Tasty Thursday: Thai pizza

My husband asked for a Thai pizza this week. He loves Thai food, I don't. The poor man only gets Thai food once or twice a year so I was happy to oblige him.

Now not liking Thai I am not the best when it comes to flavors so I asked and did some research...I guess I didn't do enough. Still the pizza was pretty good and we ate it all, which is more than we did with the taco pizza last week. 

So here is the recipe.

Pizza Dough (Bobby Flay)

Thai chili sauce

medium zucchini, chopped

shallot

mozzarella cheese

peanuts (we didn't have any so I had to use cashews)

So roll out your dough and then spread some of the chili sauce over it. You decide how much you want but hold out some for the top. 

Spread the other toppings throughout the pizza, topping with cheese. 

Bake at 375 until the crust and cheese are golden brown. 

Let pizza sit for five minutes and top with some chili sauce.  

Mommy Musings Monday- Sick mom=messy house

So if one of my kids brings home a cold I end up getting their cold times ten. They get the sniffles, I get a fever and chills. I guess being home most the day I am not exposed to germs like I used to be when I was teaching, so any germs that enter my home find my immune system to be a playground. Anyway what amazes me is how messy my house gets in the few hours I stay in bed.

For example, I have been sick this weekend. I was pretty good this weekend about staying out of bed and by doing so the house stayed clean. This morning was another story though. My head pounding, and my chest racked with coughing I stayed in bed this morning. I was able to direct the kids to do their chores and I checked on them occasionally but then sleep overtook me and I was out for about two hours.

When I woke up I was pretty sure I had slept for more than two hours. The kitchen, the living room, my room, the play room, the tv room- about half the house.  I was amazed how quickly the kids could make a mess. The best part was it was only three of them and one of them was taking a nap for an hour.  This only seems to happen when I am sick though. If I am gone for an hour or even taking an odd nap here or there the house stays fine. I am pretty sure my kids have a sensor that goes off saying "mom's sick, engage mess making." It's like they know I will not have the energy to reprimand them or say anything.

Smart kids I guess, I will just have to make sure I start fighting off the super bugs they bring in...

Tasty Thursday- Taco Pizza

So I have been thinking that Pizza Palooza is a hit, we didn't have it last week due to the holiday and a neighborhood BBQ we went too and Matty kept asking for it all week long and was very disappointed when there was no Pizza palooza. 

So this week we decided to try the Taco Pizza that James has been asking for. 

So when we made the nacho pizza the sauce was a bit too runny so this time I cooked the salsa down with the meat and made a meat sauce. 

The problem was it was too hot so I had to temper it with some sour cream. Even then it had a nice kick.

Okay so here is the recipe:
Bobby Flay's pizza dough
1 lb ground beef
2-3 cups of salsa (you decide how spicy you want it to be)
3/4 cups sour cream
can of sliced olives
Cheese
Tomatoes
chopped lettuce
Guacamole (optional)

Cook your beef in with your salsa to create a meat sauce, if you want you can temper it with the sour cream. Your choice.

While that is cooking preheat your oven to 375 and then cook your pizza dough for about eight minutes.

When that is done top it with the meat sauce, olives, and cheese and cook for about 15 minutes.

Let it sit for two or three minutes then top with tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole.

The kids declared this was the best pizza yet, beating out the nacho pizza the previous winner.

Workout Wednesday- Finding time for me

It is no surprise that I am not a huge work out fan. I try to like it, but really it is not that much fun to me. It is something that I need to do and something that must be done but I find it to be more of a chore than anything else. Here is the thing I do love about it though- it is completely my time.

During the day I try to catch time for myself, but as a mother of four with a family to run these moments are brief and fleeting. But when I am at the gym that is 45 minutes that I get all to myself.  When I am there I can take the time to think, to get lost in ideas and thoughts. Usually I find little time to relax, I know that sounds funny, to relax while working out, but there is no better place.

This is why I keep going every morning. Sure dragging three or four kids to the gym at 8:30 every morning is hard. Sometimes the breakfast dishes don't get done before we leave.  And many times morning chores are left unfinished until after we return home. But all of that is okay, because sometimes you just need a little time to regroup and to face what lies ahead.

So I may not like working out, I do like the me time so I will keep going and enjoy that me time.

