Pizza Night

Don't many people splurge and treat themselves to pizza on the weekends? I am not one to be a conformist so I made our "pizza" dinner. Yes, that happens to be in quotes for a reason. It isn't really fair to say we ate pizza for dinner. We ate a variation of pizza.........In soup form.

Yes, soup.

Pizza soup! And wouldn't you know it? It tasted exactly like pizza, just in liquid form. Don't get grossed out because it was very tasty.

The crockpot was in use in our home on Saturday. I love my crockpot. I wish I had the time and the energy to use it every day like Stephanie from this blog: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

She is an inspiration to me. Can you imagine making all your recipes in the crockpot for a year? Wow! Talk about dedication!

I was perusing her site again and came across this yummy concoction. I thought "hmmm, why not?". It had a lot of fresh veggies in it which made me feel less guilty. Really, the only "bad" ingredients are the pepperoni and sausage, and you can easily make them light by using the turkey varieties. I didn't because, well, I like the full fat stuff sometimes.

Being that easy is the motto I am trying to adhere to lately, I love using my crockpot. This recipe was very easy to make. All it really took was cutting the veggies. Cut and dump and plug in!

I loved that my house smelled like pizza all day. My husband even commented. We had a friend over briefly in the afternoon and even HE commented. Funny how that works.

I served this pizza/soup with sourdough bread, but if I had thought out my venture a little more, I would have bought pizza dough and made breadsticks. The sourdough worked just fine though.

If you aren't a fan of some of the veggies in this, you could easily substitute. Don't like onions? Take them out! Don't like fresh mushrooms? Used canned. If you really wanted to be a rebel, you could probably use more pizza sauce to make the recipe more pungent. I am not a rebel when it comes to trying a recipe for the first time though. I tend to stick to the original recipe and then doctor it later after I have made it once or twice.

I goofed when making this. In my haste to eat (hey, don't blame me, I was hungry), I forgot to add the pasta. Wouldn't you know? It still tasted delicious without it. Oops.

Thank you again to Stephanie for inspiring me to use my crockpot more! I plan on making another of her recipes soon.

Pizza Soup
from: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

1 jar (14 oz) pizza sauce
3 empty jars of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes cut in quarters (or 1 canned diced tomatoes, drained)
2 already cooked Italian sausages
1 cup sliced pepperoni, cut into quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 tablespoon dried)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup dried pasta
shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe.

Wash and chop the veggies. Add to the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into bite sized pieces. Add to crockpot along with the pepperoni. Add the spices, pizza sauce and the water.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

30 minutes before serving, add the pasta and turn to high.

Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

The spots on the top of the soup in this picture is the cheese.

Words You Don't Hear Together

Three words that aren't typically heard together: Crockpot, buffalo, lasagna. No, really. If you are already repulsed, you are a weinie. Trust me, although you don't hear these things together, they taste so delicious together!

I love using my crockpot and since I am partially lazy and partially just don't have time, I have been relying on it a lot lately. This blog is fantastic if you ever want any crockpot recipe under the sun: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I wasn't looking for any recipe in particular when I went searching and I don't recall how I found this one. When I did find it, I knew I had to make it. One of Jason's favorite foods is buffalo wings. I wasn't sure how he would feel about incorporating those flavors into lasagna, but I didn't care. I have a fondness for pasta and he has a fondness for buffalo wings, so it's truly the best of both worlds in my mind.

Things that I did while making this:

* I prepped most everything on Saturday night. I precooked the chicken, cut it and mixed it with the sauces. The peppers got cut and the cheese got pre-measured. This made it very very easy to throw together this morning.

* I used Frank's Red Sauce in the buffalo style for the sauce.

* I used one each of the red, yellow and orange peppers. I thought it be really pretty, plus they came in a nifty package together at the grocery store for less money than buying them individually.

* When I was assembling the recipe, I made three layers, starting with the sauce. I was too lazy to make four and I thought three would be enough to hold together the ingredients.

* I bought pre-crumbled blue cheese. See laziness comment above. I also used more than 1/2 cup. You can't really have too much cheese can you?

This smelled AMAZING while it was cooking. My mouth was watering all day waiting for this to be finished. I was so tempted to eat dinner early just so I could taste it.

It tasted just as delicious as it smelled. I was surprised that with the amount of buffalo sauce that it wasn't spicier. It did have a nice slow burn to it, but nothing that would need antacids or a glass of milk. My only complaint is that I should have let it rest longer than 20 minutes. It still fell apart. It certainly didn't affect the taste, it just looked messy. You can see that by the picture.

