Build-your-own.... pizzas

This is not so much of a recipe as an idea.  But it's a good one!

My firstborn is a pickier eater than many, but I've found she is more interested in eating when she's helped fix the food.  She's 4, so that's not always a viable option.  One way that works is "build-your-own" nights where everyone gets to choose what goes on their {pizza, taco, quesadilla, etc}.

So assemble the fixins for a pizza.

I wanted personal sized pizzas and didn't want to worry about burns from the pizza stone, so we used these as crust.  Toast in the oven for a few minutes at 450.  Then take them out and let everyone top their own.

See?  Happy kid.  

Once they are fixed, just put them back in the 450 degree oven for a few minutes to heat through and melt cheese.  Enjoy a slightly more peaceful mealtime.

If He Only Knew Me...

Monica Pfaff, I want you!

...he would fall in love with me!  I'm speaking , of course, of Alton Brown (AB from here on out).  What's not to love about him? Nerdy, adorable, and he loves to cook.  AB is the sexiest scientist chef around!

Do you and your hubby have that one "exception" to the no-cheating rule?  You know, if given the chance to "be with" any celebrity, who would it be?  Bryon's is Natalie Portman (it's a Star Wars thing, I think).  AB is my top choice, but my definition of "be with" is to hang out in the kitchen and watch him cook and crack jokes.

Hey there, Sexy, I just love your kitchen!

Funny thing is that I was looking at AB's top 100 recipes on foodnetwork and realized I hadn't cooked any of them.    The thing about his show, though, is that it is more about the science behind the food and less about great recipes.  So, when Modern Family and Glee have ended for the season, add Good Eats with AB on the foodnetwork to your Tivo.  Just a warning,  you might just fall in love!

Where are you, My Love?

And on a random note, this is my all-time favorite cookbook.  Do you ever go to make something, i.e. a boiled egg,  and realize you have NO clue what to do.  It's too embarrassing to call my mom and ask, so good ol' Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook has saved me several times.  Plus, I've never had a failed recipe out of it.  Calf Fries to Caviar is another one that gets used a lot in my house.  It's a classic Texas Panhandle must-have.  Too bad it is now $51 new on amazon!  

So, time to fess up!  Who is your "exception" and what is your favorite cookbook?

Now you're going to think I'm crazy, but......

This is one of the meals we like at our house.  It's easy and quick.  And cheap.

Remember KFC Bowls?  And the commercials were awful, it's a BOWL full of chicken potatoes, cheese and gravy.  All together?  And it was like $4 each.

I made fun of them.  I made gagging noises.  And then one day I TRIED one, and it was so good.

So then we started making them ourselves.

You'll need:
Bag of frozen chicken nugget type things.  I like Great Value Popcorn Chicken at Walmart.
Bag of shredded cheese.  I like Colby-Jack.
Packet of chicken gravy mix.
Box of mashed potato flakes.  I use Idaho Spuds.
Can of corn.  Or frozen.  Whatever.

Allright.  Cook the nuggets, make the potatoes, heat the corn, make the gravy. You can do all of these things at the same time, and it will take you about 20 minutes.

Then layer it up:  potatoes first, some gravy, cheese, corn, chicken, more gravy.  It's excellent nosh.

and if your child doesn't things should touch each other, you can separate them out too and still have a meal....

So...... your opinion of me just went down, didn't it?  

try them..... you'll like them.....

"Taquitos", California Style

I made these for dinner the other night and LOVED them.  YUM!  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Taquitos-363569

I would like to add that apparently in California, "taquitos" are made with flour tortillas.  That must mean "flautas" are made with corn tortillas? 

Chicken Taquitos

Epicurious  | January 2011

by Chef Dave Northrup

Rush Street, Culver City, California

 

 

enlarge image

yield: Makes 12 servings

This easy Epicurious-exclusive recipe is from Chef Dave Northrup of Rush Street in Los Angeles. It's perfect for any Super Bowl or tailgating... more ›

  

Ingredients

• 1 store-bought whole roasted chicken
• 1 cup favorite barbecue sauce
• 1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 (4 1/2-ounce) can chopped green chiles
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
• 1 cup shredded smoked Gouda cheese
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 24 flour tortillas
• 1 cup vegetable oil, for frying
• Favorite salsa and guacamole, for serving

print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation

In a large bowl, debone the chicken and shred the meat. Add the barbecue sauce, sour cream, chopped green chiles, corn, red onion, garlic, both cheeses, and spices. Toss well.

