Better than BJs Pizza

Ok, let's be honest. You can't get pizza better than BJs.

But this is a close 2nd :) And it's easy. And we love it!

The Dough:

Makes 1 large pizza

Follow this dough recipe from Allrecipes.com and make these changes:

- Only use 3/4 cups of warm water

- Throw in some (a teaspoon or 2) garlic salt/powder, oregano and baisil to the dough mixture to add delicious some taste (optional)

- Let the dough rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour (or longer if you have the time).

- Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes

(Yes you will have to buy bread four and yeast... but the homemade dough is soooo goooooooood :))

Easy Sauce:

Enough for 3 large pizzas (so make it in a bowl to refrigerate).

So I'm sure this isn't the world's best sauce cuz it's not homemade, but I think it's still delicious and so easy!

- 1 jar Ragu Chunky Tomato Garlic & Onion & Spaghetti Sauce

- 1 can diced italian flavored tomatoes (drained)

- 1 small can tomato paste

BBQ Chicken Pizza Toppings:

- Do a swirl of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce on the dough

- Then put on the tomato sauce and mix it around to mesh the two

- Heavy layer of red onions

- Layer of cheddar cheese

- Dice chicken and mix it well with the BBQ sauce, then put on pizza

- Layer of mozzarella cheese

- Cilantro

- (Also you can add bacon, green onion, red bell pepper...)

The order:

- First make the dough and set it aside to rise.

- Then start slicing and dicing for all your toppings.

- And of course, make your sauce.

- By this time, I'm sure the dough is raised. Turn on the oven.

- Roll the dough out on a floured surface and put it on your pizza pan/stone.

- Add all your toppings generously- the more filling it is the less slices you'll eat!

For kids: Make personal pizzas and let them top their own!

Leftovers:

So you're not eating a giant pizza every day, try serving a salad first, then once your done heat up & serve your pizza. You'll feel fuller from the salad and will hopefully not eat as much pizza!

(And I do realize our salads below are NOT healthy! Haha! Try a vinaigrette dressing, more veggies and less cheese :))

Enjoy!

With love from Pleasanton,

Paige

Polished Mama

I feel a strange connection to a small business owner. Maybe because I had my own for 6 months? Or because my dad is one? Anyways, I am intrigued by small businesses and always love rooting for their success!

And this one is pretty cool. My former dance coach Joslyn's sister made this business.

It's called Polished Mama (check out their website and their Facebook page).

"Kristin has created a line of his polish specially designed for use by mothers during pregnancy and beyond... Kristin respects the need to stay away from chemicals that could leech into breast milk and even amniotic fluid. Kristin is passionate about the well being of the mother-baby dyad and has used this passion as the creative push behind Polished Mama."

Pretty cool, huh?

So join me to support this really awesome small business and possibly share it with moms you know? They've got some great nail polish remover I'm about to order too...

And if you want to get in the contest to win $45 worth of free polish, "like" their Facebook page and submit a fun name for their new polish color!

But if you enter the names Midnight Feeding and Dark Circles you're so a copycat, because I already did that ;)

With love from Pleasanton,

Polished-not-yet-a-mama-Paige

Hide 'n' Seek = Hide 'n' Freak

Right now I'm in our Panera hanging out with Jeremy.

He's working his butt off, scribbling and typing and searching while probably knowing all the while I'm inevitably on the other side of the computer screen clicking around on Facebook, wedding websites (I'm still obsessed) or posting yet another blog post.

Yup, here I am. :)

I don't come with anything to convince you of today. Sigh of relief?

Or a really funny story. Sigh of sadness?

Just compelled by the feeling right now to chronicle a happy, simple moment. Of looking at my handsome man in his periwinkle blue scrubs, listening to old people talking around me, making awkward eye contact with that guy... (oops) and mustering up the focus to get back to searching online for job openings.

If no one has mentioned to you or not, marriage is hard. Now I don't think my marriage is particularly harder than any others and this isn't a 911 call. But you get two people with a forever bond, bills, life decisions, shopping habits and TV show options and you are bound to create a sort of chaos at times.

Not to mention sleeping within 1 foot of each other. I'm still surprised this is a normal trend. Why did no one suggest the king sized bed?! All you veteran married people, I blame you a little for our queen purchase!

Anyways, I was reading "Bittersweet" by, you guessed it, Shauna Niequest the other day and she has an ode to brides. Wow, it was GOOD! One of those things that before marriage I would have read it and moved on. But now that I'm in marriage I understand why she wrote it and how rich those words are.

One of my favorite parts of the chapter, besides "Don't listen to everyone's advice, even mine" (so necessary), was the part about the first 6 months of marriage you'll be wanting your spouse to ask you for their forgiveness and the second 6 months you'll be asking them for forgiveness.

How true is this?! Sending a big HOLLER to the 4 of you I know that are in year 1 still.

