Yummy in my tummy.

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I feel that I don't write about food enough, so you guys would not know the amount of love I have for food. I'm no chef, but I love Food Network. It is probably the first thing I flip to if I ever watch TV. HGTV is second. Previous to my favorite food confrontation, I have always believed that I loved all food equally until I realized that if I only had one type of dish left to eat on this earth, only one particular type of food would pop in my hungry head. I finally discovered what my favorite food is..or food genre anyway. Italian! Oh-my-sweet-goodness! First it started off with my love for cheese. Yum, I love cheese. Then my love grew for basil, olive oil, any type of pasta, and most of all....again, cheese. I don't have a favorite Italian dish or anything, but quite frankly, why would I? It's all just so delicious! I recently became a registered user on the Food Network website and I found this amazing recipe. Which, of course...I will be sharing with you all today! Bon Appétit!

The Only Pizza You'll Ever Want Again: Chicken, Sun Dried Tomato, Broccoli, Ricotta, Mozzarella and Basil

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray and Tripp
Prep Time: 15 min Inactive Prep Time: -- Cook Time: 20 min Level:
Easy Serves: 8 slices, 4 servings Ingredients

Ingredients

Crust:
1 (16-ounce) package pizza dough, brought to room temperature
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Toppings:
1/3 pound broccoli from trimmed broccoli bin in produce section, 1/3 head
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
3 cloves cracked garlic
1/2 pound chicken breast cut for stir fry or chicken tenders
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
10 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and sliced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, available on dairy aisle
12 to 15 leaves fresh basil, torn or stacked and thinly sliced

Directions

+Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

+On a 12-inch nonstick pizza pan, stretch out your dough and form the pizza crust. Drizzle 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil on crust and spread it with a pastry brush over the dough to the edges. Sprinkle crust with 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

+In a small covered saucepan, bring 2 inches water to a boil. Separate broccoli tops into florets, discarding lower stalks or reserving for soup. Salt water and add broccoli florets. Cook covered 3 to 5 minutes. Drain broccoli and set on cutting board. Chop broccoli florets into small pieces.

+Heat a small nonstick pan over medium high to high heat. Add oil, cracked garlic and chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Brown chicken breast cut for stir-fry or tenders until lightly golden all over, 3 to 5 minutes. Chop sauteed chicken and garlic on a cutting board into small pieces.

+To assemble pizza, dot crust with chopped broccoli bits and cooked chopped chicken. Dot crust with spoonfuls of ricotta and spread ricotta gently with the back of your spoon. Add sliced sun-dried tomatoes, scattering them around the pizza to the edges. Complete the assembly with a thin layer of shredded mozzarella, about 1 cup. Place pizza in oven on middle rack and lower heat to 450 degrees F. Bake 12 minutes, until cheese is deep golden in color and crust is brown and crisp at the edges. Remove pizza from the oven and let stand 5 minutes. Top with lots of torn or shredded basil. Cut pizza into 8 slices using pizza wheel and serve.

AAA post.

&&& I don't mean the travel agency.

This is....All About Amanda.

It seems as if this girl is everywhere. I mean, everywhere.

You've probably seen her on such movies as; Mean Girls, Mama Mia, Chloe(this movie weirded me out by the way), Dear John, Jennifer's body, Letters to Juliet...& etc, but 2010 has been very good to her. Oh, so good.

What drew me to be more fond of her is because of her appearance on the Chelsea Lately show and she was just about awesome there. I absolutely love Chelsea Handler. She is hilarious! Anyway, miss Seyfried very much interests me as well because of her musical talent. It's not because she's pretty, gets to kiss all the really cute boys, and makes a whole lot of money doing it....she actually writes her own songs and sings quite beautifully. I realized this after watching Dear John. I included the song below. Watch and enjoy.

Dear Amanda Seyfried,



I wish I had your life sometimes and your hair.

In my heart you will stay, safe and warm.

In one word or phrase - Let it be.
Vacation in Italy, I blame you...Letters to Juliet & Under the Tuscan Sun. -I'm dreaming of you

Song on Repeat - Starry Night "This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.."

I am happy. I am healthy. I am terrific! - Gotta write it down

Lesson Learned - Never let anger ruin your day.

Milliken Park, South Carolina(2007) Taken by yours truly. -Picture to frame

Highlight of the week - Wine, cheesecake, Tom & Jerry, all from a visit from sweet cupcake.

Craft day, Saturday and Relax day, Sunday. -Weekend to do list

Inspriday

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Happy Friday everyone! Much love...

Zzzzzzzz

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This is literally me today, minus the blonde hair, the savvy red lipstick, flossy engagement ring, and add a little bit of a tan. I have been at work today since 9:30 AM and won't get off until 10 PM tonight. We've had overtime at work today and I've been pulling the 4 day - 10 hour shifts...then off for two days, PLUS Sunday. Still though, someone come save me! I'm actually in the office today for a company meeting and it feels great to see familiar faces again. I've been cooped up in at home for almost 5 months or so now and it's a breath of fresh air to see my coworkers. I love them! The only sad thing about today though is that I'm extremely tired and it really sucks(sorry, couldn't think of a better word to explain how I felt) to see the people that came to work after me, leave before me. SIGH. Life is grand though! Work is good, life is good, and sweet cupcake is coming over tonight to hang out with me -- that's definitely a triple good! I hope you all have had a lovely Thursday! Sorry my post is all about work today...

But hey, tomorrow is Friday!

Tub-o-wine.

This is what I've done so far today on my day off with the wine bottles that have been given to me from friends and some I picked up myself. I gave up on the tub of hot water with worries that it would take too long. They're in the dishwasher now and hopefully the labels will all come off without the use of alcohol. I hate the way it smells, so I'm trying my best to avoid it. After they're all clean and not sticky from the labels, I really think I'm going to paint on them and make a wine bottle chime. It'd be nice to enjoy...especially because summer is about to end and fall is sneaking in soon.

