Roasted Red Pepper Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, pinch of cracked black pepper
• 2-3 dashes of cayenne
• 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into bits
• 1/3 cup finely chopped drained bottled roasted red peppers, patted dry
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoons of dried basil
• 1-2 tablespoons of additional butter
2. Directions
3. 
   
4. In a bowl, add together the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the cayenne, and a pinch of black pepper and basil. Add the butter, and blend the mixture with your hands until it resembles coarse meal. Add the roasted peppers, the Parmesan, and the milk and stir the mixture until it just forms a dough. Drop the dough in 6 mounds about 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake the biscuits in the middle of a preheated 425°F. oven for 20-21 minutes, or until they are golden and cooked through.  Top each biscuit with a thin slice of butter so it can melt.
5. (recipe adapted from epicurious.com)

Chicken Parm Meatballs

Ingredients

1

lb ground chicken

1/2

cup Italian style bread crumbs

1/3

cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 to 2 slices of white bread

1/4

teaspoon pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1

egg

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp each dried oregano and dried parsley

1

tablespoon olive oil

2 cups tomato sauce

1

cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)

Directions

• In large bowl, mix chicken, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, bread, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley and egg. Shape mixture into 20 meatballs.
• In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Place meatballs in skillet, and brown meatballs on all sides, about 3 minutes on each side; drain.
• Add marinara sauce to skillet. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and no pink remains (at least 165°F). Remove from heat; top with mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of dried basil
• To serve, spoon meatballs and sauce into serving bowls along with ricotta cheese.
• (Adapted from bettycrocker.com)

Oreo "RK" Treats

These are absolutely amazing.  

They are basically rice krispie treats, but use Oreos instead of rice krispies.

Ingredients

One 16 oz package of Oreo

5 cups Large Marshmallows (A whole bag really, use the Kraft ones, cheap ones taste...well cheap)

4 tablespoons butter

Directions

Place Oreos in food processor and pulse until ground.  Melt butter in a large pot, add marshmallows until puffed, about 1 1/2- 2 minutes.  Remove and pour in ground Oreo Cookies.  Stir to combine then transfer to a foil lined 8×8 inch baking pan.  Let set up for 10-20 minutes or until cool.  Remove bars out of pan with edges of foil and cut into squares.

Makes 9 gluttonous bars or 16 not as guilty squares

Adapted from : http://picky-palate.com/2011/03/17/no-bake-chewy-cookies-and-cream-bars/

Guilt-free Creamy Buffalo Chicken "Dip"

A slow cooker recipe.  Everyone loves traditional Buffalo Chicken Dip, so when Kelly (who I went to high school with) at The Fit Skool posted a healthier adaptable version, we just had to try it as my husband loves anything involving Frank's or Buffalo components.  This can be used as a dip for chips and veggies, eaten straight out of a bowl like a chili or as we had it, on lettuce wraps.

Ingredients

1 (5.3 oz) container of plain Greek yogurt (I used the cheapest store brand one)

2 large chicken breasts

5-6 Tbsp of Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce

1-2 oz of chicken broth (or water)

1/4-1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese (more or less depending upon preference)

Directions

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker with chicken broth (or water).

Place lid on slow cooker and set to high for 4-4.5 hours.  

When cooked, remove extra liquid (I used a turkey baster to suck it up.

Use 2 forks to shred chicken.  Add yogurt and wing sauce and stir to combine.

Warm in crockpot for an additional 10 or so minutes.

Top with blue cheese and more wing sauce if desired.

Adapted from Kelly at The Fit Skool (http://thefitskool.com/?p=4834)

V Day Chicken Francese

 

Well, having an 8.5 week old does not make it easy to go out to restaurants (we haven't braved it yet).

So instead this Valentine's Day, I decided to make one of my husband's favorite things to order out to dinner, Chicken Francese.  How come I've never attempted it before, it was pretty easy, not to mention, he loved it.  Served it with a caesar salad on the side.

Ingredients

2 large skinless, boneless, chicken breasts 

All-purpose flour, for dredging

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons water

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon, with rind, cut in thin rounds

1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 lemon, juiced

2 tablespoons salted butter

a few sprigs chopped flat-leaf parsley


Directions

Put the chicken breasts on a cutting board and carefully slice each breast in half to create 4 thin breasts.  Lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Put some flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, beat the eggs with 3 tablespoons of water to make an egg wash. Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet.

Dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden, turning once. Remove the chicken cutlets to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.

