Black Bean Pizza

The other night I decided to make pizza for dinner but I wanted something  a little different than the red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni pizza that we ALWAYS have over here. When I told my husband I was craving Black Bean pizza he looked at me crazy and said, "That's a pregnancy craving!" and did NOT look too excited about said pizza. In the end he admitted that it was good and different than what he had expected. I think next time we make this we might put more of a Mexican flare to the flavor of the bean mixture by using diced tomatoes with chilies instead of Italian style and add salsa and sour cream on the side.

I have a fail proof, EASY, yummy recipe for pizza dough that I have used for a couple of years now that I will share with you too! Just follow this link.




Black Bean Pizza from Allrecipes


1 can refrigerated pizza crust (or use recipe above, much better!!)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup zucchini, finely chopped
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz) can Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided

Press dough into a greased 15in x 10in x 1in baking pan (I just used the pizza pan pictured above). Bake at 425 degrees F for 4-6 minutes or until crust just begins to brown. (I did this step with the homemade crust too, just make sure you poke holes in the crust with a fork before it goes in and brush it with olive oil if desired).

Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add zucchini; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the beans and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, for 2 minutes; drain. Sprinkle 2/3 cup of cheese over crust (I skipped this step). Top with bean mixture and remaining cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until crust is browned and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Ellie's BBQ Pork Chops

My 2 years old daughter and I recently went to "Farm Days" at our local university. She LOVED it. She got to hold a baby chick, pet a lamb, rabbit, and goat; and see all sorts of animals she loves. As I was trying to convince her that yes it really was time to go home we found a table with this on it:

She went crazy over it. "This is my recipe! I'm a make it for dinner." She said this over and over on the way home and was sooo excited to make dinner for us. When she got home and told her daddy about the recipe she told him the baby chick gave it to her. Weeeellll....that wasn't exactly true but close enough in a 2 year old's mind.

So what's a mother to do? We made them! I should mention that Ellie poured all of the ingredients into the bag to marinate them and we told her she made them but, no, I did not let a 2 year old cook them on a hot stove, give me some credit! :)

 They turned out to be pretty yummy. We used Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce which made them slightly sweet. The flavor bbq sauce you use will effect the flavor of your pork chops so make sure it's one you like! They turned out great and they were easy so I am sure we will make them again!

Ellie's BBQ Pork Chops
1/4 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tsp chili powder
4 boneless pork chops

Combine first 3 ingredients in a plastic ziploc bag and squish around to mix (a great job for small hands helping in the kitchen). Add pork chops and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Remove pork chops and place on the skillet. Save the remaining sauce for cooking later.

Brown pork chops on each side for about 4 minutes. Pour the saved sauce over pork chops, cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Make SURE not to skip the simmering step, as the sauce will not be safe to eat unless it's simmered!


I would love to say that she ate them up but she didn't. She would not touch them at dinner time. Talk about the weird mind of a toddler, because we can always get her to try a new thing and she usually ends up liking it. Hopefully she hadn't misconstrued it in her mind and she thought we were eating baby chicks...because I wouldn't have eaten them either if I thought that!

Whole Wheat Bread

Fresh from the oven (the white dots are the millet)

My mom gave me a wheat grinder for Christmas 2010. At first I looked at it and thought..never gonna use that. Then I decided to give homemade whole wheat bread a try...and I was HOOKED! We have bought maybe 4 loaves of bread since, and those were just for back up when I ran out of frozen loaves and didn't have the time to make more. I scoured the internet for the best recipe and I have to say I found it. It stays moist on our counter in a plastic bag for as long as it takes us to eat it (probably 5 days), it is SO easy to make (especially with my Bosch that my mom also gave me, thanks Mom!), and it freezes well. My husband always loves to be the first to cut into a newly thawed loaf from the freezer because he thinks it tastes the best that way. I am giving you the way that I make this recipe. I realize that it varies depending on person, humidity, altitude, and your horoscope :) so check out the original recipe and make it your own like I did!