Try it Tuesday- Hand print Pillowcases

This last weekend my brother and his family moved to Denver. I wanted to do something that would help the kids with this move. They are very close. The cousin group got together at least once a week to play together. I wanted to make sure they remembered how much they all loved each other so we made a hand print pillowcases. 

This is a simple and fun project. The hardest part was actually finding the right aisle at Michael's to get the paint.

So you need fabric paint, a pillowcase, a foam brush, and a hand. That is it. 

So you simply paint the hand ...

And then press it on the pillowcase

Yup simple. We found we had to move quickly as the paint dried quickly.

When we were finished we wrote the kid's names below their hand print with a fabric marker. We also added a message on a couple of them.

This was a simple easy project and one that will provide great memories for the kids for years to come.

Mommy Musings Monday-teaching kids hygiene

Toilets not flushed. Underwear streaked. Teeth not brushed. Fights at bath-time. Dirty hands at dinner.

It is life as a mom.

One of the responsibilities you have as a parent is to teach your children proper hygiene. It is something that you tackle young and hope that your children "get it" by the time they start school and you unleash them, and their dirty ways on the world.  Unfortunately it doesn't always work that way. It appears that reteaching and relearning is a daily process. We are doing that right now. There has been an influx of unflushed toilets, dirty underwear, teeth so gross they have grown orange gunk...need I go on?

The question comes on how do you drive home to older children that this is important stuff? That is the challenge that now faces our household.  We have tried reminders. We have tried punishments. Nothing has worked. Last week we stumbled onto something though.

James is a horrible teeth brusher. Just bad. Kids have come up to him at the store and said "you're teeth look gross." and they were right. He told us he was brushing every day and we believed him. We thought the discolored teeth came from a fall he had a few years ago that seemed to loosen some teeth but not enough to pull them out. Then came the day in May when I realized James had been lying. He hadn't brushed his teeth in over a month. He didn't know where his tooth brush was and had just been going into the bathroom during teeth brushing time, turning his timer over, and waiting. When we found out there was the dreaded punishment of dad brushing the teeth. We watched him like a hawk and found he was no better at teeth brushing and there were more times of dad brushings. He went to the dentist last week and our hygienist painted his teeth to show them how bad they really were. It was bad, but it shocked James enough that he was scared what would happen to his teeth. So far so good. over a week later he has pearly white teeth and is flossing- all because he got scared.

So tonight we are having a Family Home Evening Lesson about hygiene. We are going to talk about what happens to you body if you don't wipe well. Or if you don't wash your hands. It is going to be the scare tactic.

I don't know if it will work, but it is worth a try. I guess all we can do is hope.

What way do you teach your kids about good hygiene?

Workout Wednesday-Couch Potato to 5K strike three?

A few months ago I wrote how I was starting the Couch Potato to 5K program in order to become a runner. I actually did pretty well. I got to the point I where I could run for twenty five minutes at a brisk pace. I know that isn't an earth-shattering record but for me that was fabulous.  I was doing really well then my grandma died, the holidays hit, and we bought a house. My running routine, heavens my exercise routine was shot for about two and a half months.

Finally things stabilized, we bought a treadmill, and I started the CP5K program again. I was getting back in the groove, I was doing better and that was fabulous. Then I broke my toe.

Yeah stupid toe.

So I was sidelined for about three months. At least this time my workout routine actually kept going and didn't suffer.

This week I was finally ready to tackle the program again. It was easier this time. I found the run the first day was fabulous. It was so nice. I knew this time I was actually going to succeed and get to the end of the program...then I sprained my foot.

So yes, I am out for the next few weeks and part of me is wondering if it is even worth going back to doing the running thing again.  Is that a sign?

Try it Tuesday- Flag Cake

I remember as a child looking at the magazine covers in the grocery store checkout line. They always had the most delicious looking food on them. There were fun cookies, decadent pastries, and fabulous cakes. My favorite was not the scary Halloween cookies or the fruit pies but the Fourth of July flag cake. I loved this cake, I obsessed about this cake. I had dreams that one day my mom would surprise me and make the cake for me.

I finally made this cake seven years ago. I was so excited. I finally made my cake and it was fabulous. I make it every year now some years I use strawberries, other years I add coconut. But it is my dream cake, the cake I loved in my childhood and one that now my kids look forward to every year.

