Recipe: Chicken Alfredo Calzones

For our pizza yesterday I made Chicken Alfredo Calzones. Here's my recipe for pizza dough. I made it in my bread machine while I went out to buy groceries. I love my bread machine! To assemble our calzones, I divided the dough into two pieces and rolled them out separately. I spread 1/2 of each piece with alfredo sauce, the kind in the jar. I buy the cheap kind from Wal Mart. I'm sure you could make your own, though, if you wanted to. Then I sprinkled the sauce with mozzarella cheese and topped it with thinly-sliced pieces of leftover chicken and bits of peppered bacon, and folded the other half of the dough over it all. I sealed the edges with a fork and cut slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Repeated with the other half of the dough. They looked like two giant turnovers. I baked them at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. And that's it! My kids love this pizza, although it's not my husband's favorite. He doesn't mind if I make it occasionally, though; he's nice like that! ;)

How to Spend Your Time

Good Housekeeping, May, 1927

My blog friend, Mrs. T, posted this quote on her blog Across My Kitchen Table yesterday. I thought these were very wise and convicting words:

"Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of; in nothing on which you might not pray for the blessing of God; in nothing which you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed; in nothing which you might not safely and properly be found doing if death should surprise you in the act."

~ Richard Baxter

Recipe: White Chili Speciality

Taken from Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook

Makes 10 servings

1 lb. large Great Northern beans, soaked overnight
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut up
1 medium onion
2 4-1/2 oz. cans chopped green chilies
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. sal
2 14-1/2 oz. cans chicken broth
1 cup water

1. Put soaked beans in medium-sized saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes. Discard water.

2. Brown chicken in fat-free cooking spray, in skillet.

3. Combine pre-cooked and drained beans, chicken, and all remaining ingredients in slow cooker.

4. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours, or High 5-6 hours.

Diabetic Exchanges: Starch 2.0, Meat, very lean 3.0

WW Points: 5 per 1-cup serving

What Stops You?

What stops you from taking care of and/or decorating your house? The Nester had a great article today - 10 Ways to Avoid Having a Home You Love. I think the thing that has stopped me the most is that we've never had the money to put into decorating our houses, so I didn't do anything. And I spent a lot of time over the years resenting the fact that we didn't have the money to fix things up, eaten up with discontentment, especially when we owned our house in Ft. Worth. What a waste of time and energy! If I'd just cleaned up, decluttered, and fixed up with what I had, I would have had a home that I enjoyed and I wouldn't have made my husband feel about 18 inches tall.

For the tenth way, The Nester asked "what am I forgetting?" as a way to involve her readers and learn more about the things that stop us from making our homes lovely with what we have. My answer was two-fold: what my husband will think of it and sitting at the computer reading about everyone else's homes and ideas instead of getting up and doing something! In reality, my husband just wants food, a place to sit, and a comfy bed - he doesn't care so much about the decor, as a general rule. As for getting up and doing something . . .

when you do things, things get done!

What would you say keeps you from making your home a place you love?

Menu Plan Monday - February 23

I'm here! I'm not making promises to always be here, but I thought a good start would be with Menu Plan Monday. Here's what we're planning to eat this week:

Monday - Garlic Chicken with potatoes and green beans
Tuesday - Roast beef with rice and gravy, carrots, and biscuits
Wednesday - Potato Chowder (with ham added) and cornbread
Thursday - White Chili Speciality* (from Fix It & Forget It Diabetic Recipes) with Family Favorite Bread
Friday - Chicken Alfredo Pizza* made with Monday's chicken leftovers; Sweet Spinach Salad
Saturday - Hot dogs with homemade chili and oven fries*
Sunday - Beef Potpie made from Tuesday's beef leftovers, green beans, corn

*Recipe posted on the day we plan to eat it!

For more menu-planning ideas, please visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. You won't be disappointed!