impromptu dinner date

Last night Nic and I headed up to Iowa City for an impromptu dinner date with our friends, John and Diana.  Diana suggested we meet up for drinks and share photos from our trip to Europe and their trip to Aruba, but I thought we'd take that up a notch and enjoy dinner and drinks in.  Because who really doesn't love making dinner and staying in on a Friday night??  Plus, I already had big plans in my head for dinner - buffalo chicken pizza.

So after I whipped up an experimental pizza dough and headed to the Y with Nic for a killer strength training session followed by an easy, relaxed 5 mile run home (at 8:03 pace!  Seriously, relaxed, wasn't pushing myself at all AND I am sick.  Quite proud.), we loaded up the ingredients for pizza and headed north.

I am always a little hesitant to try new experimental recipes with other people and was sure to share my disclaimer, "now, this crust is an experiment, so if it is not good - Nic totally made it!"

Luckily the crust turned out pretty darn good (recipe below) and the pizza + rest of the meal was amazing.  Better than anything we could have eaten at a restaurant.  Plus the company, beer and bottle of wine that was shared among the 4 of us made for a great night in.

The conversation flowed as freely as the drinks did and we shared photos from our trip and then oohed and aahhhed over John and Diana's photos from Aruba.  Seriously, we are going there next weekend it looks so warm and beautiful.

During dinner, I shared a few of my 2011 goals with Diana and John and we decided to make a slight change to this one:

• Once a month, cook out of my comfort zone (Kier) - ie, ethnic cuisine, multiple course meals, weird ingredients, etc. and blog about it

Instead of cooking all these (hopefully) delicious meals myself, we are turning this goal into a group goal.  Each month the four of us will decide what type of cuisine to tackle and get together to prepare the meal.  How fun, right?!  At least it will be an interesting adventure and we already have a few back-up options in place in case our meals turn out to be a complete and utter failure.

I am also really excited because Diana told me that she is going to volunteer for Girls on the Run too!  We most likely won't be paired together, but it will be fun to share our experiences and get together with all of our girls in May for the final 5K!

The school I will be helping out with is only a few miles away from their house, so on Wednesdays, Diana and I have plans to get in a quick run before I head back home.

Seriously love having such good friends live close by!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza with an All Oatmeal Pizza Crust

For the toppings you'll need:

• Shredded chicken tossed with some Frank's Red Hot Sauce (we had leftovers from dinner the other night - just cooked some chicken in the crockpot with about 1/2 cup Franks sauce)
• 8oz fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Blue cheese - a few ounces will do, or more if you like the stinky cheese
• Green onions - chopped

For the dough you'll need:

• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1/3 cup wheatgerm
• 1t salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 t yeast
• 1T honey
• 2T olive oil

In a food processor add the oats, wheatgerm and salt.  Process until oats are very fine.  Meanwhile, add the yeast and honey to the warm water and let the yeast proof about 5 minutes. Stir in olive oil and then mix in the oat mixture.  Let rise 90 minutes.  Form into crust and let rise another 30 minutes.  Par bake at 425 for about 10 minutes, or until edges just begin to brown.

Top with chicken, cheeses and green onions.  Bake 425 until cheese is bubbly and begins to brown.

Result - so delicious!  I loved the bites with pieces of blue cheese (we went easy on the blue cheese since none of us are huge fans).  The crust turned out wonderfully, although the middle did not get as crispy as I would have liked.  Next time I think I would par bake it a bit longer.

 

Gotta sneak in a quick run this afternoon before we head west for Nic's company holiday party and a pint at our favorite brew house - Peace Tree Brewing Co.