In a large pan over moderate heat, warm 1/4 cup of oil until it sizzles. Meanwhile, put 2 tablespoons of the chicken filling into each tortilla, roll, and secure with a toothpick. Working in 4 batches (wipe the pan clean and add 1/4 cup fresh oil between batches), pan-fry until the tortillas are golden brown and the mixture is warm, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel, transfer to a platter (or serve 2 per plate), and serve with your favorite salsa and guacamole.

I would like to add that if I make these again, I will bake them instead of fry them.  Also, I was a little ambitious with the filling and put too much in each "taquito".  Use a small amount for better results!  I left out the chili powder and onions...

do you know that I hate breakfast?

Well, I do.  I don't like eggs.  Or sausage.  I don't like pancakes or waffles either.
So it's a particular challenge for me to eat/plan/fix breakfast around here......

So go check out this link here:  http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/02/mini-series-with-our-best-bites-kid.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+MakeItAndLoveIt+(Make+It+and+Love+It)

It's got some wonderful breakfast ideas that I'm going to try this week!

Harvest Chicken Salad

Wanted to share this great salad with you last week:
Another Pampered Chef recipe...

Dressing
2 oranges
1/3 cup fat-free mayo
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small garlic clove, pressed


Salad
1 (6 ounce) package fresh baby spinach leaves
2 cups diced roasted chicken meat
1 cup celery rib, diced
2 medium red delicious apples
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted (optional)
orange section (optional)



Total Time: 20 mins
1 For dressing, zest one orange to measure 2 teaspoons zest.
2 Juice oranges to measure 1/2 cup juice.
3 Combine orange zest, mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, salt, black pepper and pressed garlic; whisk until smooth.
4 While continuously whisking, add orange juice in a thin, steady stream; set dressing aside.
5 For salad, place spinach in bottom of large serving bowl.
6 Dice chicken and celery.
7 Cut apples in half lengthwise; remove stems and seeds.
8 Cut each apple half into small pieces.
9 Chop onion.
10 Layer chicken, celery, apples, onion, cranberries and pecans, if desired, over spinach.
11 To serve, drizzle dressing over salad and toss to coat.
12 Top with orange segments (if you want to add this, you will need at least 1 extra orange) and Whole-Grain Croutons, if desired.
13 Serve immediately.

Lemon Sunshine Kisses

I dropped the ball last week, but still have a few recipes I want to share! I hope you don't mind!



COOKIES*

1 Box Lemon Cake Mix

1 EGG

1/3 cup Canola Oil

4 T Water



Preheat oven to 350.

Combine and mix all ingredients by hand. Drop spoonfuls of cookie mix onto baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes or until cookie top appears to crackle. I always end up baking them for a few minutes more...

Remove to cool completely before glazing.



Glaze*

Powdered sugar

Fresh lemon juice or RealLemon

Mix to smooth consistency and drizzle over cooled cookies!



These are SO LEMONY and GOOD!

Valentines Dinner

Is anyone going all out for their Valentine tonight?  Yep, not me!  Gone are the days that we battle the crowds by going to an actual restaurant on this over-rated holiday.  I got take out Vietnamese Pho and am making these yummy cakes (Fudge lover's cream cheese cake) my heart-shaped pan:

Wendy Poling is going all out on the calorie chart by making these chocolate covered cherries:

Does anyone else have a fabulous dessert they want to share for this lovely day?  

Also, as a side note, I really messed up the schedule and skipped a week.  Suzanne, who is charted for next week, is going to go ahead and post for this week.  Next week will be "Free for all", so anyone is welcome to share a recipe they might have forgotten or a link to their favorite food website.  And to think people trust me with their medications....I'm losing it!

A great link with food for kiddos

Friends, it's not my week, but I wanted to post this link I found with some humdinger ideas for feeding kiddos:
Kids Food At Make it And Love It

Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco

http://mywoodenspoon.com/grilled-chicken-penne-al-fresco/

Believe it or not, I actually do use real recipes with measurements sometimes. This is one of my favorites. A few years ago, I got a stoneware covered baking dish, which can be used in the oven or microwave. I really like it, and I also get a real workout lifting it...which is the only drawback...so heavy! Actually, I use it to cook the chicken first, then set aside, wipe the baker and continue this recipe. The basil is wonderful! If you don't have a stoneware baking dish, try it in any covered glass baking dish.
Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco
Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
3 cups uncooked mezze penne pasta
3 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
1/2 tsp each salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups diced grilled chicken breasts
Additional grated fresh Parmesan cheese and coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Spray Deep Covered Baking Dish with olive oil. Slice garlic into baker. Add tomatoes. Cover; microwave on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst, stirring after 2 minutes. This is the neat part, because you can hear the little tomatoes POP! Crush tomatoes. Add pasta, broth, wine, salt and black pepper. This is the other neat part, because the pasta cooks right in the MICROWAVE!
2. Return baker to microwave; cover and microwave on HIGH 16-18 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop basil. Reserve 2 tbsp for garnish. Grate cheese.

