Pizza snack attack!

Nothing gets me hungrier than looking at Pinterest   Hours can be wasted looking, searching and pinning.  Today's snack comes from Pinterest   I'm not sure exactly who the original recipe comes from.  There are many floating around out there.  I have a board for just about everything!  I do shamelessly pin my own blog posts to Pinterest....so follow me. :0)

As I'm sure you can guess from the title, I made pizza something, pizza bites to be exact.  Super simple, something the DH or kids if you have them can help with!  And seriously this can be a full meal.  Any type of stuffing can be used.  After eating these my DH even said, you know, you could even do a cheeseburger stuffing...That will be happening later this week!!!  He's so smart!  I will blog that later!

The ingredients are simple,
One can (10 each) can biscuits 

Cheese, I used shredded pizza cheese, but you can use any type of cheese (block or shredded)
Toppings to stuff into it, I used pepperoni

Preheat the oven to 425. Smash the biscuit flat, but keep the round shape,  make sure to wash your hands first of course!  Layer the toppings and cheese.  

Fold into a pouch of sorts,

put folded side down into a greased pan.

Then you need an egg, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese.  Of course if you aren't doing pizza bites you change up the seasonings to match what you are making.

Brush with the beaten egg.

Sprinkle the tops with the seasonings.

Bake for 18 minutes

The tops will be brown.

Serve with pizza sauce for dipping, or a different kind of dipping sauce.

Enjoy!  I know we did!!!

A new type of design

Road trip!  Two whole days in the car, what to do?  I decided to finally learn how to crochet.  My super awesome neighbor came down on Thursday before my DH and I left and I picked out a pattern that can be found here or just click on the picture!

Now this is not my afghan, I'm still working on mine.  But as a beginning projects go it's a "fast" one.  Each square is completed on it's own so there is a sense of completion, and it's so fun trying new patterns using color within each square.

Above is a picture of some of the squares I have completed in the last few days, I already have a yen to get more yarn, so I will be raiding my neighbors house tomorrow in search of "weird" and different colors!

More to come, so check back soon to see the progress!

It's my first time...ever

I just realized that almost a month has passed since I have blogged about anything.  Wow….the last month and a half has flown by!   It seems like it was one thing after another, totaled my car, got a new one, Christmas!  New Year! Got sick, mom busted her foot (to put it mildly) so I had my birthday a week late, then got busy with work and wow It’s already February!  Let’s hope the little monster, I mean groundhog, doesn’t see his shadow tomorrow.  I’m ready for spring!!!

Tonight I am making my first cheesecake.  I bought a spring form pan just after Christmas, and finally have a reason to make a cheesecake.  We are having dinner guests tomorrow, and they love cheesecake!  I was going to do something weird and fun, but hey…it’s my first time…gotta start slow. 

I had no idea what all went into making one of my favorite deserts.  And wow was I a bit daunted…there are literally hundreds of recipes for cheesecake on the interwebs…I hope I like the one I made!  Of course I had to make a quick dash to the store after realizing I didn’t have HALF of the ingredients I needed…so here it is already after 9 and I still have just under an hour of baking time…and another hour in the oven afterwards…before I can refrigerate it…But I’m getting ahead of myself

First time for the crust, or base of the cheesecake, black walnuts (pulverized in the food processor) brown sugar and spices

Then some graham crackers, also pulverized in the food processor

Add a bit o butter and press into the bottom of a GREASED spring form pan! Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

While the crust is cooking time to beat up the cream cheese and sugar until it’s smooth.

Add the sour cream (do do a dollop of Daisy!)

And the heavy whipping cream. 

Once that is all incorporated (and make sure you scrape the bowl, a lot) add the flour

And the Vanilla, I’m a vanilla snob and had to get some vanilla tonight…and soooo glad I did!!!

As soon as the crust is out of the oven, and cool, use aluminum foil to wrap the pan, this way the water doesn’t get into the spring form, therefore ruining the cheesecake (I read online all about the horrors of a watery cheesecake)

With the mixer on low, add the three eggs, one at a time, waiting until each egg is fully mixed in.

Pour the batter into the pan, pour boiling water from the kettle (cause I usually have the kettle of hot water on) into the larger pan…and thank goodness I had this huge ole pan from my Thanksgiving turkey…otherwise there would not have been a hot water bath for this cheesecake….and bake for 60-70 minutes, checking on it after 30 or so to see if you need to add more water.

