Boboli Margherita Pizza

Last week when I made my first Boboli Pizza, which you can read about here, I was totally sold - the crust was perfect, crispy, yummy, and anything could be an easy recipe. The other night I decided to make a Margherita Pizza using Boboli's thin crust instead of the original size. It was incredibly delicious and easy to make!

Boboli Style Margherita Pizza

Ingredients: 

1 12" Boboli® Thin Pizza Crust
2 tbsp. Olive oil
Pinch Crushed Red Pepper
1 tablespoon. Garlic, minced
Pinch Salt
Pinch Pepper
2-3 small chicken breasts (optional, I added this to mine it was leftover from another dinner)
1/2 Zucchini chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1 Ripe Tomato, sliced
1/4 c. Fresh Basil Leaves
1/4 c. Grated Parmesan
1/2 c. Shredded Mozzarella
1/4 c. Grated Romano
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450* Cook time about 8-10 min

Mix olive oil, crushed red pepper, and minced garlic and sauteed on the stove in a skillet with the chopped zucchini and tomatoes. Once it's a developed sauce, spread on crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you are making with Chicken breasts, slice up into small strips and place on pizza. Spread cheese evenly over the top of the pizza. (I put slices of tomato on top for show :-) and also added basil leaves sliced as well at this time)Bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until cheese is light golden brown and bubbly. 

BEFORE

AFTER!! :-)

This was a complete success! Lots of veggies and I can't tell you how amazing the basil tasted on this masterpiece! It also made the whole house smell so deliciously italian and yummy! :-) hehe.

This lil Margherita pizza was enjoyed with a side of my all time favorite El Dolce sparkling white wine and watching Hall Pass... which was a funny movie - although a tiny bit unrealistic lol. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Tomorrow is my boo's Dad's birthday so we'll be spending some QT with him, and trying out a new restaurant opening in Austin! Keep you posted! ;-)

InstaFriday

Here's some of my week through "Instagrams" aka Picnik editing.. 
:-) hehe

Myself, Jen, Eric, Ashly, CBerry, and Geoff

One of my really good friends, Jen, moved away to Dallas to be with the love of her life last weekend, so we had fun and said our good-bye's... thank goodness she's only three hours away! Work is going to be so lonely without her! :-(

one of our many battles in madden... as you can tell - HE just tackled me. grr!

Our crazy little house party we had last weekend... I'm pretty sure I'm still recovering. lol

Tuesday we had a crazy delicious BBQ lunch and learn hosted by Logitech (Thank youuuu!) I don't even know where it is from but you best believe I cleared my ENTIRE plate in under 5 minutes. SO GOOD.

This picture of an empty container that once was the home of Chuy's famous Creamy Jalapeno Ranch - proves that Scott and I are highly addicted to this sauce. My sales team used a lot of our last team builder funds and bought a crazy amount of fajitas, chips, and enchiladas for lunch on Wednesday! You can see a recap of our last team builder here.  Anyway, I brought some home and it was gone in two days? Hehe

This is me on Wednesday night, making Scott's dad a huge banquet size meal of Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Mac n Cheese, which I posted the recipe for here. It was SO delicious that I had to sneak a few lot of bites! I was just taste testing! ;-)

source

I took a random vaca day Thursday to relax and rejuvenate since it's been hectic at work lately, and everything that happened Tuesday. 


Scott woke up early with a migraine, and so we relaxed, blinds closed, the entire day watching a ridiculous number of episodes of House, and it. was. amazing.

I also made our entire place smell like basil (sooo good) as a whipped up a homemade Margherita Pizza using Boboli's thin Pizza Crust which I first used last week! I'll post the recipe tomorrow! :-)


Today I'm spending my day off #2 being productive, payin' bills, cleaning, trip to the grocery store later, and gettin' ready for a new quarter at work which starts tomorrow! I finally have a normal schedule of 9-6, no more night shifts yay! :-) 


I'm linking up with Jeannett from Life Rearranged, so be sure to check out everyone else's week in pics through InstaFriday!!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac n Cheese

After reading that title I bet you are dying to taste it! This dish was soooooooo deliciously yummy and a perfect comfort food the other night! I saw this posted on Courtney's blog over at Sweet Tooth Sweet Life a few days ago, and I knew I had to make it. 


Almost a year ago, Scott and I were sharing an apartment with his dad who was new to Austin. Almost every night, I would cook something, whether it was hamburger helper or pork chops, Chicken Parmesan or spaghetti. Now that he's had his own apartment for a while, every now and then I like to cook up a huge dish and take it over to him :-) He's seriously the sweetest man you'll ever meet! As soon as I saw the Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac and Cheese on her site - it was a done deal.

family outing at Oasis :-) Scott's dad and yours truly!

Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Mac n Cheese

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces shell macaroni (a lot of people use elbow macaroni)
• 2 slices bacon
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups fat-free milk
• 1/3 cup condensed 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 3/4 cup shredded six-cheese Italian blend
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried dill
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shredded Colby-Jack cheese

*These ingredients are mainly based off of Courtney's recipe, I made bigger portions due to making a banquet style dish for my bf's papa! :-)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.
2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.
4. Preheat broiler. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and colby-Jack cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts. ENJOY!

A few pictures from all the action:

noooodles!

cooked bacon chicken with a tad of garlic and herb seasoning

dicin' up the chicken

i could eat a whole pack of bacon - so yummy

mixin' it up

fished product

Seriously, I probably made about 12 servings. Banquet style, fa sho. It was so delicious though!

and me, sneaking a bite or two... or ten :-) so delish

Any leftovers were eaten devoured within a few hours. I had a bad day this day, which turned a lot better which you can read about here, but this was definitely part of making me feel better - as it is an amaaaazing comfort food! As well as mint chocolate chip ice cream :-) hehe. 


PS- Today for the first time I was featured with my Pinterest Account! Was super excited and am so thankful! Met a lot of new awesome friends and bloggers! Check my pinterest out here!

Hope everyone's having a great night!! Tomorrow is Friday!! xo

Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesdays

This is my first time doing this link-up with Michelle over at The Vintage Apple, but I definitely have been obsessed into pinterest for a long time now! :-) Here's some randoms that I thought were really suh-weeeet!

source: JesusTumblr via Jill Velicer

L O V E 

source: Shoeper Woman - Jimmy Choo via Jessica Anderson

Ahhh look at these puppies! Want!

source: Wedding Chicks via  Kate Weatherby

xoxo

source: Grilled Zucchini Rolls via Sarah Beck

Totally going to make these... looks so yummy!

source: Martha Stewart DIY via Toni Steres

This is a great DIY project I really want to do, I have so many pictures and I can never find cute photo albums... 

source: Kitchn.com Recipes via Rachael

Strawberry Basil Margaritas, how yummy and perfect for summer!

source: Polyvore via Marthias Burton

I have been a fanatic over comfy cute dresses this summer... this brown ensemble is great! I would probably add another color like turquoise or pink in... 
Cute places to get dresses cheap: Platos Closet, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Dots, Ross, and Forever21. Fa sho!

source: Tumblr via Holly Young

source: Martha Stewart via Beth Schrader-Stanton

I'm always looking for new fun ways to make breakfast when we have guests stay the night etc. :-)

source: AbsolutePunk. net via Addie Hayes

Hehe how cute!

source: Polyvore via Tara Bennett

Perfect outfit to wear casually out somewhere. Looks comfy and I love the colors!


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(For those that don't know what pinterest is, it is a site where you can pin ideas, fashion, DIY crafts, cute things, etc onto a catalog where other's can follow you, etc. If you don't already have a pinterest account, send over your email so we can get you started! Warning: It's highly addicting... lol) 

Follow Me on Pinterest!!

Recipe for my comfort food I made last night coming up later! ;-) 

Learning it's OK to Fall

Today has been a pretty rough day, and it shouldn't be. As some of you may know, I've been in-and-out of blog world because I've been working pretty hard trying to get a promotion at my work. Well, I interviewed last Thursday, and today was the day we received feedback. 

Turns out, I didn't get the position. 

At first, I was pretty upset, a little embarrassed, and a tad bit angry on the 20 dollars I spent on 32lb paper, the hours crunching in some hard core numbers at work, and the investment of time and commitment I made to have more knowledge than anyone so I could totally knock it out of the park. I also felt like I wasn't good enough, why me? Etc.

What I didn't realize:

The person that got the position had been screwed over left and right at work, got turned down for positions he did earn, and was in a rotation - and well deserved to finally get his break after a long time of making his own commitments.   

Everything happens for a reason

A few days ago, I was reading Delaney's blog over at Living By Faith, and I have to share this amazing post she wrote, which you can find here. It's called "It's Okay to Fall".

After reading that today again, I felt silly for being upset, because I know that I was well qualified for the position, and the same position will open back up in another month or so. I also thought about how my other coworker must feel, and how he is probably finally getting his break by getting promoted. I am truly happy for him. 

And I prayed about it. 

I'm so blessed to have a job that has incredible benefits, pay, hours, people, clients, and there are so many people who don't love their job out there - or even don't have one. 

I have a wonderful life with the sweetest most amazing man a woman could ask for, a family that is more loving than I could ever explain in words, and friends that mean more to me than anything and make my life complete.

So as I'm feeling much better and am making an amazing dinner which I'll post about later of course, I'm going to leave with this last excerpt from Delaney's blog post from the other day.

"So when you fall down and you are hurting it is definitely not because your father is not looking or doesn't care. Not because he abandoned you. He is with you, he hurts for you. But he often knows that sometimes we learn the most in our moments of weakness.

So the next time you fall, get up and keep going. Praise God for the opportunity to 

grow and seek his infinite wisdom and love."

source: here via google

She is such a talented writer and this post really hit home for me. Sometimes we forget about what is more important, and after praying about this, I feel so much better. :-)


Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Thanks for reading

XO Amanda

Holy Boboli

I have been completely NON productive today. Today has been spent taking Excedrin, watching "Caught on Camera" and lounging on our amazing comfy couches. Last night we had a surprise visit from our friends that lasted until 5am!!..... yikes is right lol. 

Drink of the Night: my famous Vodka Cranberry-Grape Shots! lol

It was a lot of fun, we had some many drinks, played some games, watched TV, and caught up. I decided to get a little fun in the kitchen and make a homemade pizza! I remember reading about this crust over at Peanut Butter Fingers, but was kind of hesitant to try... but I am so glad I did! 

Holy Boboli this crust is the bomb dot com! It's only $4 at HEB, and I literally topped this baby with as many veggies as I could and some leftover baked chicken from last night - soooooo good!

Toppings I used:

Spicy Red Pepper Marinara sauce (leftover from meatball sub night!)

Pizza cheese mix

Pepperoni

Red Onions

Green Bell Pepper

Chicken pieces

Jalapenos

Broccoli

A sprinkle of garlic herb and basil seasoning

I put the oven on broil, and after overloading topping the pizza off, I stuck it in the oven for a whopping 8 minutes (roughly, you pretty much just take it out when the cheese is melted and the crust is browned). 

MmMMMMmm MMmMMmM Good!

This homemade pizza was a HUGE success, took me no time at all, and hardly cost me anything! Next week I think I'm going to try and make either a Mediterranean Pizza or maybe try to put together a  Margherita Pizza. You should totally try this for an easy quick yummy meal! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! We're going to continue relaxing... 

Homemade Meatball Subs!

I love meatball subs! From subway, jimmy johns, and especially from my own kitchen. They're super yummy, cheap, and easy to make! I made some meatball subs last week, and said I would post the recipe so.. here it is! I first saw this recipe on Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers blog, and I could not resist trying it - and I'm glad I did!

Meatball Subs

Cheesy and Delicious!

Ingredients:

1 hoagie roll or hot dog bun (hot dog buns are perfect amount of bread!)

1lb ground turkey

1 egg

1 cup italian bread crumbs (i used parmesan cause it's all i had - still delish)

1 1/2 cup marinara sauce

1 cup cheese

*note: these ingredients are measured based on what i think would be correct - i used them all as much as needed but it may not be exactly accurate. just sayin'!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Thaw out your ground turkey (or beef). In a medium bowl, crack open an egg, beat the egg, and go ahead and put the ground turkey in there. Some people put the Italian bread crumbs in the egg mixture with the beef, but I put it in a separate bowl and roll the meat into meatballs, then cover it in breadcrumbs. This is definitely a hands on - messy kind of job. :-)

I like to roll them about the size of golf balls to be extra meaty and perfect!

When I place them on the baking sheet, I like to keep the bottoms flat so you know which side is facing up (when you flip them). Once the rollin' and breadin' is complete, pop em in the oven for about 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes is complete, take em out and flip them over. Cook an extra 5 minutes in the oven.

Once they look juicy and amazing, go ahead and dig in break out the hot dog buns and put the oven on Broil. I put any kind of marinara sauce on the buns first, then put the meatballs on and top it off a tiny bit extra marinara, then top it with as much cheese as you want! I like mine cheeeeeeesy -

EASY AND YUMMY!

And there you have it! Homemade Meatball Subs. They're so filling and delicious, definitely worth trying out yourselves! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! The boy and I are planning on either chilling at the house with a few drinks playing each other in Madden '11 (we're dorks hehe) or going dancing!! I can't wait until my day off tomorrow; it will be so relaxing and I get to spend it with my boo! Finally going to get my ring cleaned too!

XOXO Amanda