It is as simple as it looks. Make a white cake, top it with whip cream, and then  develop a flag with fruit. It is a fabulous Fourth of July treat.

Mommy Musing Monday: Mom and the Great Veggie War

The only veggie I remember disliking as a child were peas, I am sure there were more but that is what has stuck with me. I didn't like them but I ate them anyway because my parents told me I had too. They never gave me too much, and never made me have seconds so it was good.

 I am not sure what it is about kids and veggies, when they are tasteless pureed disgusting mush they scarf them down, but when it is seasoned and tasty they turn their noses up at them. This problem has led to mom's creating cookbooks where you hide the veggies from the kids to make sure they eat them. I am not sure that I am on board with that plan, I want my kids to become good eaters and eat their veggies. I follow the same rules my parents did, if you don't like the veggie you don't get a lot of it, and there is no need for seconds.

I think these are fair rules, my children however do not. Our home is in the current grip of the Veggie War. With mom, dad, and the veggies waging battle against the kids. There our days our campaign is successful, there are other days where we want to throw up our hands and let the kids eat only processed sugars for the rest of their lives. It is a tough war, one where I can't really see an end, for as soon as we have one child happily eating their veggies, two more will rise up in anarchy. See my problem?

Today was only one battle in this never ending war, and today it was James versus the Zucchini.  Here's what I don't get, James likes zucchini, not as much as broccoli or beans but he likes it. Today though when I looked over from the dishes to James still sitting at the table looking sad at his plate I noticed this was the only thing left. By this time he had been eating for fifty minutes and all he had were four pieces of zucchini sitting there and thus it started. Much like other battles, it was a minor incident at first, me asking, James refusing. Then it grew.

"James, you have five minutes to eat your vegetables on your own, if you don't I will feed them to you and you will go to bed at the same time as Matty."

Corporal James gets a glint in his eye, "With Matty?"

General Mom senses a strategical error and tries to correct, "No not with Matty, you will be in a separate room, oh and you won't get dessert."

Corporal James takes a moment to think about it while General Mom continues with the the dishes, "James, you are down to four and a half minutes."

The corporal looks at his food and mumbles something, intelligible only to those under the age of two who he is clearly trying to recruit to his side. 

"Jamesy not like his food," Private Matty translates.

"James, two minutes." 

The corporal stares at his food, as if looking menacingly at it will make it turn tail and run. Major Zucchini holds its ground. 

Time on the offer expires and the General moves towards the Corporal. "Last chance."

Silence.

As the Veggie forces advanced the Corporal held to his beliefs, and at least he had that comfort while  chewing the zucchini and going to bed early. 

Yeah, the battle was over and will be waged again, probably tomorrow. It is a win for veggies but as the war continues I find myself staring longingly at the veggie hiding cookbooks and wondering when it is I will give in.

Tasty Thursday: BBQ chicken pizza

It is another Pizza Palooza day which means it was time for another crazy pizza creation. Eve keeps asking me where I come up with these ideas. In all honesty I just look on Pinterest then make up my own recipe.

So this week we thought we would try something crazy with BBQ sauce and chicken.

Here's what you need:
Pizza crust, again I went with the Bobby Flay crust, so easy and so yummy.
BBQ sauce, enough to cover the bottom of the pizza and to cook down the chicken and veggies in so about a bottle or so
Red pepper, diced
half onion, diced
Mozzarella cheese

So I made my pizza dough and actually stuffed the crust with cheese, this was a good idea in theory but it will take a few more tries to get it right. It tasted delicious but the cheese broke through the crust and a lot of it ended up on the bottom of my oven.

Anyway I cooked the crust for about ten minutes then pulled it out and mixed in my toppings.

While that is cooking, Add your BBQ sauce, chicken, and veggies to a sauce pan and cook down the sauce. I didn't do this and it lead to a very messy, runny pizza.

Top your crust with the sauce mixture and then sprinkle some cheese on top. Cook until the cheese is golden brown.

Let this pizza sit for five to ten minutes too to help the sauce congeal a bit more.

This pizza was good not our favorite. Still a tasty treat and the kids are already looking forward to next week.

