Showing posts with label Pizza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pizza. Show all posts

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Mini Pizza Night

We usually do Friday night pizza night. Sometimes we go somewhere out to eat, sometimes we order it, occasionally I even make it. My kids favorite is when they help make it. Well help make their own mini pizza's anyway. They are easy to make and my kids enjoy making their own pizza, plus there is less complaining about what kind to get.


First I use English muffins. I cut them in half and let the kids spoon marinara or pizza sauce on them. Then they can put as much of what kind of cheese I have out on them. Then of course Hormel pepperoni is a must! Usually my kids are ok with just those 2 things on them. You could add just about anything else though. Then I broil them till the cheese is melted and the edges crispy. Super easy but always a crowd pleaser. Plus I am a big fan of kids helping make dinner.





In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Hormel Foods as part of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. Throughout the year I’ll be receiving product, coupons, giveaways and promotions. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Friday Night, Family Night


Friday night we usually do one of two things if not both. Usually it's our pizza night and our movie night. Pizza night may sound boring but it's really not. Sometimes we order it, make it from scratch, do frozen pizza's or the kids can make their own mini pizza's. If my kids are lucky once in a while we go to an all you can eat pizza buffet.

Today we decided to try Pizza Hut's big dinner box, for only $20.00. This thing is huge. Seriously, it's almost as big as my 2 year old!

Pizza is usually something everyone in my house enjoys. Only problem is my 4 year old daughter isn't a huge pizza fan. That is why this was perfect for our family. It comes with 2, 1 topping pizza's, breadsticks and you choose between wings, pasta or stuffed pizza rollers. I chose the creamy chicken alfredo pasta. That way I didn't have to watch her dip perfectlty good pizza in ketchup. That is how she eats everything, with ketchup.
My 2 pizza eaters were thrilled. My son got to have his cheese pizza. He's a picky eater and hates when I make him pick off the good stuff. Adrianna also prefers cheese pizza but will eat any kind of pizza really.

Then dad and I paid an extra couple bucks for a nice supreme pizza. The dough was cooked all the way through which made my husband very happy. He hates pizza that is doughy. I also had leftover pasta the next day for lunch. The pasta was way better than I had anticipated it to be. The chicken was well seasoned, and the sauce was very creamy. I actually really liked it! Next time I want to try the stuffed pizza rollers with it. I have heard they are way yummy!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Desert Star Playhouse Giveaway


Several years ago my husband and I were introduced to a fabulous place called the Desert Star Playhouse. The Desert Star Playhouse produces family friendly comedic musicals. It is very family friendly (for children over 8ish) and has yummy food too. It is one of Steven and my favorite date nights because we get food and a show. We have purchased season passes several times and it really is the best bang for your buck. With the way our schedules are we usually get to see a show around Valentines day, in the spring, my birthday (June), our anniversary (August), Steven's birthday (October) and a Christmas date. Since our season pass is payed for in advance all we have to pay for is the sitter and how much we want to spend on food. Sometimes it's just ice cream, other times it's pizza and smoothies.
We did so much moving around the past few years that it had been a little while since our last show there. Recently we went and saw Kicking the Hobbit, Bored of the Rings. We LOVED it, it even made it to my favorite top 5 shows I have seen there. Here is a brief synopsis from their website on the show...
    Science Fiction geek Walter gets a “Dear John” from his fiance because he spends too much time fantasizing about "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings." Now Walter must journey to Middle-Earth with a zany band of misfits to return balance to the the world...and his girlfriend. Come along on this hilarious adventure to find out if Walter can defeat the Dark Lord Sharon and become a hero to couch potatoes everywhere.

Walter was played by Corey Brandenburger who is a regular there and is very funny. He did an awesome job. As someone who loves all types of theater one of the things I look for, especially here, is when the actors push the others. Sometimes they try to break the others out of character, as the audience sits back and watches them go on tangents or the other cast members try to hold straight faces. Corey is good at filling in those moments and has perfect comedic timing. Another cast member  was thrilled to see was Kerstin Davis. She was in several of the first shows we saw and I just loved her and the characters she portrayed. Then with all the moving around we did the few shows we saw she wasn't in. When I saw it was her I turned to my husband to remind him she was one of my favorites. She is fun and comfortable going off script, plus I love some of the voices she does thru the show. She choreographeed the show as well, adding to her talent pool.

