Good Food....and Friends :)

While Ben & Pete went fishing, the boys and I headed up to have dinner with Bethany & Mackenna! It was a nice evening of good food and friends :)

We enjoyed a lovely cocktail of Red Bull, Prosecco and Cold River Blueberry Vodka!

Bethany working hard to prepare dinner...

How good does this dinner look??!! It tasted just a great!

Strawberry Balsamic Pizza with Chicken, Sweet Onion and Applewood Bacon

Ingredients:
½ cup strawberry jam or preserves, I used my Strawberry-Pineapple Freezer Jam, use your favorite
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha Chili Sauce
1 ball pizza dough, your favorite or this recipe or a purchased ball of dough (Bethany used Portland Pie basil dough- delicious!)
1 cup diced or shredded chicken breast, from rotisserie chicken or left over chicken of any kind (B bought pre-shredded rotisserie from the deli counter)
½ cup applewood smoked bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces, cooked and drained
½ cup thin sliced sweet onion
12 ounces shredded Italian blend cheese, she used plain mozzarella and it worked fine.
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped ¼ cup fresh strawberries, diced small
Directions:
1. Place pizza stone or sheet pan on middle rack of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 4 to 5 minutes or until reduced to half of the original volume and mixture is thick and syrupy. Add strawberry preserves and Sriracha and mix well. Set aside to cool.
3. Pat or roll out pizza dough on a lightly floured surface to approximately a 14 inch circle. Shape does not have to be perfect, this is a rustic pizza. Place a piece of parchment paper, slightly larger than your dough on a pizza peel or an upside down sheet pan. (The parchment paper will make your transfer of the pizza to the oven infinitely easier!) Sprinkle parchment paper lightly with cornmeal. Fold dough in quarters and place on parchment paper, then unfold.
4. Combine chicken with 2 tablespoons of the balsamic-strawberry mixture and mix to coat all chicken with sauce. Pour rest of sauce onto pizza dough and spread to cover. Leave a 1 inch border all around the edge. Scatter chicken evenly over the sauce.
5. Place about 3/4 of the cheese on top of dough and spread to cover sauce evenly. Scatter bacon and sweet onion over cheese to distribute evenly. Scatter remaining cheese over this layer.
6. Slide parchment paper with pizza on top onto stone or cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Watch carefully, at this temperature it is easy to burn the pizza!
7. Remove from oven and let cool slightly, 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and fresh diced strawberries. Serve and enjoy!

After dinner the kids enjoyed some playtime! Peter also enjoyed feeding Mackenna!

I lost count on how many photos we tried to take to get a good shot of them!