Cowboy Calzones/Pizza

Can I say just say AMAZING!!! Especially when my husband gives them a two thumbs up and tells me I have to make them again when family comes out in June to see us. I found this recipe over at Your home based Mom. She has a great little site so go over and check Leigh Anne out. After making the calzones. I decided to put the filling on a pizza and see how that would taste and it was just as good if not better. So try it out whichever way you want.

Cowboy Calzone/Pizza adapted from YOur home Based Mom
Crust:
3 cups warm water
4 T. oil
8 -81/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
6 T. sugar
2 T. instant yeast

Mix the instant yeast with one cup of flour and set aside. (Or if using regular yeast mix the yeast with the warm water in Mixing bowl and let set until bubbly about 10 minutes then add the rest of ingredients until well combined and Knead till smooth) Combine the water, salt, oil, sugar and half of flour. Mix until well combined. Add the yeast flour mixture and mix for about 2 minutes. Then add the rest of the flour one cup at a time until forms a smooth soft dough. Set in a oiled bowl and let rest 15 minutes-1 hour. Depending on how much time I have determines how long I let it raise. Roll the dough out for pizza or for Calzone and fill with desired toppings. Bake in 400-450 degree oven.

Filling:
1 lb. ground sausage
1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/2 of a green pepper, chopped (i needed to use so you can use it or leave it out)
2 T. minced garlic
1/2-1 cup chopped pepperoni
1 (10 oz) can Rotel (I used extra hot and it was great for us but use mild if you like)
8 oz. ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese (but you can use monterey jack or pepper jack)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

In large skillet, cook the beef, sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic until browned. Drain off the grease. Add the pepperoni and cook for a few minutes. Pour in the Rotel. Stir to combine and cook for 2 -5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. In a bowl combine the three cheeses, egg, salt and pepper. Mix well then add the cooled meat mixture and stir gently to combine. Let cool for a little bit before putting it on the pizza or Calzone.

For the Calzone:
Roll a piece of dough into a 6-8 inch circle. Place some of the meat cheese mixture on one side. pull the top piece of dough over the top and press with a fork or fingers to seal the edge. Palce on a greased cookie sheet and brush top of pizza with olive oil. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

For the pizza:
Roll desired size of dough in a circle and place on pizza pan or stone. Spread some pizza sauce on the dough. Sprinkle with a little bit of Mozzarella cheese and then spread desired amount of meat mixture onto pizza. Bake at 400-450 degrees until crust is golden brown and toppings bubbly and cheese melted.

So yummy!!!

Magic Cake Bars

I know a lot of you have had chocolate chip toffee bars or some form of them with the graham cracker crust or the flour sugar crust with the sweetened condensed milk. Well I found this variation over at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures and knew I had to try them out. She used a chocolate cake mix and I started making them and realized I was all out of cake mixes. I had a brownie mix which I do not use very often (only for food storage)because we love homemade better so I thought it would be good for this recipe. It did not disappoint. These were really yummy. I would have to say just as good as the original ones. Give these a try using a cake mix or a brownie mix.

Magic Cake Bars adapted from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures
1 pkg of chocolate cake mix or a 9x13 brownie mix
1 cup butter (Lynn used 1/2 cup-you decide)but using the brownie mix I felt it needed more butter
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
2 (14 oz cans) sweetened condensed milk

Place cake mix in a bowl and cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Press into a large cookie sheet or a 15x10 jelly roll type pan. Sprinkle with the chips, coconut, and nuts. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes and then cut into bars.

So yummy My kids who don't ususally like coconut and nuts in things loved them!!!

Chicken Tomato Alfredo

I got this recipe from my husband's Aunt Kathy. It is so yummy and simple to make. It is one of our favorite pasta dishes. The original recipe calls for fettuccini but it is easier for my kids to eat a smaller noddle so I just use whatever I have on hand at the time and whatever my mood is like. I have taken this to parties also and have been asked for the recipe. Now this isn't a meal that will make you a size 2 but like I have said before all things in moderation is the key!! I am a firm believer of exercise and all foods in moderation none of this lets go cold turkey and not have anything bad or fattening. I think when you deny yourself something it makes you crave it more and you are more likely to over indulge when you do have it. Sorry for going off on a tangent for a minute. Now for the recipe!!!
The picture is not the greatest but believe me this is so good!!

Chicken Tomato Alfredo
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 regular onion,diced
2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup whipping cream
1 package Alfredo sauce mix
12 oz. Fresh slice mushrooms(optional-sometimes I use them sometimes I add double the tomatoes instead)
1(15oz) can diced tomatoes(if I don't use mushrooms I use two cans tomatoes)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley or 2 T. dried
2 T. dried basil
1 lb fettuccini or any pasta you like, cooked according to package directions
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Heat the oil and the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, onion, and garlic and cook until chicken is no longer pink. While the chicken is cooking, whisk the cream and alfredo sauce mix together in a small bowl. When chicken is cooked pour the cream sauce mixture into the skillet with chicken. Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring. Reduce the heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in Parsley and basil. Remove from heat and toss the sauce with cooked pasta and parmesan cheese.