3. Carefully remove baker from microwave and remove lid, lifting away from you. Add remaining basil, cheese and chicken to baker; mix well. Garnish with reserved 2 tbsp basil, additional Parmesan cheese and black pepper, if desired.

Cook’s Tips: An additional 3/4 cup chicken broth can be substituted for the wine, if desired.

Any tube-shaped pasta requiring 9-11 minutes cook time, such as penne or rigatoni, can be substituted for the mezze penne pasta.

To grill chicken, season 2 chicken breasts, about 6 oz each, with salt and black pepper. Heat Grill Pan over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Spray pan with oil. Cook chicken 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear. Turn chicken over; cook 4-6 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink and Digital Pocket Thermometer registers 170°F...OR JUST BUY A READY BAKED CHICKEN!!!

Super Easy Fake Lasagna

“LASAGNA” Casserole
OK, girls. I don’t have measured amounts listed, so usually it’s just the standard container size or whatever I can find in the fridge, or according to the phases of the moon, or even left up to YOUR own preference. If you like tons and tons of cheese, and are wanting to put an extra inch on your thighs…harharhar…or if you like more pasta for your kids, or you are in a gooey or a salty mood…
I mean, don't you hate the measuring part? Measuring is for lumber, quilt-making, and chemistry lab. Oh, well, I hated measuring in chemistry lab, too..."If a little is good, wouldn't more be better?...or "Hmmm, why is this taking SO long, must need more Sulfuric Acid". Anyway, back to lasagna...

Ingredients:
• Ground beef *brown and drain*
• Jar of Favorite Ragu/Prego type Spaghetti Sauce (I like to use Traditional or with MUSHROOMS, but use a real vegetably kind if you want to be real vegetably.)
• Grated Mozzarella Cheese, also Parmesan if you want
• Any type of flat, BITE-SIZE Pasta (I like BOWTIE or fluffy dumplets). *Start your H2O boiling first thing* Cook it, don't overcook it. Drain. This is the best part of the FAKE lasagna. Easy for kids to eat!
• Ricotta Cheese OR, and this is weird, but I PROMISE, it’s really good, COTTAGE CHEESE. No kidding. You can use the Ricotta cheese if you are of Italian lineage, but I kind of like the texture given by the cottage cheese. If you are brave and opt to use the cottage cheese, I like the small curd.
• 1 Egg, SALT, PEPPER
• Very important optional SECRET INGREDIENT…remember your leftover spinach? Throw some in a pan, steamer, or in the microwave in a covered glass container and lightly steam it. You can sneak it in as one of the layers so your family will eat SOMETHING GREEN!


1. Mix Ragu in with browned, drained HB meat. This is the BOTTOM layer. You can do 1 set of layers, or 2 sets of thinner layers. I usually do 1 set of layers, and use 2 pyrex containers, one to bake and serve that evening, and another smaller one to layer, cover, and place in the freezer for another day.
2. Mix RICOTTA OR COTTAGE CHEESE with EGG & SALT and PEPPER. Again, you decide how much. I love lots of salt and pepper. This layer is 2nd to bottom.
3. Layer of steamed SPINACH. Actually, you can hide this layer ANYWHERE YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT.
4. Cooked PASTA layer
5. Lots of MOZZARELLA layer on top. You can sprinkle on some Parmesan if you want.

I think I usually cover it so the top layer doesn't get crusty, but be careful about covering too tight, or cheese will stick to cover. Place this in 350 oven and bake until bubbly! If you made a 2nd container, cover it tightly and freeze. I have used this recipe since 1978. I realize most of you WERE NOT EVEN BORN THEN! This is the only meal for which I have ever bought cottage cheese.

Popeye Strong To The Finich

EATS YUR SPINACH

Ever wonder why Popeye's muscles are on his

forearms? Well, I have. I've always been more the Olive Oyl body-type, on top anyway.

