Laundry

I HATE laundry. If I can I will try to wear every clean piece of clothing that I have before I do a load of laundry. To be honest, "clean" can just mean that it passes the smell test.

I hate it so much that I just made an agreement with Jon to dust and vacuum the entire apartment AND clean the bathroom (tub, toilet and all) if he does our laundry.

Marriage is wonderful.

"A Perfectly Perilous Pageant" Birthday

Day #3 off this week... you gotta love how skittish this area is over snow. We easily could have gone in a couple hours late on Wednesday and could have done the first part of the day today (from what it is looking like, so far). Anyways, I'm not going to complain. I only had to work 2 days this week, and they were my planning heavy days. =)

Well, last weekend we had quite the event. To celebrate my 24th birthday with friends, Jonathan and I threw a murder mystery dinner party. We had never attended a murder mystery dinner before, but it was so easy to host one. I just ordered a kit online (http://www.mysteriesbyvincent.com/) for $28 + shipping and it came with all of the character descriptions, scripts, & clues. All that I had to do was plan the dinner to go with.

The theme of our mystery was a ridiculous beauty pageant complete with several sharp-shooting beauties, an extra-terrestrial loving director, a scandalous plastic surgeon, and a ex semi-pro womanizing judge. The ladies came dressed in prom dresses and tiaras and the gentlemen in nice blazers. Everyone got totally into it and the turn of events kept us laughing.

I love to cook, so dinner had to be home-made. Appetizers were a blue-cheese walnut spread on sesame crackers (the crackers were store bought) and an artichoke and Parmesan topping on homemade pita chips. For dinner we had chicken rolled with spinach and homemade boursin cheese served with Parmesan potato cups and sauteed broccolini. For dessert I made chocolate pistachio phyllo rolls served with coffee. I choose all of these recipes because the majority of the items could be made ahead of time, so all that I had to do was put things into the oven. The thing that took the most time during the party was sauteing the broccolini, even though I blanched it ahead of time. I absolutely loved the flavor of the broccolini, but next time I make it for a large group, I will have to find a way to cut down on cook time.... maybe blanching it longer? Please comment with any tips or suggestions. =)

I loved hosting the dinner party and the murder mystery was a blast! I'm thinking about making this a birthday tradition...

The lovely ladies in attendance (minus Caitlin who had to leave right before this)

The gentlemen

Our final thoughts before we found out who done it!

P.S. I kept all the parts of the murder mystery kit. Let me know if you are interested in this gently used kit. We could arrange a fair price, or a trade if you have another murder mystery!

Easy Peasy Pita Pizza

Today is a SNOW DAY!! And the quarter just ended, so I actually don't have much to do on this day off. So, I thought I'd catch up on some blogs that I've been meaning to write.

I am a total junk food junkie. You name it, I probably like it. A few of my favorites: buffalo wings, greasy pizza, juicy burgers with everything on it, cheese sticks, loaded nachos, french fries, the list could go on for awhile...

One thing that we have discovered as new residents of the DC area, is that ordering out and going out is WAY TOO EASY. In efforts to save money and eat healthier, we have been trying to find things that we can make at home that meet our (well, mostly my) junk food cravings.

Our newest discovery is Pita Pizzas. I'm the kind of person who is truly happy if I have pizza at least once every other week. In all honesty, nothing can beat Papa John's pizza, but I was determined to find something easy to make at home that could also curb the pizza craving. First, I looked up recipes on making homemade pizza dough. Though people say it is easy to do, the whole yeast raising step means you have to plan ahead. However, pizza cravings are sometimes spontaneous and the pizza dough raising thing doesn't help much.

After researching pizza dough, I remembered that when I was little my mom would make us little personalized pita pizzas that we got to decorate with our choice of toppings (a very exciting task at the age of 7 or 8). So on my next grocery trip I hit up the bread aisle and came across 12 inch pitas... PERFECT!!

Attempt #1: Pepperoni and Mushroom

1 12-inch pita

1 can of whole, peeled tomatoes drained and diced

1/3 pack of pepperoni

1/2 pack of baby bella mushrooms

1-2 cups mozzarella cheese (I don't measure I just apply)

Just spread out the diced tomatoes, mozzarella, pepperoni and mushrooms leaving ~1inch for a crust. Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes. Then just serve and enjoy!

Review: I loved this pizza! Pepperoni and mushrooms is my favorite pizza combo and using the diced tomatoes instead of sauce kept the pita nice and crunchy. However, with the thin crust it wasn't quite as filling as we would've liked and it left us wanting more, thus....

Attempt #2: Meat Lovers! (pictured above)

1 12-inch pita

1/2 can tomato sauce

1-2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/3 pack pepperoni

1/2 pack baby bella mushrooms

1/4 lb. browned, ground beef

2 strips turkey bacon, diced, and cooked

Spread the tomato sauce on the pita leaving ~1inch on the edges for a crust. Sprinkle some Italian seasoning over the sauce for flavor (our can of sauce was unseasoned). Distribute out the mozzarella, pepperoni, mushrooms, beef, and turkey bacon evenly over the cheese. Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.

Review: This pizza was awesome!! The pita wasn't quite as crispy using the sauce this time, but it was loaded with meaty goodness & was very filling.

Pita Pizzas are a new favorite in our household & with the pitas keeping for what seems like forever in the fridge, they are a quick and easy go-to meal.