Tips: Make sure your yeast is fresh or is fresh from the freezer. It really does make a difference in how your bread turns out. If your yeast has been sitting in the fridge awhile it will need a little longer to rise, and will give you a denser bread.

Lightly adapted from "The Urban Homemaker"  Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread 
Yields 5-6 loaves

2/3 C honey
2/3 C canola oil
6 C warm water
3 TB instant yeast (make sure it's fresh or fresh from the freezer)
2 TB salt
15-18 C fresh whole wheat flour
3 TB dough conditioner or enhancer
1/2 C vital wheat gluten
1/3 C whole millet (optional but we love the crunch!)

 Combine the warm water, yeast, and 2 Cups of fresh whole wheat flour in your Bosch. Allow to sponge for 15 minutes. Add the honey, oil, dough enhancer, salt and 13-16 C additional flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl. My dough is usually sticky to the touch still, do NOT add too much flour!

Knead the bread 6-10 minutes in your Bosch. I watch it and add more flour if needed, again be sure not to add too much.

Oil your hands up and drop dough into your greased loaf pans. Baker's Joy spray with flour in it works best. The dough is still pretty sticky at this point so what I do is distribute it among the pans and then go wash my hands and put some more oil on them to form the dough. My favorite way to form a loaf is to make a ball and then pull both sides of the ball and fold them under to form a loaf shape with a beautiful top.  Allow to rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes. Do not allow to over-rise, this can happen quickly so check it at 25 minutes! I actually don't let mine rise more than 30 minutes because we like the bread to be dense enough to cut easily. I have let my bread over rise a couple of times and while it doesn't ruin the taste it makes it hard to cut and eat because it has lots of bubbles at the top.

Bake loaves for 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cover the tops with foil for the last 10-15 minutes if you want a lighter brown color on top. Take one loaf out of the pan and tap the bottom to listen for a hollow sound. OR just stick an instant read meat thermometer into the bottom of the loaf and make sure it's at least 180 degrees in the middle (because what does "hollow sound" even mean?!). Eat a slice with honey butter right away and let the rest of the loaves cool. Once cool place in freezer bags and freeze. Or double bag in the cheap cheap twist tie plastic bags from Walmart or the dollar store (what I do because I'm....cheap).

 To thaw: place on counter for at least 4 hours, leaving your freezer bag sealed. If you need to quickly thaw you can (and I often do, though it's not quite as good as letting it thaw naturally) by placing the open bag in the microwave and zapping it on low heat for 15 seconds at a time until you're satisfied.

So good and so good for you!

Note:  I have 3 small and 3 large loaf pans and so that is what I normally use. Or I will use 2 large and 3 small loaf pans and make 12 rolls in a muffin tin. Freeze the rolls and pull out as needed for supper, they really are tasty with meals!

With Love,

Lindsey

Chicken Pot Pie

Hot from the oven...it's making me hungry again!

In our house we LOVE chicken pot pie. I have been making this recipe for probably 2 years now and it has never failed me. We always love it!

Chicken Pot Pie adapted from Allrecipes

1 lb boneless skinless chicken
1 1/4 cup frozen green peas
1 1/4 cup sliced carrots
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (don't buy it, use the water from boiling your chicken)
1 chicken bullion cube (if you used the water from your chicken)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon McCormick Perfect Pinch Original Chicken (see pic below)
2/3 cup milk

2 unbaked pie crusts

Start by making your pie crusts or setting out your frozen store bought pie crusts to thaw.

Fill a large pot with water and boil your chicken and carrots together until both are done. About 15 minutes, but I usually forget about it and it goes for a little longer. Toss your frozen peas in for the last 3 minutes or so.

Using a strainer pour the water from boiling your chicken into a big glass measuring cup until you get to 1 3/4 cups, then toss the rest out or save it for another meal. Throw your one bullion cube into the bowl.

Chop your chicken into small chunks and set your chicken, carrots and peas aside.

