Week 12 - Giants vs Packers TACO PIZZA

Week 12 of football and I had to wait all day for the Giants game! I found this VERY easy recipe for Taco Pizza and it was perfect for Sunday Funday - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-pizza-from-pillsbury-pizza-crust/detail.aspx

Ingredients:

• 1 can Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 (1 ounce) package Old El Paso® Taco Seasoning Mix
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce
• 1 cup seeded, chopped tomato

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray or grease 15x10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet; starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.

 In 10-inch skillet, cook beef, taco seasoning mix and water as directed on package. Spoon evenly on dough. Top with cheese.

Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Top with remaining ingredients.

Ben said this was one of his favorite meals for Sunday Funday! This was super easy to make and can be made with many different ingredients depending on what you like! I may try it with chicken another time, so stay tuned!

Special Thanksgiving Addition - Ellie's first!!

This was a very special Thanksgiving for our family - it was Ellie's first Thanksgiving! We had a special Thanksgiving breakfast to start the day off right. I had a recipe for Chocolate French Toast that I've been saving for an occasion like this. I used this recipe - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-French-Toast-2/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=94358539&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2012-09-29&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 packets of hot cocoa mix
• 8 slices of bread
• 2/3 c white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pam cooking spray

Beat together milk, eggs, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.

Heat skillet over medium heat.

Dip each slice of bread into egg mixture until well soaked, about 20 seconds per side. Place in pan, and cook on both sides until they are no longer gooey or shiny in the middle when cut in half, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Serve with syrup and enjoy! This was delicious! You could really taste the chocolate flavor which we loved!!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

Week 11 - BBQ Chicken Burgers plus Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

One week until Thanksgiving!! Just unreal how fast time has passed!

I had purchased more ground chicken since the Chicken Parm Meatballs were such a hit. I found a recipe for BBQ Chicken Burgers that sounded yummy, so we decided to try them! I found the recipe here - http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/04/bbq-chicken-burgers/ (the recipe is in the center of the page). I changed it a bit, so I will be blogging how I made the burgers.
Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground chicken breast
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup bacon bits
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce – use homemade or your favorite!
• BBQ sauce for topping

In a large bowl, combine chicken, BBQ sauce, bacon bits, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cheddar cheese.

Mix until just combined, then form patties. 

Preheat the grill or a skillet and cook the burgers until fully cooked through. I used a griddle to cook the burgers since it was to cold to grill outside. 

We did not have burger buns so we just ate the burgers alone, but topped with more BBQ sauce they had a yummy taste. Feel free to top with your favorite cheese too!

I wanted to try a new recipe I found for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner. I found the recipe here - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=97747293&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2012-11-10&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1.5 cups all purpose-flour
• 3/4  teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water.

3.  In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

4.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

I was able to make 2 batches from the 1 can of pumpkin, so I made some mini muffins and regular size muffins. These were really good and a great treat for breakfast or a snack!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!! We have a lot to give thanks for this year!!

Week 10 - Baked MAC and Cheese plus another bonus recipe!

Week 10 of football and Thanksgiving is a little over a week away! Ellie will be 16 weeks tomorrow! Where does the time go?! I've been wanting to make this recipe for awhile now and finally have all the ingredients to do it. Thanks to my friend Emily, I will be using her recipe today for delicious Baked MAC and Cheese (I think the recipe actually came from her Mother in Law).

Ingredients:

• 2 T margarine
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 t dry mustard or I used the same amount of regular mustard
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2.5 cup milk
• 2 c grated cheddar cheese (or already shredded cheese)
• 1 box elbow macaroni (cooked 6 minutes, drained)
• 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs or crumbled ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 375. In 2-quart saucepan, melt margarine over low heat. Stir in the flour, salt, mustard and pepper until smooth.

Remove from heat and gradually stir in the milk until smooth. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

Stir in 2 cups of the cheese until melted.

Put cooked macaroni into greased 2-quart casserole.  Pour the cheese mixture over the macaroni, mix well. Mix remaining cheese and breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the top of the casserole.

Bake for 25 minutes and ENJOY!!! This was YUMMY!!! Thank you Emily :)

For the bonus recipe this week, I used the cheddar ranch dip for a chicken dish because I had so much left over.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of chicken
• left over cheddar ranch dip
• breadcrumbs

Evenly top the chicken with the dip. Then coat with breadcrumbs.

Cook at 350 until chicken is cooked through. This was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!

Next week Sunday Funday will be in preparation for Thanksgiving. I have a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe I'm going to try...and we will see what else I can find!

Week 9 - Cheddar Ranch Dip plus Crescent Sloppy Joes

Football season is just flying by! I can't believe November is here already! I found 2 recipes for this week I wanted to try. Both came out really yummy!!!

The first recipe was for cheddar ranch dip - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cheddar-ranch-dip/ I always make the same dip, so it was fun to try something new!

Ingredients: 

• 1 (16 ounce) container sour creaam 
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix 
• 1 can bacon bits
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the sour cream and ranch-style dressing mix. 

 Mix in the bacon bits and Cheddar cheese.

Chill in the refrigerator 20 minutes or longer before serving.

Serve with chips or vegetables. It was very yummy! There was a lot left over so I"m going to try and use the rest on chicken for dinner tomorrow. I will report how that comes out next week!

I've been seeing advertisements online for recipes with crescent rolls. I decided to try the sloppy joe recipe with turkey meat instead of ground beef- http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/crescent-sloppy-joes/e5b67981-9c97-4395-af59-7ffea5ff4db7

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (1 oz)
• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
• 1 egg, beaten  

 Heat oven to 375. Cook beef, stirring frequently until thoroughly cooked. Stir in barbecue sauce and cook 1-2 minutes. Stir in cheese.

If using crescent rolls, unroll dough and separate into 4 rectangles. Place about 2 rounded tablespoons of the beef mixture on the center of each square.

Fold dough over the filling, forming triangles; press edges with a fork to seal. With a knife, cut small slits in the tops for the steam to escape. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with egg before baking.

Bake 11-18 minutes (until golden brown). Immediately remove from cookie sheet and serve warm.

These came out really delicious! I will definitely make again. These are good for entertaining company too!

Stay tuned for more recipes next week! ENJOY!