Trader Joe's and BBQ Chicken, Apple, and Onion Pizza

As I browsed Trader Joe's today, I was caught by the dried fruit section. Trader Joe's have all kinds of yummy-looking dried fruits. I really really really wanted to buy the dried mangos that Trader Joe's carries. Except, I had just promised myself last night to stop spending so much money on food and save up for an iPhone! I had already broken my promise by going to Shinka's with Melody after class, and now I was wavering on splurging for $3.99 dried mangoes. Fortunately for my wallet, I resisted (UNfortunate for my taste buds and stomach), and walked out of Trader Joe's with only the necessities... (and some cinnamon sugar pita chips *shh*).

The whole ordeal, yes it was quite an ordeal to stand in front of the grocery aisle looking at the mangoes longingly but knowing full well I had already been spending too much money on food recently, made me wish I was already working and making real money! I can't wait till I'm making muchos dinero and don't have to live the student, scrimping lifestyle. And my luxuries aren't too extravagant (I think), I just want to be able to spend on good food and not have to budget at the grocery store.

In other news, the reason I went to Trader Joe's (for the first time in many months) was to buy their fresh pizza dough. Ben and I made pizza tonight for dinner, and brought it over to the Tseng's! Tonight, Ben was master chef and I was sous chef. We came up with BBQ chicken, apple, onion pizza with 3 different cheeses. BBQ chicken was Ben's idea, and the apple slices were mine. The foodie in me thinks the sweetness of the apple will complement the spicy and tangy bbq sauce perfectly! Mmhmm... Recipe below! Bon appetite!



BBQ Chicken, Apple, Onion Pizza

Pizza dough (We used Trader Joe's herb and garlic fresh dough)
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
2/3 c. BBQ sauce
1 chicken breast, pan seared until just pink in the middle
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 apple, thinly sliced (We used Fuji tonight)
5 white mushrooms, washed and sliced
3-4 c. cheeses (We used a mixture of cheddar, Parmesan, and Mexican blend)

Directions:

1. Rest pizza dough (per instructions) for about 15 minutes on floured surface. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. 
2. Cut chicken into chunks, cook chicken at high heat in pan and add 1/4 c. BBQ sauce. Cook for 1-2 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked, and sauce clings to chicken pieces. 
3. Pull and tug (we found that worked better than rolling out the dough, because the dough was so springy) pizza dough into circle-shape, about 12 inches in diameter. Lay pizza dough onto pizza stone or large baking pan. Rub olive oil into dough surface. Spread remaining BBQ sauce across pizza surface. Sprinkle 2 c. cheese, then add toppings of BBQ chicken chunks, onions, apples, mushrooms, then sprinkle remaining cheese on top. 
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until center of pizza is no longer doughy. 

The Result:

Edges are not burnt, merely, I was not too neat
in spreading the BBQ Sauce on the bottom!

Missing Mare, our photographer!