Workout Wednesday: Keeping up with the Jones'

Keeping up with the Jones'. We all mock the idea yet it we all do it. Nevermore so than when we are working on weight loss. You make yourself go to the gym and happily (or not so happily) jump on the treadmill ready to have a nice 40 minute workout. When you look left, at the treadmill next to you, and see a woman running at 6.0 miles an hour, making your brisk pace of 3.8 look like nothing.  Or you are working with the free weights, proud that you can now do chest-flys with the 10 lbs. weights only to turn to our right and see another woman doing the same exercise...only with 20 lbs. weights. Thus, making our latest triumph seem mediocre.

None of us are immune, our insecurities about our bodies tend to make us slightly crazy, leading to extremes. We either start crash dieting and exercising or we give up and sit on the couch consoling ourselves with ice cream or potato chips, watching others on television working to change their lives.

I have been on both extremes. I have been overweight since junior high school and done the crash dieting, but never got smaller than a size ten. More often than not though, I found myself on the couch with my friends Ben and Jerry.

Fifteen years ago I bought a gym membership-thinking that paying to work out might make me go- it didn't work. Maybe once every three months I would drag my gym bag out of hiding and trudge to the gym for a week or so. But eventually I would give up knowing that I just wasn't as good as everyone else and knew, after only a few days, I would never accomplish anything there.

It took me years to figure out it didn't matter. It took me years to figure out that I was going to the gym for me, not for other people. Yes there are still times that I feel self-conscious, where I don't think my efforts measure up to Sally Jones our John Jones working out beside me but then I just have to keep pushing forward. I may not keep up with the Jones' but I am better and stronger than I was yesterday and isn't that what matters?

Try it Tuesday: 72 Hour kits-the food

So since moving into our new house I have been working on our food storage. I have done pretty well filling our pantry and now it was time to put together our 72 hour kits.

Okay, I am not a doomsdayer. I don't think that the zombie apocalypse is coming. And though the thought of a big Salt Lake Earthquake kept me up at night as a child my fear of something like that has toned down just a little bit. But I do believe in being prepared just in case. You never know when an evacuation might be needed and you never know when disaster will strike. I believe in being prepared, so I figured it was time to get our 72 hour kits ready. So off to Cost-co I went and got some extra food, stuff that had at least a six month shelf life so I would only have to rotate the food twice a year.  

Three meals a and snacks a day, three days, six people that is a ton of food. Here is what we got

Poptarts

Oatmeal

Hot Chocolate

Apple Cider

Gum

Crystal Light

Peanut butter (the individual cups) 

Dried fruit

fruit cups

cup of noodles

Chef Boyardee

Fruit Leather

Granola bars

Water

Assembling these packs was really kinda of fun and I realized after I was finished I hadn't put in the granola bars and had to go back and add them. I also added utensils and napkins and was surprised I could get each day into a gallon ziploc bag (well everything but the water)

Right now these are living in the nice red backpacks that I bought earlier in the year and though these won't hold all the water I need I have that living right next to them so we can grab them and go. I feel a bit better with having this first part of the 72 hour kits done and ready and I am ready to tackle the next part- 72 hour kit entertainment. Wonder how I am going to get those in the backpack.

Mommy Musings Monday: Chores

"I'm the only one of my friends that have summer chores."  It was just stated, no anger behind it, simply a statement of fact.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond, how does one respond to that question, "You'll thank me one day",  "Well aren't you glad your not their daughter," or "Well maybe the other mother's don't care if their daughters  and sons are productive citizens in the future." 

I give my kids chores, I know some people think that a six year old can't wipe up a bathroom or vacuum, but to them I say poo-poo.

In our house doing a chore is how you contribute to the household, it is how mom and dad prepare you to be a productive member of society. What the kids don't understand is it is not so mom doesn't have to do the chores. I have redone chores before, when the kids aren't looking of course, I know that I am able to get the chores done quicker and better than the kids can, but that isn't the point. The point is that they learn.

We have job charts and some jobs stay the same each week (cleaning your room, making your bed) others change. One week you might vacuum and do the dishes, the next you might clean the bathrooms and clear the table. The point is that the kids learn and they learn what it takes to really make a family work, it isn't about mom and dad doing everything, it is about everyone pitching in and helping one another.