Toss the lemon slices into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the wine, broth, and lemon juice, simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the sauce slightly. Roll the butter in some flour and add it to the skillet, this will thicken the sauce. Add a little more of the flour is sauce appears very thin still.  Stir to incorporate and dissolve the flour. Reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken to the pan; place the lemon slices on top of the cutlets. Simmer gently for 2 minutes to heat the chicken through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving

Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence at foodnetwork.com

Super Easy Sauteed Cabbage

Ingredients

1 small head white cabbage, including outer green leaves

2 tablespoons salted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cut the cabbage in half and, with the cut-side down, 

slice it as thinly as possible around the core, like making coleslaw. 

Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. 

Add the cabbage, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 to 15 minutes,

stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender and begins to brown. 

Season, to taste, and serve warm.

Adapted from Foodnetwork.com and Ina Garten

Snowy Sunday Pancakes

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 & 3/4 cups milk (I used half unsweetened soy milk and half 2% milk)

1. Mix the dry items first with a flour sifter into a large bowl.
2. Combine the eggs to melted butter in a separate bowl then gradually add the milk and slowly stir wet mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon.
3. Let sit at least 10 minutes while heating the pan to allow baking soda to do its magic.
4. Spray non-stick pan with additional non-stick spray and heat to med-high.  Using a 1/3 measuring cup, pour batter onto pan and flip once bubbles that are forming start to burst.
5. Makes about 8 6-7 inch pancakes.
6. recipe adapted from food.com

Mini Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

 

Super decadent and perfect for Valentine's Day in place of candy or chocolates.

 

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (I know it's a lot, just do it)
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies. Then cut into 16 squares (4 by 4 grid).

(Recipe adapted from "Sweet Pea's Kitchen")

Mini Crustless Broccoli Quiches

INGREDIENTS

Non-Stick Cooking Spray
6 crackers, finely crushed
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1/4 cup canned whole kernel corn
2/3 carton (16 oz each) Egg Beaters

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously spray 6 regular muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Mix together cracker crumbs and Parmesan cheese in small bowl; set aside. Place broccoli in medium microwave-safe bowl with 1 tablespoon water; cover. Microwave on HIGH 2 minutes; drain well. Chop into smaller pieces. Spoon broccoli evenly into muffin cups; top evenly with corn, crumb mixture. Pour Egg Beaters evenly over filled cups to the top of each cup.
3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until puffed up kind of souffle style. Let stand 2 minutes; run table knife around edges to loosen.

 Pretty filling and healthy. (Recipe adapted from eggbeaters.com)





Best Rice Krispies Treats Ratio

 

So I had a random craving for rice krispie treats.  Typically I don't have that cereal, nor those marshmallows on hand, so I bought them last night with the intentions of being snowed in today.

Success. 

I hate rice krispie treats that are hard and not very marshmallowy, so I made the following changes to the original recipe found on the back of the marshmallows bag. (2 additional Tbsp of butter, extra half bag of marshmallows)

 

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp Butter

1 (9 oz) box of Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal (not generic)

1 and a half (10 oz bags...so 15 oz total) Kraft jet-puffed mini marshmallows

 

Directions:

In a large pasta pot, melt butter on med-low heat.  Watch it, don't let it brown. 

Add in marshmallows and stir until 90% melted.  (I say 90% because this leaves a few larger chunks of marshmallowy goodness to later be found embedded in each treat.

Stir in cereal until just mixed and pour it out and into a greased 11 by 7 pan.

I mean, you could use a 13 by 9, but they'll be much thinner.

Cool and cut into treats...if you can wait for it to cool that is.

 

 

 

Memoli's Mom's Turkey Burgers

So the gym teacher I work with (Rob) randomly comes by my classroom with a print out of a hand written recipe of turkey burgers his family makes.  I immediately told him to go to the copy machine upstairs to make me a copy, best decision I think I made that day.  Follow this recipe exactly...I actually measured this all out (sometimes I just wing seasonings to burgers)  You will not be disappointed, these are the best turkey burgers I've quite possibly ever had.

