It's not always about what your body can do. For the most part - it's what your brain will allow your body to do.
My body and brain are very weak. Today- I set out to do 8 tabata exercises. I finished four. What's tabata?
Tabata is a variation of HIIT (high intensity interval training).
You choose an exercise; set a timer for 20 seconds. You do as many reps in that 20 seconds as you can. Rest 10 seconds. Repeat for a set of 8.
Today, as I chose a leg day; I had to remind myself in my poor wobbly form of two things:
1. Keep your abs engaged. This keeps your form and keeps your mind on task. A great way to rebuild the muscle mass from your abs, legs, and brain.
2. EAT properly. This QLD heat kills me. I don't have to do much to feel light headed and dizzy. It's important when it's hot to have had a proper breakfast and to keep hydrated. Even if that means taking another few seconds to drink some room tempature water.
My goal is to post daily; so hold me accountable. I'm going to need it.
You reap what you sow. This is something I've always known. It wasn't until I was a much older child, okay, I mean ADULT, that I fully understood this metaphor. But now I do understand it and at the end of the day, I don't like what I've sewn. I haven't had much money for the gym, but that isn't really much of an excuse for my laziness. I haven't blogged in almost a month and on top of that, its been much longer since I've done any physical exercise. I can feel it as I walk and my thighs clash together like two massive 18 wheelers with drunk drivers at the helm. Its awful. I'm sure the gap between my legs has closed and it is all due to my own lack of structure and motivation.
I've started my job this week. With that will mean structure and with structure comes accountability. So first step, is finding time to run. So 5 am it is.....okay, who am I kidding? Day one and I've pushed back my time to run to 5:30. So getting my fat ass out of bed is the chore for the day.
But on top of that, clean eating. I mean, I have been wanting to do it (hence the blog) and I haven't really applied it. So here is my meal plan for the week:
Breakfast: (6:30 or within one hour of waking up)
SOOOO good. Like my mug? It was a gift! Thanks FRAN! xo
An absolute favorite of mine:
Blueberries
1 scoop of choc protein powder
Oatmeal
Greek Yogurt
Mix together in the blender to create such an awesomely healthy breakfast. AND so yummy and tastey. Of course the blueberries can be substituted with any fruit and once strawberries are back in season, I will be mixing those in. Also, I will give mango a try.
9;30 am: I was pretty poor on this today and only had a banana and some nuts
12:00- mocha with full cream.
12:30 I had my premade lunch of chicken salad (No dressing, but you can have EVOO, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, if you choose and some vinegar) My salad was as green as one could get with green peppers, olives and cucumbers.
3:30 - cookies and cream protein shake and a bit more of my nuts. I also pulled out my raw veggies and had some carrots, celery, and green peppers.
When I got home, we didn't eat until about 7:30-8:00, but it was Honey Chicken pictured below. Receipe isn't as clean as one would like, but it is oh so good. Leave out the sugar if you'd like to try this. It is a bit sweet.
I did also have two pieces of chocolate and one piece of kit kat right after I got home from work. I will need to work on getting this chocolate out of my system. Its amazing to me; 27 years of not eating chocolate and with a small introduction I am hooked two years later. I am working to wean myself from chocolate ASAP.
I do enjoy my mocha's though, so won't be giving those up too quickly.
Tim made dinner and it was absolutely amazing! The recipe doesn't have any veggies, but we added Pok Choy
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture. I have also found that you can put the chicken pieces in a gallon size bag and shake to coat.
Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and minced garlic. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.
I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.
We didn't bake it either, just cooked the whole meal in the wok. Tasted amazing and didn't take as long to finish cooking. Perfect quick Monday night meal.
So, for the rest of this week. My meals look the same except for dinner. We have salmon and rice, chicken and cous cous and steak lined up. This weekend we're camping at Brooyar, so I will be one of those people who work hard during the week and forgets that the weekend are days too. But I'll be back to my meal plan next week and I'll get you some great recipes.
Ps, if you have any awesome recipes to post let me know! I'd like to try them!
I have had a massive baking weekend! While I didn't cook much on Thursday or Friday, I did do a lot of stuff in the kitchen.
Firstly, Nicole's birthday is today and I was dying to make this cupcake flower presentation for her. She is a massive lover of cupcakes so this was just a perfect thing to make for her. She is such a flowery girl too! So its my first time making cupcakes and it took some, as usual, time to get some things right. Such as filing the cup correctly so the cupcake doesn't overload........ However, the cupcake is amazingly soft and the top was the perfect amount of crunch (for the ones I overfilled)
My almost finished product....needs the pretty icing......
