Mexican Pizza Baby

You might not know this about me, but I use to be a huge fan of Taco Bell.  I know.. gross.  But every day off campus, Al & Hatch would take me to McDonalds for Happy Meals 7 toys or Tacos & bouncy balls.  I was young, active, and had the metabolism of an 8 year old.  Life. Was. Good.  Taco Bell is just like any other Mexican food place: same ingredients wrapped up and served in different ways.  So there are three reasons I don't eat TB anymore. 1) Fast Food is kind of nasty. 2)My stomach just couldn't handle it anymore.  3)Well this is a bit more of a story to share.

About 9 years ago, my two softball teammates, Lindz & Smo offered me up a little bet.  They challenged me to get the Grande Combo of ten tacos, and eat it by myself.  I don't remember what I'd get in return, but I do know that I never got out.  So on the day of the challenge, we went to my local TB and ordered ten tacos--5 hard, 5 soft.  I was trying to figure out which would be less filling, but I don't think it mattered in the end.  The first two went down like wine.  By taco 4, I was trying to create double deckers with my hard & soft shells.  By taco 6, I was trading soft shells for hard shells.  And by taco 7, my face was legitimately turning green. I completed the task, finishing all ten tacos, and immediately walked outside and puked for 30 minutes.  You can see why I have avoided TB like the plague. 

I'd be lying if I said that was the last time I ever ate TB.  There was a few times in college that the drunk food craving got the best of me.. but even that was over 6 years ago. 

About a month ago, I was having a flashback to my favorite item on the TB menu:  the Mexican pizza.  I kept thinking how I wanted it, but couldn't bring myself to the shame of actually ordering TB.  As I was cruising around Pinterest, I was inspired by a "healthy" Mexican pizza pin.  After talking about it for a month with Taryn, we finally decided to create, what we called "The Mexican Pizza Baby."  The recipe I found is from the blog Honey, What's Cooking?

Homemade Mexican Pizza  (modified from "Honey, What's Cooking's?" Recipe)


makes 4 pizzas:

• 1 Bag of Mission Tostados (2 pieces for each pizza)
• 1 15oz can Old El Paso Refried Beans
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1 large Onion (diced)
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Taco Seasoning
• 1 bunch Scallions/ Green Onions (chopped)
• 1/2Jalapeno (deseeded & finely chopped)
• 1 Tomato (chopped)
• Taco Bells chunky salsa, medium
• Mexican Cheese Blend - (1 bag) you can use reduced fat cheese
• Sour Cream Reduced Fat – 1 dollop per pizza (optional)
• Taco Bell Hot Sauce - they sell it in stores, or just steal some from TB

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degree.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil.  Heat up tostados for about 2-5 minutes for extra crispiness
3. In a small pan, heat the beans, water, onions, paprika, pepper, and taco seasoning on low heat for about 10 minutes (or until its thoroughly warmed up).
4. Spread the bean mixture over one of your tostados and a thin layer of salsa. 
5. Add the other tostado on top.  Add a bit more salsa, tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos (as desired).
6. Cover with cheese and pop back into the oven for about 5-10 more minutes (until the cheese is melted).
7. Add a dollop of Daisy (sour cream) and smother with TB hot sauce.

WaaLah! Heaven.  I think Taryn and I moaned after every bite.  Then we had to walk an extra lap after dinner to recover from the Mexican baby we just manhandled.  This dinner was so easy and delicious.. all the Mexican ingredients wrapped up in a different way.  And the best part.. I don't have to show my face in Taco Bell to get the goods. 

The Burbs

Driving to said birthday party the other weekend (mentioned in the previous post), Giorgio and I had this conversation: 

G-"What suburb would you want to live in?" 
me- "I have no idea.  I don't even know what area of the city I want to live in, and I want to be there." 
G-"It's just so depressing out here.  I feel like living in the suburbs is one step closer to death." 

