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Thursday 31 July 2014

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.














Monday 28 July 2014

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




Tuesday 22 July 2014

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.




Monday 21 July 2014

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


And
Bread
THURSDAY





Cereal
With
Milk

Pears
And
Sunflower Seeds



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.