Once done, turn off the oven, and leave the cheesecake in for at least 1 hour, without opening the door…

Then you can refrigerate this decadent dessert for 6 hours, or overnight (as I am doing).  Looks like I’ll be going to bed around midnight tonight…

Black Eye Peas, starring Bacon-I-Love

The end of the year is upon us, I got off work "early" today, so I only worked 6:30-2 a decent day.  And with the snow falling I headed home, then decided to go to the grocery store.  After all I do have a nice newer SUV that gets around great in this stuff!  While walking around the store contemplating what we should eat for our last dinner this year, and whatever other snacky stuff would be nice I discovered that there was:
#1 a run on milk, and I wish I had gotten a picture, but the shelves were almost completely bare!  I guess if congress doesn't pass the farm bill then milk will basically double in price... luckily i did find some milk so I can make ham bone soup tomorrow....but that is another blog. And...
#2 a "shortage" of black eyed peas, which if you are superstitious are supposed to bring good luck in the new year...and as luck would have it, I found A can stashed on a shelf...so I am making some tonight!  I found a recipe online, several in fact, but only one had bacon in it...can you guess which one I'm making?

And being even more lucky this new years eve, I did have all the ingredients I needed at home...lucky part was not finding the recipe till I came home...and still having everything I needed!  Even if I did have to do a scavenger hunt for the diced tomatoes and chilis (it was in can #7)

(a leftover prank from my wedding, thanks to my brother and sister-in-law)

The recipe was simple, start with bacon...

brown and remove...then add onions.

then dump in the peas (after draining and rinsing)

and then the tomatoes, and water and stir all together, you also add the chili powder, black pepper and I had some chipotle bacon salt...you can never have too much bacon!

Cook for 45 minutes to an hour...then serve with bacon on top!

Happy New Years!  From my family, to yours!

Almost the last meal of the year

The weather is officially cold, and most of the time the house is too.  At least I think it is!  Today I decided to make gumbo.  I used to make this all the time, when I used a box mix...tee hee.  Several years ago a friend gave me an authentic New Orleans recipe.  So now I only make this once or twice a year, it takes a long time to prep, and make.  Seriously, prepare to stand in the kitchen chopping for half an hour, and over the stove stirring for an hour, and then you are still not done...I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I never do!  And I realize that I have blogged this before, but it is so fun!

Prep the chicken, season and stick in the refrigerator

Then prep the vegetables and sausage, topping with the seasonings that belong with each step, garlic with the onions, and salt and peppers with the sausage and bay.

Then it's time to start the roux, this takes the longest!

Oil and flour in a pot

stir

when it's brown like chocolate (20-30 minutes later) 

add the vegetables! (watch for the steam!!!!)

Cook for 4 minutes

Then....add the sausage, salt, seasonings and bay leaf

Another 3 minutes

then time to add the water and whisk like crazy to get the roux dissolved!

Bring to a boil then reduce to medium low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally!

Once the hour is up, you can add the chicken, and cook for another 2 hours then skim off any fat that has come to the surface.  Remove the bay leaf.  In the meantime, chop the green onion and parsley.

Remove from heat and stir in the file, parsley, green onion and okra (if you are using this, and oh yes I am!)

You also add the shrimp right now...otherwise it can overcook...Cover, and in 7 minutes this is ready to serve over rice! You can also add some hot sauce if it doesn't already have enough kick!

Enjoy!

Baby, it’s cold outside!

The weather took a turn for the colder this week.  So tonight I decided to make a hearty andsmoky beef merlot stew.  Althoug I don’t know if I can really call it a merlot stew, because I used a cabernet saviginon.  I don’t usually drink red wine, but I do love cooking with it!

And of course you can never go wrong with a recipe that starts with “chop and brown bacon”

Cutting the beef chuck roast took the longest, but it was cheaper than buying stew meat pre-cut.

After the bacon is nice and crispy spoon it out of the pot and set it aside.  I know the recipe says to do the beef and bacon in a secondary pot, but why do more dishes than necessary!!

Brown the beef in the bacon fat.

Sprinkle with Spice Agent Smoky Durango Sea Salt, pepper and about 2T of flour and stir to coat…

Then add the water, wine, thyme, and garlic.  I also added some beef bullion, because I love the beefy taste!

Cover and cook over low for 1 hour…yeah one hour…

While the beef is stewing, the onions need a quick 3 minute bath in boiling water so they are easier to peel.

Also, it's a good idea to go ahead and chop the rest of the veggies...the carrots and mushrooms that is...

Add the pearl onions and cook for 20 minutes,

Add the mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread for dipping!!!

ENJOY!