Bowl O' Beans

We love beans around here if you haven't figured that out yet. When I need a quick no meat meal I usally put on a crockpot of beans. This is so so healthy for you and so good!! We love to eat our bowl o' beans with avocado, cheese, lime wedges, and pico de gallo(diced tomatoes, jalapenos, and onion). If you need something to fix that is easy and healthy these are for you. Beans are packed with protein and fiber!!! YOu can use any kind of your favorite beans. Our Favorite are Anazazi beans that we get from Dove Creek Colorado but I know most of you can't get those so you can use pinto, black, or whatever. We have tried it with all kinds of beans.

Bowl O' Beans
2-3 cups dry beans-pinto, black, small red,Etc.
1-2 jalapenos chopped
1 onion chopped (medium to small)
1-2 roma tomatoes, chopped if you have them
1 T. minced garlic
Salt to taste
7-8 cups water
Toppings:
cheese, avocados, pico de gallo or salsa, lime wedges

Rinse the beans and place in a crockpot. Add the jalapenos, onion, tomatoes, garlic and water. Put crockpot on high and cook for 4-6 hours until the beans reach your desired tenderness. Add enough salt to taste. Do not put in the salt before you cook the beans or it will take your beans longer to cook. Pour a big ladle full of beans with the juice in a bowl and add any toppings you like and enjoy. We usually serve these with homemade bread as well. So yummy!!

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

I saw these a few days ago on the Picky Palate and just knew I had to try them out. My kids and I always make sugar cookies for Valentines day so we tried these with some of the dough. Man oh man were they good. My husband even sat and ate three right in a row!! Jenny at Picky Palate thank you for your genius invention. You must try these out. Just so you know I read some comments on her page and someone used store bought sugar cookie dough and they didn't turn out quite right. They said they were flat. So make sure you use a homemade recipe like mine below or your favorite one.

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Filling:
Butter, softened
brown sugar
Cinnamon

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
2-3 cups powdered sugar
2-6 T. of milk to thin the frosting to desired consistency

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the vanilla and sour cream. Add in the flour, salt, baking soda,and baking powder. Chill for 1 hour. (Make sure you chill because it makes it easier to roll out the dough)
After chilling the dough, Take it out and cut it in half. Roll out half of dough into a circle that is about 12x 5 inches. Spread each rolled out circle with 2 T. butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Start rolling from the long end rolling it into a log shape. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/2 to 1 inch pieces of dough Place on a greased or silpat lined baking sheet. They will look like so:


Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. They will look like this when done:

For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and milk until reach desired consistency. Frost the cookies and then place in refrigerator until ready to serve. These are good room temp. but just as Jenny said at Picky Palate they are way bettter cold. Believe me.

These may seem like they take a lot of time to make but they don't and they are so worthy it!!

Black Bean Empanadas

I found this recipe at the Pepperidge farms website but I adapted it to our liking. These were so yummy and we will definitely be making them again. It made a lot so if you have a small family you may want to half this recipe. There are 4 in ours and we had leftovers but they aren't quite as good the second day unless you reheat them in the oven. We ate this with a side of beans and rice. My kids gobbled these up.

Black Bean Empanadas
1/2 lb of ground pork or beef or turkey(i used beef because that is what I had)
1 small red pepper , chopped (I used tomatoes because I wasn't doing to pay 2 dollars for one pepper at the store)
4 green onions plus half of a yellow or white onion,chopped
2 T. minced garlic
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 T chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp corriander
1/2 tsp salt
1-8oz can tomato sauce
1-15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 sheets or 1 1/2 pkgs puff pastry sheets(can find these in the frozen section of any grocerystore)Thawed
1 egg
1 T. water

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl and set aside. In a skillet, cook the pork/turkey/or beef until well browned. Stir in the onions, garlic, Red pepper(or tomato), jalapeno, and black beans and cook until veggies are tender. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, corriander, salt, and tomato sauce. bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the cheese and the cilantro. Let cool to room temp.

Unfold the pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface . Roll each sheet into a 16 x 12 inch rectangle. Cut into circles with a cookie cutter or with a knife any size you like.( I cut some of mine 3 inches, some 7 inches, and some I just cut into squares and folded them over to make a triangle turnover. Just do whatever is easiest for you. They all taste the same.) Spoon some of the black bean mixture onto each circle or square. Make sure to leave enough space to fold and seal each one. Wet the edges of each circle with a little bit of water, fold over and press with a fork to seal. Place onto a baking sheet, brush tops with the egg wash and bake. Now the original recipe says to bake for 15 minutes but to get mine crispy and brown mine took 20-30 minutes depending on the size so you will have to watch yours and see how long it takes in your oven. Take out of oven let set for 5 minutes then serve with beans, rice, guacomole, limes, salsa, and sour cream.