3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup (177 ml) coffee
1/2 cup (41 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (125 grams) sour cream (I used greek yogurt instead)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sour Cream (Greek Yogurt) Chocolate Frosting
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 ounce (28 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (115 grams) powdered sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cup (63 grams to 83 grams) sour cream (I used greek yogurt)
Method
Heat Oven and Prepare Pan
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place paper baking cups in each of 18 regular-size muffin cups.
Prepare Cupcake Batter
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat then add coffee and warm through. Remove from heat then whisk in cocoa powder until completely smooth. Cool 1 minute.
Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk or stir 10 to 20 times — it is important that everything is combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream and the vanilla extract until well blended.
Pour cocoa and coffee mixture into the flour mixture then use a spatula or large spoon to gently stir until combined. You do not need to beat, just stir until incorporated. Now, add the egg and sour cream mixture and continue to stir until incorporated.
Bake Cupcakes
Fill prepared muffin cups two-thirds full then bake 16 to 20 minutes until a tooth pick can be inserted and comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Prepare Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting
Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Transfer butter and chocolate to a medium bowl then whisk in the cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
Whisk in powdered sugar then add 1/4 cup of the sour cream and whisk until blended. Frosting should be loose, but spreadable. Add more sour cream as necessary. Refrigerate 30 minutes. (This frosting thickens slightly after refrigeration).
Frost Cupcakes
Check the consistency of the frosting — if it is a little too loose, refrigerate it for another 30 to 45 minutes. It thickens slightly when cold.
To frost cupcakes, spoon or spread a generous tablespoon on top of each cooled cupcake.
The next thing I baked this weekend was an apple crisp cheese cake. The actual recipe didn't have all the necessary steps, so it didn't turn out like the picture......
Where it tells you to sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping, the steps don't actual include any sort of streusel topping. My end product is as follows:
The crust of the glass one was a little burnt, haven't tried the other one yet...
Saturday night I had organized a sleepover for the girls. We didn't bake, but instead has a fantastic night of drinking, eating and talking.........
For the sleepover, I made chocolate covered strawberries. (I was to make the cheese cake for it as well, but had a migraine....so made that Sunday Night). This idea I took from pintrest also; however, they didn't turn out as I had planned and so I've left the best presentable picture for the blog post....
So good!
My mom would be so proud: I remembered to use a double boiler as not to burn the chocolate!
I am a huge fan of this recipe. Everyone loves chicken tenders and this is a clean and healthy way to have them. I might add that I also included a 1/2 cup of coconut. That was the cherry on the top! Perfect! I made this with a mashed potato which wasn't too bad, but flavorless. I wouldn't recommend it.
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken breast cut into strips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 475°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set a wire rack on the baking sheet. Place baking sheet with rack in the oven while it preheats.
Place almonds, flour, paprika, garlic powder, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a food processor; process until the almonds are finely chopped and the paprika is mixed throughout, about 1 minute. With the motor running, drizzle in oil; process until combined. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish.
Whisk egg whites in a second shallow dish. Add chicken tenders and turn to coat. Transfer each tender to the almond mixture; turn to coat evenly. (Discard any remaining egg white and almond mixture.) Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and coat with cooking spray; place the tenders on the prepared rack and lightly coat tenders with cooking spray, turn and spray the other side.
Bake the chicken fingers until golden brown, crispy and no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
Nutrition
Per serving (serves 4) :
Calories 174
Fat 4 g
Carbohydrates 4 g
Protein 27 g
CC and I have been very goodish at keeping each other accountable for healthy food choices and healthy workout choices. Our Wednesday night ab nights have been going well with only a small problem of her hurt shoulder (NOT from our working out....but from climbing and she has been very good about getting it fixed as she should). Our food has something of constant talk lately. Which is good because, we both love food. She does things in her own adaptation and I would like to have this be a perfect example.
This Cucumber Salad is actually a favorite of my dads. I remember my mom always saying she didn't like it, but would make it for him. I always loved it; however, as an adult, eating raw onion is a bit more difficult for me.
The original recipe is as follows:
Ingredients
2 medium cucumbers
1 large onion, sliced
1 cup lowfat plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh dill
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Using a fork, scrape down the sides of each cucumber to make grooves. Slice into thin rounds.
Mix cucumber slices and onion slices together in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together yogurt, vinegar, dill, salt and pepper. Pour over cucumbers and onions. Toss to coat.
Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Serve cold.
We both changed it up a bit. First, CC used tomato instead of onion...a very interesting and more delectable choice to pair the cucumbers with. Next, neither of us had/could find dill; therefore, CC used mint. WHICH I would like to add, sounds simply yummy! Her main meal was salmon with some avocado on top. This is an excellent example of clean eating and I had to brag for her.
