Nov 29, 2010 Posted by Jennifer on Nov 29, 2010 in chicken, Dinner Idea, party food!, pizza | 9 comments

BBQ chicken pizza

I woke up late yesterday which meant I was pretty much just going to have brunch! I hadn’t gone to the store yet, so I was searching for what I could make. I decided to make a pizza. I used to be so afraid of making dough with yeast, but it couldn’t be easier. And with my sister Biz’s dough recipe, it doesn’t even need to rise.

Dough

1 cup warm water
1 packet of yeast
2 cups flour

In a mixer with a dough hook, place all the ingredients in the mixer and mix for about 4-5 minutes or until the sides of the bowl are clean and the dough is soft. It will be a little sticky.

3 oz. of dough is only 150 calories and I roll it out thin so it seems like I have more.

Roll out the dough on a surface dusted with flour. Add more flour as necessary so it doesn’t stick to the counter.

Next I added:

The BBQ sauce was my base since I didn’t have any tomato sauce. As you can see we buy the industrial size!

Next came:

I had red onion, diced, 2 oz. leftover chicken, and 1 oz. of monterey jack cheese.

I actually will cook the pizza dough first for about 5 minutes because I like a crispy crust. Just poke the dough with a fork all over so it doesn’t puff up when you bake it.

Once its cooked for 5 minutes, just take out of the oven, add the bbq sauce and ingredients and bake for another 10 minutes or so.

This whole pizza came in at 480 calories…not bad!

Before eating, I sprinkled it with salt and pepper and a little oregano, and a douse of hot sauce. It was delish… the only bad part? Now my kids wanted their own pizzas! Luckily they let me eat first

Nov 26, 2010 Posted by Jennifer on Nov 26, 2010 in appetizer, holiday foods, party food! | 10 comments

Homemade Mozzarella cheese sticks

About a month ago, I was on www.tastespotting.com and I came across a recipe this blogger made for homemade mozzarella sticks. I knew I was going to try them on Thanksgiving as an appetizer. I’ve tried making them before, I’ve fried them, baked them, but they never turned out right. Either the cheese oozed all over the place, or the outside got cooked before the inside. After reading this bloggers step by step process I realized a few things I never tried before. One was freezing them for a few hours so the coating sticks, and the other was dredging the cheese sticks in flour first.

Ingredients

Cheese sticks
flour
bread crumbs, seasoned
eggs
Canola oil for frying

In 3 bowls, I placed flour in one, 2 eggs in the other, and bread crumbs in the third. I would have used panko, but I didn’t have those on hand. If you use plain bread crumbs, you can add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, or whatever you like. You can also buy the Italian seasoned bread crumbs instead.

Unwrap the cheese sticks and one at a time, dip in flour, shake off excess flour, dip in the egg mixture, roll in the bread crumbs, then dip in the egg mixture again, and roll in the bread crumbs. Repeat as necessary for as many cheese sticks as you are making.

Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours.

In a medium pot, place enough oil in the pot so it will cover the cheese sticks when placed in the pan. Heat the oil for a few minutes, then drop 2 cheese sticks at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes.

The first batch I think the oil was too hot, because the outside got browned, but the cheese wasn’t melty on the inside. So I turned the heat to medium and the rest of them turned out great.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Have you ever made your own cheese sticks before?

Nov 24, 2010 Posted by Jennifer on Nov 24, 2010 in a day in the life of me!, holiday foods, party food!, potluck, Side dish | 6 comments

One day to go….

I still can’t believe the year is coming to an end soon. It always seems like its summer, then my kids are back in school and then the Holidays are upon us!

This week I have been especially busy. I once again overextended myself in offering to bake things for charity, collect items for a needy family and deliver them, project manager for the fall girl scout troop candy fundraiser, working full time and then taking care of my Mom’s cats while she is away on vacation. Phew!

Luckily I am off for a 4 day weekend and I am super excited about that. I love spending time at home with my family, cooking, baking, staying in my pajamas as long as possible. And my husband’s side of the family is gathering together on Saturday for what will be my Mother-in-Laws last Thanksgiving with us. She is very ill, her health failing, so people are coming in from all over to make probably the most special Thanksgiving we’ve had. She’s 86 years old, and I know there are a lot of people who have horrible mother-in-law stories, but I was blessed with an awesome one! She’s always loved me like her daughter and I am so lucky for that!

So this Thanksgiving, be thankful of the family you have, because you never know if that could be the last one with them. Enjoy the food, the conversation and great time!

*********
Are you still looking for Thanksgiving last minute recipes? I’ve recently begun reading Jennifer Iserloh’s blog. She is known as “The Skinny Chef” making foods that taste good, but are good for you. She has a post today with awesome Thanksgiving recipes. CLICK HERE to check those out.

Also, in case you were wondering how to make it through Thanksgiving without gaining weight, go on over to my brother Charlie’s blog. He’s figured out how to enjoy a FULL thanksgiving meal….for only 100 calories. How? CLICK HERE to read about that.

AND, if you are carving a turkey for the first time this year, FOOD TV has a great video clip giving you some tips so you look like a pro CLICK HERE to check it out.

And, my sister is experimenting with a gluten free diet, and I recently met Betsy who has a GREAT and informative blog called Gluten Free Betsy, so if that’s something you are considering, or know someone who is has a gluten sensitivity, it’s definitely a great starting point.

