Pinterest Inspired Dinner and Dessert

Let me preface this post by saying that *normally* I meal plan by the month, so that I don't have to worry about it being 3pm and I still have no idea what to make for dinner.  But I've gotten a bit off track with the pregnancy and getting ready to move, so meal planning has taken a bit of a backseat.  Every once in a while when I'm not feeling inspired, I turn to Pinterest to find something that sounds good.  I've made this recipe before and everyone loves it.  I just throw four chicken breasts, a can of corn, a can of black beans, a can of Rotel (or diced tomatoes), and a whole block of cream cheese into the Crockpot with cumin, garlic, and onion powders and let it cook for six hours on low.  I shred the chicken and let it cook for another 15-30 minutes.

 

I served it over brown rice with all the burrito fixin's:  tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and sour cream.  Yummy and filling!

 

For dessert, I had some grapes and bananas that were getting towards the end of their useful life, so I decided to make a fruit salsa and cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips, which I also found on Pinterest.  I diced up some grapes, strawberries, bananas, and a pear and added three tbsp. of homemade strawberry jam to make the salsa.  For the tortillas, I cut the tortillas with a pizza cutter into fourths and brushed melted butter across them.  I then sprinkled cinnamon sugar across the tops and baked them at 350 for about 8 minutes.  They were delicious and the kids loved them!

 

A yummy dessert using ingredients I already had on hand.

 

Pinterest recipe link for chicken here and dessert here.

Sausage, Spinach, Mushroom Calzones

Do you know the difference between a calzone and a stromboli?  A stromboli has the pizza sauce baked into it, kinda like a Hot Pocket.  A calzone however, only contains the "toppings" minus the sauce.  The sauce is usually served on the side for dipping.

I found a recipe from a FB friend of mine for calzones and they sounded delicious!  Here's her original recipe.  I didn't have quite the same ingredients that she used in my pantry at the time, so I improvised.  I mean, calzones are pretty much the same as pizza in their versatility.  So I used pizza dough that I made previously in the bread maker and frozen.  I also heated up some frozen sausage patties and cut them into chunks, thawed and drained some spinach, and threw in a can of mushrooms, along with some ricotta, mozzarella, and a little fresh Parmesan cheese!

I started by thawing the dough and rolling it out into a big square(ish) shape, haha. I mixed all my toppings together in a bowl and then spooned them onto half of the dough, leaving a few inches on the three sides that will have seams.

I just added sausage, mushrooms, and cheese to the kids' calzones, only because I didn't want Taylor to decide not to eat the whole thing, just because she saw something green inside.  She's going through a phase lately where she doesn't like broccoli or spinach.  Strange, huh? :)  Let's just hope it doesn't last until she's an adult!

After I folded the top over the rest of the dough, I sealed the seams with a fork and poked a few holes in the top to vent.  I also brushed the tops with a little butter before baking.  I think that a little bit of Italian seasoning and/or garlic powder and onion powder would have been great to sprinkle on the top, but alas, I didn't even think about that until just now as I am typing this... :)

They may not be perfectly square, but that's one of the things I like about these.  You can tell they're homemade.  And please disregard the wax paper, apparently I have trouble reading sometimes and instead of using parchment paper, I grabbed wax paper.  Oh well, it didn't catch on fire and it didn't stick to the food, so all's well that ends well. :)

 Here's the final product.  Don't you like the awesome food positioning?  With just a little bit of cheese oozing out of the warm, doughy shell?  Yeah, that was Marcus's idea. Hopefully it makes you hungry and you go try these!! ;)

Good Eats!

Good Eats is my new TV obsession.  I love, love this show!  And Marcus just happened to overhear me raving about it and bought me the whole first season!!  I can't wait to watch all of them.  It reminds me of watching Bill Nye as a kid because it was science, but interesting.  This is the same way, but with food science.  Alton Brown has a way of making you think about cooking in a more abstract, fluid way than just following a recipe.  It gets to the bottom of how foods react when heated, why certain cooking methods are preferred to achieve a desired result, and what type of heat to use to attain a specific texture, just to name a few things I've learned.

One of the biggest things I've noticed is that Alton uses the freshest, rawest ingredients possible to get the best flavor.  Which seems obvious when you think about it, but then again, look at how many "convenience" foods you find in the grocery store.  I get it, we're busy.  But seriously people, are we too "busy" to grate our own cheese these days?  (Not to mention the price difference in block cheese and pre-shredded.)  That's just one example off the top of my head, but I agree with Alton, if you want the freshest taste, you gotta use the freshest ingredients. 

Ok, now that I've stepped down off my soapbox, I have recipes! And pictures!  :)

The first thing I made from Good Eats was the Overnight Cinnamon Rolls (yes, from scratch!).  They are delicious.  Please try them because they're not hard to make and who doesn't like to wake up to freshly baked cinnamon rolls on a Saturday morning? Or a Tuesday for that matter? :)  So, here's the recipe from Food Network. 

