and I hate phonebooks. We think they are nothing but a waste of space. So he will demonstrate the proper way to dispose of a phonebook if you live somewhere that doesn't recycle. *cough* South Alabama. *cough*


Make sure you have all important numbers written down. Okay, done?


Rip those pages out!


Keep tearing.


Just like that.


The final and most important step, you must cry when your mommy takes the phonebook away from you.

Wordless Wednesday.

More Wordless Wednesday?

Happy New Year!

That looks kinda like fireworks, right?