Smores Bars

Do any of you out there love to camp? Well my family and I do and there is nothing better than making smores while you are camping. These bars are great to have in the winter when you wish it was warm enough to be out camping roasting marshmallows over the fire. These bars are so so yummy plus they are so easy to make. They come together in a matter of minutes. Your kids will go crazy for them.

Smores Bars
1 pouch(1lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix(I use Betty Crocker)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/4 cups melted butter
3 cups milk chocolate chips or if you like lots of chocolate use 2 full packages
1 (10.5 oz) package mini marshmallows

Mix the cookie mix and graham cracker crumbs together in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Press dough evenly into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown. Take out and Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Let stand for 3-5 minutes till chocolate is melted. Spread evenly over crust. Set the oven on broil. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the chocolate layer. Broil in oven for about 1 minute until the marshmallows are toasted. Remember to watch closely because you don't want to burn them. Cool for 10 minutes then eat. These are best warm and if you have leftovers just heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds to warm.

Look at all that goodness. I could just eat it straight out of the pan!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup is so yummy and easy to prepare. If you love soup you are definitely going to want to try this. We make this soup two different ways- with the chicken and hominy and we also make it without the chicken and hominy depending on our mood. It is equally good both ways. This is great for days when you want to make dinner fast.

Chicken Tortilla Soup/Tortilla Soup
2-3 chicken breasts

half and onion

2 tsp minced garlic

1 large can tomato juice

2 tsp chicken bouillon

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 small can enchilada sauce

1 28-30 oz can hominy(drained)found on Mexican aisle of grocery store

corn tortillas cut in strips or squares fried till crisp like chips

avocados

cheese

lettuce

limes

Cook the chicken with the onion and garlic in enough water to cover the chicken Cook until chicken is done and tender. Take the chicken out and shred it. Strain the broth and add it back to the saucepan. Add 1 large can of tomato juice to the chicken broth in pan plus half of the tomato juice can full of water. Add in the shredded chicken, hominy, chicken bouillon, chili powder, garlic powder, and enchilada sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour. Serve with avocados, cheese, lettuce, lime juice and homemade chips or strips.

If you want to make this meatless, Omit the chicken and hominy, Then just dump the tomato juice in a saucepan with 1 tomato juice can full of water and all the spices mentioned about. And cook and serve the same way.

Manicotti II

So I know I have posted a manicotti recipe before but I tried a little bit different recipe this time. It used egg roll wrappers that you can buy at any grocery store in the refrigerated veggie section of the store. I thought that was an interesting change. My husband and I prefer the real manicotti noodle to the egg roll wrapper because it wasn't enough noddle for us(they were too thin) But I do have to admit that is was a lot nicer just spreading the ricotta cheese mixture on the noodle instead of trying to stuff the noodle. BUt I do have to say that I always cut my manicotti noodle down the middle and spread the ricotta on then roll it back up and place it in the baking dish. The sauce was also different a little bit and we all really liked this sauce better. It had a little bit of red pepper flakes in it and made is so good. Now if you don't like hot things don't worry it won't make it hot. It just adds to the flavors. Believe me my kids ate it and didn't even say that it was hot. Anyway, it is really easy to make manicotti so just give it a whirl!!


Manicotti

Marinara sauce:
1-28 oz can diced tomatoes(in juice)
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 T. olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 T. minced garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp oregano

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 2 -3 minutes then add the red pepper flakes, salt, basil, parsley and oregano and cook until onions are tender. Add in the canned tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 30-1 hour. The longer it simmers the better flavor it will have.

Cheese Filling and Pasta:
2-15 oz containers of part skim ricotta cheese
2 cups parmesan cheese,divided 1 cup for filling 1 cup for top
2 cups mozarella cheese divided 1 1/2 c. for filling and 1/2 cup for top
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach(optional)
1 pkg manicotti noodles(cooked) or 11 egg roll wrappers

Mix all the above ingredients to gether in a bowl and stuff the noodles evenly(or spread evenly onto each egg roll wrapper and roll up).
To assemble. Pour 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce into a 9x13 inch pan. Place the stuffed noodles or wrappers in the pan on top of the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the noodles until completely covered. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Take out, uncover it and sprinkle with remaining cheeses and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes until cheese brown and bubbly. Take out and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Candy bar/Symphony Brownies

I am back finally!!!! We are finally moved and all settled into our new place. It feels good to be back. This recipe is yummy and easy. I normally make brownies from scratch because lets face it there is just no comparison but these brownies are great and especially if you need a quick dessert for a party or get together. I got this recipe from my sister in law Rachel. I just happened to have 2 boxes of brownie mix in my food storage!!

Candy Bar/Symphony Brownies
2 boxes(9x13 pan size) brownie mixes
3 large hershey or symphony candy bars -the blue symphony are the best

Mix the brownie mixes according to the package directions. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Unwrap the large candy bars and place over the brownie batter then pour the remaining batter over the candy bars and smooth out. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until done. Be careful because it is very easy to undercook these. Believe me I have done it before!!!