Yummy Pizza!

Tried a Weight Watchers recipe last night. Have to admit that I tweaked it though. I used a Boboli thin wheat pre-made pizza crust. So, I'm not sure of the Points value other than to say that it's probably below 6 per slice. And I added more cheese (oops),  but I AM sure that it was GOOOOOOOD. So good that I kept on saying to Mike while we were eating it, "So good, right?!"  Yeah, he got tired of that. But it was!

Here's the recipe the way that I did it:

 Weight Watchers Pizza Margherita- Molly Style

Ingredients
3 roma tomatoes, sliced thin
1 c FF Mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp freshly chopped basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
Pinch of hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 Boboli, thin wheat crust

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 450
2) Top pizza crust with tomatoes, basil, hot pepper flakes, oregano, and cheese
3) Now sprinkle with olive oil and add a dash of black pepper to the top of it all
4) Bake on pizza stone about 10-12 mins or until cheese is melted

Easy peasy. Enjoy!

Random tip of the day

Used dryer sheets polish chrome (i.e. sink faucets.)

True story!

Happy 2011!

First order of bidness this year: Shed 2 stones (as the Brits say). It needs to be done. Weapon of choice: Weight Watchers.

I'm going to go to meetings. I shall don the sticky name tag and draw Thanksgiving dinner on a paper plate. It didn't work the first time I tried, but the new system that they've come up with seems do-able. Plus... it needs.to.be.done. My clothes have quit. My back is peeved. So, despite being COMPLETELY annoyed by newly-svelte Jennifer Hudson belting out "It's a NEW DAWN! It's a NEW DAY!" every 25 seconds on the TV, I'm in.

Additional weapons to be utilized: Fancy new elliptical, Wii Fit, awesome cooking blogs (i.e. http://www.skinnytaste.com/)

Wish me luck! And willpower! And about 99% more energy than I have right now.

Shrimp is my fave

I could eat it every day. Bravo has a dish that I looooove called shrimp fra diavolo. I found a recipe in Cooking Light for this dish, so I had to try it. Um, yum!! It was a bit spicy. Mike drank three glasses of milk with it (oops), so I'd go lighter on the red pepper flakes, but otherwise it was perfection. The Cooking Light recipe calls for linguine, but I used penne since we're big penne fans.

Here's a link to the full recipe page on Cooking Light's website.  http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001949706

Here's a pic... Although my food as art skills need some serious work.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup pasta and about 1 1/4 cups sauce)

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  uncooked linguine
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced garlic, divided
• 1  pound  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/4  cup  diced onion
• 1  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 2  tablespoons  tomato paste
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
• 1 3/4  cups  canned crushed tomatoes
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; keep warm.

2. While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic and shrimp; sauté or 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice; cook 1 minute or until slightly darkened. Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt, and diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until thickened. Return shrimp to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over pasta.  (I'd add some Parmesan cheese, too!)

Lordy, lordy, look who's ...

I thought I'd be sad today - my 40th birthday. But surprisingly, I feel very happy and blessed and optimistic. Who I am on this day is a culmination of all of the crazy, wonderful, challenging, rewarding days before this one. I wouldn't change a thing. Those days led me to the friends that I have in my life, the wonderful man that I married, our beautiful new house, and the wisdom that can only come from what I've experienced. I am proud of the steps that I've taken to get here.

OK, sure, there are things that I'd love to change, but who can't say that? This year, I will be doing what I can to make my life and self even happier. My 30s were starting to seem a bit serious. Time to shake that off and enjoy this new chapter.

House progress

Happy Fall! Now if only someone would do something about this stupid 80 degree weather we're having today. It is forcing me to wear 'tween-wear. I hate 'tween-wear.

We finally painted the green guest room. Well, we're almost done, but I figured I'd share a pic now. The neon green was hurting our brains, so we went to Lowe's and picked out a nice light gray with a hint of blue called Bay Waves by Valspar. I love it! Although the paint + primer didn't do it in one coat. We need to do another. Any suggestions for bedding are welcome. The carpet is dark blue.

Before:

Gah! My eyes!

After:

 Aaah. Much better.

We also got some new furniture for the living room. I went outside of my comfort zone and got berry colored chairs. LOVE. We now need to get a table for in between it all. Any suggestions?

Adventures on the bus

The bus is a never-ending source of crazy stories. This short story is about a man who was peddling his wares to everyone on the bus. His wares were these little beakers filled with scented oils. Here he is now...

  Just sitting with my oils. Watching the scenery go by.

I've seen men selling these oils downtown, so the oils are nothing new to me. What was new was this guy just moving around the bus, sitting next to riders, and asking them to buy his oils. He had the oil beakers propped up in this big, three-tiered, wooden contraption. No hiding his intentions. Nothing to guess about there. Isn't that sort of thing illegal on public transportation? Or did he flash his permit to the driver when he boarded? No? Yeah, I bet not. Should I just fill a bag with some Jergens hand lotions and start making some side cash on my way from Oakland to downtown every day? Hmm...

Here he is talking to a rider customer.

 *whispers* Psst. You wanna smell good?

The funny thing was that I didn't hear him talk at all. He must have whispered. Kept his selling on the down low. Huh. Wonder why.

Oh look. He's on the move...

 Thanks, my man. Gotta run...

In the bag are packages of incense. He didn't sell any oil, but two people bought some incense. Score! I think that he saw me giving him the side-eye, so he didn't come and whisper his sales pitch to me. I like it. A no-pressure salesman.