CC would like you to know that this isn't the best presentation and had she known this would be used in the blog, she would have prepared it better.
My changes were not as complex. I followed the recipe to the T except for the dill. We had parsley and oregano of which weren't too bad. Wishing I had foresight with the mint. It would have been lovely.
I paired our meal with Chicken Kabobs which was also modified a bit.
In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Before adding chicken, reserve a small amount of marinade to brush onto kabobs while cooking. Place the chicken, garlic, onions and peppers in the bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (the longer the better).
Preheat the grill for high heat.
Drain marinade from the chicken and vegetables, and discard marinade. Thread chicken and vegetables alternately onto the skewers.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the skewers on the grill. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken juices run clear. Turn and brush with reserved marinade frequently.
So I'm desperate to get back into Crossfit. I miss it so much. My flatmates go every day and I'm jealous.
I have found a place to spend my time volunteering and this gives me a chance to workout in the mornings. WHICH IS GREAT! Soooo- I am going to attempt to do my own sort of crossfit at Urban. Now I just need a friend to join me.
Todays workout was as follows:
EMOM for 5 minutes:
4 Deadlifts (120/80kg)
6 Push-Ups
AMRepsAP of Double Unders.
Rest 90 seconds, then EMOM for 5 minutes:
4 Burpees (trying to touch the ceiling)
6 Abmat Sit-Ups
AMRepsAP of Double Unders.
Its a start, and I feel my legs today....so its a good start.
A friends birthday is coming up and so I thought I'd bake him some cookies. When I told Tim about the cookies I was going to make, he wanted the ones from the hotel we stayed at in Canada. So after a few hours on pintrest, I found recipe one.
I have no doubt this recipe is delicious; however, as a first time chocolate chip maker, this was a complete fail. 100 % fail. They were absolutely awful and not one person in the house objected to me throwing them away. Well, that's not true, Mat protested when he realized I threw them away, but quickly backed down when I said I wasn't offended that he shouldn't eat the cookie.
So the next day, I tried a similar recipe but first did a couple of hours of research. Upon my web browsing, I found this website: http://m.designmom.com/2012/10/living-well-8-secrets-to-the-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie/. 8 Secrets to the perfect chocolate chip cookie. A blog worth reading! It helped me understand my mistakes and therefore learn from them. I am happy to say that a happy house was to be had when I produced the cookies below:
BINGO! THEY WERE PERFECT! Now....to make it one more time for the birthday boy......
Ingredients
2
cups flour
½
tsp. baking soda
¼
tsp salt
1
cup oats (uncooked)
¾
cup sugar
¾
cup Dark Brown sugar
1
cup butter, softened
2
large eggs
2
tsp. vanilla
1
tsp. lemon juice
12
oz. chocolate chips
1½
cup walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
Place the butter in a large bowl and cream lightly with an
electric mixer. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed for
about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well
after each addition. Add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix
well.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oatmeal,
baking soda, and salt. Add to the creamed butter mixture and
stir well to blend. Add chocolate chips and walnuts and stir
to combine. Using a 1/4 cup measure or a 2−oz ice cream scoop,
drop the batter on the cookie sheets, leaving 2 −3 inches
between each cookie. Bake for 13 − 15 minutes or until lightly
browned around the edges.
Remove from the cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.
INGREDIENTS: 6 Shredded Pots 1 1/2 cups plain Greek Yogurt 1/2 cup Chicken Broth 1/2 cup Milk (at least 2%) 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1 tsp Onion Powder 1 tsp Season All Salt 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning 1/2 tsp Black Pepper 1 cup Shredded Cheese (of your choice...but be sure it is NOT low-fat) Salt and Pepper to taste
*Although this recipe is much lower in fat/calories than the traditional, it still needs some fat to make sure the ingredients bind while cooking...that is why I suggest 2% milk and regular cheese...if you use low fat everything, it will turn out watery.... DIRECTIONS: Pre-Heat Oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all ingredients into a large bowl. Grease a 9 X 13 glass or ceramic (no metal!) baking pan with cooking spray. Pour potato mixture into baking pan and spread evenly. Bake uncovered for 55 min.
*I have never encountered this, but if you are worried about the yogurt curdling, try mixing in 1.5 Tbs of flour to the potato mixture before pouring into the baking pan*
8 peeled carrots 3 tbs olive oil 1/4 cup of honey salt and pepper to taste 1.Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F 2.Place the whole carrots into a baking dish, and drizzle with olive oil. Mix until the carrots are completely covered with olive oil. Pour on the honey, then season to taste with salt and pepper; mix until evenly coated. 3.Bake in the preheated oven until just tender, or cooked to your desired degree of doneness, 40 minutes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter and pour into a 9x13 inch pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Generously sprinkle parmesan cheese and lightly sprinkle other seasonings all over the butter. Place potato halves face down on the butter and seasonings. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve on a plate with a side of sour cream for dipping.
Chicken:
Marinade:
the best 4 ingredient chicken marinade: 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vinegar
Firstly, I will start this post with a massive surprise. Do you remember a few days ago when I posted the shortbread cookies? If not, let me remind you by posting the link here. I thought the cookies were awful! So awful in fact, I left them here at the house instead of taking them to Tim's parents house, of which they were made for.
Anyway, my housemate, Kara told me today they were the best cookies I've made to date; this includes the rocky road cookies too! She said they were just as good as ones she's purchased from the bakery! EEK! haha- This thrills me!
The beef was made exactly as prescribed by the recipe; except! I didn't have enough parsley, so I halved the recipe with (something else that I will add here later when I get back into the kitchen to take a look)
The broccoli salad is something I have always enjoyed as a teenager. I worked in a restaurant and they made this all the time. So good! This is the second time I've made this, although, they were different from one another. At dinner, Mat and Kara said to start that it was a good meal. At the end, they said how great it was again. A great mix of healthy and tasty.
The beef is a lean beef with seasonings, and no salt. The broc salad; while not so clean, isn't so bad with the Greek yogurt replacing mayo. Using turkey bacon makes it a bit more clean than regular bacon. So on the health scale; its a bit closer to clean than some other ways you can make it.
With that, they added that this should be added to the weekly roster. haha- so, with a full belly and a happy heart, I finish this last post tonight.
This is THE cookie I've been trying to make for so long...... It's taken me forever to get all the ingredients in the house at the same time. BUT here they are.....
Ingredients:
3 cups
powdered sugar
2/3 cup
unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp
salt
3 extra
large egg whites
1 tbsp
vanilla extract
2 cups
semisweet chocolate chips
2.5 oz
sliced almonds, toasted
1 cup mini
marshmallows
Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line two sheet pans with
parchment paper.
2.In a large bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa
powder. Whisk in the salt. Add the egg whites and vanilla and whisk until
combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds.
To compare the stack to Tim's head....
3.Use a disher to portion out small mounds on to the parchment
paper, then top each cookie with 4-5 marshmallows. Pop into the freezer for 5
minutes to chill slightly (this prevents them from spreading too much in the
oven).
4.Bake for 12-13 minutes until the marshmallows are golden brown.
Let the cookies sit on the paper for a few minutes to set, before moving them
to a wire rack to cool. Are these ooey gooey or what? Enjoy!!!
I decided that I didn't want these cookies to be around the house long. Therefore, I made them a bit bigger with the total lapse in logical judgment as to how big they would grow. I had NO idea they would expand to the size they did!! When I pulled them out of the oven, I laid an Australian 10 cent piece beside it to give you some kind of idea how big these cookies are! haha- You don't want to be eating an entire one in one sitting.
But I must say: THESE ARE AMAZING!! A bit too chocolaty for me, but for those of you who love sweets and chocolate: this is the cookie for you.
The woman who posted these on her site should get a massive thank you, as these were just simply divine! NOT healthy in anyway shape or form and I'm so sorry Kara for messing with those abs you're working for!!
Next baked good will be a crack at homemade Samoan Girl Scout Cookies.... Can't wait!!
For at least two weeks now, I have been trying to make (Flourless) Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies. For one reason or another I have not been able to make these. The first time, I didn't have the sugar or marshmallows, the second time, I didn't have the marshmallows and thought I'd as my mom to send me some from the States as I couldn't find any here. But today! I thought I was going to successfully be able to finally make these yummy cookies.
I pulled all of the dry ingredient's out and went to the fridge. There I found NO EGGS! URGH.
That's okay, I've also been saying that I've wanted to make shortbread cookies. So today was the day. As most things I enjoy baking these cookies have VERY few ingredients.
2 cups flour 1 cup cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes 1/2 cup granulated sugar
jam 1/4 tsp salt
optional: powdered sugar
Kneed the first three ingredients into your mixing bowl, Roll out until the dough is about 1/8th inch thick. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Set your oven to 325 degrees.
Cut your bottoms and tops of your cookies out using any coo
kie cutters you wish.
Set them on a pan and refrigerate for another 15 minutes. Take your cold dough cookies out, and bake for about 13-15 minutes until a firm. Do not overcook as these cookies, like all cookies will continue to cook after you pull them from the oven. Cool.
Sprinkle tops with some powdered sugar.
Coat the bottom with a jam of your choice and sandwich them together.
Seems easy enough right? Don't be fooled. First of all, 40 minutes is a VERY long time to cool. So what can you do in the meantime? I did laundry.....I'm sure you can find anything else that would be more entertaining.....
So not working.....
Assistance from my boy......
First Batch were burnt.
But don't worry! I learned from my mistakes!
Needless to say; they sucked. Horribly awfully bad. Will need to try again.....someday.
This is so great! I recommend it! Its not spicy either!
First I'd like to say, that this meal was 100000000 times better than yesterday's. As yesterday was such an awful day in the kitchen for me. I started out thinking I'd make the meal posted above, but the internet went down....No pintrest...therefore, no recipe. So I changed the meal to Chicken Alfredo.....BUT the internet came back on right when I started making dinner, so MID dinner making, I changed to this meal. I was literally making two meals at the same time without even thinking!!
So I stopped making the above and finished the Alfredo (Which was awful and not like the recipe at all because I was so flustered I just threw the stuff together without following the recipe).
TODAY was much better. I was a lot more organized and I started dinner at the perfect time and was able to complete it right on time.
3 Tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 6 large garlic cloves, chopped 2 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika, any other paprika will do 1 1/2 tsp celtic salt 2 tsps turmeric 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp fennel seeds, ground 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground ginger 2 tomatoes, chopped 2 cups water 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 12 organic chicken thighs, fat removed 12 organic chicken drumsticks, skinned 1 large eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes (I don't eat eggplant so we used potato instead) 2 Tbsp marjoram 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds or slivered almonds Chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large wide pot, this is what I used, over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add paprika, salt, turmeric, coriander, fennel, pepper, cumin, and ginger, stir for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, water, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Arrange all chicken in a single layer in the pot and spoon some sauce over. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes turn the chicken over, cover and simmer for 5 minutes longer. Stir eggplant and marjoram into chicken. Carefully stir through and cook uncovered 10 more minutes over medium to high heat until chicken is tender and the eggplant is fully cooked. Season stew to taste with more lemon juice, salt and pepper if you like. Transfer chicken to a large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with almonds and cilantro. I served this chicken with this Moroccan couscous recipe. I actually doubled the recipe for it. Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
This is why I don't get too hard on myself when I eat the wrong things. This is why, if I miss a workout, I'm not stressed about it.
Thing is: I have better things to worry and stress about. Well, I don't know about better...but rather other things.
I could be this girl. Anyone of them. I don't want to be one. I want to love my body in whatever shape or size it is. I want to enjoy food and working out without the added pressure of what everyone else thinks.
So yes, I will eat ice cream for breakfast and then do a run in the afternoon. I won't go to the gym if I don't want to and why I won't look like a fitness model ever.
I am me. And I am happy with my flabby ass. Okay-that's not true. haha-but here's the thing; my boy likes my body. And my body gives me something to work on, so in a round about way, I am more happy than not.
Taco Pizza was the name of the game last night. The response of Tim and my flatmates was of shock. Like, what is this crazy American telling us??
It was amazing, and not just by my standards, the crew also enjoyed the dinner. Tim felt the need to make his own pizza, which looked amazing. Chicken and mushrooms. Mat and Kara were very pleased with both.
The boy was such a sweetheart and washed the dishes.
I made a few changes which I'll note in the receipe:
1 pound lean ground beef (I only used 1/2 a pound) 1 envelope taco seasoning mix (Tim made our own seasoning due to his salt intolerance) 1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated Pillsbury pizza dough (He also made our own dough!!) 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans 2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes 1/4 cup sliced black olives 4 green onions, chopped
Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Drain grease. Add taco seasoning to the ground beef according to package directions.
Unroll pizza dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.. . Let dough sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Press dough over the bottom and up along all 4 sides the of cookie sheet. Bake pizza dough for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven. (our dough was a bit thin- so I skipped this step)
Place refried beans into a microwavable-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. (I always add a bit of milk and cheese to my beans, makes them a bit more creamy and yummy!) Stir well and then spread beans evenly over the top of the warm pizza crust. Top with the cooked ground beef mixture, sprinkle with cheese and then add the tomatoes, black olives and green onion.
Return to oven and bake another 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted. (We baked the whole thing for 25 minutes and it was perfect) Serve immediately and enjoy!
This was a must do sometime again, it was that good.