Enjoy your day before Thanksgiving prep!! Hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy and relax a little too!

Nov 22, 2010 Posted by Jennifer on Nov 22, 2010 in a day in the life of me!, party food!, Side dish | 5 comments

Blogger meet up

From the left, Christina, my twin sister Biz, me, Mara and Mel! Great to eat with you wonderful ladies!

It’s always great to meet people in person after following their blog, so it’s almost like you know them already even though you’ve never met face to face! Yesterday my twin sister and I met up with Christina (www.dinneratchristinas.com), Mara from (What’s for dinner) and Mel from Bites of Life

I want to give a special shout out to Christina who drove 40 minutes from her house to pick me up on the way! It was great to have that time to talk in the car on the way up. Christina also brought her boyfriend’s sister Di and her boyfriends brother’s wife as well, so we had a great group.

My food pictures didn’t turn out well, the lighting was too dark.

Then it was home, grocery shopping, and getting ready for the week!

I can’t believe it’s the week of Thanksgiving already! What dishes are you making for it?

I’m doing the turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, and I am going to try my hand at making these rolls I saw at www.saveur.com. They are called Gergenes Fluffy Rolls

They are NOT the healthiest thing to make, but hey it’s Thanksgiving!

These light and buttery rolls are named after Georgene Hall, a cook near Memphis, who perfected them in the early 50′s. This is the perfect example of a recipe that still is delicious even with the test of time.

1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 7-gram packet active dry yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups flour
3/4 cup butter, melted

1. Combine milk, shortening, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; set aside to cool.

2. Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water in a large bowl; set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour milk mixture into yeast. Stir in eggs and gradually add flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough gets stiff, then use your hands (dough will be sticky, so grease your hands with a little butter). Brush a small amount of butter on the inside of a large bowl and on one side of a sheet of waxed paper. Place dough in bowl, cover with buttered wax paper, and lay a damp dishcloth on top. Set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, at least 3 hours.

4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until elastic, then roll out to 1/2″ thickness. Cut dough with a 3″ biscuit cutter, dip each round into melted butter, and fold in half. Line up, round edges up, sides touching, on a cookie sheet. Cover as in step 3, and set aside to rise, at least 2 1/2 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

****

Can’t wait to hear what you are making….are you trying something new?

Nov 5, 2010 Posted by Jennifer on Nov 5, 2010 in breakfast, Dinner Idea, lunch, party food!, potluck | 4 comments

Mini quiches

I was inspired to make these when Dave from Year on the Grill made quiches for his wife. Instead of a crust, he used shredded potatoes as the base. I LOVE quiches, so decided to make individual ones for my breakfast this week.

Makes 2

Ingredients

1 large potato (mine was 8 oz) – shredded (place shredded potatoes in water to prevent browning before use)
2 eggs
1 cheese stick
1 cup skim milk
2 oz. deli ham
2 green onions, chopped

Directions:

Shred the potatoes and place in water while prepping everything else.

In a large jumbo muffin pan, take half of the potato (squeezed of excess moisture) and place that in the bottom of the muffin pan (generously coated with Cooking spray).

Bake that for 12 minutes at 375. Remove from the oven, and divide the ham and cheese stick and green onion between the 2 muffin pans. In a small dish crack 1 egg and 1/2 cup skim milk and whisk until smooth. Pour that over the top of the first muffin, and do the same thing for the second one. Bake again for another 12 minutes or so, or until the egg is set.

Each mini quiche is 298 calories, 11 fat 3.3 grams of fiber and 20 grams of protein

********
I was reading an article the other day talking about lentils and how good they are for you and if you could only eat 10 things, this should be one of them. I have just started preparing things with lentils. The good thing about them is that it’s super cheap. You can get a big bag from your store for around $2.00. There are many different varieties. Brown, green, black, yellow, orange, red or green.

Lentils are loaded with lots of fiber, folic acid, magnesium, iron, protein, potassium, copper, zinc thiamin, vitamin B6. The fiber helps lower cholesterol and stablize blood sugar, and the folic acid, magnesium and vitamin B6 protect artery walls! Who knew they could do all that?

Last week, my co-worker brought lentils for salad club. She bought these in the refrigerated section at Trader Joe’s.

These lentils bought at Trader Joe’s are all ready to go, you could add them to a salad cold, or warm them up, add them to soups, stews, etc…

With leftovers of tacos from me and leftover salad club stuff, I made this for my lunch which was amazing!

I had a little taco meat leftover, 1 tortilla and veggies from salad club PLUS a big scoop of lentils. I thought it was a great way to bulk up the taco bowl without using as much meat.

My taco bowl was:

Diced green pepper & red pepper
1 tortilla, torn into little pieces
a little cheddar cheese
diced carrot
taco meat
lentils
my homemade salsa

Mix altogether and microwave until heated through. I loved this!

Do you cook with lentils? What do you make?

If you aren’t familiar with cooking lentils, here’s a great link

ALSO: HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE IS HAVING A KITCHEN MAKEOVER SWEEPSTAKES. CLICK HERE TO ENTER. YOU AND A FRIEND GET KITCHEN MAKEOVERS WORTH $10,000 EACH!