Thursday, September 30, 2010

Homemade Pizza

Basic Pizza Dough  (from Family Circle)
1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 package dry active yeast
2 3/4 all- purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Place water in small bowl, stir in yeast let stand for 5 minutes

In large bowl , whisk together 2 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar and salt. make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture and olive oil.stir dough until it comes together and forms a ball. Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, adding as much of the remaining 1/4 cup of flour as needed.  Form into a disk and place in a bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil. turn disk over and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in warm place for 2 hours.

Remove dough from bowl and punch down. roll into desired diameter.. I made three dinner plate sized pizza's

Pizza Sauce
2-  8oz  cans canned tomato sauce (I used low sodium)
3 tbsp garlic
1 tsp sugar
5 tbsp Italian spices
1 tsp onion powder

I just mixed the above ingredients  until it tasted good to me.










Roll out dough to desired size place on pizza pan then add sauce and toppings


Pizza Topping
Prepackaged Pizza Cheese mixture
Jimmy Dean Sage sausage
Fresh Mushrooms

Charlie and I just had cheese pizza , Chaz had Mushrooms and sausage on his.






Baked our for 9 minutes each.

Old Fashion White Bread

Charlie's Great Aunt Nila  loaned us her bread machine and yesterday we made our first loaf of bread.

9 oz. lukewarm milk (1c 2tbsp)
3 c. bread flour
1 1/2 sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp active dry yeast

measure milk , warm gently , add to pan

measure bread flour, sugar , and salt level ingredients place in pan

cut butter into 4 pieces and  place a piece in each conner on top of dry ingredient's

make a sallow well in center of dry ingredients add yeast

lock pan into machine and press start  ( basic bread , medium crust setting)


Friday, September 24, 2010

Juicy Lucy's and Oven fries



        Burger's- 1 lb hamburger, spices (I used garlic and A1) , cheese (I used Havarti dill)

          Over Fries-- 2 potato's, olive oil, all spice or what ever spice you like


 Juicy Lucy Burgers
Mix hamburger and what ever spices you like,
 I was making three burger's so I separated the hambuger into three chunk's 
 and the then divided each of those in half, making six hamburger patties. 

Cut cheese to stuff burger's , (when cutting  think of a cheese slice folded in to four squares and stacked that the size you want for your stuffing ) place cheese on bottom burger


 seal edges off burger
Grill for about 5 mintues on each side or until your desired doneness


Oven Fries
 Cut potatoes in half and the half again place in hot water while the over heats
then dry potatoes well and coat with olive oil about 2 tbps and sprinkle with seasoning


place fries on baking sheet coated with olive oil bake at 400 for 25 mintues



 Yummy burger and oven fries


inside the ooey gooey melted cheese




Thanks to JP and Christy for introducing us to these!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thanks to Michelle for this one!



1/2 c. mashed ripe banana
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. butter softened
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lg egg
5.6 oz all purpose flour (about 1 1/4 c.)
2 c. old fashion oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
cooking spray


Preheat oven to 350
Combine banana, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and vanilla. Beat with mixer on medium until smooth. add egg and beat well.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup, level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Stir with a whisk.

Add flour mixture to Banana mixture beat with mixer medium speed until well blended. stir in chocolate chips.
Drop batter on baking sheet coated with baking spray, by heaping spoonfuls inches apart. (I used a small ice cream scoop)
Bake 18 mintues (I thought at 18 min they were too done, baked mine for 16) let cool for 2 mintues then move to wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pistachio- Crusted Mahi Mahi

I LOVED this and will be making it again soon. It was great
tasting and easy!! (recipe is from supercooks.com)
I adjusted this to two servings...
2- 4 oz Mahi Mahi Fillets
1 2/3 tbps lemon juice
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 c pistachio nut chopped
2/3 tbps butter melted
dash of salt
preheat over to 350

Place fillets on baking sheet and season with lemon juice , pepper and salt
Top w/ pistachio's and drizzle with melted butter
bake for 20 -22 minutes or until fish flakes easily w/ fork

I severed it with Acorn squash from our garden, a chop salad, and yellow rice

Strawberry Blueberry Muffins

I must say these are great!! I think I would make it into a dozen not the 8 that the recipe says. And let them cool for a long time before you try to remove them from the pan!
Muffin Ingredients
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 c white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c vegetable or Canola Oil
1 egg
1/3 c milk
1 c blueberries
1 c strawberries

