Halloween Trio and a Gourmet Pizza

Happy Sunday everyone.  It is my birthday today and I have to say,  I am going to be heading out of the "forty-something" status in a few years!  I can't believe how fast the time goes each year.  I remember when I was eighteen and I thought my age now was old.  Ah well,  age is only a number(right?). 

I am very excited because I made my first Halloween project of the season and I am very happy with them.  I say "them" because I made a trio of Halloween characters.  I first saw them here.  I fell in love with the idea so I bought some bumpy chenille stems and added them to my mental to-do list.  What can I say, but-they are addictive! I had a wedding to go to yesterday and I had a hard time putting them down.  One idea leads to another and the accessories are just so much fun.  I just looked around my craft room and went from there.  I am especially proud of the spider Punkinhead is carrying.  I made that with some small pom poms I had and some black wire.  I have more ideas to make even more characters.  The hardest part was finding suitably sized heads for the chenille stem bodies.  I searched vintage Halloween images on line and found the ones I used but I believe the website I linked to above gives you a couple to print out and use.  I also want to be on the lookout for Halloween postcards and greeting cards for more heads of interest.  And of course, I am already thinking about Christmas possibilities.  These would be so cute hanging on a Halloween tree.  I will bet kids would enjoy making these as well.  

I wanted to share with you a very unique but delicious pizza I have been making quite often lately.  I got the idea from a local pizzeria that serves this.  I tried to come up with a good rendition of it and I think I succeeded.  We'll call it Italian Chicken Pizza.  First you start with a Boboli(I think I should get royalties from that brand!), then you brush the crust with a garlic infused olive oil.  I make my own by heating a couple of cracked garlic cloves in some olive oil on the stove.   In this case, I go ahead and add to that olive oil and garlic a sliced bunch of cremeni mushrooms or one large Portabella.  I cook the mushrooms on moderate heat until browned.  I fish out the garlic and brush some of the garlic olive oil on the crust.  I sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top of the oil and then layer the mushrooms, sliced roasted red peppers from a jar, Gorgonzola chunks, and shredded cooked chicken breast meat(usually from a rotisserie chicken).  I bake according to the crust directions. 

    

After it comes out of the oven, I drizzle with a balsamic glaze.  There are two ways to go with this.  First, make it yourself.  Take a good quality balsamic vinegar and cook it down to reduce it by half and it becomes thick and syrupy.  This takes a bit of time and my guys were so turned off by the smell it gave the house, I had a really hard time convincing them how good the pizza is.  I LOVE balsamic glaze, and I have to admit, the smell was nasty.  The second way(and my way from now on) is to just buy balsamic glaze.  Just be sure it says "glaze",  It is yummy with no muss or fuss and no smell!  There you have it-a delicious and different pizza that isn't difficult but definitely has a gourmet flair to it. 

You know what a cat nut I am.  I found this cat chalkboard at a gift shop on a road trip recently and thought it was too expensive.  So, I walked away and didn't buy it.  Am I the only one that has "I didn't buy it" remorse?  I regretted the decision not to buy it and luckily found it on Amazon.  I ended up paying the same price I thought was too expensive.  Hopefully I learned my lesson.  I am not suggesting that I can afford to grab everything I see that I like, but since I quit smoking twelve years ago, I have managed to be able to save decent amounts of my own money, let's call it my allowance.  So, if I see something I really love, I should just buy it with my own mad money.  Just so you know, I put that theory into play last weekend and came home with a Halloween decoration that makes me smile every time I walk by it.  I will show you next time. 

Well, my husband is taking me out for dinner and he has made a fabulous dessert for me-what a talented guy!  I hope you all have a great week.  Take care.     Nancy