In the same pot melt your butter and throw your onions in to sautee over medium heat. I like to cook my onions well because we do NOT like crunchy onions in this house! Once they are to your liking add the flour and seasonings. Whisk until you have a nice paste then slowly whisk in your chicken broth (don't worry, your bullion cube will not be completely dissolved, it's fine, it will happen). Using a whisk will to make sure you don't get clumpy flour balls. Now add your milk by the same method.

Start preheating your oven to 425 degrees (no reason to waste energy by preheating it too early).

Cook this over medium heat until thick. If you don't get it thick enough your pie won't set up quite right. Probably cook it for 10 minutes or so, but it will vary so I can't give an exact time. I've had to cook it as long as 20 minutes before to get it right.

Now dump your veggies and chicken into the liquid mixture and stir a couple of times. TASTE and adjust seasonings to your liking. I don't measure usually I just shake in a little more of everything until it's perfect.

If you haven't already go line your pie plate with your bottom pie crust, then pour the chicken mixture into the pie crust. Top with your second pie crust and make sure to cut a few slits on the top to let out steam.

Bake in the oven at 425 degrees for about 35-40 minutes. You want your crust to be golden brown and your pie to smell heavenly! Let your pie cool for 10-15 minutes before you cut and serve!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can change the seasonings and veggies to your individual taste! I used these seasoning because that is what I have in MY kitchen, if you don't have the same ones experiment with substitutions! Ultimately you want a savory chicken flavor that your family will love!

My new favorite seasoning. Try it!

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What to do with leftover pie crust...

I have been making my own pie crusts ever since my wonderful friend Jenny taught me how and I realized it's really not that difficult (thanks Jenny!). Since then I have had the (fortunate) problem of being left with extra pie crust after finishing my pies. No tears here! I usually just put a little butter on them and sprinkle them like crazy with cinnamon sugar but the other day I decided to change it up a little. I didn't know what exactly to call these so I called them turnovers. If you know their proper name let me know!


Easy Leftover Pie Crust Turnovers

Leftover Pie Crust
Chopped Apples (you want them small so they will cook in the oven well)
Margarine or butter
Cinnamon Sugar

Gather all of your leftovers into one ball of dough and re-roll it out. Shown is the leftovers from making two chicken pot pies (one for the freezer of course!) so I had more than usual.

Cut your pie crust into even segments the size of the tart you want to make. I cut mine into 4ths.

Spread your margarine over the pie crust as best you can then plop even amounts of apples on each section. Now sprinkle the heck out of the apples and the pie crust. I didn't put enough cinnamon sugar because I was worried about overdoing it. Is that even possible with cinnamon sugar? I don't think so.

Fold your turnovers neatly or like mine (messy!).

Cook in your already hot oven from cooking your pie :) at 425 for about 10-12 minutes. I actually didn't really time mine so I'm guessing on that.

Enjoy!

The ingredients

My amazing folding skills

Mmmm...nothing better than sugary cinnamon apples.

Easter Dinner

For Easter this year we decided to try all new recipes and it was all DELICIOUS! We originally intended on steaming some broccoli to go with it but...we had a LOT of food already and there are only 2 adults and one  toddler in the house. We will eat more veggies another day to make up for it.

Ginger Ale Roasted Chicken adapted from Guy Fieri's recipe
(cooked by the hubby, he did a GREAT job!)

I wish I had taken a picture of it before we took it off the Ginger Ale can but oh well, it was YUM!

Twice Baked Potatoes by The Pioneer Woman

Amazing Rolls by What's for Dinner

These take a good 6 hours start to finish but are worth it!

Strawberry Shortcake by Pinch My Salt

Alas, I didn't take a picture of this, but it was yummy, go try it!

Homemade Frozen Burritos

I have a husband who likes to eat things like frozen burritos and chicken nuggets for lunch. Who am I kidding, I love them too! Since we all know frozen burritos from the store carry approximately  0% nutritional value I went searching for something better. I saw some recipes here and there, then looked into my fridge and decided to just use what I had. I've made three batches of these now, each time just using things like leftover rice, beans, meat, salsa, and cheese. Each time they taste a little different and each time we love them! You can use any type of bean: refried, black, pinto, kidney are just a combination of what you have, and any type of meat: taco meat, fajita meat, pork or beef roast, you name it! The first time I made them I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap before freezing them. I haven't done it since, saves time and money and it's not necessary! I completely guessed on how much of each ingredient I threw into these burritos, and it honestly changes each time. Sometimes I fill up all 20 tortillas and sometimes I only have enough filling to get 17 or so.

