Veggie Pizza

I could make a meal out of this appetizer. The only time consuming part, to me, is spreading out the crescent rolls. For the veggies, I use the pre-shredded carrots and just give them a quick chop. So easy and yum! Always a hit!

Veggie Pizza
Adapted from Pillsbury

Ingredients
2 cans crescent rolls
8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sour cream (I have also used plain yogurt and it worked too)
1 package ranch dressing mix (or some dill and garlic powder)
Chopped veggies of choice (I use red peppers, carrots, and broccoli)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375. Unroll crescent rolls and press together seams on an ungreased 15x10 baking sheet. I find there is always overlap and I need to do some creative configuring. Make sure you press on the sides so you have a crust!
-Bake 13-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely
-Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, and seasoning and spread evenly over baked and cooled crescent rolls. Sprinkle veggies on top; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Zucchini Bread

A few years ago, I was working hallway duty during 1st period and one of the cafeteria workers brought me a piece of zucchini bread. It was the moistest, most delicious zucchini bread I had ever had and I begged her for the recipe. She brought it to me the next day and this has been my go-to recipe ever since! And I NEVER peel the zucchinis because I love seeing the little green flecks throughout the bread.
Zucchini Bread
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
3 C flour
3 eggs
2 C sugar
1 C oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 C grated zucchini (pared if desired, which I never do. I like the green flecks in the bread)
1 C chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 C sour cream

Directions
1. Grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift flour into large bowl. Beat eggs and add with rest of ingredients to flour in bowl. Mix well making sure all the zucchini and flour is mixed into the batter.
3. Scrape bowl often and keep mixing for several minutes. Pour into greased pans and bake in oven for 1 hour. If toothpick comes out clean, bread is done. If not, check every 5 minutes until done.
4. Let cool in pans on wire racks and store in plastic wrap. Freezes well.

Irish Soda Bread

I wanted to try something new for St. Patrick's Day, but didn't want to have cupcakes or cookies sitting around. So when I stumbled across this recipe from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes, I had to give it a whirl! It is a beautiful loaf of bread, and was the perfect accompaniment to our feast of corned bread and cabbage and noodles! And it was wonderful later as a snack, toasted with some butter!

Low Fat Irish Soda Bread

from Gina's WW Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 C lowfat buttermilk

2/3 C raisins

Directions

-Preheat oven to 375

-Mix together dry ingredients (except raisins) in a bowl. SLOWLY add buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough begins to form.

-Add raisins and knead for about 1 minutes on a well-floured surface. Form into a round, slightly flattened shape.

-Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a sharp knife, make an X on the top about a 1/2 inch deep. Bake about 40 minutes until golden. To test if it's done, insert a toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean it is done. Let cool on a baker's rack before serving

Soft Garlic Knots

A few notes about these puppies:

1. Holy cow. Amazingly delicious.

2. Ridiculously super easy dough to work with. Do not be afraid, my friends.

3. Mine turned out huge, so next time I will make them much smaller.

4. And yes, I am aware they are not very knot-like. Follow this tutorial at Amber's Delectable Delights for how to properly knot them
Soft Garlic Knots
Source: I Heart Food for Thought adapted from King Arthur Flour as seen on Amber's Delectable Delights

Ingredients
Dough
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
Glaze
2-4 cloves peeled, garlic
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 teaspoon Pizza Seasoning or Italian seasoning, optional

Directions
1. For the dough - In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the dry ingredients together then add the olive oil, milk and water. Using the paddle attachment or dough hook, mix and knead to form smooth, elastic dough, adding additional water or flour as needed. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow it to rise for about 1 hour, until it’s doubled in bulk.
2. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and roll each into a rope about 10 inches long; tie each rope into a knot. Place the knots on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes to about an hour, until very puffy looking.
3. To make glaze - Unpeel garlic cloves. Chop the garlic in a food processor (or you can use a garlic press), with the melted butter.
4. To bake - Bake the knots in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 to 18 minutes. They should be set, but only very lightly browned. Remove the knots from the oven, and brush or drizzle them with the seasoned butter. (You can reheat the butter briefly in the microwave, if it’s solidified).

Honey Wheat Sandwich Buns

I have had these bookmarked for awhile now, and when preparing my light and simple lunch for a friend, I knew they would be perfect. And you know what? They are. My husband even loves them and kept snagging them and slathering them with butter!