Ingredients:

• About 4 Tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 package of ground turkey
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 medium yellow/white onion, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• Sliced American cheese (white)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, add turkey, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, parsley, basil.  You could chop these by hand, but I put the peeled garlic and largely diced onion in a food processor and pulsed it to make sure they were super fine, then added it to the bowl of other ingredients.  Mix thoroughly by hand and shape into 4 patties.
Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan on about medium-high heat.  Add patties to cook (covered with lid or aluminum foil), flipping once. (About ten minutes?)
Add American cheese (I put 2 slices on each burger) and then recovered with aluminum foil and removed them from heat.
I served ours on potato rolls.  A little ketchup is all these then need.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1.2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 stick of butter, melted

•  2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9 by 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugars and butter.  Pour and press into the bottom of prepared pan.  Bake for 8 minutes on middle oven rack and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl or in your stand mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, blending after each addition.  Set aside one cup of the mixture.  To the remaining mixture, mix in the 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Spread the pumpkin batter into the crust.  Drop the remaining plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is just set (the middle will still jiggle a little bit).  Cool the bars in the pan and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Cut into bars of desired size.

(recipe adapted from http://ellysaysopa.com/2009/12/07/marbled-pumpkin-cheesecake-bars/)

Homemade Apple "Chips"

 

Ingredients:

3 apples, (any variety but typically the ones you enjoy best when eaten raw, not baking apples)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 Tbsp of granulated sugar

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Slice apples with a mandolin or a way of comparable thickness (as thin as you can get)

Place apples in a single layer on non-stick foil on your biggest cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and suger (one side only)

Place on top rack of oven for 45 minutes.

Flip apples and continue baking for another 45 minutes.

Leave in oven (shut off) to cool.

 

(Note: the first time I made these, I left them in the oven for a total of 2 hours and they got crispy.  For 1.5 hrs total, they had a bit more body to them.)

Enjoy!

Jess and Joan's Firework Bash Caramelized Onion & Bacon Ranch Dip

Ingredients:

• (1) 24 oz container of sour cream
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 strips of pre cooked, fully cooked bacon, diced
• a pinch of sugar
• 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning for Dips

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine packet and sour cream, place in fridge.
2. In a small sauté pan, heat butter and olive oil on medium heat and add onions.
3. Cook until translucent, about 20 minutes. Add a pinch of sugar and mix in.  Toss in cold bacon and shut off heat (so that the bacon barely warms through but infuses the flavor into the onions.)
4. Allow to cool then combine with sour cream mixture.
5. Transfer to serving bowl(s) and serve with wavy style potato chips (they hold up the denseness of the dip better than regular) and veggies.

Sweet Pepper Bruschetta

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 small orange bell pepper, julienned
• 1 small yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 of a small onion, diced
• 1 loaf of ciabatta bread, sliced into (8) 1-inch slices
• 1 large fresh mozzarella ball, thinly cut into 16 pieces
• olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Lay ciabatta bread slices on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil.
2. Drizzle olive oil on each slice and brush with a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Broil in the oven on the top rack for a few minutes until lightly browned. Watch with oven light on the be sure they don't burn.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 after flipping bread over.
5. In a pan on the stove, melt butter and add pepper and onions.  Cook on low-med heat, stirring occasionally until very soft.
6. Top each slice of toasted bread with pepper mixture.
7. Top 2 pieces of mozzarella cheese on each slice.
8. Broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese starts to bubble.
9. Once out of the oven, drizzle tops with olive oil, balsamic and another sprinkle of salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

 



Penne Alla Norris

Had the most amazing homemade penne alla vodka over at the Gamble residence during the Superbowl, I just had to recreate it...

Ingredients:

• 2/3 of a 1 lb box of penne
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup of vodka
• Standard large can of tomato puree (quality brand like Tuttorosso)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 pound cooked ham and 1/8 pound of pancetta (I asked for these from the deli and had them slice it "thick" then cubed it up when I got home)
• 2 drops hot sauce
• a shake of salt, a shake of ground pepper, a shake of dried oregano
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup grated cheese

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over low-med heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent.
2. Stir in vodka and allow to simmer until the alcohol is fully cooked out.  You can tell this by lightly wafting the steam, if the alcohol hasn't burned off yet, it'll knock you in the face)
3. Add and stir in the can of tomato puree.
4. In a separate small skillet, sauté and crisp up the ham and pancetta in 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
5. When edged start to brown (like bacon would, but not fully cooked), add to sauce pot along with salt, pepper and hot sauce.
6. Lastly, add heavy cream and stir.
7. Boil a pot of water and cook penne to desired tenderness.
8. Drain penne and return to pot.  Ladle in sauce to dry penne pot until fully coated.  (I did this because I had extra sauce left over to freeze and didn't want the sauce amount to overwhelm the pasta.
9. Toss with grated cheese and serve.