Cooking with my Cuz

For an only child, I am surprisingly lucky enough to have a HUGE family. My mom comes from a family of four, my dad from a family of nine....so I currently have (as the number is changing rapidly) 32 first cousins and 14 second cousins....and counting. Some I see every 10 years at weddings and funerals and some I get to see a little more regularly.

Delany is one that I am stoked to get to see on a VERY regular basis....she is my moms youngest brothers daughter and comes not only on holidays and birthdays, but also just for fun....a day, a few days, a week...whatever the time frame may be we get together, go see a movie, fly a kite at the beach, go to museums, get pedicures, hang out at home and we always, always cook together.

As my Del is a bit of a picky eater (she is getting better sloooooowly), we have made an effort to not only acquiesce to her tastes (because we don't want to scare her off altogether!), but to try and expand them if at all possible. She does, however, love to hang out in the kitchen with us girls and help us prepare meals for family gatherings. My mom (Genius!) gave her a cookbook a few years ago to help get her more involved than ever in our kitchen. Bonus for her is that she gets to pick dinner when she comes over simply by marking a spot in her Rachel Ray cookbook.

First off I will tell you that I can't stand RR....her voice drives me batty, her over perky "yumm-O!" and squeaky "EVOO!" drives me to drink. Brock knows to turn the channel quickly whenever her squeekiness comes on the food channel. BUT.....she wrote a kick ass kids cookbook. Probably with help from a lot of other less annoying people. BUT, it is easy and fun and diverse...I recommend it especially because you get her tips without having to listen to her.

One of Del's favorite things to make is the BBQ chicken pizza, which also happens to be one of my Mom and Dad's favorites too. And Brock and Dad both have "pizza" as one of their favorite food groups so we are always good to go with this meal.

There are a few options for the dough....You can go old school and by the Bridgeford Frozen Bread Dough and roll it out to the thickness you want. Or you can go to Trader Joe's and get their ready made pizza dough. Or you can one up it and make your own, which is actually pretty darn easy if you have the time.

Us? We went for the Bridgeford, it is a family fave and it is easy to keep a spare in the freezer for occasions that require pizza. :) This is a great meat for a quick fix and everyone loves it.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 Loaf Bridgeford Frozen Bread Dough, thawed
BBQ Sauce
2 Chicken Breasts, cooked and chopped
1 medium Red Onion, sliced
2 Cups Jack Cheese
1 bunch Cilantro, stemmed & chopped

Roll out dough to the thickness and shape you want. One loaf will generally make one half sheet pan. Spray your pan with non stick spray and sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pan and then lay out your dough. Invariably one of the kids always wants to roll the dough out, so it tends to turn in to an oblong, kind of rectangular....blob. But whatever, stretch or pinch it as needed to make it fit the pan you have selected. You can brush the edges with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and Parmesan cheese if you wish, it adds good flavor to the crust with much effort. Poke the dough with a fork and par bake for 10 minutes or so.

Saute the red onion in a little olive oil until tender and set aside.


Toss the chicken with a little BBQ sauce to coat it. Spread BBQ sauce on the dough evenly. This is Del sprinkling the herbs on the crust edges.


Top with chicken, red onion and cheese. With a smile on your face of course. :)

Bake until golden and bubbly. Top with chopped cilantro.

Mmmmmmmm.....pizza.