Pizza Friday

The finished pizza. Yummy!

The last few days I've had issues with being motivated enough to blog. Sad, right? It isn't that I'm lacking stuff to blog about but just didn't feel like writing. So, instead of doing anything deep, I figured I would let you know about another recipe that I found on Pinterest and tried. Nice and easy blog for the day.

Last Friday, I decided to try a new pizza recipe. I adore pizza. I especially like calling my favorite pizza joint and ordering it, but that isn't always the smart way to go financially speaking. So, making it at home it is. My typical pizza involves a Boboli pizza crust, some pre-made pizza sauce (I love Taste of the Hill sauce), and my toppings. Quick and easy.

I figured it was time for a change of pace. When I want something fresh and different, I will make my own pizza crust, but I stuck with Boboli this time and changed up the toppings. The recipe I used was for Chicken Ranch Pizza on Fake Ginger's blog. I've only had a "white" pizza once before and it was good. I decided to take the chance with this recipe, especially since it seemed simple.

To start, I mixed up 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2/3 cup of Ranch dressing after I preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then I spread it on the pizza crust. From there, I mixed up 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. I put half of the cheese combination on the pizza crust. I added 1 cup pre-cooked chicken, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, and 2 cups diced tomatoes to the pizza. Once I had all the toppings on, I added the last of the cheese. This pizza is quite cheesy.

After the pizza was put together, I put the pizza into the oven and let it cook for 12 minutes. I probably should have left it in for another minute or two, but it still tasted great. My husband really enjoyed it. My toddler was not interested in it at all. She loves pizza, but this pizza didn't look like any pizza she had ever had before so she wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well. More for my DH and me.

Classless, Profane, and Cheap

When I started blogging, I had no idea how prevalent blogging had become. What I knew of blogging came from my sister who started her blog, Family Times, in 2007. Her blog was the only one I read. I thought blogs were like the Geocity pages of the 90s, all hobbies that didn't do much. My sister encouraged me to blog, at the time, but I couldn't imagine what I would write about. I figured my life was far from interesting. I was a single 1st grade teacher with no prospects in the dating world. Boring.

My mind was changed a mere 3 years later. I started reading some blogs and discovered the richness of the prose in some cases and just plain fun stories. It was nice reading about others going through the same things. I also had come to discover that I was pregnant for a third time after suffering two losses. I hoped to document the pregnancy, more for myself than anyone else. Unfortunately, I lost that baby too, but I continued to blog. I had tapped back into my love of writing and didn't want to stop.

Two years after I started by ramblings, I got on Twitter and discovered a whole word of bloggers I didn't know existed. These bloggers, like The Blogess Jenny Lawson, took blogging seriously. They wrote in their blogs frequently and had developed huge followings. Not only that, but these fabulous bloggers were earning money from their blog. While I can never hope to have a following like Scary Mommy, I found inspiration to do more.

During this journey of discovery, I found out that even popular mommy bloggers have heaps of critics. Some over some pretty inane things, like judging their skills as a parent. So, criticism over a post I make is expected. I have had a couple of challenges to posts I have made based on the content; all of it polite and respectful.

Recently, though, I faced something I didn't expect. Something I hadn't seen other bloggers face, although it wouldn't surprise me if they had. A person was critical of the title of my blog post, Mouthgasm! I have to admit to being floored. What was wrong with the word? I had posted the link of this blog post in a Catholic group I participate with on Facebook. A woman started a thread saying that we should refrain from posting made up words with sexual connotations and to keep things classy. I never have associated the word "mouthgasm" with sex since it has nothing to do with sex, and she was implying that I lacked class. Not cool.

My daughters reenacting my recent battle over my blog title.

I defended myself and my blog. To make matters worse, she later went on to tell me that the title "cheapened" my post and implied that I was trying to gain readership by using a racy headline (mouthgasm is racy??). She then said I had "reduce[d] [my]self to the profane." I was furious when I saw these words written. Cheap? Profane? If I decide to do a post on something cheap and profane, that is my right and I would have stood by that and said "thanks for noticing."  But, in fact, I hadn't done either of those things. I defended the title of my post and it seems I had several defenders backing me.