Honey Wheat Sandwich Buns

from Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. milk, warmed to 110-115 degrees
1 packet active yeast
2 c. bread flour, plus 1/4 c. more for adjusting
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, room temp
1/4 c. honey
2 Tbsp butter, at room temp, plus more for melting

Directions:
-In small bowl, add yeast to milk and let stand until beginning to foam, about 15 mins
-In bowl of stand mixer combine flours and salt and stir to combine.
-With mixer fitted with paddle attachment add yeast mixture to flour and stir on low.
-Slowly add egg, honey and butter and stir to combine well.
-Change to bread hook and knead bread until not sticky and gives back when pinched(adding more flour as needed to adjust).
-Grease a large bowl, knead dough into a ball and place in bowl at room temp to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
-Remove dough from bowl, roll out to 1 inch thick and cut out using 4 inch cutter, placing rounds onto prepared baking sheets
-Cover rounds with a clean flour sack towel and let rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Place baking sheets into oven and bake until baked through, about 12-14 minutes.
-Remove from oven, brush lightly with melted butter and let cool before serving.

Fall Harvest Bread: Cranberry Edition

Just after finding this recipe, Katie updated it with new ingredients! And because I have been stocking up on cranberries for the upcoming season, I just HAD to make it! Instead of pecans, I used walnuts because I had them. It is a wonderfully moist and dense bread, so definitely have a cup of coffee or glass of milk handy! I doubled the recipe and packaged up a loaf for someone that C works with who had given him a non-working riding lawnmower, which C then rebuilt and it now works like a charm!

Fall Harvest Bread
Courtesy of Good Things Catered (an updated version of this recipe, with cranberries...YUM!)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Prepare 9x5 loaf pan or 5 mini loaf pans(or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan).
-In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
-In another large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla and stir to combine well.
-Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just barely blended..
-Fold in apples, cranberries and pecans.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes (35-40 minutes for mini loaves) or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
-Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack completely (makes the slices much more clean.

Fall Harvest Bread

Pumpkin and apples. Perfect! Katie recently posted an updated version of this on her blog with fresh cranberries and pecans and I think I am going to give it a whirl this weekend! I still have some granny smiths in the fridge so why not? And seriously. The lighting in my kitchen SUCKS.

Fall Harvest Bread
adapted from RecipeZaar, discovered on Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. apple juice (I did not have any, but used apple cider!)
1 small apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray 9x5 loaf pan (or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan) with pam with flour for baking -- or grease and flour.
-Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in bowl.
-Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, and juice in large bowl.
-Mix until just blended.
-Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
-Fold in apples.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes or until wooken pick inserted into center comes out clean.

Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Last night I made some chili and wanted a yummy cornbread to go along with it. I won't even bother posting my normal chili recipe, because it consists of me dumping a bunch of stuff into a crockpot with ground turkey and beans. I change it each time. But these muffings...YUM!

Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Courtesy of Allrecipes

Ingredients:

1 C all-purpose flour

1 C yellow cornmeal

2/3 C white sugar
1 tsp salt

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 C milk

1/3 C veg oil

*I also add 1 can of sweet corn, drained

*You could also just pour into a 9-inch round cakepan and bake it that way. I prefer the muffin!

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees

-Spray a 12-muffin cupcake pan

-Pour batter into cups

-Bake until golden brown, approximately 15-20 minutes

Classic Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite things about fall: pumpkin. I love all things pumpkin. Apple runs a close second, with coconut as a third favorite flavor. And since today was the start of the football season here in Cleveland and the weather is cooling off, I wanted to bake something quick and easy to eat as dessert after a pot of yummy homemade soup. I was perusing Katie's cooking blog and stumbled across her adaptation of pumpkin bread, taken from Joy of Cooking. I kept her changes, since I wanted more spice in my loaf as well.

Classic Pumpkin Bread
From Good Things Catered, adaptation of Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 c. milk
½ tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp butter, at room temp
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Have all ingredients at room temp and prepare 9x5 loaf pan.
-Whisk together flour, soda, powder, salt and spices thoroughly.
-In another bowl combine milk and vanilla.
-In large bowl of mixer beat butter until creamy (about 30 sec).
-Gradually add sugars and beat on high speed until lightened in texture (3-4 min).
-Beat in eggs one at a time.
-Add pumpkin puree on low speed until just blended.
-Add flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts beating on low or stirring with spatula until just combined.
-Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
-Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Holiday Pumpkin Bread

I found this on Annie's Eats and since I love all things pumpkin, I made it the other day when my in-laws stopped over to see our tree (and play Guitar Hero!).

Holiday Pumpkin Bread

From Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

15 oz. can pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 tbsp. instant yeast

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, butter, spices, yeast, brown sugar, and 2 ¾ cups of the flour. Mix on medium-low speed until combined. Add in the remaining 2 cups of flour and mix on low speed until incorporated and the ingredients have formed a dough. Switch to the dough hook and continue kneading on low speed until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes. (Add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time if necessary to help the dough clear the sides of the bowl.)

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours; it should have expanded somewhat but won’t be wildly puffy.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (a silicone rolling mat works well), divide it in half, and then divide each half into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into an 18” log. Working with three logs at a time, make a braid, pinching the ends together. Coil the braid into a lightly greased 8” or 9” cake pan, shaping it into a wreath-like circle and pressing the ends together where they meet. Repeat with the remaining logs. Cover both pans with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 90 minutes until they look puffy, although not doubled in bulk. (I heated my oven to 150° F and then immediately turned it off. After 10 minutes I placed the loaves in the oven to let them rise. This worked wonderfully in my cold kitchen.)

Bake the bread at 350° F for 30 minutes, until lightly browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 190° F. Remove the wreaths from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Source: adapted from King Arthur Flour

I decided I needed something to go with the bread, so I made a cinnamon honey butter to go along with it!

Cinnamon Honey Butter
courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Honey
1/2 C confectioner's sugar

*I would reduce the sweet ingredients next time I make this. I thought the sugar, C thought too much honey

Beat ingredients until light and fluffy

Dinner for Two

Last Friday, Chuck and I had a lovely evening at home. We did not have the kids so I wanted to try out some new recipes. I had my first attempt at homemade foccacia bread, italian sausage and pepper pasta from Weight Watchers, and a fantastic fall pie from Good Things Catered. We watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,which sucked, and just enjoyed a much-needed relaxing night at home. The pasta was AMAZING and made a HUGE ammount. We ate leftovers all weekend!

Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta (courtesy of Weight Watchers)

• 1/2 pound(s) raw turkey sausage, Italian-style, casings removed
• 2 tsp olive oil, extra-virgin
• 2 medium yellow pepper(s), cut into 2-inch long thin strips
• 1 medium onion(s), thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup(s) red wine
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
• 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted recommended
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or less to taste
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 8 oz uncooked whole-wheat pasta, fusilli
• 1/3 cup(s) basil, fresh, chopped

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
  
  
• Meanwhile, to make sauce, in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage, stirring and breaking up meat with back of a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes; remove to a plate.
  
  
• Heat oil in same skillet. Add yellow peppers and onion; cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are lightly colored and crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
  
  
• Add wine and garlic; cook until most of liquid evaporates, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt and browned sausage; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender and sauce is heated through, about 10 minutes.
  
  
• While sauce simmers, add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package instructions. Drain pasta; return to pot. Add sauce and basil; toss to mix and coat. Yields about 1 1/3 cups per serving.

My foccacia bread was a random recipe off the internet...I want to try a different one. This was really good, but not what I was looking for.


I plan on making this pie for Thanksgiving and wanted to give it a whirl.

Autumn Apple Pie

Ingredients:
1 recipe basic pie dough
9 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1/4 c. golden raisins (I did not add these because I did not have any)
1/4 c. dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 egg, beaten
raw sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
-Roll out 1/2 of basic dough recipe into disk about 1/4 inch thick and 2 inches wider than the pie dish.
-Gently fold in half, then in quarters, place into pie dish and unfold evenly pressing into all edges of dish.
-Place dish into fridge.
-Roll out other half of pie dough to the same thickness.
-Using a small cookie cutter, cut the dough spacing each cutout about 1/2 inch apart.
-Place top and cutouts in refrigerator.
-Meanwhile, in a large pot, place apples, raisins, cranberries, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cornstarch over medium low heat.
-Stir, cover and cook until apples begin to soften, about 10-15 minutes. (I overcooked mine, so they were mushy)
-Remove top of pan, stir and continue cooking uncovered until begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.
-Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, and let cool completely.
-Place baking sheet in oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Remove pie dough from fridge and pour in pie filling, leveling top of filling.
-Top filling with cutout dough piece and trim ends.
-Brush bottom of cutout pieces with beaten egg, and place on edge of pie.
-Brush top of pie dough with beaten egg.
-Place tin foil loosely around edge of pie (or use pie protector) and place in oven on preheated baking sheet.
-Cook until pie dough is cooked through and middle is bubbling, about 60 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving.
(Mine is DEFINITELY not as pretty as Katie's!)