I have to agree with him.  I mean, it's not that I think I'm better than you because I live in the city. I just think I'm having more fun.  There's always so much to do in the city with minimal effort.  You can always find friends or strangers who want to partake in a plethora of activities: listening to live music, flip a few cups, hop on a boat on Lake Michigan, or shop at cute boutiques. While the upsides to Chicago residents are quite obvious, so are some of the downsides. Public transportation can be smelly.  Some areas are not too safe.  And traffic.. well.. that exists in the burbs too.  Despite what suburbanites think, parking in Chicago is not too difficult if you know where you're going.  And smelly public transportation is a better option that choosing a DD for the night.  My only complaint about Chicago are the rip-off tickets that you can get for reasons you don't even know exist.

Growing up in the suburbs, I learned to appreciate a few things since parting ways.  For starters, drive-thrus.  I recently developed a love for Passion Fruit Iced Tea from Starbucks.  I especially like them when I'm feel rather lethargic and don't want to detour from my route or get out of my car.  It's times like these that I long for a drive-thru.  I have yet to see a Starbuck's drive-thru in the city. 

Swimming pools. I have been spoiled with clean, small bodies of water (pretty much) at my doorstep my whole life.  My nearby relatives always had a pool in which I was granted full access to at any time.  I understand why people in the city don't just have pools on their rooftops, but I just don't like it.  How sweet would rooftop pools be in Chicago?  Instead, we have the beach.  I'm not complaining about it, but its kind of a struggle to get to where as in the suburbs, your one-stop bronzing haven is at your fingertips. 

Back to driving and tickets.  Is it just me, or are red-light photo tickets ruining your life?  These money-making machines have made their way out to the suburbs now, too.  Those cameras are everywhere and I think they are more dangerous than helpful.  I wonder how many accidents have been caused by people trying to slam their brakes before the camera flashes their plates.  It's probably the same number of accidents that have been caused by people running lights!  Anyway.. The pro of the suburb here is the length of the yellow light.  The yellow light easily lasts 5 seconds compared the cities 1/2 second yellow.  So if you're getting red light tickets in the suburbs, you are really trying. 

Since I don't want to make the suburbs sound too good, I'll speak my final (and probably most important) pro of the suburbs.  It is a great place for kids & family.  That might be a con actually for some.  But eventually, if you want kids, the suburbs are the most practical place to be.  Better schools, safer neighborhoods, and sidewalks and backyards for all their needs.  You can't really argue that.

While there are some convincing arguments for life in suburbia.. they just aren't that enticing. And just because you have kids, doesn't mean you have to succumb to life with "one foot in the grave."  So I think I'll stay a city girl a while longer.

Blast from the Past

On Sunday, I went to Kaylee, my "niece's", 3rd birthday party.  For starters, I never recalled being this spoiled.  But then again, I was never an only child, niece, grandchild, etc.  The party was all adults and her, so it's obvious that she attracts a lot of attention.  I don't even want to talk about the issues she's going to have when her new baby brother is stealing that from her come August.  Anyway, seeing that her mom is my oldest, nearest and dearest friend, her daughters childhood is pretty much a recreation of ours.  All of the things that we enjoyed as kids, Jess gets to relive through Kaylee. 
 

Obviously now that I'm old, the childhood memories have a great age ranger than 0-3, but these are just a few of the classics:

Squeeze Its

Jess just told me that she started buying these for Kaylee.  Do you remember these?  For some reason, Jess and I used to think it was funny to pretend to be drunk off squeeze its (though we probably were sugar high).  We would walk back and forth to each others houses and bump into each other slurring our words.  So odd, I know.

 Are You Afraid of the Dark?

I was.  I still am. But I was actually scared of this Nickelodeon TV show.  Good thing I only watched it at Jess's house because we didn't have cable at my house.  What a deprived child!

 Ants on a Log

 

Remember snack time in elementary school?  Well it still exists.  But no snack was ever quite as satisfying as 'Ants on a Log.'  You know the celery, filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins.  Of course I always skipped the raisins because they creeped me out.  I don't think the teachers liked them in the classroom because how could you not smear PB everywhere?? Nowadays this snack wouldn't even be allowed in a classroom because there are so many dang PB allergies.  I mean, survival of the fittest, right?  Let's weed those weaklings out.

