Noah's Bird Army

One of the really cool things about living in Florida is all of the birds. My family really likes birds. I may or may not have called my mom the bird lady. I have never seen The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and I plan to keep it that way, since there are birds everywhere. There are pelicans, ibises, egrets, gallinules, and Muscovy ducks to name a few. You usually find pelicans where there are fishing boats, but you can really find them anywhere near water.  We have seen baby gallinules that are the cutest birds. They look like little black balls of fur.  I was able to take pictures of them and we watched them grow up. It was really neat.  I don’t like Muscovy Ducks, but Noah does, they are really weird looking, they look kind of like turkeys. Maybe I shouldn’t be so judgmental.  One of Noah’s favorite things is to feed the birds at the park. They love to see him, it looks like Noah is leading a parade or has an army because they follow him around.  The other day I noticed a bunch of ibises hanging out, walking back and forth and it was like they knew I was Noah’s mom, because they were following me around too.  They were not afraid and they didn’t fly away. I thought I would snap some pictures of Noah’s bird soldiers.

BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe

I love pizza. I could eat it all the time. I don't always want the red sauce as Noah calls it. I love to mix it up. I started making BBQ chicken pizza. Who doesn't love BBQ chicken? I know I do. Every time I make my special BBQ chicken pizza it is fabulous. It may not be the most beautiful pizza but holy cow is it amazing. I laugh every time I make it because my best friend Brandy always comments that chicken doesn't belong on pizza. She is a little crazy, cause she has never tried it. 

I wanted to share my recipe with you all. My recipe is different when it comes to ingredients and the building of the pizza. Most pizzas have the toppings on the top but this recipe has them nestled inside. Please don't laugh at my pizza pan, it is very old and has made many pizzas and fruit pizzas in my life. This pan could be well over twenty years old because it is the only one I remember, and I have a great memory. I am convinced I should be a history teacher because I am so good with dates and memories.  Here is my recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Pizza Crust (I use Jiffy it works well)

BBQ sauce ( I use Jack Daniels no 7 BBQ sauce)

One package precooked Chicken ( I use Tyson in the green pouch)

Half of an Onion or a small onion

8 slices of Bacon

5 slices or 4 ounces of muenster Cheese

 1 cup Shredded mozzarella

3/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan

When using the Jiffy Pizza Crust, I let it rise for two hours. I turn on the oven on the lowest temp, preheat it and turn it off. I usually leave the oven open a little to let some of the heat escape. Then close the door.  I rise the dough inside the oven. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees,

Oil the pizza pan and spread out the dough. Bake for 5 minutes. 

While it is baking chop the onion and chicken and bacon and put it in a bowl. Pour in some BBQ sauce to cover it and mix. Make sure it is completely covered but not swimming in sauce. 

 When the timer goes off, put a layer of BBQ sauce on the crust and then pour on the BBQ chicken onions and bacon mixture. 

Bake for ten minutes at 400 degrees.  While it is baking chop the muenster cheese. I decided match sticks work the best. 

After the ten minutes is up take out the pizza. First put on a layer of muenster cheese, then the Parmesan and finally the mozzarella.

Return to oven for 5 to 7 more minutes until the cheese is melted and enjoy. 

I hope you like this recipe. Let me know what you think. This a good quick delicious recipe that anyone can make.    

Pearberry Fruit Leather Recipe

I really like fruit snacks, fruit roll ups and fruit leather. I used to buy stretch island fruit leathers when I was in high school. As everything has done it became really expensive. I stopped buying them because they are  like 99 cents each.  Last time I ate fruit leather was probably when I won some in a giveaway. Archer Farms sells it but it is still $3.99 a box.  I always wanted to make fruit leather. I used to have a fruit snack maker, it was nasty. I have a dehydrator but I never used it for making fruit leather.  The dehydrator seems to take forever to use so I didn't even attempt it. I kinda forgot about it for a while, until a friend of mine posted a recipe for fruit leather on Facebook. I decided I would finally try it. I was so excited about it. I couldn't sleep. I am a total dork. I went to the local fruit stand with the full intention of making one of the recipes on Oh My Veggies. She has a lot of fruit leather recipes. Unfortunately not really in flavors I am fond of like banana, mango and strawberry banana. I wanted to try the peach raspberry recipe. That sounds really good. When I went to the fruit stand they didn't have any raspberries. So, I bought blackberries. I took Noah with me so you know there was a variety of fruit purchased. Half of what I wanted to buy wasn't in the store. So, we just grabbed some fruit. 

The inspiration for this recipe came from soap. I was in the bathroom and I looked at the soap I have and I decided to make Pearberry fruit leather.  I had strawberries but I wanted pure strawberry so I thought I would try pear and blackberry. I wasn't too sure how it would turn out. Originally I was just going to make strawberry yesterday as we had a play date. I figured since there was room in the oven and it was on and the kitchen was already messy, I would make it too. 

Here is my recipe for Pearberry Fruit Leather:

3 pears

1 container of blackberries

1 tablespoon of honey

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees

Cut up pears and place in the food processor. Add the blackberries and purée until there are no lumps.  Add honey and mix it up. 

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and  spread it evenly.  Bake it for about 5 or 6 hours until completely dry. 

Remove the fruit leather from the cookie sheet carefully and cut in to strips and enjoy. 

My fruit leather is really thin. It is really good this way. It melts in your mouth and doesn't hurt your teeth, like the thicker stuff does. It's also a little crunchy. We love it though. Noah tried to attack it this morning, I thought it would be great for lunches.

If you would like it thicker you could use a smaller cookie sheet or increase the amount of pears and blackberries.