I've often felt a little crazy these last few months and I've realized one of my key reasons: I can't hide.

I can't hide when I'm emotional because, guess what, he lives here too.

I can't hide when I make an awful meal because, guess what, he eats it too.

I can't hide when I am jealous of a friend because, guess what, he can tell!

I can't hide when I am being crazy because, guess what, he's not an idiot.

Errr... can someone say perfectionist?

So much of this reminds me of my relationship with the Lord. How I try to fix everything I have going wrong before I come to him, forgetting that I can't hide.

That he doesn't want perfect me. He wants me, who is imperfect.

And I usually find where I grow the most in both relationships is when I work out my mess with the other person by my side, helping me see clarity where I see mud, and practicing grace and forgiveness with one big broken me.

So that's that, folks. Hide 'n' Seak turns into Hide 'n' Freak.

[Insert the "Let go and let God" corny but true phrase here]

With love from Panera,

Paige

Hi, I'm Paige, and I eat fat.

(sorry my blog format is off. I can't fix the double spaced.)

Something that's been swirling around my mind lately is scared of fat we are.

And I would say "America" but it goes way past this country.

It's our world culture where thin is in and anything but abs is not just out, but shameful.

When I was at my heaviest I remedied the situation by switching to diet foods.

You know, rice puffs, tasteless cereals, diet sodas, fake peanut butter, low cal cheese, individual sized frozen meals, spray butter, zero cal chips...

Now, I'm not anti-diet food per se. Or anti-diet.

Or anti-doing-what-you-need-to-do-to-stay-healthy.

(Key word: healthy)

What I see is that food is no longer nutrients and fuel for our beautiful bodies.

It no longer is a time of celebration around a table, but has been dissected into calorie counting and portioned out into plastic baggies and taking off the buns for -100 calories.

And it makes sense why. Look at the obesity rate. We are obsessed with food. We like free soda refills and all-you-can-eat and Cheesecake Factory portions to make our money's worth. We have to be full to the max.

I wish we could all see food as our friend, rather than our enemy.

I wish the words "Butter" and "Sugar" didn't freak the crap out of people.

That we could learn to use moderation, to not stuff or faces and sneak chocolate chips.

Then food wouldn't be so freaky. Such an enemy.

So today I bought butter. Actual fatty, yummy butter.

And I'm using it sparingly so I don't die of a heart attack at 21.

But I'm using it.

(By the way, butter is like $4!?)

(By the way, it’s delicious)

I wish we could love our bodies. Work with what we've got.

Get them to their maximum potentials in healthy manners.

Yes, exercise regularly. Yes, eat a million veggies and fruits and proteins.

And not make an excuse for a dang COOKIE that was made with the ridiculously expensive butter.

Just to eat it, enjoy it, and move on.

I wish we could see our bodies as an awesome gift, to take care of and nurture.

And when we looked in the mirror we smiled.

I think one of the first steps to getting our minds healthy is to look at the people around us differently.

To compliment on them on things that don't involve their waist size, such as, "You look great. So healthy and happy."

My friend Elli is the queen at good compliments. If you need one, ask her.

Then, maybe then, we will start seeing ourselves in this same way.

Eating healthy, actual food and being happy.

____

What have been your experiences with diet foods and self-image?

What have been healthy habits you have developed to not be obsessed with just being thin?

Hilarious Memories

As I am searching for a job (or, like today, avoiding searching for a job), I am reminded of my experience doing the same thing 7 months ago.

Living in El Centro was amazing, wonderful, and hilarious.

Here's quite possibly my favorite memory, archived in a previous post, "The Kicker", which happened to be the most popular post of my blogging career.

Man, I hope that doesn't happen again.

But if it does I promise I'll write about it again.

With love from Pleasanton,

Paige

P.S. the answer to the Poll question was: I've lived in 4 cities! Sacramento, LA (Azusa/San Dimas), El Centro, Pleasanton... and coming soon: San Jose.

Pleasanton Home

It feels a little odd to me to post pictures of our apartment when we will probably be moving in the next few months, but I so enjoy seeing other people's homes I figured I'd post my own.

Something about having a mental picture where someone spends their day makes me feel like I'm not so far away from them. So maybe you and I won't feel so far away :)

Giant closet = LOVE!

My favorite place:

And we had some visitors!! My family came down to check out the new pad:

Chet showing off his muscles!

Evie showing off her muscles

Mom showing off her muscles lol!

Group shot! 1/2 silly 1/2 happy

And I had to throw one in of my handsome man off to his first day of work weeks ago!

With love from Pleasanton,

Paige

Twenty Something

In response to "For you, post-grad", my friend Sue recommended a song called "Twenty Something" by Jamie Cullums.

It's jazzy, funny and way too true. Thanks, Sue!

With love from Pleasanton,

This twenty something girl