Raspberry-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Mmm, our dinner tonight was yummy! I found a recipe in one of those small recipe booklets you find in the checkout line at the grocery store. It's from Pillsbury, and was really simple!

Raspberry-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Pizza
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Here's what'cha need:

1 (13.8 oz) can of refrigerated classic pizza crust

1/4 cup red raspberry preserves

1/4 cup hickory smoke-flavored barbecue sauce (or whatever you have)

2 teaspoons chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (buy a 7 oz can and use the rest for other recipes)

1 (6 oz) pkg refrigerated grilled chicken breast strips, chopped

1/2 medium red onion, cut into thin strips

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat the oven to 425

In a small bowl, mix together the red raspberry preserves:

The barbecue sauce...

{Chop up the chipotles and add them, too. I didn't get a good picture of this step!}

Mix together with a spatula:

Grease a cookie sheet, unroll the dough and shape into a rectangle

Spread the barbecue mixture on the dough

Chop the chicken, sprinkle on the dough

Slice the red onion and top the chicken

Shred the parm

{Pause: it is SO worth it to buy the real Parmesan. Do it. For all recipes. Trust me}

Sprinkle on top of the pizza

Top with more cheese, this time mozzarella!

It's ready to go in the oven now! 425 for 12-20 minutes. For me, it was ready at 15.

Top now with the chopped cilantro

YUM!!!! It definitely has a kick with those chipotles, but we loved it! You could easily leave that out if you're not a fan of any heat.

I served it along with a salad of greens, red onions, mandarin oranges, glazed walnuts and Craisins. I'll be making this meal again!

PS- My sweet friend Joanna is here with us tonight and tomorrow; she's in town for work. I love it when she visits!! We're watching American Idol right now, and plan to get our nails done tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

Signs of Spring

Spring may still be a few weeks away, but the 50 degree weather over the weekend has sure got me wishing for it! I'm ready to see green, and smell fresh spring air! Oh, and I can't wait to get my bunnies out and decorate the house for Easter :)  I heart bunnies.

In the meantime, I'm making a few small spring updates to the house to get me out of this winter funk.

Yesterday, I got out and about with my Memphis besties, Kayla and Julie. We had no plans or specific shopping goals, just needed to get away from our husbands so they could study! We shopped at Garden Ridge, Target, Michael's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Barnes and Noble, Pier 1 and the Williams Sonoma outlet. All places I love!! Oh, and we ate twice during that whole process. It was a great day! Let me tell you about my favorite purchase...

I bought flowers from Michael's to make an arrangement in a beautiful vase that was sitting empty on my entry table. I think the end result turned out awesome, seeing as how I am such an amateur when it comes to flowers.

Everything else was already set out on the table, so my flower search was determined by:


The color of potpourri I had sitting out (soft pink and green)...


...and the pillar candles in creme.

All 3 glass items were wedding presents from the West Memphis Gift Cottage and I just adore them. I have a 4th matching item; it currently holds all of our wine corks in the kitchen.

Anyway, so at Michael's I just started picking out a bunch of spring flowers and removing and adding until I had a handful I felt pretty good about.

Lucky for me, I found out they were 40% off when I was checking out!

While I much prefer fresh flowers over fake, this girl can't afford to have real ones out all the time!!
Maybe in my forever house I'll have fresh flowers on a weekly basis? Hey, I can dream, right!?
 Either way, I think these look pretty good.

I also invested in two bags of clear stones. I can't believe I didn't already have any.
Mom, I know, you're shocked. This is a floral decorating basic! Why have I waited so long!? :)

And, even though I would have loved your help on this, Mom, I think I did a decent job, huh?

Thank you, Michael's! I love your loot.

Now it's back to 40 degree weather this week....

Memphis Tennis

Friday night, Keith and I were lucky enough to attend the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship and Cellular South Cup tennis tournament at the Racquet Club of Memphis. It's been going on since Friday, February 12 and it wraps up tomorrow. We got to watch Roddick vs Querrey and Sharapova vs Arvidsson. It was so much fun!!

I've actually never been to the Racquet Club, and was excited to check it out! The owner of the advertising firm I work for, cs2 advertising, is Brian Sullivan, and he also happens to own the Racquet Club. So, cs2 was responsible for the tournament advertisements, website and media. I've been seeing the artwork, tv spots, and hearing about this for a LONG time! 

I'm thankful for my co-worker, Kate, for finding us a couple of extra tickets!

Kate has been running the media room out there non-stop since the tourney started. In other words, she's running the show and is basically a baller.

Hello, Andy Roddick.
You are good looking.

His opponent, Sam.

I admit, I don't know much about tennis, but I enjoy watching the sport. We had a great view of the match and there was never a dull moment!

It is obviously tough work to be a pro-tennis player!

Roddick lost the match to Querrey, and showed off a pretty bad attitude before it was over, too!

He broke his racquet. Drama

Me and my hubs, who should have been studying! I'm happy for any time I get with him away from the books!

The Siscos were also there with a group from dental school.

Then Maria Sharapova came out. She was amazing to watch!

I also appreciate her outfit/shoe color coordinator....much more than her opponent:

Sofia Arvidsson

I honestly didn't even watch Sofia. I stared at Maria the whole time.
She made me feel like a teletubby. Look at her legs!

She was incredible. And noisy.

In my opinion, watching the girls was more exciting than the guys.

Maria won! 

Hopefully we'll get to go next year, too!!

PS- Kate, I can't wait for you to return to the office after the tourney ends. I've missed 'my person!'

Mardi Gras! Crab Dip & Gumbo

Well our Fat Tuesday dinner was delicious! We had a few friends over and enjoyed feasting on crab dip, a chicken and sausage gumbo and, of course, KING CAKE. Finding the baby was so much fun!

Here are the recipes:

New Orleans Style Crab Dip 

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4 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel)

1/2 cup mayo

1 (8 oz) package imitation crab meat, chopped

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

Mix it all together in a bowl. I said to refrigerate 3 hours, so I just did it the night before. I served it with crackers. SO YUMMY!! Even the Siscos (who don't like seafood) ate it up!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

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This may not be the 'real-deal' gumbo, but for something quick and delicious, this works great!

*I doubled the recipe below and ended up with about 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
• Hot cooked rice

Preparation

Cook sausage over high heat in Dutch oven 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels.

Add enough oil to drippings in Dutch oven to equal 3 tablespoons, and whisk in flour; cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, 5 minutes.

Add onion and next 3 ingredients; cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in broth and next 2 ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add sausage and chicken; simmer, covered, 5 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

**I think this was a lot better after a couple of dashes of Tabasco in my bowl!

As you can tell from my previous post, I love King Cake. I've had one every year for as long as I can remember. Growing up, someone inevitably would bring one to my Dad's clinic and he'd bring it home to us. In college, my Tridelta roommates and I had a yearly tradition of sharing a Rick's Bakery cake. I'll never forget the year when all 5 of us ate the whole cake searching for the plastic baby... to only find it was taped inside the box lid and never put into the cake!

So, I was excited this year to share the tradition with our Memphis family! The Siscos and Lauren Trammell came over and enjoyed the whole meal with us.Travis had never had a King Cake before, so he was very intrigued by the whole thing. Before we sliced it up, he wanted to establish a few rules for what "getting the baby" meant. Traditionally, the person with the baby has to provide the King Cake next year and host the party. But, we decided that the easiest 'prize' would be a year of good luck.

We sliced and handed it out, and after poking around we thought we'd have to get seconds to find that dern baby. Travis got into a story and a few of us realized that the fork he was holding, and the bite he was getting ready to take, had the baby on it! He had no clue and was just waving it around! So funny!

Trav was so excited, he apparently wore the baby around school today. Hilarious! Beginner's luck, I guess!

I'm already looking forward to next year's Mardi Gras!

Are you giving up anything for Lent? I'm giving up sodas!

King Cake

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

I slaved over 2 king cakes last night. OH MY GOSH it was so much work. I sure hope they are worth it! They look delicious, so we'll see how they taste! I'm taking one to work today and keeping one at home for dinner tonight with some friends.

**EDIT: It tastes awesome!!! Had a slice for breakfast :)**

I did take pictures step by step, but it was a long process and not very exciting, so I don't think I'll post them. They were easy to make, just time intensive! Below is the Southern Living recipe I used.

Traditional King Cake

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Makes 2 cakes

Ingredients

• 1  (16-ounce) container sour cream
• 1/3  cup  sugar
• 1/4  cup  butter
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 2  (1/4-ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 1/2  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 6  to 6 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/3  cup  butter, softened
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sparkling sugar sprinkles
• Icing (recipe below)

Preparation

Cook first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside, and cool mixture to 100° to 110°.

Stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 1-cup glass measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until smooth. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add enough remaining flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups) until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk.

Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 22- x 12-inch rectangle. Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle evenly over butter on each rectangle.

Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side. Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of roll together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with second dough roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375° for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden. Slightly cool cakes on pans on wire racks (about 10 minutes). Drizzle Creamy Glaze evenly over warm cakes; sprinkle with colored sugars, alternating colors and forming bands. Let cool completely.

Creamy Glaze Icing

8 oz. package of softened cream cheese creamed together with 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 stick of butter (melted), 1 to 2 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Enjoy! This is amazing!

