Zippy Salsa Chicken Pizza

Every week we have pizza.  Pepperoni pizza.  David LOVES his pepperoni pizza.  He just can't get enough!  I, on the other hand, like a little variety.  This week I decided to change it up a bit and instead of making pepperoni pizza I decided to get creative.  I wanted not only a new type of pizza, but a pizza with a new and interesting flavor.  This pizza turned out REALLY yummy!  I made the pizza crust in my bread machine, but to make things easier you could use a store bought refrigerated pizza crust (just watch out for those Yucky No No ingredients!) I used white crust for this recipe but you can just as easily use wheat.  


Zippy Salsa Chicken Pizza

• 1 recipe white pizza crust (see below) or one refrigerated store bought pizza crust
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 green pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 thinly sliced onion
• 1 cup cooked diced chicken 
• 2 cups cheddar jack cheese blend, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush a large pizza pan or stone (or I used my large rectangular bar stone) with olive oil. Spread pizza crust out on pan.

Spread the salsa evenly on the crust, and then add the green pepper, onion, and chicken, distributing evenly on the pizza. 

 Sprinkle the cheese over the top.  

Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.  

White Pizza Crust

• 1 cup warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp. dry active yeast

Place ingredients in your bread machine as recommended by the manufacturer and set to the dough cycle setting.  Go and relax while your bread machine does all the work!

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

Pizza Pot Pie

Stay Tuned!!! I have some AMAZING giveaways coming up very SOON!!!!

This recipe is ALWAYS a favorite in the Porter House!  We love it and it is SO easy!  This recipe is PERFECT for a quick weeknight dinner, or for a casual get together!  


Pizza Pot Pie

• 2 lbs bulk italian turkey sausage (you can use regular pork sausage if you prefer but it will make the pot pie greasier.  You can also use ground turkey, or ground beef.  You can add sliced pepperoni too if you like or any other toppings you like on pizza such as olives, mushrooms, whatever you like).  
• 1 recipe pizza crust (or you can use a store bought refrigerated pizza dough)
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15 oz) can petit diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup homemade or store bought tomato pasta sauce
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tsp. Italian herbs
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Roll your pizza dough into a log about 8 inches long.  Cut log in half lengthwise and then slice into 24 rounds.  Heat half of the olive oil in a large, deep sided, oven proof skillet over medium high heat.  Add the sausage, break up with a large wooden spoon and cook for about 5 minutes or until starting to brown.  Add the green pepper, the onion, and the garlic cloves, continuing to saute until the vegetables become soft and the sausage is cooked through.  Add the tomatoes and the tomato sauce, and cook, stirring until heated through.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle mixture with the mozzarella cheese.  Place the pizza dough rounds in a circular pattern on top of the mozzarella cheese.  Brush remaining olive oil evenly over the pizza crust.  Sprinkle with Italian herbs and granulated garlic.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the dough is cooked through.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

Meatball Pockets

Happy Saturday Everyone!  
This week we had the crescent dough class, and thank you to everyone who participated! Those of you who read my blog often know how much I love to use crescent dough to make different kinds of "pockets." Tonight I decided to make another version of "pockets."  I had some meatballs that I had made a couple of days ago, and some leftover tomato sauce.  This was so quick and easy, it's a really good recipe to add to your weekday rotation!


Meatball Pockets

• 1 recipe meatballs (or any leftover meatballs you may have), cut into bite sized pieces.
• 1 recipe crescent dough (or you can use two cans of refrigerated crescent dough, just be vigilant of the ingredients)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup tomato or spaghetti sauce
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a large cookie sheet or bar pan generously with cooking spray or olive oil.  Roll out the crescent dough and cut into squares about the size of a 3X5 card.  In a medium bowl, mix together the meatballs and the sauce.  Top each square with a little bit of the cheeses, then some of the meatballs.  Fold the sides of the crescent dough together, and then fold in the seams.  Press together to seal the dough together.  Brush each pocket with the egg yolk and water.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed up and golden in color.  Enjoy!




Like with all of my pockets, these freeze well for a quick "homemade hot pocket!"





Happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

Apple Cinnamon French Toast Sticks

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I am always very happy to take recipe requests from my readers.  I recently received a request from a mom who said that her son LOVES French Toast Sticks and was wondering if I had a recipe for them.  French Toast happens to be one of my favorite breakfast foods, but I never make it because I do not have a griddle.  As I got to thinking about how I could get around this, I thought maybe it would be possible to do French Toast in the oven.  So I set to work, and this is what came out of my brain.  I hate to toot my own horn, but these are INCREDIBLE!  They take a little time to make if you make them the way I did, but it is well worth it.  For those of you who want something a little quicker, I am providing some time saving tips.  They freeze really well too.  To reheat I just pop them in the toaster oven or the microwave straight from the freezer!  Just a warning, these are laden with butter (especially if you make the brioche from scratch) so if you are watching your calorie and fat intake, this is not the recipe for you!  I can guarantee you, however, that there are no "yucky no-no" ingredients in these French Toast Sticks!  Nope, nothing processed about these!

