Pizza & Puzzles

This weekend was originally supposed to be jammed packed with fun. I had a sleepover at a historic site with the Rangers on Friday night and then a fall camp with the Sparks/Brownies on Saturday night. Then it was discovered some paperwork wasn't completed for camp so that was cancelled and since the forecast was calling for another rain storm the sleepover was moved to Saturday...but then the forecast changed again and the sleepover was cancelled all together. And just like that my weekend was wide opened. 

It was fairly stormy out on Friday night and Saturday and it ended up being good motivation to start a new puzzle. It's been far too long since I finished a puzzle and a big part of it is the cats have a tendency to steal pieces. The one I'm working on now is small (only 300 pieces) so it's a quicker process and I can cover it up with a large placemat that sort of prevents cat interference. 

Saturday I did some pizza experimentation and was super happy with the results (even though it didn't photograph well). There were some left over wings in the fridge so I took them off the bone and used them as a pizza topping. I mixed BBQ sauce and hot sauce for the sauce, added the chicken, topped it with cheese and 15 minutes later I had delicious pizza. I've started thinking about my 52 in 52 List for 2017 and I think one of the things is going to be make 12 different kids of pizza.

Sunday I spent more time working on my puzzle until it was time to head to Sparks and whipped up a quick thank you card for our meeting. Since we had to cancel camp we wanted to do something a little extra special with the girls to negate the disappointment so we headed to the fire department for a tour. The girls got a chance to try on gear and sit in the trucks and it was super adorable. 

It was far from the weekend I had originally planned and I was/am pretty disappointed all of those fun plans got cancelled, but it was probably for the best anyway since we did get a lot of rain. Next weekend my plans are still up in the air, originally I was supposed to go celebrate 'Friendsgiving' with H. & R. but the long term forecast isn't great and it's a long drive plus I need to be back pretty early on Sunday so that I can get ready for our Spark/Brownie Halloween party. Which reminds me that at some point this week I need to make a tutu. 

Linking up with B Loved Boston.

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OLW, Treats and Disney

 Usually my weekends consist of one main event, a low key night at home and some odds and ends. This weekend it's all about the odds and ends. 

Friday night I went to Winner's with mom and even though I didn't buy it I fell in love with this wall hanging. I've unofficially participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word for a few years in 2014 I made  "Show Love" a phrase of the year and partnered it with "Brave". Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I dabbled in 'Peace'. This year I've decided to go all in with my word and following along with the months prompts. I'm not 100% of my word yet but the wall hanging holds a clue to what word I'm thinking about! 

Saturday afternoon I went to a Christmas craft show and invested in some amazing Reese's fudge. It was a layer of chocolate fudge on top of a layer of peanut butter fudge and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds. For my evening entertainment I headed to Chase the Ace, which is a fundraising phenomenon card game of sorts that has taken my corner of the world by storm over the last few months. I didn't win any prizes but I was fully entertaining for an hour and a half. I was home by 9:30 and in bed by 10.   

Sunday afternoon was Disney dedicated to Disney planning. After doing a lot of math and reading too many "Disney World Insider Advice" blog posts we decided that our best course of action is to visit two parks and forgo staying at any of the Disney resorts and make use of the condo we already have. The deals just weren't good enough to justify spending more money on a hotel room when we're already staying at a perfectly good condo. We're going to visit EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, I know there's a lot of people who claim that you can't do Disney without doing Magic Kingdom...but neither of us like rides, we have no small children who need to meet the princesses and there's no huge attractions that we are dying to visit. We know that we can easily and happily spend two days exploring EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and I don't think we'll have any regrets about not having the quintessential photo in front of Cinderella's castle. It's also worth noting that Pocahontas is my favourite princess and the internet tells me she hangs out in Animal Kingdom (although I'm not sure I'm willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to "meet" her). Chip & Dale also hang out in Animal Kingdom and if you've been around these parts for any length of time you know how much I love chipmunks/squirrels. We ordered pizza and garlic fingers to make the whole process a little less overwhelming. There's just SO much to consider and it feels like everyone has very strong opinions about everything Disney related. 

This week I need to get my snow tires put on and buckle down and get Christmas shopping out of the way. Apparently the mall is doing a fake Black Friday which sounds like torture so I'll be avoiding that...although I might be tempted to make a trip to Michael's. I'm anticipating blogland being pretty quiet this week since most people seem to be on a weeklong Thanksgiving break. Here in Canada Thanksgiving is a weekend thing and most people have the Monday off but based on blogland most American's have the whole week off? Enlighten me blog friends!

Linking up with B Loved Boston.

Go To Meals

Once again I'm joining Hayley & Lauren for the Girl Between the Lines Link Up! Today's theme is a favourite "Go To Meal". I had a hard time deciding what to share but finally settled on two recipes. My Go To Guacamole that is super quick for when you really just need to eat something asap and have no time to wait around for something to cook. And for when you're feeling a little more patient but still want something fairly quick, easy and yummy!

First up guacamole! I know everyone has their own method for making guacamole but since it is so easy and when paired with a bag of tortilla chips or some pita bread it makes for a really quick, filling and sort of healthy meal. 

Ingredients:

1 Ripe Avocado

3 tbsp Fresh Tomato

1 tbsp Chopped Red Onion (or about 1 tsp of onion powder)

1 tsp Garlic (I use fresh or freeze dried usually, but if not garlic powder does the trick too!)

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin 

pinch of salt

Method

Mash avocado and spices together. Add tomato and onion and mix well. Taste test and adjust seasonings to your taste! Serve with pita bread or tortilla chips.

Next up, one of my all time favourite foods...

Last Christmas I got a pizza stone for Christmas and since then making pizza has become a bit of a hobby. I usually make pizza for the whole family once a week and it isn't uncommon for me to make a small one for myself for lunch during the week. Toppings are pretty opened ended. The left photo is Garlic Fingers which is just the pizza dough topped with garlic butter, cheese and bacon. (I've been told Garlic Fingers don't exist outside of Atlantic Canada. This is just too depressing to think about.) The photo on the right is a BBQ Chicken Pizza. I top the dough with BBQ/Hot Sauce, cooked chicken breast, red onion, bacon and a mix of cheddar & mozzarella cheese.

Ingredients 

1 package yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups flour 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Method

Let yeast proof in separate bowl and then mix with flour, oil and salt. Slowly add in the water, mixing the dough as you go along. You made need more/less water depending on your yeast and flour if you use something other than all-purpose. Once everything is combined and it feels like dough let sit for 45 minutes to an hour. If using a pizza stone roll out dough on parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal, top with your favourite toppings and slide into a 425 degree oven to bake for 15-20 minutes. If using a pizza pan simply spread dough into greased pan, top and bake for 20-25 minutes. Watch the pizza carefully while it's in the oven since some toppings are more likely to burn and others may take longer to cook through.

Happy Eating! :)