So we will keep doing chores, even if I am the only mom that assigns them.

What chores do you expect your kids to do? How early did you start them?

Tasty Thursday: Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Ah Wednesday is quickly becoming the family favorite around this house and last night we were all ready to try another great pizza- Chicken Alfredo pizza.


This is another simple and easy recipe-


Bobby Flay pizza dough- I added a bit of garlic seasoning to the dough on this one.

Half a can of alfredo sauce
red pepper
Spinach (I used about a cup)
Chicken, cooked and diced
Mozzerella
Garlic seasoning (garlic salt is fine but I prefer alternatives)
if you can find it garlic white cheddar cheese is a great addition to the pizza


Okay I didn't precook my dough but I think that the recipe would benefit from the dough being cooked for 5-7 minutes before the toppings are put on.

Heat your oven to 375 and  the put the sauce on. I layered the rest of the toppings on then the cheese. Cook for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

This was a fabulous pizza, so yummy.

Workout Wednesday: Weighy tunnel vision

There is an article making the circles on Facebook right now, it was an article I read about a month ago in my copy Self. I remember after reading it the first time coming home and telling my husband I just read an article by a woman who got me. It was also an eye opener on how I view myself and where I put my priorities.

This is the premise of her article is the author was speaking with a friend and talking about how great her life was and all she could focus on was her weight.   To quote from the article: "I guess I don't understand how I can accomplish all this other stuff, but this one thing, the most important thing in the world to me, I can't."

"Your weight is the most important thing in the world to you?" I hedged. "Well, obviously, not the most important thing in the world. Hyperbole!" I changed the subject.

As the article continues she talks about how her focus and obsession with her weight has lead to some interesting places. It was eye opening to me for the path I was on. I have a fabulous family and a life. Yet sometimes I let my weight color how I feel about things. I have been guilty thinking "oh if only I wasn't so fat" or "This picture would be great if I wasn't in it."  But here is the thing, focusing on this one thing can lead me to miss the beauty in everything else.

Yes, I am bigger than I would like to be. My clothes don't fit they way I want them too or I can't fit in the clothes I want to.  But I am working on it, yes I slip and fall but I get back up and work again and with that I can slowly start to change the tunnel vision that I have and make sure that I don't fall into the pattern that the author of the article did.

Try it Tuesday: Duct tape checker boards

Don't you love it when a blog post posts three days before you even wrote it. I guess I hit the wrong button the other day.

Okay welcome to Try it Tuesday. It is summer time and with four kids running around this house I figured I needed something they could do to keep themselves busy. So I usually turn to the stack of magazine pages I have pulled (about ten monthly) and find the simple craft ideas that they have there. While we were up on our cabin trip the kids made Duct tape checker boards, an idea I found in the Family Fun magazine last November. 

This craft was simple and fun to make, the kids did most the work themselves and even though my really nice sewing scissors are now gummed with duct tape this was a great activity.

Here is what you will need:

Roll of duct tape

3 sheets of duct tape (all three different colors)

Gallon Ziploc bag.

24 one inch wooden discs. 

Start by taping the Ziploc bag with the roll of duct tape. You need to be careful to not tape the bag close. You tape both sides of the bag and again need to do your best not to leave gaps in between each row of tape.

After the bag is taped take one of the sheets of duct tape and cut out 16 squares, about 1 1/4 inches by 1 1/4 inches.

Place these in a 4x4 grid  but do not remove the backing until it is situated how you would like. Then remove the backing and place them on the board.

To make the checker pieces turn one of your remaining duct pieces over so the grid sheet is facing you. Trace twelve of your wooden circles then cut those out. Do the same on the remaining duct tape piece and remaining wooden circles.

After they are cut out peel off the backings and place on the wooden discs.

That's it. You are finished. It is fabulous and fun and the kids love it.

Tasty Thursday: Cheeseburger Pizza

When the kids asked for cheese burger pizza this week I went to work. I went through the recipes that I could find and then decided just to make up my own. It was a cheeseburger so what do you put on it...cheese, burger, pickles, and tomatoes right?  Well in my house you use bacon as well. 