These are perfect for a quick lunch, snack, or dinner!

Homemade Frozen Burritos
All ingredients listed are "optional" and can be substituted for anything you want!

20 tortillas
1-2 cups of cooked rice, any flavor
About 2 cups of beans
About 1/2-1 lb of meat
1/2 cup of cheese
1/2 cup of salsa

Throw all of the above into a big bowl and combine it together. I learned this quickly after the first time (pictured) where I spent way to long evenly distributing each ingredient. Lay your tortillas out 10 at a time or all at once, depending on how much (clean) counter space you have and load them up! Fold them at the top and bottom and then roll them like...a burrito. Stash them in the tortilla bag they came in or in a gallon sized freezer bag and freeze. To eat- microwave them about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave and enjoy!

All loaded up

Folded top and bottom

Rolled like a burrito

It's not necessary to wrap in saran wrap but you can if you want!

With Love,

Lindsey

Homemade Ding-Dongs

The other day I had a sudden and intense pregnancy craving for ding dongs. But not the slightly-stale grocery store variety. I wanted a luscious, cream filled chocolate cupcake that would melt-in-my-mouth.  At first I could only find recipes that included coffee, which we do not drink in our house. I was getting slightly discouraged and decided to scan the recipe index of one of my favorite cooking websites- Our Best Bites. I found the PERFECT recipe. The filling is unbelievably delicious and the entire cupcake just tastes amazing! I made 12 and between my husband and I we polished them off in 24 hours (we even grudgingly shared one with our 2 year old!)


Most of the recipe from Our Best Bites

Do this first, it can take a looong time to cool down:

Chocolate Ganache Topping (recipe by me)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup half-and-half  (it is what I had, I've also used whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Combine chocolate chips and half-and-half in a small saucepan over low-medium heat and stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is well combined. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt if needed. Stick it in the refrigerator and stir it occasionally until it is cooler and thicker. It really can take a long time for it too cool down enough, though you don't want to leave it in so long that it becomes a solid, otherwise you will have to stick it in the microwave and start over with the cooling process.

Do this second and let them cool on a wire rack:

Devil’s Food Cupcakes (Our Best Bites)

1 C Flour

1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 C granulated sugar

1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar

4 T unsalted butter at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 C luke warm water

1/4 C buttermilk

Position rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with liners. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the water and buttermilk, beating on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium high speed just until no traces of flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not over beat.

Divide the batter evenly among muffin cups. Do not fill more than 2/3 full, it is better to throw a little bit of batter away then to end up with overflowing cupcakes that are hard to get out of the pan. I learned this the hard way!

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Anywhere from 15-20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Do this while the cupcakes are baking:

Perfect Cupcake Frosting and Filling (Our Best Bites)

3 T Flour

1/2 C milk (whole milk is best)

1/2 C real butter

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 t vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat.

Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring with a rubber spatula, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan.   Continue to cook until mixture has the consistency of pudding.

Put mixture in the fridge and let it cool completely, it’s fine if it stays in there long enough to get chilly, you just don’t want it warm at all. As it’s cooling, feel free to stir it occasionally to speed up the process and keep it from forming a crust on top.

It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You’ll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer if you have one, instead of the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Mixture will separate and look messy, keep beating!  Continue beating until mixture comes together and is light and fluffy, about 7-8 minutes, but time varies.  Take a sample of frosting between your fingers; frosting is done when light and fluffy and sugar granules are dissolved.

I added even more filling the second time I made these (not pictured)  because it is THAT good

I have made these TWICE in the last couple of weeks. Yumm!

With Love,

Lindsey