The Dish: Salami Pizza with Garden Salad

I love having pizza at least once a week, but to skip the take out bill we've been making our own pizza at home with a few simple ingredients. This week I made Salami Pizza paired with a light garden salad. I found this recipe thanks to www.CookingLight.com where I also discovered Corn Roasted Quesdillas that I made a few weeks ago. I think this recipe because it can be tweaked in so many ways and combine staples your already have in your fridge { salad, tomatoes, cheese } While on there looking for recipes, I came across a recipe to make your own dough, I'll be trying that soon and letting you know how it turned out!

Shopping List

1 Can of Refrigerated Pizza Dough ( or fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's )

1/4 cup of Pizza Sauce (plain tomato sauce mixed with garlic & oregano tastes good too)

2 tsp of yellow cornmeal

Cooking Spray (or tin foil)

1 1/2 pds of thinly sliced tomatoes ( 1 16oz can of diced tomatoes in water or olive oil & garlic) 

1 cup of reduced fat mozzarella

10 slices of Salami 

1/4 cup of fresh basil

1 tsp of fresh minced garlic 

When I normally make pizza I use Trader Joes fresh pizza dough, so yummy and good. But this week I used can pizza dough, gotta to save those Box Tops for Education to send with my son to school. OK,  back to the pizza, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Spray you cookie sheet with cooking spray or roll our some tin foil on it. Unroll your dough on your cookie sheet (if your suing fresh dough from Trader Joes follow dough cooking instructions)  Sprinkle cornmeal over your pizza dough then spread pizza sauce all over dough. Next sprinkle minced garlic and half of the cheese over the dough. 

Add your toppings, I placed the salami on first and then tomatoes and ( added mushrooms) the remainder of the cheese and fresh basil. All ready to be baked. 

Cook for 15 - 17 mins depending on desired crispness. Let the pizza cool for a few minutes and then cut. For the salad, I just used a bag garden mixed with feta cheese and vinaigrette dressing. Tabari was asking for seconds before he even finished his first slice. Excuse me while I pat my self on the back. I hope your enjoy this dish. 

After I had my dinner, I had a glass of wine ( love stemless wine glasses) with Mr. CLH and watched some television. 

Have you tired one of my recipes I shared on The Dish, if so how did it turn out? Is there a fresh fast affordable recipe of yours, my family should try out soon? Feel feel to email the recipe at chiclittlehouse@gmail.com I looking forward to trying the recipe and sharing it with everyone!

Do you make homemade pizza? What's your favorite pizza? 

Looking for Art in all the Right Places

I've been on the look out for some more artwork for our living room and to fill the empty wall space in our hallways and bedrooms. If you read between the lines, my house needs more artwork. Finding the right artwork for a space and be challenging plus artwork is deeply personal. I love looking online for artwork, because you can find some many great prints at really affordable prices. I've been on the hunt for some pretty, interesting and quirky artwork. Overall,  I adore abstract artwork. I started my art search on Art.com, and love this Mark Rothko artwork. I've pretty much wanted his artwork every since I saw it in Mad Men { yep, huge fan of the show } I really would like a large Rothko in our living room. I like the two below.

I also like the artwork below from Gustav Klimt, called From Garden with Sunflowers

The artwork below is by Hyunah Kim called Serenity

I also like a lot of artwork from Rabi Khan, he creates a lot of lovely abstracts, ones about love, flowers etc. The artwork below is Peacock 2

I discovered Imagekind.com thanks to Liz from It's Great to be Home. Imagekind, sells a variety of art from well know artists to independent artists. So far we've bought two abstract artwork from them for our living room. I love how they flow so well with the space. I took a little detour while looking at Artwork for the house, and came across great Star Wars artwork for my sons room { yeah, the same tween space I have yet to 'finish' } This a cool retro looking print, the artists name is JustinVG. He has a lot of fun prints from Star Wars, if any of you out their are Star Wars fans or know one, this print could be a fun addition to a room. A small 6.5 x 10 will start at $ 17 bucks. Not bad for original artwork.

I also thought this nod to mid century chairs is really cool & fun. Every mid century imaginable is represented in this print. The artist is James Provost, a 10 x 16 print starts at just $ 16 bucks

Another great source I love searching for artwork is Esty, I love find fun word print art on there. Plus nothings better then supporting independent artists. I adore these word prints! I pretty much love anything written by Jane Austen, my two favorite books from her are Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility. I want this print somewhere in my bedroom, either on my nightstand or on the wall. Regardless, I love this. The print is by Brookish, the 5x7 print is only a mere $ 6.50

I'm loving these blog related word art prints, so much fun. I love to blog, love it! It's so great to get a sneak into peoples lives and make new friendships all from blogging. Of course I love this print from Jen Ramos via Made By A Girl an amazing blogger!

I also like this artwork about Blogging & Texting two things I love doing, both of the prints are from the same artisit ECCE Prints. I like that the prints are modern and fun.

Is your home in need of artwork too? What type or artwork are you generally drawn to? Where do you shop for art?

Styling the Expedits

Yesterday I shared how I keep our living room organized and yet comfy at the same time. I also shared that we added an additional Expedit on the other side our TV stand. I'm so glad we added the extra bookcase. After bringing home another bookcase I had the fun job of making both of the bookcase look balanced. I didn't want them looking like twins, I wanted them looking like sisters....same features, little differences, yet you know they are related. Yeah I know it sounds a little strange, lol. Again I arranged our books by color of the spine.


Here's how our corner looked before adding the another Expedit. The corner looked nice, but the space looked a little empty. Especially considering we had and bookcase on the other side.

Now the corner looks more flushed out with a bookcase on the side flanking the TV and the chair I recently painted { for extra seating } adds a nice pop of color.

A little potted plant in a white glossy vase added a nice pop of greenery in our bookcase. I added a personal touch in the on shelf with a picture of my son and I. I put a fabric swatch laying around to good use by framing it, love how fabric can be transformed into art.

On the lower shelves, I used a blue vase and a large beige S as bookends, the shelf below candle holders are used this time as bookends. Its fun to use unexpected items as bookends.

Our 'original' Expedit went though some some subtle changes when we added a new Expedit.

On both bookcase, I decided to have a shelf where there's only decor items and a pictures. Again I framed a swatch of fabric. I found the cute glass vase for 1.99 at Thrift store, love thrifty finds.

That's how I styled our Expedit bookcases to look like sisters and NOT twins, I think they pretty and balanced.

How do you style your bookcases? Lots of books or more decor items?

Organized, Yet Lived in Living Room

I call our living room our everything room; we entertain, watch endless movies { thanks to our Roku } read and play the Wii. Our living room plays so many roles in our household because our home has no separate family room. Which is pretty common in smaller 1950's ranch homes. Since our living room plays so many roles, it has to stay organized. Everything in our living room has a place.
 

We recently added another Ikea Expedit to our living room, which has increased our storage and help keeps our books, DVDs, magazines and decor items organized. We have two large Ikea Kasset boxes which hold our DVDs. I recently went though all our DVDs to pair down our growing DVD collection, we have a ton to sale in an upcoming yard sale.

 I also keep a small stash of recently watched DVDs in our entertainment center in DVD boxes. For the record, Mr CLH bought the movie Reno 911! He claims it was only $5 bucks, whatever.

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I have a serious magazine hording addiction { some people hoard animals, I hoard magazines } to keep my magazine love under control, I have a magazines stashed in a basket in in our book shelf, when my paperweight is popping up way too high. I go though my magazines and purge.

I also keep a few magazines in an empty plant container in our new expedit. Keeping my magazines only in the living room helps keep them from winding up all over the place. In the wicker basket we keep my sons Wii games and items organized. Again having a designated place for items helps keep our living room organized & makes cleaning up much easier.

 In the banana leaf wicker ottoman I picked up at Target a while back I stash extra decor items inside (vases, candles etc.) I also keep extra blankets inside. Easy blanket access for upcoming breezy fall nights, this also helps save space in our linen closet. I also like the the wicker ottoman adds another layer of texture in our room & provides undercover storage.

I also like the the wicker ottoman adds another layer of texture in our room & provides undercover storage.

I like how our living room has evolved over time, it feels comfortable and modern and fits our families needs perfectly. I'm so glad we added the another bookcase to our living room, big thanks to everyone for giving me their opinion about adding another bookshelf to our living room. Here are  few more pictures of our lived in living room.

View from seating on the sofa.

As I said its our everything room, nothings better than watching a movie on the sofa while your son is playing next to you.

How do you keep your living room organized & does you home have both a living room and family room? If so which one do you use most?