Lunchables

 

 Speaking of food at school.. lunchables were another treat.  It wasn't often that I got a lunchable for school, but it was awfully exciting when it happened. It started out with the simple turkey, cheese, crackers and candy.  Then Oscar Meyer decided to really give kids what they want: Pizza lunchables followed by the ultimate, Nacho lunchables.  There really couldn't have been any nutritional value in either of these.  When one of these two precious packages were in my lunchbox, I devoured every last finger-licking-drop.  I wonder what they taste like now?  Probably so gross.

Dress Up
 

So Kaylee has this obsession with dress up clothes.  She was even sporting a pretty purple gown at the birthday party.  At least 5 out of her 32 gifts were dress up clothes.  Jess and I weren't so lucky to receive dress clothes as gifts in our size (or maybe we never wanted them.)  Instead, we had our own chest of dress up clothes that her mom put together for us.  They consisted of her mom's old bridesmaid dresses, and they served as all of our costumes for the bazillion plays that we wrote (the award-winning Meanadella), and put on for her poor family at parties.  We thought we were so talented we even charged them 10 cents admission.  Hmm.. I think we need to dig up those old videos. 

Making Money

As a kid, you are always trying to scam a dollar from someone who wants to buy your crap because you're a cute kid.  Well, at the time, you probably think people actually want what you are selling, but now, we know better.  So of course Jessie and I created a few lemonade stands in our day.  We really thought we were going to "make a living" selling lemonade that our parents bought for us.  As we got older, we moved onto friendship bracelets and "rats" tails.  We could definitely do some good work with some colored floss, but we always just ended up giving them away.  I think our "rats" tail business went down hill when we offered to put them in the girls' hair at Jaci's birthday party.  We might have gotten it stuck in Jaci's hair and had to cut it out.  Bad for Business.  Is it sad that I still have all my floss and beads?? I still have my skills.

Snow Forts

Without fail, every winter, Jessie and I tried to make a snow fort.  An igloo, if you will.  We used the same brick molds.  We would pack snow into the mold and lay the snow-bricks side by side.  The first layer was obviously the easiest and then the second.  I don't remember ever really getting to a 3rd layer because we questioned how the damn Eskimos got the igloo to become round on top and still balance. I still don't know to this day.  Most times, the snow melted before we could ever finish. I can say that neither of these ever stopped us from starting our igloo every time we had good packing snow.

Bikes--"The Road"

Obviously, this is not the road.  It's scaled down a bit.

Speaking of things getting ruined before you could really enjoy them... Every summer we created "the road."  Essentially it was a "street/ town" we created on the sidewalk with chalk that led from Jessie's house to mine.  We never went all the way to my house because it was too far so somewhere around the "boat-house" (what we referenced the house that always had a boat in the driveway, about 10 houses up) "the road" turned into a highway to my house.  Pretty clever and lazy.  Regardless we work all day on this road.  building in stop signs, the drawing the sidelines and the dotted middle ones, and of course we had to include McDonald's and gas stations.  We put our younger siblings and neighborhood kids to work, of course.  Sometimes we didn't finish the road before it rained and that was it.  Other times we'd ride our bikes for days. 


Boy Meets World

Has anyone noticed that they are now showing reruns for Boy Meets World.. all day, every day? I used to watch this show everyday.  What kind of name is Topanga?  Good thing that never got trendy. 

Play Dough

So, I might have got Kaylee a play dough set for her birthday.  What kid doesn't love play dough?  What parent does?  I have to admit, I really wasn't thinking about the hassle this would be for Jess when I bought it.  But if you can recall your play dough days, when you asked to take out the play dough, your parents thought of any and every other activity that they could entice you with so they wouldn't have to bust out that nasty smelling and all-time messiest play dough.  Even I make excuses now when I'm babysitting.  But you can't deny that kids just love their play dough.

Posters

Remember when your room looked like this?  My walls were always covered with posters of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, JTT, etc.  Was their any other purpose of buying a Teen Beat magazine than for posters to hang up in your room.  And boys, I know there's a few of you that had WWF or Superhero posters on your walls.  Maybe I have that wrong.. Pamela Anderson as CJ on Baywatch??

