Pizza Bites

Last night the girls got together and had  Pinterest Party. Pinterest food, crafts, and drinks!

I could not decide what to make out of all the Pinterest recipes. After much deliberation, I decided that I couldn't go wrong with Pizza. I found 2 different pizza bite recipes and tried them both out.

I used these ingredients for both recipes.

First, Pizza Stuffed Pretzel Bites 

Roll out your dough, the cute 3 inch pieces out.  Re-roll the pieces.

Place cheese and peperoni in the middle

pinch up the sides. I ended up rolling them in a ball after I pinched up the sides.

Bring water to a boil. Add the baking soda. Place a few bites in the pot for 30 seconds.

Put wet (from the step above) on a pan and brush with egg whites. Cover with Sea Salt

Pretzels has lots of salt. The pizza mixture and the sea salt were kind of strange.

They tasted like pretzels exactly though.

Next, Pizza Rolls

Roll dough into a rectangle and spread salted butter (I ended up not salting the butter on the next 2 because again, the salt and pizza was weird) Add garlic powder, sauce, cheese, and pepperonis.

Roll into a long log and refrigerate for 20 mins at least

Cut the log into slices. Place on pan and bake.

YUMMY

Pizza Pretzel Bites

dough
mozzarella cheese, about 20 cubed pieces
sliced pepperoni
olive oil
Italian seasoning
grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate or cake pan.
Divide the pizza dough into roughly 20 equal sized pieces.
Take one of the dough pieces and press in a cube
Of cheese and two pepperoni.
Pull the edges of the dough down around the filling and seal.
Place in the pan, seam side down.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Each piece of dough should be touching each other in the pan.
Lightly brush the tops of the dough with olive oil or egg wash
Sprinkle on salt and Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature,
with dipping sauce if desired.

 

Pizza Bun

dough

Pepperoni (or try cooked, crumbled Italian sausage) – amount is up to you.
3 oz SALTED butter, softened
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1/3 c marinara sauce

Directions

Spread on softened SALTED butter,

sprinkle garlic powder on top of that, then the sauce, then finally the pepperoni.
Gently roll up into a log and pinch the ends closed.

 Refrigerate log for at least 20 minutes

Cut rolls, place in greased pan, and put inside cold oven.
 preheat oven to 350°. Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes,

or until tops are brown and cooked throughout.

Eggplant Fries

Yes, you read the title right...

EGGPLANT FRIES

I had never had an eggplant before and to be honest, was not sure exactly what they looked like.

I had no idea about the texture, taste, how to peel them, that they had seeds, and so on. Pretty much this was going to be a hit or miss learning experience for me.

I must say, I would make them again. After a few times of tweeking, they may turn out wonderful. They were not bad.. like I said, I'd make them again.. but, they were not the best thing. We ate them though.  

I made some extra crispy and some normal just to see what the difference would be. I like the normal ones (which is weird because I like the semi burnt foods usually) It was weird though biting ito them and not knowing what to expect. Give it a try though.

p.s. the recipe calls for honey on them, I didn't use honey becuase I was not sure what an eggplant tasted like but I added paramsean cheese to mine.

Eggplant Fries

3/4 cup flour

2 tsps garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp fresh parsley, minced
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, fresh ground
oil for frying
3 baby eggplants or 2 medium eggplants
salt for seasoning
honey
In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, dried oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper until thoroughly mixed. In a heavy-bottom medium saucepan, heat at least two inches of oil to about 350F. Peel the eggplants and slice into 3/4-inch thick fingers. Toss the eggplant slices a few at a time in the seasoned flour until well coated. When the oil is ready, drop a few sticks of eggplant into the oil – they should begin sizzling immediately. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan or have the oil temperature drop too much. When they begin to brown (about a minute) flip them over and cook for another 30 seconds to a minute. Remove the eggplant fries from the oil and let drain on a cooling rack. Serve hot with a shake of salt and a drizzle of honey. A great snacking appetizer for 4 people

Lasagna Roll Ups

I started out making Lasagna Cups only to find out when it was time for the pasta, I didn't have the right pasta for the cups. So, I make Lasagna Roll Ups

Ingredients:for the sauce-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion
1/2 pound lean ground beef cooked and drained
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1-6 oz. can pizza sauce or tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste

for the cheese filling-2.5 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese to your liking
1 egg

Directions:For the sauce- heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions and garlic until tender, 5 minutes.
Stir in cooked ground beef and sauce until well incorporated.
Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to simmer.
Reduce heat to low and cook 30 minutes or so.

For the cheese filling- stir all ingredients together excluding half of the grated mozzarella cheese. Set aside.

For the pasta- Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package directions and drain. Place pasta on greased baking sheet until you are ready for assembly.