Jason loved this! He made the comment "You can make this again", which means I have succeeded. He only reserves that statement when he really likes a recipe.

Look how beautiful this looks when assembled and before cooking:

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

from: A Year of Slow Cooking

uncooked traditional lasagna noodles

4 already cooked chicken breast halves

jar of prepared pasta sauce
1 cup buffalo wing sauce

3 red, yellow or orange bell peppers

tub of ricotta cheese (15 oz)

2 cups shredded cheese (Mexican or cheddar/mozzarella blend)

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles

1/4 cup of water (add at the very end)

1. Use at least a 5 qt. crockpot, or cut back on the ingredients.

2. In a large glass bowl, combine cooked and chopped chicken breast, the pasta sauce and 1 cup of buffalo wing sauce.

3. Ladle a big spoonful of the sauce into the bottom of your crockpot. Cover with a layer of the lasagna noodles. You'll have to break them to get them to fit.

4. Add a smear of ricotta cheese to the top of the noodles. Add a layer of chopped bell pepper. Sprinkle a handful of shredded cheese.

5. Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients.

6. Add the blue cheese crumbles. Put the 1/4 cup of water into your empty pasta sauce jar and shake. Pour the liquid over the top of the entire lasagna.

7. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 4-5. When cooking time is complete, unplug and take the lid off of the crock. Let it sit for 20 minutes before cutting into it.

So, it's messy, but it's delicious!

Real Men Don't Eat Quiche

Or so says my husband. I think he has bad memories of quiche because he hasn't had any desire to try one in years. His mom used to make a salmon quiche and my husband doesn't care for salmon. Maybe that's why he thinks he doesn't like quiche or fritattas. That soon changed when we were watching the Food Network and there was an episode of "Best Thing I Ever Ate" and there was a ginormous, incredible looking quiche. He and I were both drooling. It was huge and very fluffy looking.

I found a recipe online for a variation of Quiche Lorraine and I thought I would try it. I figure since it had meat, cheese and eggs, it couldn't be something Jason would complain about. You can't really go wrong with bacon and other yummy proteins.

This was a very easy recipe to prepare, which is ultimately the most important aspect of my cooking these days. If it has a hundred steps or takes forever to cook, forget it. I bypass the recipe. I need easy and fast.

We were over at my in-laws yesterday when I prepared this meal. It was very easy. To make it even easier, I prepped a lot of the things beforehand. Rather than fry the bacon and then crumble it, I find it much quicker and easier to cut the bacon into small pieces and then fry it. Much, much easier. Plus your hands don't get greasy and gross from crumbling the bacon.

I also pre-chopped the onions and pre-beat the eggs. I also cheated and bought premade pie dough. I didn't want to go through the hassle of making my own crust. That way, I pretty much had to throw the ingredients together in the pan and bake. It cut down on the prep time by about 10 minutes, which doesn't sound like a lot, however, to me, it is a lot. That is 10 minutes that can be spent doing something much more important, like burping a baby or taking a shower.

I paired this meal with roasted asparagus (yum) and a salad. All in all, it was a pretty healthy meal since it was mostly veggies. Obviously, you are getting some bacon, but if you cut the quiche into six big slices, you are theoretically only getting a slice or so of bacon in your whole piece and less than one egg.

This quiche was very good. So good in fact that there was only one piece left in the pan after we all ate. There is none left as of this morning though since my husband polished off the last piece for his dinner at 3:00am (he works swing shift). I guess it must have been good huh? Especially since the man says "Real men don't eat quiche". Okay honey, you keep telling yourself that.

Country Quiche

from: http://www.allrecipes.com/

8 slices bacon
1 small onion, chopped
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until evenly browned. Drain (reserving 1 tablespoon grease), crumble and set aside. Heat reserved grease in skillet and saute the onion until brown.

3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, flour, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. Add bacon, onion, mozzarella and cheddar cheese; mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell.

4. Bake for 45 minutes or until lightly brown on top and firm in the middle. Serve warm.

Bananas.......Yummmmm

Welcome back to the blogging world Pachey! Like I have stated previously, I haven't been cooking or baking much. Tonight, after the wee one went to bed, I decided to remedy that. I actually baked! Alert the media.

I had about five pathetic looking bananas and I didn't want them to go to waste. What do you typically do with overripe bananas? In my house, I make banana bread. Why mess with tradition right? However, I did mess with tradition. When I mentioned to my husband that I was going to make banana bread, he very kindly told me that I should look for a new recipe. He isn't fond of my old one apparently.

