Pizza Buns

I love these.  One thing I have been really focusing on this past school year is cutting out as many processed foods in our house as I can.  I found this recipe, and I knew I needed to try it.  One, it looked like something I could hide some veggies in.  Two, they claim they freeze great. (My kids ate SO many this first go around that I didn’t have any to freeze – that good people.)  Three, they looked easy enough.  I went with the original recipe this first time just to make sure my kiddos liked them.  Next up, pureed veggies in the sauce!

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105-115)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3-4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

In a bowl, combine the water, sugar, and yeast.  Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Add salt and stir.  Add half your flour and mix well.  Gradually add more flour until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl when mixing and it isn’t sticky.  Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, voce, and let rise for 45 minutes or until double in size.  Remove dough from bowl.  Separate into three equal parts.

Prepare your pizza ingredients.  This time around I just used bacon and cheese.  I will be creative the next time!

Take one portion of the dough and roll out on a lightly greased surface.  Roll into a long skinny rectangle.  Once rolled, spread pizza sauce over the dough leaving the very edge of one of the long sides free so it will seal when rolled up.  Layer meat, cheese, and other toppings.  Begin rolling up starting at the long side where the sauce is to the edge.  Pinch edges to seal.  Now slice off equal sized rolls.

Place rolls in a greased baking dish.  Cover and allow buns to rise 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Pureed veggies are definitely being mixed with my pizza sauce next time.  The kids won’t notice at all!  My kids love cold pizza so I could see these in their lunches next school year!

Layered Greek Dip

I had this at a party a long time ago and forgot to post it! It was so delicious I had trouble not just standing at the plate and continuously eating it.

Original here; I just removed olives (don’t like ’em).

It’s SUPER simple to put together. Just layer the following:

Hummus (I used Sabra’s Roasted Garlic)
Crumbled Feta
Diced tomato
Diced cucumber

Serve with pita chips. Seriously, you’ll want to eat this for your dinner instead of as an appetizer!

Chipotle Copycat Corn Salsa

I tore a recipe out of the Food Network Magazine a long time and hadn’t tried it until just now. It’s delicious!

I couldn’t find a poblano at the store, so I had to skip it and instead used a little bit more jalapeno and instead of regular frozen corn, I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn (in the frozen section) for the roasted flavor that was missing from the poblano.

The best part? This whole bowl has only 200 calories or so the way I prepared it!

1/2 small poblano chile pepper, seeded
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 cup fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears), or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar

IF USING A POBLANO: Preheat a grill to medium high. Brush the poblano with 1 teaspoon olive oil and grill, skin-side down, until charred but still firm, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly; peel and finely chop.

If using fresh corn, bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the corn and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes; drain.

Mix the corn (if using frozen, thaw it and then add it here), poblano, jalapeno, cilantro and red onion in a bowl. Stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, the lime juice, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Serve with chips or on tacos.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Oh holy cow.  These are AMAZING.  You can find the original recipe here.  I’m going to also type out the recipe just in case the link doesn’t work at some point.  That would be HORRIBLE if that ever happened.  My only change is that I didn’t add the cilantro and green onions simply because I was cooking with four kids at my feet and completely spaced them.  I did buy them.

This time I used leftover chicken I had in the fridge.  Next time, I’ll be using the skinny crockpot chicken.  A friend of mine has already made them using this chicken and also said they were amazing.

I also LOVE that you can put these all together, bake about how many you think you will eat, and then FREEZE the rest for another meal!!!  Only one of my children tried this.  She liked it, but only got half way through with it before deciding it was just a bit too spicy.

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup green salsa
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 Tbsp sliced green onions
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese
• small flour or corn tortillas
• kosher salt
• cooking spray

 

Preheat your oven to 425?F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic. Once combined, stir in the cilantro and green onions. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly.

(If you decided to prep this in advance, refrigerate the mixture at this point until ready to continue.)

Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds).

Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can.

Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone.  Make sure the taquitos are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

**To freeze:  Before baking, flash freeze the taquitos in a single layer on a baking sheet then place in a labeled freezer bag and store up to 3 months.  To bake a frozen taquito (no need to thaw first): Preheat oven to 425?F and bake for 20 minutes.  (Flash Freeze means freezing the taquitos in a single layer for 15-20 minutes (until hardened) so that when you add them to the freezer bag, they will not all stick together).

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Hey all! We’re still here…but in our house, it’s baseball season x3 kids, so many evenings are consumed by practices and games right now, meaning I go straight to a few standbys for dinner!

I’ve had a couple of failures in the kitchen lately (pumpkin bread that turned out like rubber-how does that even happen?), but I’m moving on from those to give you this really delicious dip that is perfect for serving to a crowd!

Via Pinterest, of course, and approved by my small group as worthy of sharing! It’s spicy, but not at all burn-your-mouth hot. Original here, my very slight changes below.

PS…Listed below is the full recipe, but I made a half-recipe for small group last night, baking it in an 8×8 dish. There weren’t any leftovers 🙂

2 (8 ounce) packages light cream cheese, softened
1 cup light mayonnaise
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
4 ounces diced pickled jalapeno peppers, drained (I used them from the jar and chopped up the slices)
1/2 cup shredded Mexican style cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Sliced french bread, carrots/broccoli/cauliflower, tortilla chips, or crackers for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an oven safe serving dish (I’d go with 9×13 or so) with non-stick cooking spray or grease with butter.

Using an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Add green chiles, jalapeno peppers, and Mexican and mozzarella cheeses. Spoon this mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Mix together the Panko and parmesan cheese and sprinkle it over the cream cheese mixture. Spray the Panko and parmesan with a quick spray of non-stick cooking spray (or oil from your Misto!).

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and the topping is lightly browned.

Fiesta Dip

So, I just came to the website to figure out what I needed to make this dip for the teachers at school tomorrow.  Had no idea I’ve never added this one!  So yummy and so easy!

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 pkg hidden valley FIESTA DIP mix (same size envelope as hidden valley ranch pkg)
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Mix above and serve with cracker sticks or veggies.  YUM!

Hot Chip Beef Dip

My mom made this over the holidays and I remember liking it.  I made it last night for bunco.  Even better than I remember!  It was a HUGE hit.  I just put it in my mini crock pot and it was perfect.

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
small can mushrooms, drained and diced (Nic – just pretend that says fresh mushrooms 🙂
2.25 oz jar of dried beef, diced (I bought a jar where it was sliced and then I diced it)
1/2 onion, diced

I diced the onion and put it in a microwave safe bowl with a tiny bit of water for about a minute to soften the onion.  Drain and place in crockpot with cream cheese, sour cream, diced mushrooms, and diced beef.  Serve with small pieces of french bread.  So.  Good.  Can’t wait to eat the leftovers 🙂

Chopped Dinner: Take 4

Whew…this challenge is finally over! No more creative cooking for a little while 🙂

Dinner #4 in the Chopped challenge was Matt’s. His list was longer (because he was the oldest? I dunno.) but overall, pretty easy to work with AND gave me the excuse to try three new recipes!

Ok, so Matt’s ingredient list (which I accidentally leaked for those of you with eagle eyes last week!) was this:

So for the brie, I made these little Baked Brie Bites that were in puff pastry. Simple to make, and they were ok, but I think that Matt and I both prefer to eat brie bites the way I’ve made them in the past, which is these little brie cups. I’m thinking next time I make those for company, I’ll make some with pepper jelly and some with sweet jelly. I just used what I had on hand, which was strawberry jam, and the flavor was good, but so much jam baked out of the inside even though I felt like I sealed them well that the flavor was lost.

However, Luke and Jack Henry loved them and ate a few each, and Bennett had one and thought it was fine.

Moving on to dinner, which was Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes and Garlic Gorgonzola Steak. Oh. My. Goodness. Some of the best food I think I’ve ever made.