When I was a kid, the only spinach I knew was Popeye style, from the can, with a little vinegar on it. Rule #1-NEVER buy canned spinach. Buy the freshest BABY spinach possible. Inspect package, read sale date, dig to the back if you must. Buy it the day you make your salad, use it from the bag for 2 or 3 days max. That leads to Rule #2- STEAM the rest to eat as a side with a little lemon and bacon crunchies or to HIDE in casseroles. More on that another day!

Many weeks, I make a wonderful spinach salad to take in my lunch. As you make your salad for the family dinner, make several small batches in their own lunch-sized containers to grab straight from the fridge. Don't add the dressing until it's time to eat each day.

Here is my list of ingredients that I like to add to a spinach salad. Not ALL at once, just whatever I am in the mood for, or have available.

• FRESH BABY SPINACH...not the field mix. I think the purple stuff in it gets old too fast.


• AVOCADO SLICES...not too hard, not too soft


• PINK GRAPEFRUIT SECTIONS...OK, I like to buy the expensive jar in the fresh produce section, but sometimes I'm good and dig my own grapefruit sections out. Do you have serrated grapefruit spoons? If not, stop. Get online, well, you are online, but search for some, and order them now. Life is too short to cut each little section with a knife. Years ago, my Mother, coincidentally, ended up with the same stainless pattern as mine. It's discontinued now, but for years, I'd always check for bargain bonanzas in our pattern at the Oneida outlet when I was in San Marcos. Serving pieces, extra place settings, butter knives, garnish forks, those were easy, and fun Christmas or birthday gifts to share with Mother. Serrated fruit spoons, what we were both short of, were the rarest, but now and then I'd unearth a few! I found a few online from time to time, and had to pay dearly for them. I always suspected that more than a few were tossed in the garbage along with the empty grapefruit half, as little boys "helped" clear the table...or maybe they are still buried in the sandbox. Well, after Mother passed, and Daddy's house burned, Landon salvaged the set of stainless, and it cleaned up perfectly, one of the few things to survive the fire. So, come on over to my house for grapefruit and memories ANY time! You know, the serrated spoons don't have to match your set, just get some!!! They are also perfect for ice cream. Oh yeah, ingredients...


• SLICED STRAWBERRIES


• TOASTED WALNUTS OR ALMOND SLICES...so much better when toasted...or even carmelized!


• THINLY SLICED PURPLE ONION...doesn't take much


• RASPBERRIES


• RED APPLE CHUNKS OR SLICES. Have you EVER tasted HONEYCRISP APPLES? They are huge, they are beautiful, they are great in a salad, they are expensive, they are worth it. I wait expectantly every fall to see the first ones hit the market!! Just this week, I had a wonderful interlude at the honeycrisp display at HEB. I had selected one or two from their little protective cardboard nests, when the guy on the other side of the display pulled up the most beautiful specimen of apple ever seen by human eyes. He just stood there staring, as did I. It was shiny and bright red, perfectly formed. Finally, he said, "This apple should be in the Movies." I agreed. It was just one of those fleeting, romantic grocery experiences that one doesn't soon forget. Look, I know some of you still have small children, and don't get to have these kind of breakthrough moments in the produce aisle, but trust me, someday your little ones will grow up, become contributing members of society, and pay their own auto insurance. For now, just love them, plop them into the grocery cart, and persevere. I actually kind of miss having them help me grocery shop from time to time. Really.


• BACON CRUNCHES...not bacon bits, yuck. But if you ever fry bacon, save extras to crumble on salads or on steamed spinach as a side. This opens another whole can of worms, so to speak. I guess that term should not be on a menu site, but here's the deal. I love bacon. Is that a genetic predisposition? I love it, but I don't like to smell like bacon smoke all day and I don't like to deal with the grease. I actually love the microwave ready kinds. Both kinds...the kind that is in its own little cooking pouch and takes a few minutes, but especially the kind that is totally cooked and just needs 30-40 seconds. All of the guys in my family think it's the grossest stuff ever invented. Well, that's just tough. Actually, they think ANYthing cooked in the microwave is the grossest stuff ever. Here's the trick. Cook stuff in the microwave, and then, right at the last minute, pop it into its respective pan/container and onto the stovetop or into the oven and act like it was there the whole time. Then they LIKE it. Shhhh....


• SLICED HARD-BOILED EGG or a little of your favorite FETA CHEESE if you want!


• Only add dressing right before you eat. I use a mixture of RED WINE VINEGAR, SUGAR, AND A LITTLE OLIVE OIL, but you may have a secret favorite dressing that you can share with us in a comment!