Off to trusty allrecipes.com. I typed in banana bread and used the very first recipe that came up. I only made one addition, which was the tasty and yummy addition of some chocolate chips. I personally think that chocolate chips and banana go together very well.

This recipe came together quickly, which is a positive in my house. You just never know when the baby is going to wake up. I also liked that it used up all five of my browning bananas. I had all the other ingredients on hand since they are regular baking staples.

This bread was delicious! Very moist and super chocolately with the addition of my chips. I had two pieces. After all, I have officially lost all my baby weight and I can afford to have a few extra calories in my diet. Yummmmm!

Banana Banana Bread
from: http://www.allrecipes.com/

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cup mashed overripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and banana until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Pour batter into pan.

3. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

* Note: I added the chocolate chips after the banana mix and flour mix were added. I did not stir very much because I didn't want to make the bread tough.

Baked Potato in a Bowl

As explained in earlier posts (which are out of order by the way), I haven't been cooking a lot lately. I am trying to remedy that as our wee one gets older and is able to occupy himself while Mommy is in the kitchen. Until then, simple recipes are the only ones that are found in my house.


I wanted to use my crockpot to make a soup and so I turned to the 365 days of crockpot cooking blog: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I knew I could find a yummy soup on there. I was particularly in the mood for a good potato soup. I have made one before but wasn't truly happy with the results. Within a page of scrolling through the blog above, I found a Baked Potato Soup. Um, yum! Sounds just like something that I would love.

The ingredients are dirt cheap. What could be cheaper than potatoes after all? The only ingredient that costs any amount of money is the cream cheese. The broth, the onion and the potatoes are all super cheap. Even the bacon is inexpensive if you buy it on sale (which I did). I think all total, this cost about $7.00 and it makes a TON! You could certainly cut costs and make your own broth instead of buying it. I am not ambitious ::cough, cough, lazy:: so I used canned chicken broth.

I cheated and cut the potatoes and got the soup all ready to go last night. I wasn't sure if I would have time this morning and so I started cooking last night when the wee one went to bed. I am glad I did because all I had to do this morning was take the crockpot out and then turn it on. Super simple!

I will admit: My husband was not looking forward to this dinner. He heard potato soup and I think he thought I was cooking some thin, nasty potato concoction. When I was a kid, one of my friend's moms made a potato soup. Yuck! I used to dread going to her house for dinner. That was a thin, nasty potato concoction. This recipe was not at all. Wow! That's all I can say. Jason had a second bowl after he was very pleasantly surprised. I wasn't though. I knew it would be yummy.

I used russet potatoes. They are starchy and cheap. Plus I hate to peel potatoes so I could get away with buying just four and peeling four huge ones rather than a bunch of small ones. I didn't skimp and use 1/3 less fat or fat-free cream cheese. I used the good ole' fattening, full-bodied creamy cream cheese. If you are watching your waistline, certainly use Neufchatel or the less fat stuff. If you want to further cut calories, use turkey bacon. There is no way on God's green earth that Jason would eat turkey bacon so I used regular stuff. Plus, my crockpot is small so I had to scale back how much chicken broth the recipe calls for. Instead of the 2 quarts it calls for, I had to use 1.5 quarts. The recipe didn't suffer. It probably just made it a lot creamier and richer.

Not only is this recipe inexpensive, it's super easy and super yummy. It really did taste like a baked potato in a bowl! Jason is a protein lover so I made BLT's to go with our soup. It was the perfect pairing.

Make this soup! You will love it!

Baked Potato Soup
from: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 teeny onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, to add at the end
crumbled bacon and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)


Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. I suppose you can also leave the potatoes in chunks, if you really wanted, but I wanted a smooth soup.

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives, and I'd assume cheddar cheese would be just delightful.

Unchocolate Brownies

Tonight was one of those nights where brownies just sound good. I haven't cooked or baked a lot lately since we are trying to get the house ready for the bean. I have been cooking mostly easy, convenience meals (baked chicken breasts, spaghetti and sausages, ready-made frozen lasagna) which is fine, just not blogger friendly.

Never fear, a day off is here! I didn't have much to do today which meant I was free to cook and bake. While I made an easy dinner (baked chicken, mashed taters and beans), I wanted something a little more special for dessert. Enter the brownie. If you notice, that is a trend in my blog. It's my go-to dessert mostly because it's easy and so delicious.