Topping Ingredients
1/4 c sugar white or brown
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp butter (room temp)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat over to 400

mix flour , sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon
mix oil, egg, and milk

mix wet and dry together
fold in berries

Fill 8 muffin cups fill to the top then top with topping, bake 20 min



Loaded Baked Potato Soup


2 c . chicken broth
3 med. Potatoes- peeled and cubed
2 green onions- trimmed and sliced(reserve 1/4 for topping)
1/2 celery- minced (reserve 1/4 for topping)
1/4 med. carrot- grated (reserve 1/4 for topping)
2 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. salt

Bring these ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat, cover and simmer over medium -low heat for 20 minutes , stirring occasionally

1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
1/4 c shredded chedder cheese
1/4 c shredded monterey jack cheese
2-6 strips cooked bacon- crumbled (reserve 1/4 for topping)

whisk milk and flour together, slowly stir in to simmering pan, add cheese and bacon
Simmer uncovered, for 5-8 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly


place in bowl top with reserved ingredients, ENJOY! Serves 2
Serve with crackers or bread


simple things

A snack Charlie loves, apple with warmed up
peanut butter drizzled over it
I'm trying to eat better but I still need a crunch
with my sandwich, so I cut up a cucumber fresh from our garden

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Strawberry Banana Muffins


Thanks to the Joy of Baking site for this recipe!! I enjoyed these,
but next time I will add more strawberries!

1/2 c. Unsalted butter
3/4 c. light brown sugar
2 lg eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe banana's (about a cup), mashed
1 c. fresh strawberries (cut into bite size pieces)
2 1/4 c. All-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking power
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat over to 350 degrees, make 12 "normal" size muffins so either grease or line muffin pan with paper liners

In a medium bowl mash the banana's then add brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. (This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking) Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough Muffins will result.



I don't know why it has underlined everything and I can't figure out how to undo it...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pasta with Meatballs



sorry I don't really measure anything in this one...
mix meat with spices and roll into bite size meat balls.

Brown in a skillet with a little olive oil and the then add sauce (doctor it up if you choose) and simmer for hours!

Oops forgot to take a picture when we ate.... will when i have some leftovers. :)

Biscuits and Gravy



Sunday, September 12, 2010

orange cranberry pork

wasn't sure if I wanted to share this one, it is one of my
favorite things to make for us and for friends.
It pretty easy, and so yummy!
1 pork tenderloin
1 c chicken stock
1/2 cup Orange juice (I used OJ this time) or cranberry juice
1/2 tbs orange peel
dried cranberries
mandarin orange segments
2 tbs corn starch

in crock pot put Juice and 1/2 cup of stock
place tenderloin in juice/stock mixture and turn to coat with
juice stock mixture, sprinkle meat with orange peel and mix rest into juice/stock
cover meat with cranberries and then top with oranges
spoon some of the stock/ juice over top
Cook for 7 hours on low or 4 hours on high
cook times can vary due to size of tenderloin and your crockpot
place meat on a plate to rest then take dripping from crock and put them in a sauce pot bring to a boil. Mix 1/2 cup stock with corn starch (I put these in a little bowl with a lid and shake to mix, I never get lumps) and the stir into drippings to make a nice sauce.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Grilled salmon with mustard glaze


I placed the salmon skin side up on a plate cut each piece in half and then drizzle some olive oil on the it. Then put it on the grill skin side down ( I put foil on my grill) which is on medium heat. grill for 6 mintues then take one tablespoon of the glaze and drizzle on each piece. I felt like it needed something so I chopped some pecans and sprinkled them on top. Grilled for 6 more mintues. Prepared couscous and beans according to directions given on the box.



Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Grilled Steak Kabobs on salad

I make us lots of salads with all different kinds of berries, nuts ,
cheese's , seeds, and greens.

Tonight's was , from our Garden I used some Italian lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. Mixed with so fried onions, blueberries and Goat cheese and romaine lettuce. Chaz used a peach dressing we picked up in Georgia and I used vandaila onion.
Before I added the meat:After I added the meat: