Pizza Roll-ups

So you probably don't need an actual recipe for this dish but I thought I'd put it on here so I don't forget to do it again someday.  My 10 year old son, Zac, was watching me scroll through Pinterest one day and begged me to make these pizza roll ups with him for our Mom and Me time (I spend about a half hour of individual time with each of my 4 kids on Sunday afternoons and the kids are always making big plans for "our time" together!) We bought the jumbo crescent rolls, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese sticks. The jumbo rolls will form a triangle when pulled apart and you just put half a cheese stick at the widest side of the triangle, pepperoni slices on the rest of the triangle and roll it up and seal the ends. We sprinkled a little garlic salt on top too. Bake for the amount of time suggested on the roll container and you have either appetizers or even a main dish.  Because we used the jumbo sized crescent rolls two Pizza Roll Ups plus a side salad was enough to fill everyone up.  I even sent leftovers in their lunch boxes the next day and that was a hit too!

Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole

• This is an easy casserole that I threw together last week.  Everyone really liked it, especially with some homemade salsa and chips. 

• 
  
• Ingredients:
• 3 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
• 2 cups dry Basmati rice
• 2 cans (10 oz each) Enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso)
• 1 can (16 oz) refried beans
• 1 cup white cheddar, shredded
• 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1 can (11 oz) corn kernel
• cilantro for garnish
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

 Directions: 

1. Cook the rice. I cooked it with 4 cups of water and ¼ cup of butter in my rice cooker.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
3. Mix the 2 cheeses together.
4. In a large bowl mix the shredded chicken with the enchilada sauce, refried beans and half of the cheese. Add rice, season with salt and pepper if needed, and mix well. Pour rice mixture into a large casserole dish. Top with corn then with remainder of cheese.
5. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until cheese melts and is bubbly.
6. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve warm.

Gingersnaps

 I made these cookies for a family book club because it went along with the book and I do love to follow a theme! I never really liked gingersnaps as a kid but these tasted so good! I liked that they are a little more soft and chewy rather than crunchy and "snappy" like most gingersnap recipes. Everybody in the family loved them and they were gone in a snap! I'd better double the recipe next time. This recipe says it will make 5 dozen but they would be mighty small! I ended up getting exactly 3 dozen small/medium cookies out of the batch.

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted, all-purpose flour
1 TBSP ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl. (I didn't sift and they still turned out great!)
3. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 9-10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

Peanut Clusters

I made this recipe to go along with our annual Harry Potter party. Of course, I called them Cockroach Clusters, just to mess with my kids but really no bugs were harmed during the making of this recipe! I'm glad too because....Cockroach Clusters?! Ewww!

 Ingredients
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1 cup cocktail peanuts

 Directions
Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and set aside. Pour semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and peanut butter into a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat for approximately 1 minute on 50% power. Stir and repeat until all chips are melted. Add peanuts to the melted chocolate and peanut butter and stir until well combined. Drop chocolate peanut butter mixture by the teaspoonful onto the parchment paper. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes to an hour until completely firm. Store in an airtight container.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

We really don't eat a lot of fish around here but I'm trying to branch out. This recipe has probably converted me to the benefits of eating Tilapia. I was very happy with how it turned out and it's really quick to prepare and cook. 

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes (my fish was mostly frozen and it still cooked in about 15 minutes.) Serve the fish with the lemon wedges. I served mine with a green salad and Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread. 

Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread

I've made this bread a few times now and it's a hit every time. Plus it's really easy to throw together and it's a quick bread so....well....it's quick!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, plus 1 teaspoon, divided
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup kerrygold dubliner cheese, grated*
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt, for sprinkling

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper and mustard. Add the parsley, 1 tablespoon thyme and cheeses. Stir.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 whole eggs and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix together egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water. Brush top of batter with egg wash. Sprinkle top of batter with remaining teaspoon thyme leaves and sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in loaf pan 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

*I don't do mine all fancy pants with dubliner cheese. I just use two different kinds of cheese, whatever I have on hand, usually chedder and mozzerella. 

Homemade Corndogs

  When you have little kids not every night can be super healthy or even at all healthy, right?! We made these homemade corn dogs and they were so fun and tasted really good! Much better than store bought ones. I did have a bit of trouble making mine look good. Most of them had tumor-like growths on them but they still tasted great. The trick is in getting the batter thick enough to stay on the corn dog but not too thick. I had to play around a little with the recipe below to get it just right, and honestly I can't remember what I did because we made these about a month ago (and I'm just trying to catch up!)

 

Ingredients

1. 1 cup yellow cornmeal
2. 1 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1/4 cup sugar
4. 1 Tablespoon baking powder
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1 egg, beaten
7. 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works too)
8. 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
9. 1 Tablespoon honey
10. 1 (10 count) package Hot Dogs
11. 10 wooden skewers or chopsticks 
12. Vegetable Oil for frying. I used my Fry Daddy but you could do it on the stove in a deep pan. 

Mix the batter and pour into a tall drinking glass, put the hot dogs on the skewers and dunk in the mixture (since I used my Fry Daddy the skewers were too long so I just dunked the corn dogs, fried them, then put them on a skewer to serve.) Fry in the hot oil for a minute or two until they are golden brown. Enjoy with ketchup and mustard!