Records, you're next!

PS. Sorry my tub isn't sparkling white. Maybe I'll get to that today too...

Dolla, dolla bill y'all.

Yep, you guessed it. Suzy and I are headed to the dollar theater tonight to watch Killers! Is it just me or is Ashton Kutcher so incredibly scrumptous? I love Katherine Heigl too. She was fabulous in 27 Dresses and Knocked Up. Killers received a one star review here, but I really just want to look at Ashton Kutcher...haha. He hasn't made a movie in a while and well, I miss him. I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday night! I will be OFF work tomorrow and planning on making it a craft and decorating day. Hopefully I can do something with the records, wine bottles, and finish the love letters that I've stopped halfway on for sweet cupcake.WOO HOO!

PS. My neighbors are really starting to irk me with their loud music. I wouldn't mind it if only the music didn't thump my walls and that I could feel the vibration of the bass going off in my room. Ugh.

Plain wall, be gone.

If you've read from my previous posts...I've been thrift shopping a good bit lately and the last time I went, sweet cupcake and I came across a lot of really cool records. He was interested in the actual record itself and I, only the record covers because I can't seem to draw my attention away from the designs. I imagined a suavely decorated wall of records from different time periods and splashes of color and art. Most of them had the records in the cover....but I found a few with nothing in them. Sweet cupcake was a bit excited because he actually has a working record player. I believe he'll be moving it down with him when he moves to Birmingham later this month. Oh gah, I can not wait until he moves down here! I'm extremely excited. :) Anyway, it's been a week or so now and I still can not seem to find the inspiration to take action. So....as conveniently put, I researched online. Here are some ideas I found that intrigued me. Let me know what you think if you have any suggestions?

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Oh..and PS. I found this lovely man named Danny. He's seems to be wonderful with everything, I swear. Check him out at dailydanny.com!

The shopping itch.

This is what I created on polyvore.com....oh my gosh I love this place. Especially because I've promised myself not to go shopping until I have reached certain goals, so I can kind of get the feeling of shopping here...but my pockets are untouched. Shopping can be therapeutic or dangerous, but I honestly just love putting clothes together. I feel extremely simple today, so the simple solids of blacks, whites, and golds won me over. I always love to have some sort of pattern or unique touch to a wardrobe though, so maybe it's not so boring after all. So folks, if you're bored or have the itch to shop, but shouldn't...stop on by here. I'll probably be on this site for a good bit tonight, pretending to be the infamous Rachel Zoe. Haha.

Miscellany Monday

{1} It bummed me today & hurt my feelings a bit to see that I lost a follower. I guess I'm not interesting enough. :(

{2} Yesterday, driving back from Gadsden...there was a terrible storm. No rain, just lightning everywhere. It was beautiful, but so-very-dangerous. Below are some interesting facts that I retrieved from the site where I got the awesome picture.

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+Storm Data, a publication from The National Weather Service recorded 3,239 deaths and 9,818 injuries due to lightning strikes between 1959 and 1994.

+Only Flash Floods have caused more weather related deaths during same time period.

+Your chances today of being struck by lightning is apprx. 1 in 600,000 (better odds than winning the lottery).

+Deaths and Injuries have occurred in all 50 states, it is important to remember that this is nota localized phenomena.

{3} It was sooooooo hot all weekend. I just wanted to stay inside and not move an inch. I miss you Autumn. Hurry back soon so I can wear....

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{4} Have you ever heard of polyvore? It's so awesome that you can be your own editor. Check it out here and have lots of fun with it! :)

{5} Did I mention that I wanted this? SIGH. I want too many things, don't I...

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{6} I want to sleep in bed all day. How about all week? I know this sounds completely lazy and unproductive, but I'm just low on fuel....and it's only Monday.

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{7} I watched Inception this past weekend and it made me mad. I really can't place my finger on the reason why, but I assume it may be because Leonardo DiCaprio's character seemed so weak. He was just a mess. I didn't like that about him. It made me upset throughout most of the movie, but go watch it. It was still a good movie in whole.

{8} Today will be a good day. Period.

Oooooooh, yeah.

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Remember my previous and angry post about my bank issue? This morning, I called customer service to have some documents sent to me so I could provide the company with something tangible...so they could see a reason to write a letter for me to have my fees reversed. At first I was skeptical because the representative, Ashley...stated that she would not be able to provide me with a letter showing the hold because it did not post. I was starting to worry and badger in my head..."This is just my luck!" I explained to the representative calmly and cautiously that per the previous conversation I had with a supervisor, I had to provide the bank a letter from the company who caused the error; and in turn, the fees would be reversed. Well, the dear Ashley placed me on hold for about 2 minutes and began her voyage of research. Listening to what it sounded like Moroccan hold music for about 3  or so minutes later, Ashley came back and made my whole day. She told me she was not sure why they even needed a letter and that it was clearly a merchant error. She also went to confirm that she has already reversed all the fees back into my account and they did not need any document from me. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I literally squealed in excitement and told this darling Ashley that I loved her. Haha. I know, a bit much...but she definitely did her job right. I left her supervisor a voicemail stating that miss Ashley deserved some type of recognition and because of this service...I might have some faith in Wachovia after all. I hope you all have a happy Saturday!

PS. I will not lie to myself, I'm sure my attitude with the previous representative and supervisor made the situation more complicated, but duuuuude....I am so glad that I called them back a second time. So, lesson learned....if you're asking for help, ask nicely--never harshly. I should know this out of all people, but anyway...you rock my socks Ashley!