Cookies & Milk:

I will end this trip down memory lane, the same way I ended every childhood night: with cookies and milk.  3 cookies, a glass of ice cold milk, and a napkin to knock the crumbs off the cookie before you dipped.  If I was lucky, I'd talk my mom or dad into a 4th cookie (what a pig). I should start this tradition up again  (if I ever have the metabolism of my childhood self again.)

Okay.  Can I just have a day or month and be a kid again?  Life was so simple.  How do kids have so much time for TV, video games, and the computer?  The world is their playground! 

The "Crazy" Woman

I think men and women alike would agree that women can be difficult.  One minute we're happy, the next we're crying.  One minute we want something, the next minute we want nothing to do with it.  I'm not going to go so far to say we're crazy, but we are definitely wired differently than men.  Men are not only simple to read, they are simple.  And any feelings and emotions they do have are suppressed 99% of the time.  (Fine by me)

Men complicate things for women.  They confuse us.  When we don't know what you are thinking, we tend to think the worst.  This makes us act 'crazy'.  (Act being the keyword.)  But men are not the sole cause of our "crazy."  We'd probably be happily walking around in this state of mind if men never pointed it out to us.  But now that they have.. well, we still aren't going to change. 

Like men, women are simple too.  

So what do we women really want?  Prince Charming (or William). Adrian Grenier (in the form of Vince from Entourage.) Christian Grey. Probably.. but they are fictional fantasies. =)

More realistically..

We don't want to be corrected or made to feel stupid, but we like to learn from your areas of expertise. It's hot when a guy knows a lot about something and can teach you. If you obsess over it, and its the only thing you want to do or talk about-- not so hot.


Tell us we look beautiful, for no reason at all, but especially when we put effort into it.  This will spare you from a lot of fights and "What's wrongs?" on many occasions.  My friend, Leanne, has been married for almost 20 years.  When she goes upstairs to get ready she tells her husband, "I'm going upstairs to get ready, and when I come down, you're going to tell me 'You look ... and insert an adjective of your choice."  Women shouldn't have to prompt the man, but we do.  If you can remember Leanne's advice.. or get your girl to give you that reminder before going upstairs, you're doing it right. 

Flowers. Flowers because it's our birthday or anniversary. Flowers to say I'm sorry. Flowers to say I love you. And most importantly flowers just because. Flowers keep us women sane and happy.

Then there's understanding the women code words.  I know you guys are familiar with them, and you probably know what we mean when we say them, but you definitely have not figured out to handle them. And this drives us CRAZY! When you ask us what's wrong and we say nothing, obviously we mean "everything." So instead of taking our answer literally or getting more mad at us for not telling you, take a minute to think. A little effort is all we want. What did you say or do in the last five minutes to upset us.  Though we could easily tell you, we just want you to recognize your mistake all on your own.  And even if you don't think you said or did something wrong, I'm sure you can guess our accusation. When we say we don't care with a hint of sarcasm-- especially 'whatever'-- we care. We are just trying to end the conversation because it's not going our way.  You either have to rationalize with us (good luck) or just succumb to our request. If there's no sarcasm in our voice, we probably just don't care.

We also get crazy when you can't read our mind. This-- I cannot help you with. Unless its in reference to one of the code words above. That's not mind reading.. You guys can handle that.

On the flip side, there's something to be said when you get to a point in a relationship to experience the crazy, irrationalness of a woman.  It means they are comfortable in their relationship with you.  If the crazy comes out premature, then you are free to run the other way because there's no way you can tolerate it if you aren't into the girl. 

So, in a nutshell.. if you can figure out those things above.. you'll be able to tame the crazy inside your woman.. a bit. Let's face it, there's not a cure for the common crazy, just some pointers to slow it down. 

Beat the Heat

After a week straight of upper 90's and 100 degree weather, it is safe to say I'm looking forward to a cool 94 degrees tomorrow.  Talk about relief.   But seriously.. people complain about the heat, people complain about the cold.. people just like to complain.  I know the weather is a popular conversation piece, but its when the weather gets really extreme (like now) that people can't stop.  It's hot. Every one is melting.  It's not just you people!!

Well being a native sun goddess, I will give you a few of my own pointers for beating the heat. 

1.  Most importantly, get yourself to the pool.  100% of the population agrees that its the only way to enjoy a 95+ degree day. Even though you may want to try working on your even tan, you will fail.  Your top half will be tanner than the bottom half that will be submerged in water. 

The Hahn's 4th of July

 2.  Stay hydrated.  Your choice of beverage is up to you.  Water, Pomegranate Martinis, Champagne Punch, Coronas, Coronitas.. or

share a fishbowl with your lover

3.  Girls.. get that hair off your neck.  Its just going to get sweaty and nasty.  Good news! Braids are back and better than ever.  If you're really lucky, you live with a great stylist ;)  So don't let that hair hold back your festing!!

Old St. Pat's Fest!

4.  Leave the oven & stove off.  It's summer!  Everything tastes better charred on the grill.  And to spare yourself the heat from the grill, find some professionals to handle the job for you.

5.  And finally..  acquire an injury. You kill two birds with one stone.  You don't have to feel guilty about not working out in this extreme heat & you can park in handicap spots to minimize breaking a sweat from the parking lot to the front door. 

I'm not saying I know everything, but this seems pretty fool proof to me. So stop complaining and enjoy the heat.  It won't be long til we're buried in 6 feet of snow. 

Oh My YUM!

I'm not one of those people who hate lettuce.  I thoroughly enjoy it actually.  But the other day I was craving a salad and just happened to be out of lettuce.  I scoped out the rest of the situation in my fridge and my ingredients were calling to me.  I found tomato, red onion, garlic, mushroom, cheese, garbanzo beans, cucumbers and even some fresh seasonings like parsley and basil.  I had a lot of options in there.  Actually, the amount of combinations of what you could put into a salad is overwhelming.  Cheese/ no cheese? Beans/ no beans? Red onion or white?  And the most important decision.. the dressing.   I usually like to decide the dressing first because it dictates what ingredients are going into my salad.  I picked balsamic.  (Newman's Own Lite Balsamic is a personal favorite, but plain balsamic works just as well.)

I eyed my mushrooms which were in desperate need of being eaten.  Sometimes I get a little skeptical about mushrooms and their flavor so I grilled them up with some Olive Oil cooking spray and fresh sliced garlic just to be sure I'd enjoy them.  This is how I handle any food I may not like. Put it on the grill for the obvious reason that everything tastes better on the grill (and sauteed in garlic).  The other chosen ingredients were tomato, red onion, and crumbled goat cheese. Extra salt and pepper.  I diced up my medium sized tomato, and about 1/2 of a red onion.  Mixed in my grilled shrooms & garlic. Sprinkled on about a 2 tbsp of goat cheese.  Topped with 1tbsp of balsamic vinegar dressing.  Salt. Salt. Pepper.  Stir.  YUMMMMMM!!  One of the most heavenly things I ever tasted until.....

Yesterday.

So I've been pretty much sharing said recipe with everyone because the combination is unreal.  I have  eaten it 4 times in the past week.  I tried to add in some mixed green lettuce, but it just wasn't the same.   But yesterday, this recipe received the best gift a salad could ask for "The Game Changer" Avocado.

Taryn offered to make the scrumptious salad adding in avocado!  I accepted without hesitation.  As you can see the beautiful masterpiece above is a winner.   Here's the latest version of what I call the Lettuce-less Salad.

The Lettuce-Less Salad (for two)


Ingredients:

• One ripe avocado (without skin or seed, diced chunky)
• 1 1/2 cups of sliced mushrooms (or baby bella mushrooms)
• 6 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
• 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Olive Oil Cooking Spray
• 1 medium red onion (diced)
• 2 medium tomatoes (diced, chunky)
• 4 tbsp Crumbled goat cheese
• 4 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:  

1. Heat a saute pan or grill pan.  Add oil/ spray and garlic.
2. After about 1 minute (when you can smell the garlic), add in the mushrooms.  Let it cook for about 5 minutes on med-high heat.
3. While those are cooking, dice tomato, onion, avocado.  Divide evenly onto two plates.
4. Add the mushrooms, top with cheese and balsamic vinegar.
5. SALT SALT and pepper. 
6. ENJOY!