For assembly- slice the pasta so it is flat. Place some of the cheese filling and then some of the meat filling inside the past. Roll the pasta up around the fillings. top with extra sauce, cheese, or anything you'd like

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20/25 mins

Stuffed Peppers #2

I didn't really have a recipe for this one. I just put the things in it that Zak and I like.

1 cup rice (Mady wanted just plain rice so we cooked extra)

Lean Meat

Peppers with the tops cut off and the seeds/inside cleaned out

Onion

I have salt in the picture to hold the meat up but I didnt use salt

Worstchire sauce

Garlic powder

Cheese

Cook the rice according to package directions

Cook the meat, add onions, wors. sauce, and garlic. Toss around and let it cook/simmer

Stir the meat and the rice together once rice is cooked

(I actually added rice to the meat mixtrue and not meat the the rice pot)

Add the amount of rice/meat to your desire

stuff the pepper

for the Husband, I put cheese at the bottom then stuffed and then added cheese on top

Bake at 350 for 15 mins (or until it looks done)

SERVE

Back at it..

Meal Plan.. back in action.. 

yes, I am back in the kitchen. After a long pause as a self proclaimed "chef".. I am back at it.

I have a few new things going on in the kitchen this week. Get ready for them! Ill post when I make them but for now Ill give you a few peeks into what I will be cooking!

Strawberry & Chocolate Nachos (dessert)

Lemon Tilapia w/ Baked green bean fries & roasted garlic sauce

 

Roasted Chicken w/ Eggplant Fries

Avocado Crisps w/ well.. not sure yet, but I love avocado.. and anything with crisp sounds good to me!

And the usual.. although I have not cooked any of these since before May:

Chili (Zak is cooking Chili)

Flauntas (usual recipe)

Taco Soup (usual recipe)

 Breakfast Burrito

freezer/on the go

6-10 eggs, depending on how many you are making

breakfast sausage

onions/mushrooms/toppings

cheese

I used 6 eggs and made 10 burritos

I scramble the eggs in a cup then pour them in the skillet on med/high

I flip them like pancakes 

I slice the "pancaked" eggs in strips

this is actually how my chica eats her eggs, she dips the slices

cook your breakfast sausage and cut up into pieces

add onion/peppers/mushrooms/ whatever else youd like 

place all ingredients and wrap the tortillas up

 wrap in seran wrap individually

put in freezer 

pull out in the morning and heat in the microwave. with the seran wrap will make them soft, without the wrap makes them not so soft. You can put them in the fridge the night before to take less time in the microwave

serve with salsa or hotsauce

Husband loves them! He eats a sonic burrito everymorning until now..

Ewww ... BaNaNaS

As most of you know, I do not like bananas. It took me about 1 year to even be able to cut them/touch them/peel them for my chica.EWW.. the smell, taste, and feel of them. I can not handle it. I have learned though, I can wash my hands afterwards. Plus, miss chica loves them.

So now, 3 years later, I have started to make different things with bananas. This one I thought for sure would be a winner. It wasnt. At least, not the day I made them. Chica is funny like that, she says she doesnt like a food but yet eats them right up. I think she liked them.. I didn't taste them

All you need is bananas, coconut oil, honey, lemon, and a crock pot..

Cut 3 bananas up in slices

put 1 tbls coconut oil in the crockpot

add 3 tbls honey to the bananas

squeeze 1/2 a lemons juice and let cook for about 1 hour 30 mins on low

sprinkle Cinnamon on them, and eat up

Hey good lookin...

Over the past week, I have found myself back in the kitchen. Nothing major or fancy though.

Buffalo Chicken Egg rolls

This wing master garlic parmesan is the BEST wing sauce ever! We got it on our trip to Gatlinburg

Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls

*cooked shredded chicken, amount depends on how much you are making

I used 2 1/2 of the breast pictured up top.

*hot sauce or buffalo sauce to taste/liking

*fresh blue cheese

*pack of egg rolls pastry

*slaw, broccoli slaw, or celery chopped up

I made half with slaw and half just chicken/blue cheese

Cook chicken if not already cooked and shred it 

put in a bowl and mix with hot sauce to taste

place egg rolls out on clean smooth surface

place about 1 tbls slaw on corner

place about 2 tbls of chicken mixture on slaw

place blue cheese on chicken mixture

flip the end over the mixture pointing to the middle of the egg roll

flip one side over and then the other side

flip upwards one time

wet the top corner with finger and water

flip corner down to seal

(make an envelope)

bake on 375 for 18 mins or until crunchy

** note, these did not taste as good as they look. I ended up taking apart the egg rolls and just eating the chicken. I would not give up on them, I just think I need to tweek it a little. Maybe use a different type of egg roll .. not sure but I would give it a 4 or 5 star..