Here is the recipe I used:

Nat's Cheeseburger Pizza (makes 2 14 inch round pizza)

Bobby Flay's Pizza dough 

2 cups ketchup

1 cup mustard

1.5 lbs of ground beef

10-12 strips of bacon

 1 onion, chopped

2 tomatoes

pickles

cheese

Heat oven to 375, I used a pizza stone for this particular pizza but you can use what you have. While the oven is heating brown the ground beef with your chopped onion, and bacon, and slice your tomatoes. Mix the ketchup and mustard together, this will become your "pizza" sauce.

Then it is time to build your pizza. I topped my dough with the sauce and then a sprinkling of cheese and the tomatoes. Half your beef mixture should go on the top and then top with cheese. We added pickles on half of the pizza which seemed to work.

The verdict- it was liked but not as much as the Nacho Pizza from last week. That said everyone ate it and said how it tasted just like a cheese burger. So I figure it was a success.

Workout Wednesday: commit, stop, recommit, stop, repeat

Okay Workout Wednesday only exists because of my friend Elisha, who runs a wonderful blog over at My Thunder Thighs.  Elisha and I have been friends for six or seven years now and we have had similar struggles when it comes to our weight and weight loss. She has been a huge inspiration to me and we have big plans for the future.

Anyway she is the one that suggested/insisted that Wednesdays be the day I dedicate to writing about my workout journey.

I fall into a rather bad cycle of work outs. I get excited and I am all gung ho. I go to the gym five or six times a week, I track my food, I make good decisions with food-then something happens. I could be I get sick, or we go out of town, or we buy a house...anyway I fall off the wagon and I do it big time.  Then something, usually the way my pants fit or the number I see on the scale, or how I look in a picture, sends me back into action and back to the gym.  Where eventually something else happens...see the vicious cycle here? Right now I am well into a repeat cycle.

I make it to the gym four to five times a week right now, I try to be active on Saturdays making sure I get some type of work out in, even if it is just mowing the lawn, but I know just over the horizon is that new stoppage point. I need to find a way to over come that one, find a way to fight through the temptations for sleep or over indulging in food (my biggest vice). I need to find a way to talk myself out of talking myself out of going to the gym.

Let's face it, I know I will commit and stop and recommit again and again but what I really have to decide is what do I want out of the work out experience. Am I working out to lose weight or do I want to be strong and healthy enough to run a 5K with friends in September, or chase after my children in the park.  I think once I can really truly answer this question maybe I will be able to put a stop to the cycle.

What do you to to avoid the slumps or to pull yourself out of one?

Try it Tuesday:Baby Towels

In my younger singler years when a family member or a friend announced a pregnancy I would whip out my knitting needles and within a month have a fun little baby sweater that would be delivered or mailed to the expectant mother. I loved knitting and it really only took me a few weeks of watching Doctor Who or Buffy to knock out a sweater. 

Then I got married and had kids. No longer were my evenings my own and though I loved the change my knitting time went to nearly nothing. In fact poor Matthew didn't even get a sweater until he was 18 month old  (I started it four months before he was born). I still wanted to give a homemade baby gift though and was at a loss of what to do.

Inspiration struck one day after getting Matty out of the bath, I wrapped him in a towel that a neighbor had made for us and that I loved. Here is the reason I loved it- it was big enough to wrap him in and the hood covered his whole head, not just part of it. After almost two years of use it has held up and it wasn't flimsy, it was a good thick towel.  I looked at how my neighbor had put Matty's together and made my own.  In fact I made five of them. I just wish I had taken pictures to walk you through the set up

So here is what you need:

2 wash clothes

1 towel

3 yards of ribbon

To make hood:

Sew together two sides of the wash clothes (thing of it as the top and back)

then sew some of the ribbon on to the front of your hood. I usually put it about two inches from the end.

To make hooded towel:

Sew the ribbon horizontal across the towel about four to five inches from the bottom. 

Attach the hood to the towel 

These are quick and easy shower gifts or just fun for your own little one.

Freeday Friday: Like saying goodbye to a good friend

Yesterday I was at the gym minding my own business on the cross trainer while I read Family Circle and watched Good Morning America, what I don't like to get bored, anyway whilst I was doing all this a story on GMA caught my eye.  

I must admit I teared up a bit. I was a 3 day walker for two years. 2008 in Atlanta and 2009 in Cleveland. I learned so much about myself on those walks and I loved being part of a 3 day family. 

This announcement did not catch me by surprise though. My email box has been inundated with offers from Kommen to sign up for the 3 day at rock bottom prices. The normally $90.00 sign up fee has been dropped to $30 or $15. Something that I have never seen before. I know they are have a lack of walkers. Part of this I am sure is still fall out from last year's decision to revoke funding then continue funding Planned Parenthood. I also think that the thought of having to raise $2300 is daunting so many in a rebounding economy. No matter what the reason I was sad to hear that they races were being discontinued in half of the cities, one of which I had fond memories of walking in. I was sad for all those future participants that won't get the experience I had. An experience to be part of something so much bigger than myself. Something that I willing signed up to do again despite having to live in a tent, walk 20 miles a day with blisters, and  getting a rather serious foot infection. 

I know that this isn't the end of breast cancer research or of Kommen affiliated activities. But something I love is going away and I just have to take a moment and say goodbye before I let it go. 

Tasty Thursday: Nacho Pizza

Okay I have neglected this poor blog too long. Not sure the start of Summer Vacation is the best time for a busy mom of four to start blogging on a personal blog but what the heck, let's throw caution to the wind and jump in with both feet. Since I want to keep this blog going I spoke with the my dear friend and she helped me come up with some snazzy titles and topics I can talk about each day.

Today it is Tasty Thursday. As the title suggests Thursdays will be where the recipes are housed (as a side note, I can never spell recipes correct. Thank heavens for spell check.)

Today's tasty treat is Nacho Pizza.

It all started the Saturday before Memorial Day. We had just visited some graves and decided to visit our favorite pizza joint for dinner on the way home. While we were waiting the waitress, being smart and heading off trouble, brought over crayons, color pages, and a pizza cookbook. The kids began flipping through this book and found so many pizzas that they looked at with shock and wonder. Cheeseburger pizza with ketchup and mustard sauce, Enchilada pizza, pizza with grilled veggies, pizza that you grilled. They were enthralled and I must admit I was too. So we decided that one night a week this summer we would devote to new pizzas. We affectionately have titled this new tradition- Pizza Palooza.

Last night was our first book and after careful deliberations (a vote in the car) we settled on trying Nacho Pizza first.

I scoured Pinterest and the internet for a good recipe (there is that word again) to try and ended up combing three our four ideas into our tasty treat.

I start with my trusty pizza dough recipe. I wish I could claim this recipe but alas it is Bobby Flay's and you can find it here.  It is a fabulous recipe and I have never had it go wrong. I usually add fresh herbs to make this even better but since we were going nacho style I added some chipotle spice, cheese, and some green chilies.

After the crust is ready roll it out on your chosen pizza cooking surface and then put it in the oven at 425. I cooked it for 8 minutes or until the crust started to turn a golden brown, I think that you can cook it all the way through though and that it wouldn't make a difference.

While that was cooking I made the sauce- 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1 cup of the chunkiest thickest salsa you can find. This is important. The sauce is going to be runny so the less runny you can make it the better.

I also cut my veggies and got my other toppings ready. The toppings are up to you. I used a can of black beans, half of an onion chopped, a tomato chopped, can of olives sliced, and some grilled chicken. Oh and cheese of course. Since it is a nacho pizza I figure you can use whatever toppings that you love on nachos. Want to put on jalapenos great. Prefer steak or beef perfect. This is great to adjust to your preference.

When the crust came out of the oven I spread my sauce on the top...it was delicious.

Once the sauce was on I spread out my other toppings. Since I am not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes I left them off until the last stage of cooking...more on that in a second.

In no time I was ready to put it back in the oven for about 7 minutes or until your cheese has melted all the way through.

I pulled it out yet again and topped it with crushed tortilla chips a bit more cheese and my chopped tomato. Back in the oven it went for about five minutes and then it was ready.

I was really nervous to try this. When asking for ideas earlier James had said he just wanted cheese pizza, this was  a bit more than that but the kids loved it. It was voted really really good by the whole table and even Matty ate all his slice.

So there you go. A yummy new twist on pizza dinner night.

What are your favorite nacho toppings? What would you have added? Oh and what great pizza ideas do you have?