Its not only tasty and filling, but nutrition too!  Check out the nutritional value in this guy: 


Calories: 307.7; Total Fat: 20.6 g; Cholesterol: 11.2 mg; Sodium: 106.3 mg; Total Carbs: 27.0 g; Dietary Fiber: 9.0 g; Protein: 8.6 g


And if you're really feeling hungry.. you could add in another half of an avocado to each plate for 144 calories.  Or eat the whole salad and don't share =)  

The Joys of Traveling

The only thing that stands between you and your relaxing and mindless vacation destination is the good ole airport.  I know it's important that airport security is tight & that it is all for our own safety.  Being terrified of flying as it is, I am appreciative of the tightened security in the last decade.  However, there are just certain things about the airport that don't make logical sense, and it seems that no one is in the process of fixing the airport to make travel more efficient. 

1. For starters, lets put people who have never been in the airport in their own section.  They can learn about taking off your shoes, removing metal items, and what you can or cannot put in your carry-on luggage.  This would save more experienced travelers a lot more time.  I have seen this done at Midway (of all places).  They have a separate line for people who know what they're doing, and I approve.  More airports should look into this. 

2. How many people do you need to show your ID and boarding pass to.  I thought it was enough to have the guy who scans you in, checks that your ID matches your ticket and sends you on your way through security.  Now they put an extra person at the front of the security scan line.  I don't think this is slowing anyone down since the line is usually long, but come on. 

3.  When you finally make it to the security line, how can they put so much trust in one man.  There is only one person checking the monitors for unapproved items and though they've done a good job thus far, can't we get another guy out there.  If nothing else, they can search the bags that look suspicious or if it's not clear they passed inspection.  Two heads are better than one and really would make the job a lot faster. Common Sense.

4. This fee for checking bags is just disturbing to me.  It's bad enough that they took away free snacks on the airplane, but now this.  I mean who is traveling without luggage? Has traveling via airplanes become geared towards strictly business men and women who travel for a day with only a briefcase?  You cannot fly without luggage, so it just should  not be an extra fee. Period. That would be like paying to get into Great American and then buying tickets to ride each roller coaster OR going to a 3D movie and paying an extra fee to use the 3D glasses.  Doesn't.Make.Sense.  

5. I have (the best) carry on bag from VS that's pretty much a duffel bag on wheels.  I learned this past weekend, after being checked twice, that if I pack the right amount of stuff, it fits perfectly into those "luggage size check" metal things.  Regardless of the size, if it looks too big they want to check it at the gate.  It pisses me off when they take my bag because I took the time to carefully pack the right amount of stuff, not including my very necessary Fudge hair products, so that I could avoid a $25 fee and an extended hour of "travel".  Fail.

6.Now I haven't worked out all the kinks.. but wouldn't it make sense to let people with carry-on items off the plane first.  I realize some of these people might be in the window aisle.. but in any event.. if you are waiting for luggage at the baggage claim, just sit your ass down and stay calm.  You will be waiting awhile.  Now that I think of it, they should probably put more effort into the disembarking process.  People would pay more money to be let off the plane first rather than to board first.

7.  Let's go back to this business man/woman idea.  Is it me, or are there like 8 different groups of people that board the plane before group 1.  You got your first class, business class, that specific airline members group, gold members, people who pay $9 for priority boarding, people with children, blahblahblah.  Seriously. Let's just do the sensible thing and board from the back to the front starting with the window seats to the aisle.  Are you really that special if you get to sit on the plane first and watch everyone else board? And if you need that priority seating to make you feel important, you probably are just.not.that.important.

8.  I usually have pretty great flight attendants, but every so often I get one like I had on American Airlines on my return flight from New York.  He felt it was part of his job to reprimand me and preach to me the "right thing to do".  Thanks, I already have a father.  Nothing puts a worse taste in your mouth when someone in hospitality mistreats you, unwarranted.  Isn't it your job to be nice to people?

Well the airport and airlines are obviously doing something right because people continue to travel.  I have to say, online check in has been life changing..allowing me to get to my gate precisely at my boarding time.  The bathroom facilities are impeccable (at least at O'hare).  They still serve beverages on the plane.  Sometimes you get some sort of free upgrade that just turns your whole airport/ flying experience around.  And most importantly.. it's better than driving really really far distances.