A bit of bliss!

Wow! Our Valentine's night was so special! I'm still on cloud nine. Keith spoiled me rotten this year, and I wasn't even expecting anything! What did I do to deserve him!? :)

Our picture before dinner. We love our tripod and self timer! 

Then, we headed out and I had NO idea where we were going....

I was SO excited when Keith pulled into Owen Brennan's in East Memphis! I'd been wanting to eat there for so long! I love New Orleans cuisine, and this place does a really great job of it!

Our meal was fabulous! Every little bit was better than the last....

...but, it was the dessert that stole the show!

Bananas Foster!! We loved it!

Oh, and my white chocolate martini was lovely, too :)

The biggest surprise of the night was after we got home and exchanged cards. Keith had said he was really excited about what he was giving me, but I had no expectations and no clue what it'd be!

SO, I was shocked when I opened up a beautiful pink pearl necklace and matching earrings!

I think I teared up and put them on immediately! Talk about a surprise!!

These are really special to me; I'll treasure them forever! I still haven't figured out how I got so lucky when I married Keith :)

Thank you, darling!

HBD, Lauren!

It's Lauren's birthday! I've told you about my sweet, wonderful friend Lauren Setzler here and here, and you can keep up with her progress here. She is doing really well, considering that she is still undergoing chemo. Her most recent tests show that she is leukemia-free! We are all hoping and praying that she will stay that way. What a blessing! She is such a trooper.

In honor of her birthday, I sent her a little care package of love. I ordered her a custom-made blessing ring from my friend, Elaine Wheat, at design{etc}. Elaine and her husband lived next door to Keith in Fayetteville towards the end of his college days, and she is very talented and kind!

I told her to please use bright, happy colors, because that's Lauren's personality! I think she did a great job :)

If you haven't seen a blessing ring before, it's meant to be a reminder of all the love and support you have. You can punch a hole in just about anything (a note, letter, verse, photo) and string it on your blessing ring.

To get Lauren started, I wrote about 6 or 7 encouraging notes and prayers.
I know she needs lots of support and love right now.

I think it turned out so cute, and special. Thank you, Elaine.

Happy Birthday, Lauren! I'm cheering for you!

Seeing Pink and Red

Happy Valentine's Day! I have to admit, I'm a sucker for v-day. I love it. I've always loved it! Maybe it's the pink and red? The hearts? Sweets? Flowers? I like all the above! 

Then again, what holiday don't I like? I'm such a festive, party person that I tend to get in the spirit for all the holidays. Umm, hello Fat Tuesday! I see you lurking around the corner. I have plans to make some Cajun food and my own king cake from scratch (should be interesting). More to come on that later!

The point is, no holiday is exempt from my excitement! V-day is no different. I have fond memories of decorating a shoebox and cutting a hole in the top for elementary school and picking out valentines for my classmates.  Even when I was single, I knew Mom and Dad would send me a little something to make me feel special. Now, I do believe we should be sweet and show love to each other all throughout the year, but I think it's great that there's a day set aside to celebrate the greatest emotion of all: LOVE!

Here are some scenes from around our house today:

New pillows from Walmart for the front porch bench

Keith surprised me at work on Friday carrying these! I LOVE that these roses are orange. SO beautiful! He picked them out himself and arranged them, too! With a little help from his mom, I think...  :)

I've got my spring potpourri out, too!

I got this from Pier 1 last year, I love the roses in it

I've been catching up on magazine reading today!

OH, THIS CARD. It's so cheese-tastic! I couldn't resist it.

Haha!
I do have a sweet card for later tonight. I'm a big fan of doing a funny card and a sweet card for occasions...

Keith has actually worn the button today. I really didn't expect that!
He wore it into Kroger today, and got a few comments! :)

I picked up these tulips from Walmart the other day, too. I am so ready for more signs of spring! These tulips really brighten up our kitchen.

This little stand came with 4 or 5 different colored trays, and the red is my favorite! Those heart ramekins were just $2 at Michael's, and they're oven safe! I'm planning to make something special in them soon.

This is what I made on Kayla's birthday at Seize the Clay. Turned out pretty darn cute!

I've never made anything from this cookbook, it's got some pretty things in it, and I like the way it looks behind the sink!

Pink and red dish towels hanging on the oven....
Hey, what's in that oven!?

A heart-shaped brownie!!


I've also been wearing 'love' colors this weekend....

Today, it's red ruffles!

And my cozy red and pink socks!

We're headed out to dinner tonight. I'm not sure where we're going, it's a surprise!! Keith said it's a place we've never been before. Memphis has got some great restaurants, so I'm really excited!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! And love to all of my blog readers :)