 

Gollum was played by Mary Parker Williams who not only is the veteran at the Desert Star but the assistant director. She makes some of the best faces and nails her double personality character. Dog the Bounty Hunter was played by Bryan Dayley. My husband and I agree it was so fun to see him in this role (he also nailed his accent) since we remember his very first performance at the Desert Star. He has come a long way and has made it onto our list of favorites.  The ensemble as a whole did an excellent job together. There were a few new faces like Jeff Jensen who impressed us with his singing in the Olio, and George Anderson who was equally as funny to watch. Carli Christoffersen played Bilbo and is very talented. We have seen her a few times before and I always look forward to when she sings a solo in the Olio at the end of the show.

The best part is you don't have to be familiar with whatever movies they are doing a parody of in order to enjoy yourself. You get a good laugh every time. The Hobbit plays at the Desert Star till March 23rd. With only a month left don't be afraid to get you tickets a head of time, they tend to sell out. I have always had a pleasant and helpful experince with the box office, even when having to move dates around. If you have to make changes to your ticket dates, Desert Star is very accommodating in helping you find another night to attend or giving you a credit until you can figure it out. The sooner you book the better seats you get too. Call their box office at 801-266-2600, and get ready to pee your pants from laughing so hard!
The Desert Star has also donated two tickets to their show Kicking the Hobbit. Please leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. For more entries share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or on your own blog. Leave additional comments for each share. Giveaway closes on Monday, February 25th at 11:59 MST. Winner will be picked at random thru random.org. Winner will be announced the following day.  Good Luck!

 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentines Day

As many know and more are figuring out, I love holidays. I try to make them special for my kids. Starting last night we had an early pizza night and got heart shaped pizzas for dinner. Today the kids awoke to a valentine surprise waiting for them. Even my husband got a fun card and a movie.
The hardest part for me was waking up early to make my kids a special breakfast. I am not a morning person so mom being awake before them is just as surprising as not having cold cereal for breakfast.
I found a cute and yummy recipe on Pinterest for red velvet crepes.
The recipe is added at the end of the post. Kid tested and approved by all!




We got Krispie Kreme Dounuts and went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Overall it was a good day. Now I am ready to go to bed and crash! A whole day with no nap is hard on a mommy with a three month old.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here is the recipe for breakfast. I forgot marscapone cheese, so I used cool whip instead and it was just as yummy! If you have extra crepes like I did you can freeze them in between wax papers.
 

Red Velvet Crêpes (click here for direct link to original recipe)

by, duhlicious.com
 

Red Velvet Crepes
(Makes about 24, 8″ crepes)
Ingredients: – 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups butter milk
- 1 1/4 cup whole or lowfat milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tablespoon red food color gel
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
+ 2 tablespoons cooking oil (for pan)
*Update: Because the buttermilk lends to the acidity of this batter, do not substitute the baking soda for extra baking powder. If you add more baking powder, and omit the baking soda, you’ll end up with a heavy and dense crepe. In order to activate the baking soda, it requires an acidic substance, which the buttermilk provides. Double-acting baking powder (likely, this is what you have in your kitchen) is activated by heat and an acidic element, and in this case, baking soda does the trick. Enough with the chemistry lesson– just don’t make substitutes if you want light and fluffy crepes; the recipe is balanced to account for ingredient properties.
Mascarpone Cream Filling- 500 mL heavy cream
- 300 gr mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 orange (optional, but adds nice tang)
+ 1/2 cup raspberry jam (optional, for filling crepes)
Chocolate Ganache Topping- 75 gr bittersweet chocolate
- 75 mL heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:
For the Mascarpone Filling:
1. Using a mixer, mix mascarpone cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla until soft and fluffy. Set aside.
2. Whip cream and remaining sugar to a stiff peak. Carefully fold into the mascarpone cheese until combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For Chocolate Ganche Sauce
1. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. In a small sauce pan, heat cream and sugar to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, and pour over chocolate. Carefully mix until homogenous, and set aside until ready to use. If the ganache sets, re-melt the chocolate over a double boiler.

Red Velvet Crepes 1. In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, milk, egg, sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and food coloring. Whisk until combined.

3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are combined. The batter will be a little runny (think soup). If you find that the batter is too thick and pancake like, add more milk (regular). Make sure the batter is clear of lumps.
4. With a pastry brush, brush the surface of large (non-stick) skillet with cooking oil. Heat it over medium heat. Test skillet after a couple of minutes by drizzling a few few drops of water onto the cooking surface. If the drops sizzle and evaporate, the surface is hot enough.
5. Turn the heat down to medium. For each crepe, spoon or ladle about 1/4 cup of the batter into the center of the skillet. Holding onto the handle of the pan, remove it from the heat and swirl the pan so the batter coats the bottom of the pan. You want to make the coating as thin as possible. If you have holes in the crepe, go ahead and add more batter to the pan to cover them. Return to heat.
6. As the batter cooks, it will dry and lose its shine (~ 2 minutes). Once this happens, use a non-metal spatula and carefully flip the crepe over. Finish cooking the crepe on the other side (~ 45 seconds).
7. Gently slide the cooked crepe onto an ovenproof plate, and keep the finished crepes warm in an oven set at 195 degrees.
Assembling the Crepes:
- If using raspberry jam, place a small amount the center of the crepe. Pipe mascarpone cream filling, and carefully roll.


- Drizzle with chocolate ganache sauce and dust with icing sugar.

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

One of Those Days...

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you have spent the whole day in the car and running errands? Well today was one of those days. Not only did we wake up to non-stop pouring down snow, but I also woke up not feeling well.
 
Luckily Steven only had to go into the office for a few things and was able to remote in from home so I got his help for the day. Yesenia's preschool teacher's baby has been sick with RSV so she stayed home so not to risk getting our baby sick. On top of that lately it has been so cold that I have been putting all 3 girls in the car just to drive Kadan to school around the block. It breaks my heart to let him walk in -2 degree weather. So with Dad helping drive me around he was able to help drop off Kadan on our way out.
This was from a week ago, not today when it was snowing.
 
 

First errand was my Dr's office to get an antibiotic prescription. Then we went back into the snow to stop at Steven's office. Luckily because of the snow there was no clients coming in so the girls and I parked ourselves in dad's office for a bit. While dad finished up some work, I blogged and couponed and the girls colored and snuck treats. By now we are all starving so what quick place has monopolized on kids wants? McDonalds! Sure enough we went into the slick drive-thru for the kids favorite chicken nuggets.
 
Where I live on Tuesday's Walmart will double any coupon up to a dollar. I have been meaning to go for a while but I don't care for the Walmart out here and I miss the one I use to go to. It was better stocked, less busy and had an easier set up if you ask me. Since we were in the area and many of my coupons expire this month that was the next stop. Just like when I go to the office with my husband I get to see what he does best, when my husband goes with me to the store he gets to see what I do best; SAVE! So we spent the next hour with him ooing and ahing at all the savings and deals I find. This trip I saved $31.80 in coupons and about the same in price matching. I try to only buy stuff we actually use as well, such as diapers, wipes, Tide, yogurt, garlic bread, nuts, salsa, syrup, Nesquik, medicines and cleaning supplies. (For my local friends here is my plug for my friends price match website www.pricematchwithrachel.com. It takes a lot of the leg work out of couponing!)
 
After Steven pulled up the car and loaded it we went to the bank, whom hadn't shoveled their parking lot. The snow was so thick for a second I thought we were going to be stuck there. By this time Adrianna has fallen asleep in the warm car.  Steven had to pick up something at my parents house, and I had to get dance shoes for Yesenia. The specialty store that sells them has strange hours and whenever I was nearby it they were closed. So as much as I wanted to head home I had to stop while they were open. Yesenia was so excited for her real ballet shoes. Walmart and Targets dance shoes are more like slippers and it's hard to see her feet in them. She wore them to bed she was so excited!
 
 
 
 Finally we were 10 minutes from home then I realized we forgot to pick up my prescriptions. After we picked up Kadan from school we unfortunately still had to spend the next 45 minutes to go into town and get my prescriptions. Once we got home Steven had to shovel the driveway for the 3rd time today. At this point we are both too tired to cook dinner so all the money we saved on groceries was spent on ordering pizza. Boy was it yummy!!