The funny thing with this recipe was that I was halfway through making them when I realized there was no chocolate in them! Blasphemy! Oh, but I improvised. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts, which we didn't have. So the next best thing? Chocolate chips! I did get my chocolate fix after all.

These brownies were easy to prepare and mighty tasty. I ate one slightly warm from the oven with a glass of milk. They were much more rich than normal and I think this is due to the use of brown sugar rather than the regular white. I like that there is very little butter. It makes me feel less guilty for eating one....err two. Not that peanut butter is very waistline friendly, but oh well. I am 37 weeks pregnant. At this point, I don't much care about the food I am consuming.

I would definitely recommend these brownies. If you want to add peanuts instead of the chocolate chips, feel free. If you are like me, you need a little chocolate, and what goes better with peanut butter than chocolate? NOTHING! The recipe doesn't specify, but I suppose for some extra crunch, you could use chunky peanut butter. I used creamy since Jason is pretty territorial over who eats his chunky peanut butter. He probably would have forgiven me pretty quickly after he tasted these beauties though.

Peanut Butter Brownies

from: www.allrecipes.com

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 tablespoons butter, softened

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped (or chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter and the butter. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the butter mixture and mix well until blended. Stir in the peanuts (or chocolate chips).

3. Spread batter evenly into pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack and cut into 2-inch squares.

It's Not a Cookie

Yes, I have been a bad blogger. I have said it before, but really, this time I have an excuse. I was at first busy with pregnancy and getting the house ready for our baby, but then nature called and I actually HAD my baby. So there. I have been a bad blogger because I have been busy being a mommy.

Much of my cooking and baking these days comes out of convenience. Boxed meals (for shame!) like frozen lasagnas from Costco, or meals that I can make in the crockpot that are very quick and easy are in my arsenal. Most of what I have cooked are repeats which is another reason for the lack of blog posts. I have made Salsa Chicken, Chili, The Family Spaghetti, and simple things like baked chicken or pork chops. Nothing terribly exciting to blog about.


This recipe is one from the archives. I had already started the post and now I am finishing it. Oh, about 2 months later! This recipe was made for New Year's for our family get together. Yes, New Years. Did I mention I was a bad blogger?


So without further ado.............Drum roll...............From the archives:


This recipe comes from my Tollhouse Cookie Cookbook. That being said, it's not a cookie. It's not even really a cheesecake although that's what the name implies. It's more like a bar with cheesecake accents (if there is such a thing). What I can tell you is that they were D-LICIOUS.


They were fun and easy to make. I whipped them up on the same night that I made the Stuffed Jalapenos for my husband's and my New Year's celebration. While these cheesecake bars were baking, I worked on some other items.


I used my KitchenAid mixer to make these and it was very convenient because they were able to chill in the fridge overnight. The next morning, all I needed to do was cut them and plate them. Did I mention they were yummy and delicious? Thankfully, there were leftovers and my then pregnant butt was able to eat them when I got home.


Another great thing about this recipe was that it didn't take a lot of ingredients that I didn't have on hand. I only had to buy graham crackers (which I ended up consuming the rest of the box anyways so certainly no loss), cream cheese and evaporated milk. I had everything else on hand.


I would suggest that you either buy already crushed graham cracker crumbs, or you use a food processor to make the crumbs. I used my mini food processor and it worked perfectly! It is a much more cost effective option to go this route obviously. But if you are pressed for time, definitely buy the crumbs. Please also note that the recipe does not have a typo. It really does take a tablespoon of vanilla extract.


I would most certainly recommend these bars. For a potluck, a family get together or just a yummy dessert for no special occasion.


Swirl-of-Chocolate Cheesecake Triangles
from: Nestle Tollhouse Best Loved Cookies


Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar


Filling:
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups (12-fluid-ounce can) evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips


For crust: Combine crumbs, butter and granulated sugar in medium bowl; press onto bottom of ungreased 13x9 baking pan.


For filling: Beat cream cheese, granulated sugar and flour in large mixer bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla.


Microwave chocolate chips in medium, microwave safe bowl on high power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10 to 20 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Stir one cup cream cheese mixture into chocolate. Pour remaining cream cheese mixture over crust. Pour chocolate mixture over cream cheese mixture. Swirl mixtures with spoon, pulling plain cream cheese mixture up to surface.

Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until set. Cool in pan to room temperature on wire rack; chill until firm. Cut into squares; cut each square in half diagonally to form triangles.