I started with all my ingredients, since if I ever happen to have my own cooking show, that's how they do it (except I'd have prettier measuring cups on TV):

Cream the butter and sugar with the whisk attachment:

Add the dry ingredients:

Once it forms dough, knead on a floured surface, then cover with plastic wrap in a bowl to rise:

Once it rises, roll it out into a 12 x 18 inch rectangle, brush with melted butter, and add the cinnamon/sugar mixture, leaving the top inch or so empty to help prevent spillage.  I added pecans and raisins to mine:

Slowly roll the dough into a tight cylinder:

Then cut the dough into thirds, then each one of the three in half and then each one of those in half.  That should give you 12 rolls.  Put in a 9x13 pan and chill in the fridge ovenight:

Don't those look yummy?  Good, because that's the last picture I have of them.  The next morning, I got up, put them in the oven and realized when they didn't get big and puffy like the ones on TV that my yeast was probably a little past its prime.  Not a huge deal taste wise, they just stayed about the same size as the previous picture once they were baked.  I drizzled them (or swizzled, if you're my dad) with a powdered sugar/milk icing and we ate them up.  They were really good and I will definitely be making these again (with fresh yeast)!  :)

I am almost 100% positive that the more I watch Good Eats, the more posts you will see with me trying to recreate something I saw on the show.  So stay tuned! :)

Homemade pizza and movie night!

Yesterday we told Taylor that if she was good at daycare, we would have pizza and a movie night last night.  I got a good report when I picked her up, so movie night it was! 

I started making homemade pizza dough after I got my bread machine (used from a friend for $20!) and I think I've gotten better at it with a little practice.  Don't get me wrong, my first batch tasted good, it just was kinda plain and not shaped very well.  Since then, I convinced myself to spend the $7 to buy a rolling pin and I've learned to season the dough after I roll it out.  I think this makes all the difference in the taste of the final pizza.

I'm getting better at making a circle, yay!  :)  Anyways, before I put the dough on the pan, I sprayed the pan with Pam and sprinkled some cornmeal on top of that to keep the dough from sticking to the pan.   I seasoned the dough with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning blend, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Then I poked a few holes in the dough with a fork to keep an air bubble from forming and baked it for about 5-7 minutes on 400 degrees.  I learned to pre-bake the dough by trial and error because several pizzas I've made in the past were baked perfectly around the crust, but still tasted doughy in the middle.  Pre-baking the crust fixes that beautifully. 

Anyways, I made the pizza half with pepperoni and half with leftover taco meat and it was delicious!  We only had two slices left over, so I guess Marcus and the kids enjoyed it too! :)  And to make it feel more like delivery pizza, I heated up half a loaf of store-bought frozen cheesy garlic bread, cut it into 6 breadsticks, and served it with some marinara sauce for dipping.  Yum!

After Hunter went to bed, we snuggled up on the couch with popcorn (for me) and Cheetos (for Tay) to watch the movie Up.  Can you believe neither Marcus or I had seen it yet?  How this movie escaped our notice, I have no idea because it was great!  So cute and so sweet. :)  Marcus and I were laughing more than Tay was, especially at those silly, talking dogs.  Tay seemed to be completely enthralled with it and she actually sat and watched the entire movie.  :)

So we had a great Friday night!  Good food and a good movie and good family cuddle time!  :)

Broccoli Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I found this recipe a LONG time ago in one of my Family Circle magazines and it has absolutely been a staple in my menu plans since then.  Chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar, and broccoli are pretty hard to beat!

Here's the recipe:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a package)

1 package frozen chopped broccoli florets, thawed

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

1. Heat oven to 350.  Cut a pocket into the chicken breasts, cutting into, but not through.

This is easier with a small paring knife and your fingers to help pry the chicken apart without tearing it.

2.  Soften cream cheese slightly.  In a large bowl, combine broccoli, both cheeses, bread crumbs, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

3.  Stuff 1/3 cup of mixture into each chicken breast and secure the opening with a toothpick (or two, if needed).  Season chicken with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Brown chicken over medium-high heat in two batches in a nonstick skillet for 3 minutes each side.

4.  Transfer chicken to a baking dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.  (If there is any leftover broccoli/cheese mix, I usually just add it to the pan with the stuffed chicken.)

I usually serve this with long-grain and wild rice, but it would go great with anything from mashed potatoes to egg noodles, as well.  Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before serving! :)

Pioneer Woman's Cowboy Potato Chowder

Okay, I have a confession. I LOVE the Pioneer Woman's recipes.  I have yet to try one of her dishes that I didn't like.  I am especially fond of the Marlboro Man-approved recipes.  If you're not familiar with Pioneer Woman, you probably have no idea who Marlboro Man is, but that is her pet name for her husband.  Sounds a lot more manly than "Pooky," I suppose. :) 

Anyways, Friday night we were supposed to go to the local drive-in to watch Act of Valor (for free!), but tornado watches and thunderstorms kind of put the kibosh on those plans, so I had to come up with something to fix for dinner, quick, fast, and in a hurry.  I had found the recipe for Cowboy Potato Chowder earlier and had all the ingredients on hand, so I decided to give it a try.  I did omit the dill because I don't have any, but it didn't seem to be lacking in flavor without it.

You can find the link to the recipe here.

This chowder is delicious.  Thick and chunky and especially good topped with shredded cheddar and crispy bacon.  Perfect for a cold, rainy night at home. Marcus had two bowls and Hunter ate his whole bowl AND finished off Taylor's!  He was shoveling it in by the handful, haha!

I promise he does know how to use a spoon!

Anyways, I just thought I'd share.  :)   I'm sure there will be plenty more recipe posts to come, especially since I have discovered Pinterest! (That's a whole 'nother post in and of itself!)