Denver delivers dear friends and deliciousness!

The week of February 1st brought a barrage of travel and more time spent on planes and in airports than I care to recall. But knowing that my job often lends itself to this type of travel craziness, I just buckled in for the long week ahead.  First stop, one night in Indianapolis and three hours of training delivery on Wednesday, lather, rinse, repeat in Dallas on Thursday and finally on to Orange County, CA for double time training delivery with the staff there.  So far so good, right? All my planes were on time, no one asked me a question I couldn't answer and I only had to get snippy with one snotty curmudgeon who thinks because he's a fossil he's allowed to push me around verbally.  Those of you who know me know just how far he got with that line of thought.

But there is always a travel catch.  This one came in the form of the SNOWIEST winter DC has ever seen.  I was originally scheduled to fly back United Airlines through Denver on Saturday morning. I made it to Denver and that was where I stopped.  But that was fantastic! Because two of Ben's and my most favorite people in the world just moved back to Denver from DC in August - Michelle and Gustavo (hereafter referred to as Muchtavo).

On arriving in Denver, Michelle picked me up in her happy little blue Civic and drove us straight up into the mountains to the cute little town of Idaho Springs for lunch.  Idaho Springs, and Beau Jo's in particular, I'm told, is where skiers and boarders in the know stop to grab some grub before heading to the higher elevations of Breckenridge, Loveland, etc.   We cruised into Beau Jo's, got a table right in front of an old model-T and proceeded to order the BEST, again, the BEST, pizza I've ever had in my life!!!!  Beau Jo's serves "Colorado Style" pizza that you order by pound, rather than small, medium or large.  Michelle and I chose a 2-lb mountain pie with whole milk mozzarella, pepperoni, green and red peppers and Italian seasoning.  According to the Beau Jo's menu, a 2-lb pie is suitable for 2-3 people or a half-dozen mongeese.  We ordered it thinking that we'd have plenty left over for Gustavo.  And then we put away all but two small slices.  Oh, and did I mention the best part of the mountain pie?  They hand roll the crust, so when you're done with the pie you can spread honey on the delicious puffy crust.  AMAZING!

This was only the beginning of a fabulous Denver visit with great friends.  On the way back down to just a mile above sea level, Michelle and I stopped to look around Red Rocks.  While this is an amphitheater and the venue in which many concerts are played in the Denver area, it's the fact that it is an entirely natural formation that provides gorgeous views, beautiful hiking trails and amazing acoustics that really sets it apart.  Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me.  But check out the website for some great pics of the splendor that is this national park and concert venue.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking into my hotel, chatting, checking out Muchtavo's place and more chatting.  Gustavo met up with us for dinner just in time to visit Torres, their favorite family Mexican establishment in Denver, a restaurant I've been hearing about since Muchtavo's DC dwelling days.  Inexpensive and family friendly, I got to enjoy a chicken and bean burrito smothered with green chili!  Tastiness.

Since I had a hotel downtown, Muchtavo opted to stay with me that night.  That let us hit one of their favorite downtown brunch locations, The Delectable Egg, on Sunday morning.  Potatoes, good.  Eggs, good.  Cheese, good.  The Idaho scrambler was a tasty breakfast selection.  And again we passed an enjoyable meal chatting and catching up.  I love these people and miss them so much, it was so nice to get "stuck" in Denver with them.

By now my flight had been re-scheduled, canceled, re-scheduled again, and then re-scheduled a third time for a better, direct flight on Monday when everyone in the DC area was hopeful the airports would finally be open.  But all the time I spent on the phone with the travel agent aside, we spent the rest of the afternoon in another haze of chatter and laughter, with Muchtavo teaching me all about the neighborhoods and things to do in the Denver area (for when Ben and I come back in the summer!).  By mid-afternoon we somehow decided we were hungry again.  Really, I don't know how, but we were.  So before heading over to Michelle's parents house to watch a great Super Bowl game, we stopped off at the Spicy Pickle for a tasty sandwich selection.  While this is a chain, it's a yummy, healthy one that doesn't exist in my area, so I was happy to try it out!  For the fourth time in two days, Muchtavo didn't steer me wrong.  The Santa Cruz sandwich was great and left me happy and full to meet Michelle's family.

Fast forward a few hours and everyone is cheering for a Saints victory, Michelle's brother's crazy dog keeps making me laugh, Michelle is doing the end-zone victory dance every time the Saints score and I am totally comfortable and enjoying Michelle's great family.  We took off on the early side since it had begun to snow and I had an early flight the next morning, but even with an early departure the night was fantastic and I'm thankful to have been included in it!

Overall, I could not have asked for a better trip to Denver.  With the weather as it was, we didn't get to enjoy all the beautiful scenery Denver offers, but as I told our wonderful friends, I was much more interested in the company and I couldn't have asked for better!

Herbed Cheese Pizza

Ben and I tried this from one of my Cooking Light magazines and wow, it was amazing! And a quick tip - if you need to make this a quicker dinner and don't have time to make dough, Whole Foods sells a great, fresh pizza dough that will save you some time and still result in a delicious, pretty healthy pizza.

Dough:
9.5 ounces bread flour, divided (about 2 cups)
2 cups warm water (100° to 110°), divided
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages dry yeast (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
14.6 ounces all-purpose flour, divided (about 3 1/4 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
Cooking spray

Topping:
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon hot paprika
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
10 ounce sliced kasseri cheese
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

To prepare dough, weigh or lightly spoon bread flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 4.75 ounces (about 1 cup) bread flour, 1 cup warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl; let stand for 15 minutes.

Weigh or lightly spoon all-purpose flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 13.5 ounces (about 3 cups) all-purpose flour, remaining 4.75 ounces (about 1 cup) bread flour, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; make a well in center. Add yeast mixture, remaining 1 cup warm water, and 2 teaspoons oil to flour mixture; stir well. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; divide dough into 8 equal portions. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.

To prepare topping, combine oregano, cumin, paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to pan. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic, bay leaf, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; discard bay leaf.

Preheat oven to 450°.

Working with 1 dough portion at a time (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), roll each portion into a 6-inch circle on a lightly floured surface; place circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining dough portions. Top each crust with 1/4 cup tomato mixture, 1 1/4 ounces cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon oregano mixture. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until crusts are lightly browned. Sprinkle evenly with parsley.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 pizza)
Recipe credit goes to Cooking Light magazine

Quick Margherita Pizza

B Post!

This one isn't as healthy as the previous posts, but it's perfectly delicious. Also, this isn't really a recipe so much as a set of loose instructions for creating your own delicious pizza.

11 oz. pre-made white or whole wheat pizza dough (we get ours at Whole Foods and it lasts a couple days in the fridge)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pouch pre-made Boboli sauce (we've tried making our own and a number of other pre-made and for the time and ease, this one is the best)
4-5 oz fresh, whole milk mozzarella, sliced
10-15 fresh basil leafs (this is a "to taste" thing)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Roll out your pizza dough to approximately 12" in diameter. Dock pizza dough with docker or fork. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place crust on pizza stone (round baking sheet will work if you don't have stone) and place on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for four minutes. Remove crust from the oven. Cover evenly with pizza sauce and mozzarella. Replace in the oven on bottom rack until crust is brown and cheese is bubbly and lightly browned (about eight minutes). Remove from oven and place fresh basil leaves evenly on top of pizza. Slice and eat immediately!