I’m not a huge sweet potato fan…not something I’d usually crave, but these were amazing (for the kids, I just used salt and pepper instead of the spice blend). Follow her instructions and you will not be disappointed. I did parboil the potatoes even though mine were fresh, but then they accidentally got left boiling too long when Jack Henry wandered into the kitchen with a fake sore throat and I was distracted away from my job for 5 minutes. Look at this pic compared to the original, and you’ll see what I mean…they fell apart but it mattered not…they were delicious.

The only change I’ll make is cutting my slices of sweet potatoes slightly smaller, about an inch tall. And I substituted regular chile powder for New Mexico chile powder…I don’t know the difference, but I’m thinking it can’t matter much in this recipe. And for the sake of using cashews in dinner per the Chopped list, I chopped them up finely and put the on each side of the potatoes with the spices. But, it really didn’t add anything, and I won’t do it again. (Bennett, however, was elated to see a can of cashews and put those on his plate instead.)

On to the steak. I did not buy ribeye as Matt requested; I got strip steaks, because I found a huge package of them on sale and they were better than ribeye, so I figured he wouldn’t complain. Plus, we almost never grill steaks, and we truly NEVER share with our kids, so this was a special dinner. Luke likes steak; the other two are fine with it, but seriously they’d rather have chicken or a hot dog, so it pains me to hear “how many bites of this do I have to eat?”

I seasoned all of the steaks as recommended in the recipe: rubbing a cut garlic clove over the steaks, drizzling with a tiny bit of oil (I used olive oil), and then sprinkling generously with salt and pepper. Next time, I’ll skip rubbing a garlic clove on them…for me, at least, it did nothing to give garlic flavor. I’ll use garlic salt and black pepper and omit the regular salt so we actually get some garlic flavor.

After that, Matt grilled them to close to medium for me, and as soon as he got them inside, I melted a very small amount of butter on each, and put gorgonzola on Matt’s and my steak and covered them with foil for a few minutes to help the cheese melt. It was recommended that you do this step ON the grill, but it was already dark out, and I was picturing it being too much hassle with falling cheese, etc. Know, though, that tenting foil over the steak will make it continue to cook, so that you don’t accidentally overcook your steaks.

Anyway, it worked for us to put the toppings on inside, off the grill. I topped the gorgonzola ones with the french fried onions, and that was it. Seriously, one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.

The leftovers tonight were great, too.

So there you have it! The kids commented that I didn’t get Chopped on any of my meals, so we need to do something harder next time.

Portobello Pizzas

Pinterest again! Original recipe here (and if you’re doing P90X, which I’m not, this is a good resource for you!). In the original recipe, she talks about using the baby bellas and making them an appetizer, which would be good, too. But using the big portobellos is less work, in my opinion.

Here’s how I did it (this serves 2, and I didn’t eat all of mine):

4 large portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed and finely chopped (you can use the part of the stem above the knobby part)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red or green pepper
1 tsp olive oil
pizza sauce (probably around 3/4 cup)
6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
12 slices of turkey pepperoni (or more if you want)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Saute the chopped mushroom, onion and pepper in a non-stick skillet with the olive oil. Remove from the pan when done, and let it sit on a couple of paper towels to remove excess moisture.

While the vegetables are cooking, put a silicone baking mat on a cookie sheet (or lightly oil the pan to keep the mushrooms from sticking). Lay mushrooms on the sheet, gills-side up, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until softened. If there is liquid in them when you remove them from the oven, dab dry with a paper towel.

Lightly salt the mushrooms, and then add the toppings: first sauce, then vegetables, followed by shredded cheese and pepperoni.

Return to the broiler for 3-4 minutes, until cheese is melted and barely starting to bubble/brown.

Enjoy!

Mini Phyllo Tacos

These are meant to be an appetizer, but we made a meal out of them.  I served mexican rice with them and it was plenty of food.  They would be great as an appetizer also!

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 envelope taco seasoning
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups shredded mexican cheese blend, divided
2 packages (1.9 oz each) frozen miniature phyllo tart shells

Cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in taco seasoning and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat; stir in 1/2 cup cheese blend.

Place tart shells in an ungreased 15×10 baking pan.  Fill with taco mixture.

Bake at 350 for 6 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese blend; bake 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.