Chicken Fajita Pizza

I used this recipe to make the crust, but I put the bowl in a warmed oven while prepping the toppings so it could rise a little. I also reduced the salt to 1/4 t, and I used powdered sugar instead of granulated since that was what I had. The yeasts like it just fine.

For the sauce I mixed 1 T chili powder, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 T cumin in with 7 oz of tomato sauce.

Rub 4 oz of chicken breast with chili powder, and grill for a few minutes. Let it cool, then shred. It's ok if it's slightly undercooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven, and you don't want it to overcook and get dry. Cut 1 bell pepper into strips. I used the other halves of one red and one yellow pepper used in last night's tacos.

Spread the sauce evenly over the pizza crust, and top with pieces of chicken and pepper, then cover with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and a dash of red pepper flakes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

I made this pizza in the morning before work, then covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, so when I got home we just had to toss it in the oven. That gave the crust time to rise a little more too, but it really doesn't need to. I've made this crust before and baked it immediately and it was good, just not as puffy.

I cut it into 12 pieces. Nutrition info is for 1/12th of the pizza.

Leftover chili for breakfast

This morning I heated up some leftover chili with a slice of muenster cheese, and put a fried egg on top. I do this with leftover beans as well. It's very hearty but still feels breakfasty.
For lunch I brought one of the strawberry Greek yogurts I bought yesterday, and made a salad with lettuce, grilled chicken, strawberries, gorgonzola, and raspberry walnut vinaigrette. I have bananas and peanuts at work if I need a snack.

Shopping trip + meals and snacks for 06-19-14

I hit up the grocery store after work today as we were getting pitifully low on fruits and veggies. Here's what I got:

6 bananas $2.06
Can of honey roasted peanuts $2.50
1/2 gallon 2% milk $1.79
1 head living butter lettuce $3.99
1 lb radishes $1.99
1 lb strawberries $1.88
2 lbs cherries $7.80
2 nectarines $2.07
4 lemons (reduced for quick sale) $.99
3 pears (reduced for quick sale) $.99
3 strawberry Greek yogurts (reduced for quick sale) $.49 each ($1.47 total)
3 yeast packet strips (9 packets total, clearance) $1.74 each ($5.22 total)

Total $32.75


Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: French toast with peaches
Lunch: Liberte Mediterranee yogurt, hummus and cracker pack
Dinner: tilapia tacos
Snacks: banana, honey roasted peanuts
Beverages: Crystal Light, water

Jeremy had a team meeting at work at an Italian restaurant, which was paid for by his employer. He got spaghetti and meatballs. He skipped breakfast, but his lunch was huge.

His nephrologist called today and told him he should cut his intake of fruits and vegetables by about 25%. I suspect that most of his potassium is coming from dried beans/lentils though. He didn't say if this was supposed to be temporary or permanent. Jeremy will go in to see him next week, and ask him then. He was also taken off of a couple of his medications. His potassium levels were still a bit high, so he had to drink more brown chalky stuff.

Tilapia tacos

8 oz tilapia, cut into several pieces
1/3 cup oil
6 corn tortillas
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used half of a yellow one and half of a red one)
juice of one lemon
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
6 T reduced fat sour cream

Add 2 T of the oil to a hot pan, and add fish, peppers, lemon juice, and seasonings. Sautee until the fish is fully cooked, breaking it up into smaller pieces as you cook. Add the remaining oil to another pan, and fry each tortilla for about 60 seconds on each side on high heat. Serve with sour cream. Makes six tacos. Nutrition info is for one taco.

Our little apartment

One thing we do, which saves us hundreds a month, and is probably the single biggest money saver we employ, is living small. Two bedroom apartments in our neighborhood, or anywhere near it, average over 2000 a month in rent. Instead, our family of 3 lives in a 600 sq ft one bedroom apartment. The rent is $1220 a month, which includes all utilities except cable/internet. We can walk almost everywhere and live a 10 minute walk from the Light Rail and the bus tunnel, so we don't own a car. The bedroom and living room are each 11 feet by 14 feet, and Winter's room is in the 19 ft by 4 ft walk in closet.

The living room and dining room as viewed from the bedroom

Better view of the dining room area

This is the right half of our bedroom. It's divided with a wardrobe and a dresser (the cats like sleeping on the dresser, and hanging out on the "cat terraces") on one side...

...and a shelf on the other side. The left side has a work table for painting and crafts, and on the opposite wall (not shown) is the computer desk.

This is a view of the living room from standing in front of the window. The bathroom and front door are in the alcove to the left. The large door in the center is one of the entrances to Winter's "closet". The other is in the bedroom between the work table and desk.

The kitchen. It actually has a lot of cabinet space, which we use to store many non-kitchen things as well.

Opening the door to Winter's room. The bench is actually an IKEA coffee table which I added a foam cushion to, and covered in fake fur. It has a storage ottoman underneath.

The area under the bed is used for her closet space mostly. She also has her dollhouse there.

She made her dollhouse out of boxes and other items from the recycle, popsicle sticks, old clothing and fabric scraps, and duct tape. She also sewed and crocheted all those little clothes.

Her desk by the window. This window leads to the fire escape. We also made use of the big doors by adding hanging storage and a hanging laundry hamper. In a room this small and narrow, you want to keep as much off the floor as you can.

This is the view from the other end by the desk. My dad built the loft for her. It cost me about $75 in materials.

Up in the loft. I found those wall pockets on clearance at Target for $6. The light can be turned on and off with a pull chain.

This is right by the door that leads to the living room. The shelf on the right side is a repurposed aquarium stand. We weren't using it, and wanted to hang onto it since it goes with our aquarium, but we had no place to store it. So we used $15 worth of pine ply to make a shelf out of it.

And last, but not least, here is a video tour of Winter's bedroom!

French toast with peaches

I made myself French toast for breakfast. I used one egg, two T of half and half, a little cinnamon and nutmeg and two slices of buttermilk bread. For the topping I thawed out the last half cup or so of peach slices and put them in a saucepan with a dash of cornstarch and cinnamon. I also topped it with a heaping teaspoon of powdered sugar. Yum!

Update on Jeremy's doctor visit, and meals for 06-18-14

So, it turns out Jeremy was just in time in getting to the doctor. One of his kidney medications had been increased about a month ago, but the dose was too high. As a result his levels were seriously out of whack. Calcium and potassium levels were way too high. Of course he finds this out right after eating another big bowl of chili, with over 1000 mg of potassium per bowl. They sent in an emergency script for some foul smelling tan colored chalky liquid he had to take four tablespoons of. Tomorrow he will have more blood drawn to recheck his levels. He says he's feeling much better already.

I wound up buying an iced coffee, a banana, and two pieces of chocolate while working at the airport today. I spent $3.70 total. I can't really bring my own coffee through TSA, but I need to start bringing snacks with me. It's busy in the summer and I tend to burn through my lunch way too fast.

Breakfast: Liberte Greek yogurt with mango chunks
Lunch: strawberries and a salad with lettuce, leftover couscous, hard boiled egg, gorgonzola, jalapeno stuffed green olives, carrot, and balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner: leftover chili with sour cream
Snacks/desserts: banana, two pieces of chocolate
Beverages: water, Crystal Light, iced coffee with half and half and simple syrup