Apple  Cinnamon French Toast

• 1 recipe apple cinnamon brioche (see below) or any thick sliced bread like Texas Toast (or you could use a store bought French loaf, anything that can be sliced fairly thick)
• 1/2 recipe cinnamon applesauce (see below) or 1 1/2 cups store bought applesauce with cinnamon
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter, melted

Slice the bread about 3/4 inch thick and then cut each slice into thirds.  In a large bowl (and I mean LARGE), whisk together the eggs, the buttermilk, the applesauce, the vanilla, and the sugar.  CAREFULLY place the bread in the egg mixture and turn to coat, being very careful not to tear the bread.  Allow the bread to soak in the mixture for about 20-30 minutes.  Spray 2 large cookie sheets generously with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Carefully remove the bread (it will be very fragile) from the egg mixture and place it on the cookie sheets, leaving about 1/4 inch between each bread stick.  Drizzle the sticks with half of the butter.  Bake for 1 hour in the oven.  Halfway through baking, remove the sticks, turn them over, and drizzle the other side with the rest of the butter (see, told you there was a lot of butter, I feel like Paula Deen with this recipe)!   You will know they are ready to be flipped when the underside is golden brown.  Serve with maple syrup or just by themselves they are really good!

To freeze for later - flash freeze on cookie sheet then place them in ziplock bags.  This will prevent them from sticking.  To reheat, simply microwave them for 30 seconds to 1 minute or place them in the toaster oven for 2 minutes.  

Apple Cinnamon Brioche - 

The basic Brioche Recipe comes from The Barefoot Contessa but I have adapted it in many different ways because I make Brioche so often.  

• 3 large eggs
• 1 stick butter at room temperature
• 1/8 cup applesauce from applesauce recipe (or store bought applesauce with cinnamon)
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. yeast
• 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp. milk for egg wash

Place all ingredients (except the egg and milk for egg wash) in the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer and set to dough cycle.  When dough is finished, scrape dough into a buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge overnight.  The next day, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for one hour.  Place a small amount of flour on your countertop.  Lightly knead the dough and then shape into a 6 X 8 inch rectangle.  Tightly roll up the dough and tuck the sides under and then roll lightly to smooth out.  You should have a cylindrical shape.  Spray a loaf pan generously with cooking spray and place the brioche dough cylinder inside.  Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm place about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Brush the top of the brioche dough with the egg wash.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when you tap the top.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.  

Easy Peasy Applesauce

• 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced (any variety, whatever you have on hand is fine, I used Fuji apples)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. butter

Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan.  Saute over high heat for 1 minute or until the apples start to sweat, the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted.  Turn down to low, cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally for about an hour until the apples are very soft.  Puree in a food processor or using an immersion blender.  Allow to cool completely.  This makes about 2 cups of applesauce.  

To cut corners and save time, use store bought bread and applesauce instead of homemade.  I made this after Daniel went to bed, then stuck it in the freezer for him to have for breakfast the next morning...of course, it made my house smell like absolute HEAVEN so David came sniffing up the stairs and said "I want French Toast for my evening snack!"  David is not usually one for sweet foods but he told me this was the best French Toast he had ever eaten, which is a really lovely compliment from him.  Please let me know if you try it, and what you think!

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING (even if this meal is full of butter!)

Honey Wheat Bread

By request, here is the recipe that I use to make loaf bread, for sandwiches and toast.  It took a lot of playing around with ingredients, but I have come up with a wheat bread that is light, fluffy, and oh so yummy with PB&J. 

Honey Wheat Bread

• 1 cup white bread flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. dry active yeast (for this recipe I use Hodgson Mills yeast for wheat bread, but you can use any old dry active yeast).
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp of water

Place all ingredients, except the egg yok and water, in your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Set to the dough cycle. 

Once the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine.  Knead the dough briefly to remove the air bubbles. 

Roll the dough out into a large circle with a rolling pin. 

 Roll the dough up tightly into a fat cylinder.  This further removes the air bubbles. 

Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.  Place the roll in the loaf pan.  Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and place in a warm spot to rise for another hour or two until doubled in size. 

After it has risen, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

In a small bowl, mix one egg yolk with 1/2 tsp of water. 

Brush the loaf with the egg wash.  Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the loaf has a hollow sound when tapped. 

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing.

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking!