Pizza Puffs

Sunday nights are appetizer nights at our little house.  Finger foods are just fun and cute, and they're easy to eat in front of the tv catching up on my shows.  Look how cute these little guys are!  All gooey and cheesy!  

You can dip them in marinara sauce or Ranch dressing would be really good (mental note).  

Don't you like to dip your pizza in ranch dressing?? Yeah it's good!

Source:  Annie's Eats

Printable version

Ingredients:

• 1 can pizza dough (such as Pillsbury)
• 4 oz. mozzarella cheese, cubed
• pepperoni slices

For the topping:

• olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.  Divide the pizza dough into 20-24 roughly equal sized pieces.  Take one of the dough pieces, top with a cube of cheese and a slice or two of pepperoni.  Pull the edges of the dough around the fillings and pinch closed.  Place seam-side down in the baking dish.  Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
Lightly brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  Serve warm, with dipping sauce as desired.

Chicken Tamale Casserole

"CAL Seal of Approval"

Sorry for the bad picture, it was an after-thought because this was SCARFED UP so fast! 


All Recipes 

Printable

Ingredients:

• 1 cup preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup milk
  
• 1 egg, instead of egg substitute
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (8 1/2 ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
• cooking spray
• 1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts (I cooked 4 chicken breasts with an onion, green pepper, and 1 jalapeno)
• 1/2 cup nonfat sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles), stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes or until set. (It takes longer than 15 minutes.  I baked mine for 20-25 minutes and it could have used maybe 5-10 more.)  Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

We’re above ground!

Whoo hoo! 

And the second floor will hopefully get started this week!

More Basement Progress…

And Cal is being sneaky.

Salsa Chicken Salad

This is such an easy dip and it’s something different from your regular salsa or cheese dip.  Perfect snack for a summer picnic or party….or just for lunch like me.

Source:  Paula Deen, The Lady and Sons Too!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

16 oz. sour cream

16 oz. chunky salsa

½ packet Ranch dressing mix

1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

8 oz. container water chestnuts, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, chill in the fridge for a couple hours.  Serve cold with tortilla chips or as tortilla roll-ups.

Tortellini with Prosciutto and Peas

Please excuse the picture, I guess I’m a messy eater!  But this was TAST-E!  Another fast recipe…this is from the “Weeknight Cooking” section from Food Network Mag.  Easy cleanup too.  Can’t beat that.  Because by the time I get off work and exercise, I don’t feel like making some time consuming thing with all kinds of steps.  But these quick meals are good and still kinda healthy…well healthier than order pizza or having mexican every night!  I did use Half & Half instead of cream, come on!  Plus there’s peas and we had a salad.

Source:  Food Network Magazine, April 2010

Printable

Ingredients:
1 lb. meat-filled tortellini, I used one with chicken
olive oil
4 oz. prosciutto, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
I also added ½ onion, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¼ cup heavy cream (I used Half n Half)
1 cup frozen peas
½ cup parmesan cheese

1. Boil water in a large pot and cook tortellini according to package directions.
2. Cook prosciutto (and onions) in olive oil until crisp, 3 or 4 minutes.  Add garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.  Add in a cup or so of the pasta cooking water and cream and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. 
3. Drain tortellini and mix with the sauce.  Add in the defrosted peas, the pasta and sauce will heat them.  (I usually set mine out on the counter while I'm cooking so they're pretty much defrosted.)  Sprinkle in the parmesan.

Tasty Sositch Skewers

With couscous. 

This was a super quick and easy dinner and it was awarded the Cal Seal of Approval.  So you know it was good!     

Printable Recipe

Pesto:
¼ cup fresh parsley
¼ cup fresh cilantro
4 scallions, rough chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
S&P

1.  Puree the parsley, cilantro, scallions, olive oil and vinegar in a blender or food processor.  Season with s&p.

For the Skewers:

1 package smoked sausage, cut into 1" pieces
2 bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange), cut into 1" pieces
1 red onion, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes
Olive oil, S&P

2.  Toss the sausage, peppers, onions and tomatoes in a bowl with a little olive oil, s&p.  Thread onto skewers, alternating sausage and vegetables.  Grill for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally.  Brush the skewers with some of the pesto while grilling.

1 box couscous
3 scallions, chopped

3.  Cook the couscous according to package directions.  Save a little of the pesto for a dipping sauce, and mix the rest into the couscous.  Season with s&p.  Also mix in the chopped scallions. 
4.  YUM!  This would be really good with chicken or steak too.  I also made a side salad.

Source:  Food Network Magazine, April 2010