BBQ Beer Crust Pizza

I LOVE PIZZA!

When I was a child it was my duty in life to eat as much pizza as I could.  Glorious were the weeks when I could get pizza for 3-4 meals in a row!   Take out for dinner, leftovers for breakfast (a valid option in the AM as far as I am concerned) and then pizza lunch at school.  Throw in the odd snack here and there of frozen mini pizzas or if those weren't available making my own and I was golden.

I learned to become the ultimate pizza improvisor.  Any form of bread was a good base, if there was no pasta sauce in the house ketchup with basil, oregano and garlic powder would do just fine.  I would raid the fridge and anything hiding in there was fair game for toppings.


My Mom had this crust recipe that she would make quite often.  Nothing beat Mom's homemade pizza and when I moved out on my own I tried and failed many time to make the crust.  Now you need to know that doughs and I DO NOT get along.  I just don't seem to have the knack for kneeding and rolling, so I filed Mom's recipe under things I'd never be able to do and moved on.  Then I came across this on Pinterest and I had to give it a try.

If you are anything like me you probably have everything in the house to make this crust tonight.

When I first gave it a try I knew it could go really bad really fast and we could be ordering take out.  But this dough was easy to work with and came together super fast, I made it while the little ones napped.

 So for the past year or so this pizza crust has been an almost weekly occurrence in our house.  When summer rolled around I got courageous and decided to try it on the BBQ.

After some research (back to Pinterest) I decided on the best method to try and gave it a go.  It worked and it was delicious.

So now we make BBQ Beer Crust Pizza almost every Friday.  The best part I just scrounge in the fridge and use leftovers as toppings.  These babies pictured above featured chicken, asparagus, red peppers and corn.  I mixed a little BBQ Sauce in with a pasta sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese (the only thing that needed to picked up on the way home from work).

A few hints if you choose to try your crust on the BBQ:
* Have your BBQ nice and hot
* Oil the surface of the dough that will be touching the grill
* Don't worry if dough falls through the grill it will all work out in the end
* Work fast with flipping and topping so the grill doesn't cool.

Menu Plan Monday - Lack of Motivation

This pretty much sums up how I feel today:

Last week was tough.  Jon and I both came down with Pink Eye, I didn't get to the gym at all, I felt like I was working morning, noon and night and our little one has started having pretty intense nightmares.

Motivation was lacking in all areas including menu planning, so I decided to keep it simple this week.

Hopefully you are all having a better Monday then me and that this menu plan is inspiring even if it is simple.

Family Menu

July 28th - August 1st

DAY	BREAKFAST	SNACK	LUNCH	SNACK	DINNER
MONDAY	Blueberry, Raspberry, Banana Smoothie	Bananas And Carob Chips	Cottage Cheese Crackers And Tuna	Freezies And Cheerios	Chicken Brown Rice Bok Choy
TUESDAY	Scrambled Eggs And Toast	Berries And Granola Bites	Pizza Wraps And Veggies	Yogurt	Veal Parm
WEDNESDAY	Oatmeal	Orange Slices	Turkey Sandwiches	Smoothie Pops	Legume Soup In the Slow Cooker
THURSDAY	Omelettes	Apples And Peanut Butter	Chicken Fingers And Veggies	Goldfish And Grapes	Chicken Rice Zuchinni
FRIDAY	Oatmeal	Peach Donuts	Cauliflower Soup And Cheesy Bread	Chocolate Covered Pretzels	Eat Out

Beef Roll Ups

It's summer and that means the kids are home all.day.long.  Our Chipmunk is not old enough for school yet, so she is home with me everyday of the year anyway as well as a few other little ones.  I've mentioned it before and I am sure I will mention it a million more times (sorry). In addition to writing this blog I also run a home daycare.  That means that everyday I have a few toddlers to feed two snacks and a lunch.

Feeding kids can be one of the biggest challenges parents face and when they are home for more meals then usual it can become a daunting task.

These Beef Roll Ups are great for summer.  They are a cold lunch option that is packed with flavour and received the stamp of approval from my daycare kids.

They can also be packed up for a picnic.

And the flavour will excited adult taste buds as well.

 

 

Menu Plan Monday - Clean Eating Inspiration

Following our two weeks of holiday eating (see here), Jon and I decided it was time to clean up our diet a little.

We've always aspired to eating clean and have done it successfully for large periods of time in the past.

I am a huge believer in eating clean.  It's simple, it's fast, it tastes good, you get to eat a tonne of food. I have slept better, had more energy, decrease muscle pain and lost weight eating this way.

Tosca Reno's The Eat Clean Diet (here) has always been one of my go-to books for clean eating inspiration and this week's menu was pulled from her book (with a lot of tweaking to fit our family).  I am even going to try feeding the daycare children a clean diet this week, I'll share how that is going over on Twitter and you can follow me to get updates throughout the week #kidseatclean.

Family Menu

July 21st - 25th, 2014

DAY	BREAKFAST	SNACK	LUNCH	SNACK	DINNER
MONDAY	1/2 C. Oatmeal, 4  Scrambles Egg Whites and 1C. Berries	Apple Slices And Peanut Butter	Tuna Salad Wraps	Banana Muffins	Fish/Chicken Brown Rice Asparagus
TUESDAY	6 Egg Whites Scrambled with Spinach and Tomatoes with a piece of Toast	Bananas With Carob Chips	Cottage Cheese Grapes And Crackers	Cucumbers And Hummus	Pork Chops Sweet Potatoes Spinach Salad
WEDNESDAY	Breakfast Burrito With Egg Whites, Salsa and Avocado	Raspberry Blueberry Banana Smoothie Pops	Chicken Cucumbers Tomatoes Taziki	Hard-boiled Eggs	Cauliflower Soup And Bread
THURSDAY	Cereal With Milk	Pears And Sunflower Seeds	Beef Roll Ups	Watermelon	Chicken Rice Zucchini
FRIDAY	Toast With Peanut Butter And Fruit	Grapes And Goldfish	PB & J Sandwiches  With Apple Slices	Watermelon	Free Night

** Please note all opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own.  I was not asked to endorse or given free product by any of the above mentioned businesses.