Pizza Rolls

These are a fun variation for pizza night! :) You just pull these apart and dip in marinara sauce. Inside each roll, there is a center that is warm and oozing with pizza toppings. They are delicious and the kids have fun dipping them. There is no pizza sauce in each roll which is nice. Unlike your traditional pizza rolls, the sauce wont scald the inside of your mouth. Plus, we have some "anti-pizza sauce" people at our house, so this was perfect! We did the pepperoni, green pepper version. I will definitely be making these again and trying a variety of fillings. Enjoy!

Pizza Rolls

Printable Version

Ingredients:
frozen rolls or homemade pizza dough

Pizza sauce
Shredded cheese of choice

Any meat/veggie pizza toppings of choice, diced small
(We mainly do pepperoni (cut into 1/4ths) &cheese and plain cheese)

Defrost frozen roll dough for about an hour. It should be cold but soft. Flatten each roll. First put a light smear of pizza sauce in the center of the roll. (Don't get the sauce on the edges or it wont want to seal) Next, layer the shredded cheese or any diced small topping that will have a tendency to fallout. Finally, press a few quarters of pepperoni to hold cheese in place and wrap the rest of the roll around the toppings. Pinch to seal edges. The more toppings you use, the harder it gets to tuck them all within the dough. Now place seam side down in a lightly greased casserole dish or glass baking dish. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle generously with garlic salt and Italian seasoning. (oregano, basil and thyme, etc) Bake in a 400 degree oven until rolls are light brown (12-15min). Watch carefully. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.


Recipe by SistersCafe

No Bake Cookies

For those of you who don't live with Dad or Slade, this recipe is for you!

You too can have good no bakes any time you'd like ;) 

Another "must have" recipe for the food blog.

No Bake Cookies

2c. sugar
1/2c. milk
1/4c. cocoa
1/2c. butter (1 stick)

Simmer for 2min. Remove from heat and add:

2/3c. peanut butter
1/2t. vanilla
Add approximately 4c. oats (or until desired consistency)

Drop by the spoonful onto foil, wax paper or parchment (whatever you have will work) Let them cool slightly and enjoy!

I know you have been waiting for this recipe so.....You are welcome! :)

Comfort Corn Pudding

Why do I like corn pudding?

1) Basically...it's delicious!
2) You can serve it with almost any type of meal. We make it to go with hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken or bbq sandwiches. We even make it to go with a roast or pulled pork for a Sunday dinner.
3) It's SUPER SUPER easy! You can throw it together in 5min or less and let it bake while you prepare the rest of the meal.
4) Anytime I make this it gets rave reviews and gets gobbled up. Who doesn't like compliments to the chef? (That's you!)

Give it a try and let me know how much you love it too! :)

Comfort Corn Pudding

Printable Version

1 (8 oz) box corn muffin mix

1 (16 oz) can whole corn, undrained

1 (16 oz) can cream corn

1 cup sour cream

1 sick margarine or butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix until blended.

Pour mixture into a shallow, 2 quart baking dish

Bake, uncovered, for 45 – 50 minutes. Serve immediately.

Seriously... how easy does that sound? (PS It's delicious!)

Recipe from A. Trzeciak :)

Buttercream Icing

Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk or water

Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Cream shortening, butter and vanilla. Add sugar. Add water until desired consistency, may not use all 2 tablespoons.

Note: I always half and half the shortening and butter, but you don't have to. All butter is super delicious but is more yellowy and all criso is not so good to me. Just remember 1 cup butter/crisco to 1 lb sugar!! You also can use other flavorings instead of vanilla, like almond or butter.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Everyone in my house is singing my praises when I make these. We aren't huge fans of the potato, but these are a hit! Make at least two per adult... you will want more than one. Also, I think the smaller the potato you use, the better because you get a higher crispy to mushy ratio. (The crunchiness is our favorite part!) Enjoy!


Hot Crash Potatoes
Printable Version

12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt to Taste
Black Pepper to Taste
Herb Of Choice to Taste

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender. (I used yukon gold potatoes for this picture. I have also used the small red ones and they were also delicious.)

On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh herb. (rosemary, chives, thyme or whatever herb you have available.) I used green onion out of my garden.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks

Double Broccoli Quinoa

This is delicious. It's light, healthy and packed with all the good stuff. Enjoy!

Double Broccoli Quinoa
Printable Version

3 cups cooked quinoa
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets and stems
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream

Toppings: slivered basil, fire oil (optional)**, sliced avocado
crumbled feta or goat cheese

Cook the quinoa according to it's package's directions. Set aside. (I successfully made it in my parent's rice cooker. 2 parts water 1 part rice... same ratio... turned out great)

Now barely cook the broccoli by pouring 3/4 cup water into a large pot and bringing it to a simmer. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the broccoli. Cover and cook for a minute, just long enough to take the raw edge off. Transfer the broccoli to a strainer and run under cold water until it stops cooking. Set aside.

To make the broccoli pesto puree two cups of the cooked broccoli, the garlic, 1/2 cup of the almonds, Parmesan, salt, and lemon juice in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and cream and pulse until smooth.

Just before serving, toss the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets with about 1/2 of the broccoli pesto. Taste and adjust if needed, you might want to add more of the pest a bit at a time, or you might want a bit more salt or an added squeeze of lemon juice. Turn out onto a serving platter and top with the remaining almonds, a drizzle of the chile oil, and some sliced avocado or any of the other optional toppings.

Serves 4 - 6.

**To make the red chile oil: You'll need 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes. If you can, make the chile oil a day or so ahead of time by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan for a couple minutes - until it is about as hot as you would need it to saute some onions, but not so hot that it smokes or smells acrid or burned. Turn off the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside and let cool, then store in refrigerator. Bring to room temp again before using.

Recipe from 101Cookbooks

Beef Stroganoff

Yummy! Blake's Favorite!

Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 lb steak
6 Tbl flour
1 Tbl Kitchen Bouquet gravy (use a packet of brown gravy mix because I can never find Kitchen Bouquet)

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 Tbl oil
2 cps beef broth
1 cp sour cream

Optional toppings:
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 onion
4 Tbl butter

Preheat oven to 350

Cut steak into bit size pieces if not already, stew beef is perf for this recipe!
Mix flour, salt and pepper in mixing bowl or large plastic bag, add beef and
coat. Heat oil in large skillet. Brown beef pieces, once browned add remaining
flour mixture to beef in skillet, stir and remove from heat.

In a large casserole dish add beef, beef broth and gravy.

Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

While baking start your rice or noodles, whatever you prefer to eat under your
stroganoff. Also saute any additional toppings, always mushrooms for Blake!
Heat butter in pan and add mushrooms, cook till golden brown. Do same for onions.

After stroganoff has baked, add sour cream. Some people are pros and don't need to temper their sour cream, I'm not and think it's easier to get clumps out that way. If your stroganoff is not as thick as you would like, you may whisk in additional flour till as thick as you desire! Just remember it will thicken as it cools!

Serve over rice or noodles.

Blake's favorite side for stroganoff is corn and is recommended!

Crockpot instructions: Brown steak in skillet. Add all ingredients to crockpot except for the sour cream. Cook 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Add sour cream right before serving.


Recipe by Kerry and Jeanne Thackeray