Weekly Recipe: BBQ chicken pizza

OK, so this is not exactly a gourmet recipe, but it is good and fast.  I have been cooking a lot of chicken recently and I have gotten pretty bored of the standard chicken dishes I make, but I don't have a lot of time to go looking for new things.  I stopped at Trader Joe's on my way home (I love that store!  I can buy all kinds of yummy, unique food, and I always manage to leave with a bag full of stuff for under $30) and bought some of their pre-made pizza dough (whole wheat, though they have regular too) which retails for a whopping $.75.  This stuff is awesome.  I make sure to always keep some around.  The whole wheat dough is some of the best I have had - on par with the honey wheat dough at CPK, though not as sweet which is fine with me.

But to get back to the recipe...

So I bought some whole wheat pizza dough and some 3 cheese blend (colby, monterey jack, and mozz) and headed home.  I carmelized half of a sweet onion left over in the fridge from last night's dinner and then added the chicken I took out of the freezer this morning cut up into small pieces and cooked it til it was done.  I spread out the dough on a cookie sheet (using Pam with flour on the sheet first - this is very important, otherwise you will have a pizza stuck to the sheet!), topped it with my favorite sweet BBQ sauce, the cheese, and the chicken and onions.  Baked it at 425 for 10 minutes and voila.

Considering I just made it up on the fly, it was really good.  It would have been better with some fresh cilantro, but alas, I didn't have any.

To recap:
whole wheat pizza dough
Pam with flour (or just regular flour)
2 chicken breast halves, diced
1/2 large sweet onion
BBQ sauce
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 425.  Carmelize the onion.  Add the chicken and cook til done.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam with flour (or a pizza pan if you have one - I always just use a rimmed cookie sheet).  Spread the dough out on the sheet.  Top with BBQ sauce, cheese, and chicken/onions.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cut into 8 pieces.

I haven't disappeared

I haven't posted in awhile and that's because I've been super busy studying for my MA comprehensive exam.  I have basically put a moratorium on my social life until after 4/8. 

The one exciting thing that has happened recently:  I finally bought a new phone.  My old one was seriously like 4 years old.  It had a green screen and no txt capabilities.  Sad, I know, but I don't like to spend a lot of money on my phone.

So after being prompted by various things in the past week, I decided not only was it time to get a new phone, but time to leave Sprint behind (I'd been with them since 1999).  I got a great deal on a RAZR phone through Verizon and since Jeff and Sarah are on Verizon too I get free in network txting. Oh and now I have a camera in my phone so I am armed and dangerous.  Muhahahahahahahahaha!

Same number btw - just a different phone.

Weekly Recipe: Hummus

i got this recipe from my mom.  It is yummy and a nice thing to have on hand to use as a veggie dip or sandwich spread.  Whenever I make some it never stays in the fridge for long.  This recipe makes a pretty large amount, but it's a good amount for a party.

3 cups canned garbanzo beans, reserve drained juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
3/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch of paprika

Puree the garbanzo beans in a food processer or blender (I prefer to use our blender.  It seems like it can better handle the beans).  Stir/pulse in the crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt, and tahini.  The hummus should have a consistency similar to that of mayonnaise.  If it is too thick add reserved juice (I usually add slightly less than the juice from one can).  Pour into a bowl and top with the olive oil.   Sprinkle with paprika. 

Summer Vacation - Change in Plans

Jeff's family is having a family reunion in LA this summer, so in an attempt to save money and vacation time, we figured we would combine our vacation with the reunion.  Our roadtrip to Yellowstone will have to wait.  Instead we plan to fly into LA, rent a car and drive to Las Vegas, and then head back to LA for the reunion.  I'm also hoping we can spend a day or two bumming around LA.

The best news - we had so many miles in our frequent flyer accounts we were able to trade them in for 2 first class tickets...and we still have a bunch of miles left.  I'm still pricing it out, but we are hoping to rent a convertible for our drive to Vegas.  We also found a great online deal at the Luxor in the pyramid. 

Neither of us have been to Vegas before, so if you have any suggestions on what to see and do, they are welcomed. 

Spring Has Sprung

Spring seems to have sprung here in DC.  People are driving around with their convertible tops down.  Women in desperate need of a tan are wearing tank tops.  Uncle Jed's Roadhouse, one of our favorite after-work happy hour spots, has opened up their patio.

And once again I am reminded of why I hate apartment living.  Our apartment doesn't turn on the air conditioning til May.  We seem to be surrounded by other people who feel the need to have their heat blasting  24/7 (Evidence of this fact: We literally never turn our heat on in the winter.  Ever.  Ambient heat from other people's apartments is more than enough to keep us warm.)

Blech.  I hope the weather cools down slightly before May.

This was good for a laugh...

I am signed up with mypoints so that I get points for reading emails they send me and online shopping which I can then redeem for gift cards.  I usually get gift cards for Tower records to fund my music habit.

Yesterday I got a really funny e-mail in my inbox entitled: "Join the William Shatner DVD Club and earn 500 Points!"  After a good laugh about what the heck the William Shatner DVD Club would be like, I opened the email.  As it turns out, it is a sci-fi dvd club.  This begs the question: could William Shatner be any more of a whore than he already is?  Apparently so.

Belle and Sebastian and more...

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been pretty busy.  Instead of making a bunch of posts, I figured I would roll everything into one.  ;-)

Monday night Jeff and I went to see Belle and Sebastian and the concert was great (preceeded by an equally great dinner at Busboys and Poets with Aaron).  I was disappointed by the New Pornographer's opening, but what could you expect when 2/3 of the main vocalists weren't there, and one of the replacement vocalists had lost her voice.  It was actually pretty painful. The (male) drummer was singing falsetto on some of the female backings, then the main singer bust his thuimb open and started to bleed.  I think they spent most of their time on stage talking or tuning their guitars (I'm assuming a nervous tick).  Then they went off early.

But B+S rocked!  And they played one of my favorite B sides: "Your Cover's Blown".  NPR recorded the show I was at and you can listen to it here if you are so inclined. 

Tuesday was fairly uneventful and Wednesday afternoon I took off for Minneapolis for work.  Let me just say that the roads in Minneapolis are tres confusing.  But I am confident that if I ever get on Amazing Race and we end up in MN, I now will have the jump on the other teams.  ;-)  For example:  there is a I-35E and a I-35W.  One would (naturally) assume that this was the same road, runing E-W, right?  But no!  In MN they like to be tricky!  Instead, they are two different roads running parallel to each other and they both run N-S (wtf?).  It took me awhile to figure out that I wanted I-35E North.  Fortunately I picked up a free map from the car rental place.

So yesterday I was on my way back hanging out at the MSP airport and eating a really good burger (and enjoying a very good local brew), I caught the very exciting end of the Syracuse-UConn game.  Then I tried calling my dad to heckle him, but he wasn't home.  Neither was my sister.  Oh well. 

And unfortunately, GW lost yesterday.  (Pops, hurry back!)  At Alexis' birthday last night this seemed to be the hot topic of conversation.

Today in D.C. it is almost 80 degrees.  Good thing I have one (yes, only one) Summer work-appropriate shirt that fits me.  In addition to comps studying I sense shopping in my immediate future.