Migrations & Pizza Night

(Pizza info at the bottom, if you want to skip ahead) :)

Just wanted to highlight a number of recent migrations as they include a few favorites of mine. Say "goodbye" to my little friends! (And "hello" to more on my website in about two weeks.)

Custom 2-Birds for Newman, CA

Michigan Custom Quintuplets

Purple Pazzazz Trio to Ontario, Canada

The second, "Quintuplet" mobile was very fun to make as the mom has a little girl coming and has chosen two very different bedding choices to rotate in and out of the room. The beautiful bedding was made by ButtercupForrest:

The mom preferred bold colors and a strong manzanita branch, and wanted a little of both bedding fabrics incorporated into the birds. Thus, we came up with this sweet medley of bright and playful birds for her mobile.

Onto some other yummies I so enjoy... Pizza!

Every week my husband and I make pizza. (Actually, it's my husband who makes it as I put the kids down. Those are his hands, not mine in the pics!) We've really come to enjoy pizza as an incredibly tasty way to load up on veggies - Who'd a thought?! So, here's how are pizzas go...

1. Preheat oven and pizza stone for 30+ minutes at 400F.

2. While preheating, slice medium eggplant into 1/4"-1/2" slices. Spray with olive oil and lightly salt. Bake for 8-12 min, until beginning  to brown.

3. Also while preheating, snap off the rough ends of a handful of asparagus stalks, toss with a little olive oil and bake for 8-12 min, until soft. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

4. Season skinless chicken breasts with Italian seasoning, saute for 2-3 min per side, then bake for 8 min. It will be slightly underdone.

5. Roll out Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza crust and bake on pizza stone for 2 min, poking bubbles as needed. (We pre-cook the crust a bit as it's easier to slide the pizza with all its topping into the oven without losing everything on top!)

6. Place crust on pizza paddle and top with low-sodium marinara sauce. We use Vons "O" label.

7. Pile on the spinach! Then smash it down.

7. Start loading it on! A little shredded cheese... Eggplant... Sliced chicken...

 Sliced tomatoes... Sliced bell pepper...

 Asparagus...

And top off with a little more cheese. Tip: "finely shredded" cheese goes a lot further than regular, grated cheese. Saves calories. And, we use part-skim mozzarella to skip a few more calories.

8. Bake for 15-18min, depending on how much you pre-baked your crust and how hot your oven runs. Allow to cool for 5 min, then cut...

9. And enjoy!

Kids love to eat this pizza, but often we don't have our act together to do all of this before the kids dinnertime (5:30/6pm). So, they get leftovers for lunch the next day, and we use some of the veggies we baked for the pizza and incorporate them into dinner for them. 

On this night, I chopped up some eggplant and scrambled it into eggs. Topped it with some cheese and served it with that yummy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce from Dave's Gourmet that I mentioned earlier. Viol-la!

I feel like I just bombarded you with a lot of info. Sorry. I'm heading to a women's retreat this weekend with Grace Church though so I won't be posting for the next few days.

Have a scrumptious weekend! And remember, Valentine's day is coming up soon. Do you have a gift? If not, check out the new {yeah!} necklaces at Cookie+Curly.