Christmas shenanigans

When people tell you time flies, it really does when you have kids. I always say I am going to start my Christmas shopping early, be ahead of the game, and done in no time. Of course, the procrastinator in me didn't allow that to happen, again. Gets me every time. I did try though this year, but things blur by and the next thing you know Christmas is here. In fact, this year was a bit embarrassing I must admit. I knew I was a bit behind, but I thought I still had time.

I had gone on Pinterest and came up with cute ideas for gifts this year. I know most people just buy what they want anyways at my age, so I thought they would like something a little more special this year. Well, as we all know, Pinterest ideas can go one of two ways, a fabulous idea that will likely be repeated, or lets not try that EVER again. I chose to do ornaments with the girls hand prints on them. Cute idea right? I'm sure it could have been cute. I mean they did turn out okay, but I would definitely make some changes before I recommend it to anyone else. You see, we got a little gutsy and decided to use kid friendly glue for the handprint and glitter over it. Having one little hand print on an ornament would be difficult I'm sure. Trying to get your little tot to open their hand, not smear it on the ornament, themselves, or you can be a bit tricky. With twins it's even harder. I may have gotten one twins hand on the ornament perfectly, but then to get the other to cooperate on that same ornament? Not likely. We made a bit of a production of it. We did all hand prints of one childs, let them dry and went back later and did the other childs. If I had to do it again, I would have went with paint. Or as my husband suggested, traced their hands and then replicated it ourselves on the bulbs. That would take the fun out of it though right? Let's just say Adam and I finally completed this project about an hour before we had to be at our families Christmas Eve party.

Somehow I had been off a week. I thought Christmas was the following week. Up until the weekend before, when my Dad who was going out of town mentioned his flight. "What do you mean? I thought you left next week." I had said. "Katie, Christmas is this weekend." Eeee welp I certainly screwed that one up (I can't be the only one who has done this right?) Adams present was ordered the following day (thank you Amazon Prime) as were a few others. Thankfully I had actually been done with the girls shopping and just had to wrap it up.

Even with all the chaos that last week, flying around trying to get everything finished up for Christmas, it was a great one. The girls were just old enough to realize they got new toys to play with. Maybe not the entire Christmas idea, but they had a blast. We got them a little kitchen and a princess tent with some other smaller things. Most of it they will share anyways at this age. Personally I think they would be happy with just about anything. Don't stress Christmas shopping especially when they are young. They would be just as happy playing with the boxes.

Katies Low Cal BBQ Chicken Pizza

I'm sure you are thinking, low calorie pizza? No way Katie! Tell me more! The entire crust of this pizza is only 435 calories! That's about the same as ONE SLICE of a normal pizza! So here it is. The dough is made out of cauliflower. I know that sounds strange, but I promise it's actually really delicious. I've even had friends ask me just to make the dough for a snack because it tastes so good. You would never think it was cauliflower. Trust me on this. I will list out all the ingredients you will need for the dough and toppings. You can always alter it later on with whatever toppings and sauces you like, but this is one of my favorites.

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 clove fresh chopped garlic
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp olive oil
2 bonless skinless chicken breasts (approx 6 oz)
3/4 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (I am partial to a mix of KC Masterpiece and Sweet Baby Rays)
1 sliced yellow bell pepper
1 sliced red bell pepper
1 c fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can chopped, pitted black olives
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsp chopped parsley


To rice the cauliflower take 1 large fresh head of cauliflower, remove stems and leaves and chop (by cheese grater or food processor, DO NOT make into a paste). Place in a medium sized bowl and microwave 1 cup for 8 minutes into the microwave (the rest of the cauliflower, one head makes about 3 cups, can be saved for future crusts). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Use a pizza or cookie pan and spray with olive oil or non stick cooking spray. Use this time to take your boneless skinless chicken and cut into small bite sized pieces. Place in a sauté pan at medium heat and cover (stir periodically to keep from burning). When the cauliflower is done cooking use the same bowl and add 1 egg and mix together thoroughly. Add 1 cup mozzarella cheese, garlic, garlic salt, oregano, and olive oil. Mix well. Scoop the mixture onto you pre-sprayed cookie sheet. Using your hands flatten the "dough" into about a 9inch area (should be pretty thin). Place in the oven for 13-15 minutes depending on how crispy you like it. While this is cooking remove lid from your chicken and cook off extra water in the pan (should be only a minute or so). Once the water has evaporated add 1/2 a bottle of your BBQ sauce and re-cover. Slice mushrooms and peppers, and chop olives. When your crust has finished cooking add the remainder of BBQ sauce (use your judgment on how much sauce you prefer) and spread over crust. Add cooked chicken, olives, peppers, and mushrooms over your pizza. Spread sharp cheddar cheese and the remainder of the mozzarella on the top and place back in the oven for approx 3 minutes or until cheese has melted. When it has finished in the oven sprinkle the chopped parsley over the pizza and you are done!
 The picture here is the first one I ever made, and unfortunately not the prettiest so I will have to take a better one for you all to see with step by step instructions when I have more time. For now this will have to do.