The funny thing is that all her ranting and claiming I would likely lose readership over a "racy" (again really?) title only increased traffic to the blog in question. Maybe I need to stir up controversy more often. Then I might be able to earn enough money from Google Ad Sense for them to cut me a check ($10 FYI).

The moral of the story? No real moral. However, this is my blog. I do write my opinions whether you like them or not. I will title things to help gain interest but never just to be racy. I want the title to be descriptive of the content inside. If you don't like what I write or my titles, then don't read my blog. I'm sure you can find a blog meant for you. Well, maybe. And if you do decide to still complain in a disrespectful manner, be prepared for me to rant about it on my Facebook page and later blog about it. I need material after all. ;)

Fire Chicken and Cheesy Potato Gratin

During the summer, my husband loves to grill. I guess that is typical of most men. I, on the other hand, do not go near the grill. It freaks me out. I have this weird phobia with fire. It is so bad that I can't even light a match, much less a normal size lighter. (I can light one of the extended ones though.)

Therefore, when I see a recipe that will involve grilling, I know it will require me to recruit my husband's help. Luckily, Chris is usually up for the challenge.

The other night I recruited my DH to grill something called Fire Chicken that I found on Pinterest (via Plain Chicken). She named it fire chicken because the marinade causes the grill to kick out some fire. It isn't called fire chicken due to any extra spice, so no worries. Fire Chicken is basically grilled chicken that has been marinated in a lemon concoction. Oh, and let me know forget to mention that it is delicious!

Our meal of Fire Chicken & Potatoes

I marinated the chicken a bit longer than asked, letting it soak in the flavors for 24 hours before serving. I really think that the long time in the marinade and poking the chicken with a fork made a huge difference. The chicken had a lovely flavor that brought a huge grin to my husband's face. I think it is his favorite marinade now!

I served some potatoes, also found on Pinterest, with the chicken. They were a "healthy" version of au gratin potatoes called Asiago, Potato, and Bacon Gratin. Let me start out by saying they were good, but they weren't my favorite. I imagine that is because I made a few mistakes, but I don't see trying this again either.

The first time you try a recipe, you need to make sure you read it through. I did that. When I read it, it sounded like it made sense. When I got into the heart of cooking the dish, I realized that there were issues either with my skill level or the recipe. While you have 1 1/2 pounds of sliced Yukon potatoes simmering, you saute in a saucepan some shallots (I had none but I did have some green onions on hand) using cooking spray. I ended up adding a bit of olive oil because the onions were sticking a bit.

Me attempting to get things nicely blended

Now here is where I began to have issues. Maybe the problem arose because I used the green onions instead of shallots, I'm not sure. I think it unlikely. The recipe says to keep the burner on medium heat and add 1 cup of flour (by sprinkling it). From there you had 1/2 cup of milk and blend it with the flour using a whisk. Sounds like it will work, right? Not so much. I ended up with paste. Right before I did it, I had a feeling it wouldn't work. Then you add the rest of the milk, gradually, until it is well blended.

Honestly, it took longer to get a good blend. If I were to do this again (or if you want to try it), then I would add a little bit of flour then the milk, blend. Add more flour, more milk, then blend, until it was all in. I would also do it over medium heat and not medium high heat since it thickened way too fast. Once everything was blended, the recipe says to let it simmer for 9 minutes until it is thickened. I had no need to do that. By the time I had things blended, it was thick so I went on to the next steps, adding cheese and bacon. I was unable to find asiago cheese by itself at my grocery store so I used an Italian blend instead. I also cheated and used bacon pieces.

Once everything is mixed together and the potatoes are drained, place half the potatoes in an 8-in square baking dish then half the sauce over it. Repeat the layers then add parmesan on top, if you wish. I did not because the cheese blend I used had parmesan in it. Then bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The potatoes are ready to go into the oven.

The potatoes were delicious, but needed just a bit of salt.

The meal, though, was completely lovely!