4th of July

Every year my mom and dad go to the San Diego County Fair at least three times. They love it! So this year we joined them on the most crowded day of summer, the fourth of July! There was an endless sea of people everywhere, it was insane! But we didn't let the crowds get to us. We went all in; participating every fair filled activity you can think of.. eating fried foods, riding carnival rides, listening to loud music and petting lots of smelly livestock! Oh and don't forget the monster trucks. It just doesn't get more American than that! We had a blast. At the end of the night we made our way over to the far side of the park in hopes to find a good spot to watch the fireworks.. After breaking quite a few rules and passing a few "employee only" signs we found the most amazing spot. We laid directly beneath the fireworks and even had pieces of them falling on us! The boom of the first one that was shot off was so loud that we all jumped! Our family is pretty obsessed with fireworks so this night was life changing for us.We 'oooohhhhed' and 'ahhhhhhhed' the entire time as we watched the beauties explode over the lake just a few feet in front of us! It was amazing. After the show was over we heard chirping from all these tiny baby birds that got separated from their mamas during the firework show. Of course, I freaked out with excitement and started running around catching them all, trying to reunite the little bird village. Half way into my bird  mission, this old man cop came and tore into to us telling is to "GET UP" "I MEAN IT" "GET OUT OF HERE!" So we scurried away from the no trespassing zone and left our bird friends behind. It was certainly a fourth of July we won't forget!! Hah!!

Pizza Night

This simple homemade pizza recipe is an all time favorite at our house! Since November, my husband and I have been trying to incorporate more veggies into our diet and eliminate fatty meats. As a meat lover, veggie pizza never sounded too appetizing to to me but the first time we had this pizza we were amazed by how rich in flavor it was. It's fairly simple to make as long as you don't mind a little mess in your kitchen. I usually get a little out of control throwing the dough around like an old Italian pro even though I have no idea what I'm doing. Last night we found flour on my husband's laptop ... in the living room. Ha! So try not to get too excited about the dough like me if you want to keep the clean up to a minimum. If messy cooking is your style, go big or go home! 

What you will need!

1 8 oz package of mushrooms

2 Bell Peppers

1/2 red onion

1/2 cup cilantro

1/2 cup artichoke hearts

(And any other veggies your heart desires)

1 package of trader joe's pizza dough

3/4 cup trader joe's marinara sauce

1 cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

2 heads of garlic

2 tablespoons crushed garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

What to do!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Rinse Veggies

3. Roughly chop all Veggies

4. Cover your surface with a handfull of flour

5. Kneed dough into an oval shape until it is about 1/2 thick

6. Coat your cookie sheet with Olive Oil or Pam

7. Transfer dough to cookie sheet

8.Cover with sauce

Spread 1-2 tablespoons of crushed garlic into sauce.

 (Don't over do it! Too much sauce will make your dough gooey)

9. Dump on the cheese and toppings.

10. Top with salt and pepper

11. Cook at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes

12. Remove Pizza from oven, pour about 1/2 cup of olive oil on the surface and top

it off with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Garlic LOVERS (like us)

1. Take 1-2 heads of garlic and cut off the tops

2. Coat generously with olive oil and salt

3. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes

4. Remove from oven and let cool

5. Peel and eat

You can throw it on top of your pizza or mix it with some seasoning and use it on  garlic bread or just eat it plain like we do. Sweet, smooth, caramelized garlic... doesn't get much better than that!

The best thing about making this meal is that its so much fun! Perfect for a fun date night. You can even get crazy with it and have some friend over for "make your own pizza night". Hope you enjoy this recipe!