Taco Pizza

Quick- you have 8 very hungry 19 year olds coming over in 30 minutes for dinner. What on earth do you make that will feed the masses in a short amount of time? Taco pizza of course! Thanks to Real Mom Kitchen I found a great recipe that is very simple to make and quite delicious. Our guests were happy to eat 2-3 large pieces each. They told me to put this new recipe on the blog, so here it is:

Recipe:
1 lb. ground turkey (or beef if you prefer)
1 envelope low- sodium taco seasoning mix
2 (8 oz.) cans Pillsbury reduced-fat crescent rolls
1 (16 oz.) can refried beans
2-3 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 chopped roma tomato
4 green onions, chopped


Brown ground turkey meat and drain. Add in the taco seasoning mix. Follow the directions on the packet and then let simmer on very low heat.

Pre-heat the oven to 375
Roll out the crescent rolls into rectangles and place in a slightly greased jelly roll pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.
Chop the tomato and green onions.

Microwave the refried beans in a microwave safe container. Stir and spread on top of the warm crust creating a small layer. Add the meat to create a layer on top. Top the meat with the cheese. Now add the tomatoes and green onions. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Shredded BBQ Chicken on a Homemade Hamburger Bun

My amazing friend, C, brought me dinner the other week when I was sick. It happend to be one of my favorite meals she makes. Yesterday I was craving this deliciousness and contacted C to get the recipe. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make and double checked in case I forgot something:-) The chicken was so incredibly tender with the tangy-ness of the BBQ sauce and with the sweetness of the brown sugar was incredible. The smell was intoxicating and I ended up eating before K got home because I couldn't stand it anymore haha.

Recipe (slight change from C's recipe):

2-4 frozen chicken breast

1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

1/4 C brown sugar

3 Tbs ketchup

Add the BBQ sauce, brown sugar and ketchup to your slow cooker. Stir.

 Add the frozen chicken breast and cover with the sauce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

How easy was that?! Now the fun part begins. I didn't want to run to the store to buy rolls or hamburger buns...blame it on my laziness! So I jumped onto Pinterest to find an easy hamburger bun recipe. I found a great one that I had all the ingredients for. It was very simple to make and most likely you have all the ingredients in your kitchen too. Here's what you need:

Recipe (found at thekitchn.com):

1 tablespoon active-dry yeast

1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water

1/2 cup (4 oz) milk (whole, 2%, or skim)

1 large egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let dissolve.

In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add to the yeast/water mixture and mix well.

Add the flour to the mixture one cup at a time. I used the hook on my kitchen aid to mix this together. Once the dough forms, take out and knead by hand ten times or until it is smooth and springs back when you touch it.

Oil the mixing bowl and place the dough inside. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for the dough to rise. Let is rise for an hour or longer until it has doubled in size. My house was pretty cold so I turn my oven on low and placed it on top to help it rise.

Once the dough is ready, take out of the bowl and cut it into 6-8 even dough balls. Place on a baking sheet and let rise for another 45 minutes until they look puffy.

Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the butter in a small jar and brush on the top of each roll with a pastry brush.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the buns are golden.

Let them cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. If you're not eating them right away you can place in a tuber-ware container to keep fresh until you're ready to eat.

Now- back to the chicken. By this time you chicken is probably cooked all the way through and ready to shred. You know my trick by now. Using a handheld mixer, shred the chicken. Continue cooking on low or "keep warm" until you're ready to eat.

Like I said, I couldn't wait any longer so I cut my hamburger bun in half and filled it to the max with chicken. I gobbled that sandwich down in seconds....seriously though it was soo good!!

Enjoy!

Smart Eats- Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

 This morning I was online thinking about what to make for dinner. I didn't want to go to the grocery store yet my cupboards lacked a sufficient amount of food. I jumped onto my new favorite food blog, Skinny Taste, and perused recipes until this one caught my eye. I was so excited when I had everything needed to make this recipe. At 8:23am I loaded up our crock pot wither everything needed, set it on low and walked away knowing that in 10 hours I was going to be eating a feast! This has definitely become my favorite chili recipe and with only 5 points a serving I can be happy that the taste is there as well as the healthy:-)

Here's the recipe (as found on skinnytaste.com:

1 Onion, chopped

1 16-oz can black beans

1 16-oz can kidney beans

1 8-oz can tomato sauce

10 oz package frozen corn kernels

2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies

1 packet taco seasoning, preferably low sodium

2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

24 oz (2-3) boneless skinless chicken breasts

How is this for easy. Load everything into the crockpot and set on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours. I didn't even drain the beans. Just pour everything in, stir and set the chicken breasts on top. We used frozen chicken breasts, placed them in the crockpot still frozen and it worked out perfectly.

After 5 hours, I pulled the chicken out and used a hand mixer to shred the chicken. I then placed the shredded chicken back into the crockpot and stirred.

The hardest part about slow cooked meals is smelling it all day long! The aroma is incredibly mouthwatering. Once you're ready to eat, feel free to top your chili with low-fat cheese and fat-free sour cream.

Enjoy!

Turkey Lasagna

Ok M, here is your request #2, an easy and delicious lasagna recipe. We also made this one a little healthier by using ground turkey and zucchini instead of beef. Even though it seems like there are a lot of ingredients this is actually a really quick recipe. I hope you enjoy this lasagna as much as we do.

Recipe

1TBS olive oil

1lbs ground turkey

1 small onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 6oz can tomato paste

3 8oz cans tomato sauce

2 cans stewed tomatoes

1 cup shredded zucchini

1tsp garlic powder

1tsp Italian seasoning

salt and pepper

1 8oz carton ricotta cheese

1 egg

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

lasagna noodles, boiled

(you can always opt in for the ready to bake noodles as well)

Chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan on med-high heat.

Brown the onions, garlic and turkey in the heated pan.

Add the tomato sauce, paste and stewed tomatoes and mix well. Once the sauce begins to bubble, turn it down to a simmer.

Use a cheese grater to shred the zucchini.

Stir in the zucchini, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste being careful not to over salt it.

In a small bowl mix the ricotta and egg until well blended.

Place a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish to keep the lasagna from sticking.

Cover the sauce with a layer of lasagna noodles.

Layer the noodles with half of the sauce and half the ricotta cheese mixture.

Top the layer off with 2 cups of shredded mozzerella cheese.

Repeat another layer with the remaining noodles, sauce, ricotta and mozzarella. Bake the lasagna at 350 degrees for 30min or until it is bubbly.

There is nothing better than a good homemade lasagna. One bite of this and you'll never want another frozen lasagna again! Enjoy!!

Parmesian Chicken with Homemade Maranara Sauce

As many of your know, K and I are both Italian and let me tell you we LOVE Italian food. Here's a recipe that is so fresh, delicious, and very easy to make. You will look like a super star when making this dish, so make sure you invite many people over so you can brag about your culinary skills.

Recipe:

Marinara Sauce

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 cup cooking wine (optional)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large cans crushed tomatoes

2 dried bay leaves

Heat the olive oil in a large pot on med-high heat, add the onion and garlic and saute 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

The secret ingredient to this recipe is the carrots and celery. You don't taste either ingredient in the final sauce but it adds that meaty texture which makes this sauce so good! Chop the carrot and celery, I usually just toss them in my food processor, and add them to the onions. Add the salt and pepper, stir and add the cooking wine. We have tried it with red and white wine, both are delicious. Allow it to cook for another 10min until the vegetable are soft and the alcohol has cooked off. It will look kind of like baby food at this point so don't worry if it doesn't look appetizing yet.

Add the can of crushed tomato and bay leaf. Turn the heat down to low and let it simmer uncovered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

This recipe makes a lot of sauce, but you can always freeze what you don't use and save it for later.

Parmesan Chicken:

10-12 Chicken tenders

1 cup Milk

2 eggs beaten w/2 TBS water

1 cup flour

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 

Olive oil

Pre-heat the over to 375 degrees. Mix the breads crumbs with the Parmesan cheese, and set up 4 dishes with the milk, flour, egg and bread crumbs. Take each piece of chicken and dip it in the milk, flour, egg wash and finally the bread crumbs.

Drizzle olive oil in a baking dish and place the breaded chicken tenders in it. Drizzle a little more olive oil on top of the chicken.

Bake the chicken uncovered at 375 until golden brown, about 30-40 min.

Serve the chicken over your favorite pasta and top it with the marinara sauce.

We made this dish when our friends C- Puppy & his wife R came into the city. It was perfect because we made the sauce the night before and the chicken the night of. We had leftover sauce which we put in a container and placed in the freezer. Enjoy!

Cheese Calzones

Lately, we've noticed an increase of eating calzones from the local pizza shop around the corner. We finally realized, "Hey, we can make this." So, we took K's favorite pizza crust recipe, found some sauce, and added some yummy cheese and made ourselves little calzones. This was very experimental so all we have for you is how to make the dough and put everything together. What you put in your calzone is up to you!

Here's the recipe:

Pizza Crust:

1 Packet yeast

2 tsp Honey

1 tsp Kosher salt

3 Cups All-purpose flour

1 Cup Warm water

1 tsp EVOO

In a bowl, mix 1/4 Cup of water, yeast and sugar. Let it "proof" for 5 minutes until it is bubbly. Add the remaining water (3/4 cup), olive oil, 1 cup flour and wisk until smooth.

Add salt and the remaining flour (2 cups) and stir until the dough forms. Knead for a few minutes.

Oil a bowl with EVOO and place dough inside. Cover. Let dough rise for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Once dough has risen, turn dough out on a flat surface and cut into six pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.

This is where the fun part begins. Each ball equals one personalized calzone. To make your calzone make sure you have a good pizza sauce. We love the pizza sauce from Trader Joes.

Also, have at least 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese per person. We just made cheese calzones but you can add pepperoni, suasage...pretty much anything you want. Roll out the dough and spread out the pizza sauce. Add mozzarella cheese and whatever other ingredients you want. Fold the dough over itself and press the edges together. It also helps to roll the dough inside itself for a better hold.

On the top of the calzone you can put a little bit of olive oil or egg wash on the top. You can put some Italian seasonings on the top as well. Cut slits on the top of the calzones for ventilation.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

There you have it, your own personalized calzone filled with deliciousness!

These are super delicious and fun to make. They are great fresh from the oven or you can let them cool in the fridge and save them for lunch at work. Enjoy!

P.S.- this dough recipe makes amazing pizza too, just roll it out, add you toppings and bake at 500 degrees from 12-15min or until the crust is golden! :)