CHICKEN FAJITA PIZZA

Ingredients:

* your favorite pizza dough (here's my recipe)
* 2 cups shredded chicken
* 1 large onion sliced
* 1 green bell pepper, julienned
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 1 tsp chili powder
* 1 cup of you favorite salsa
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
* 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 500* F degrees

2. Roll out the pizza dough and place on a pizza pan or a pizza stone. (I like to cook my crust a little bit before adding the toppings.)

3. In a large skillet, sauté the onion and pepper in the olive oil until onion is slightly caramelized.  Season with salt, pepper and chili powder.  Add shredded chicken and toss everything together.

4. Spread salsa over the crust.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Top with the chicken mixture evenly over the entire pizza.  Top with the Mexican cheese blend.

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Enjoy!

MY GO TO PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE.

Here's my favorite pizza dough recipe:

* 3/4 cup warm water
* 1 tsp. white sugar
* 1 packet of yeast
* 2-2.5 cups flour
* 1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl.  Let sit for a few minutes until yeast bubbles and mixture becomes fragrant.

Add salt, flour and olive oil.  Knead by hand or on the low setting in a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  (call me craze but I love to knead by hand)

Leave the dough in a bowl and let it sit in a dry place for about 4 hours.  (I let my dough rise by a sunny window.)

When you are ready to bake, prep your ingredients and preheat the oven to 425*.  Our new pizza prep involves a pre-heated pizza stone and pizza peel.

Roll out your dough with a rolling pin and extra white flour.  To help keep the pizza from sticking, I rub on a little bit of olive oil on the pizza stone before I pre-heat it.

Here's the toppings I used for this pizza:

* your favorite pesto spread
* already cooked chicken and cut into small pieces
* fresh mazzarella  cheese

Helpful hint:

after you have pre-heated your pizza stone, I like to place my dough on it first and bake it four about 5-7 minutes before adding the toppings.  This helps the crust from becoming to doughy.

Enjoy!

BEING A TOURIST IN MY OWN HOME TOWN.

My daughter had track practice this morning, which meant I had two hours of free time.  I thought it would be fun to act like a tourist and go around photographing buildings, coffee shops, window displays, fountains and things I thought were just cool in my little town called, Ashland, Oregon.

MY 365 PHOTO PROJECT.

Who says you have to start a calendar project on January 1st.  I get some of my best creative ideas while driving in my car.  I was in my car on my way to pick up my oldest daughter from track practice.  Callie was in the back seat when this idea popped into my head.  I want to start a 365 photo project and I know exactly how I want to document it.  I saw these pretty red flowers and Callie was wearing her favorite shirt.  I asked Callie if I could take her photo in front of these pretty flowers and she was excited to do so.  So on March 10, 2015 my photo project begins.

 I'm using a 6x8 album that you can purchase here.  It's a light blue faux leather album.  I ordered 2 because I'm pretty sure 365 photos won't all fit into one album.

 I'm using these 6x8 photo pocket pages that hold four 3x4 photos.  I'm completely stocked up on these.  This is my opening page.  Simple.  Here's the journaling:  "I love, love, love taking photos.  I'm excited to be embarking on a new photo project that will commence on March 10, 2015.  I am going to take one photo a day for a year.  These photos will then get printed and neatly tucked inside this album.  On March 10, 2016, I will have compiled 365 photos that represent a little bit of me and my every day life.  So let's get started."

For the photos, I'm using a company called Persnickety Prints.  I'm having them printed as 3x4 poloroids.  The Collect app for my iPhone is where I select which photo I want to use.  Then I add the journaling.  Super easy.

Here's a look at my first page.  I'm hoping my oldest daughter will let me capture some photos of her for this album.  She's a teenager who's at this "please-don't-take-my-photo-and-post-it-on-Facebook-phase."  I know how to bribe her, so I'm very optimistic.

Here's a look at the left side.  I started by ordering a weeks worth.  I've never used this company, so I wasn't sure about the quality.  It's fantastic and I highly recommend them.  The 3x4 polaroids are little more expensive but I love the look and it's perfect for this project.    I plan on ordering a month at a time.  When this month is finished, I'll order the remaining photos.  I'm so excited to get this album filled with the remaining 358 photos that represent me and my daily life.

I've thought many times, wouldn't it have been so cool if my grandparents had access to all this technology.   I wonder if they would have been interested in documenting their daily life.  Sure they have photos, but what they lack is organization with dates and captions.  My grandfather has passed on but my 93 (she'll turn 94 next month) year old grandmother is still living.  48 years from now (if i'm still alive) it will be so rad to see all these photos I've collected for my girls (and their kids) to flip thru and enjoy.