Cheeseburger Tortilla Pizzas

Tonight I needed to make pizza since tonight is pizza night. I wanted a change from the typical pizza. I didn't feel like making my own pizza dough and I am trying to save money and use what is in my house. I had a few packs of tortillas and some leftover meat and toppings from dinner last night. I thought... Cheeseburger Tortilla pizzas... And then I decided to google tortilla pizzas to see how others made theirs. I read a few that mentioned brushing some olive oil on the tortillas and then bake them in the oven for 400F for 3-5 minutes. So I followed that step. Then I followed my own way. Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

3 precooked hamburger patties roughly chopped

1 tomato

1 diced onion

5 cheddar slices of cheese diced or shredded

1/2 can of spaghetti sauce

1/4 head of lettuce

6 flour tortillas

olive oil

Lightly brush olive oil on flour tortillas and bake in the oven for 3-5 minutes at 400F. (Tortillas will puff up, just keep them from browning). Remove from the oven

and top with spaghetti sauce, tomato, onion, and cheddar dices.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 400F. Remove from oven when the and use your pizza cutter and slice into 4 pieces. Top with shredded lettuce and eat.

Verdict..

Very tasty, I had two of these, the tortilla was like a thin crust pizza. Very tasty. I bribed my kids with chocolate ice cream if they eat it without too much trouble... It worked. they ate their own 4 slices of pizza. It was nice. The ice cream was a nice treat too. I hope you try this, I will definitely do this one again, but next time might be Taco tortilla pizzas... Enjoy.

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

For those of you who know me... know that I'm not a huge fan of raisins. I usually eat them sparingly at best. I don't like adding them to many recipes. So for me to make Oatmeal-Raisin cookies is a feat in and of its self. Anywho... I found about half a box of white raisins. They are the only one's I buy... Easier to hide in my kids food. They don't really like raisins either. I guess they get that from me.

So, I decided that I would make some cookies. I needed to use these raisins as they are old. (Do raisins get old?) I don't know. I just know I've had them for a while.

I used my trusty Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook to find a recipe. It is my version of their recipe. I know I can't follow the rules all the time... But this recipe... mmmm so yummy. My oldest who hates raisins the most... didn't even taste or realize he was eating raisins. That is saying a lot... Without further Adu...

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg*

1/8 tsp ginger*

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups white raisins

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter or margarine with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and the spices cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Beat till combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs and vanilla till combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in the rolled oats and raisins.

2. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375F oven for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 48 - 54.

*Those are my changes to the recipe... Such a Wonderful Flavor!

Verdict:

These have been such a hit!

Homemade English Muffins

My family LOVES English muffins. I find it funny that sometimes I buy them and they don't realize I have them until they've been in the fridge for a long while, but they are still good. :) They they are gone in a blink of an eye. Yesterday I decided to make some homemade ones. I saw on Diner's Drive-in's and Dives that a place in California makes their own English muffins and they didn't look too hard. So, I decided to take the challenge of making my own homemade ones. I looked up in my Better Homes and Garden's cookbook and found a recipe. It looked easy enough. So I decided to make a single batch... (I should have made a double, since I have 3 left out of 17). I was hoping they would last longer, so I didn't have to make them every day... but they may need to be doubled and some stored in the freezer.. So I can make them every other day. Here is the really easy, amazing recipe... (Mind you,... my husband said they were the BEST he's ever had). He's the English Muffin Authority in our house. :)

English Muffin Recipe (found in Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook)

Prep time: 45 Min Rise: 1 1/5 hours Cook: 25 Min

5 1/4 to 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 pkg active dry yeast

2 cups milk

1/4 cups butter, margarine, or shortening

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Cornmeal

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and the yeast, set aside. In a medium sauce pan heat and stir milk, butter, margarine, or shortening, sugar and salt just til warm (120F to 130F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to the dry mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Shape the dough in to a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface, Cover and let rise in a warm place til double in size.

3. Punch dough down. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll dough to slightly less than 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured 4-inch biscuit cutter, cut dough into rounds, dipping cutter into flour between cuts. Reroll dough as necessary. dip both sides of each muffin into cornmeal. (If necessary, to make cornmeal adhere, lightly brush the muffins with water). *Cover and let rise in warm place til very light (about 30 min) (*I missed this part...)

4. Cook muffins, four at a time, in an ungreased electric skillet at 325F for 25-30 min or until golden, turning every 5 min. (keep any remaining muffins in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours) Or, cook over low heat on an ungreased large griddle or in several skillets for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, turning frequently.

Cool on wire racks. Split muffins horizontally. To serve, toast or broil muffin halves... - Makes 12 muffins.

Final Verdict...

I didn't let mine rise until very light... (I didn't notice any difference) Also, I used the large griddle. My first batch wasn't as thick as the rest, probably due to the fact that the dough was not risen as much and it was rolled a little thinner. The muffins turned perfect.

This is a great activity to do with your kids. They will love helping flip the muffins, cutting them out, and helping with everything. :) Enjoy!

No Bake Fudgey Rocky Road Cookies

No Bake Fudgey Rocky Road Cookies

Since today is a rainy/snowy day, I wanted to make hot chocolate... And then I remembered... I had a recipe for some No Bake Cookies. I thought to my self, that would be GREAT with hot cocoa, and a nice treat for Family Home Evening tonight. So, I pulled together all of my ingredients to make sure I had everything. Then all of a sudden... TADA!!! It's done... That simple, that easy. :)

Ingredients

1/2 bag of mini marshmallows

6 cups granola

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 1/3 cup peanut butter or sunflower butter

4 cups sugar

2 sticks of margarine or butter

1 cup milk

2/3 cup cocoa

4 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup peanuts or sunflowers (optional)

set out foil or wax paper on your table or large surface (i.e. countertops). Set aside measured, peanut butter/sunflower butter, vanilla extract, granola, mini marshmallows and oats.

In a large sauce pot combine over medium heat sugar, butter, milk and cocoa. constantly stirring mixture until comes to a rolling boil.

Remove from heat and add in the peanut/sunflower butter, vanilla, granola, mini marshmallows, and oats, the Peanuts/sunflowers if desired.

Stirring quickly incorporating all items. Once incorporated drop by heaping spoonfuls on to prepared surface... foil or wax paper. Cool and store in a cool, dry place.

Makes A TON of cookies. :) this is a double recipe, depending on how big you make your cookies, will depend on yield. Should make at least 4 dozen cookies.

Verdict! these cookies are the BOM Diggity! I know I'm lame, anywho, This is a yummy treat. I tried to make this so those with kids who are allergic to peanuts could still make this yummy treat. Substituting the sunflower butter and sunflower seads.. If you make homemade granola then this is good to use that too. You can substitute quick cooking oats for the granola if you don't have granola. I just thought the crunch of the granola would be delish in this dish. :) Let me know what you think.. :)

Veggie Pucks

Ok, I had a friend on Facebook ask me what veggie pucks were. Since, I was making another batch of chicken stock and boiled chicken I thought I'd share with you how to make veggie pucks and not waste valuable nutrients and veggies. :) I like to get my money's worth when I'm making chicken stock and boiled chicken. I don't throw anything but the bones away. I put to use my hand blender and make these wonderful veggie pucks. How I got the name was looking at them after they were frozen. I was trying to figure out what to call them. They look a little bit like a hockey puck and are veggies. So I decided to call then veggie pucks.

With a lot of parents trying to figure out how to get their kids to eat more veggies and I'm struggling with the same thing, I figured that this would be a good way for me to "Hide" the veggies into things that you wouldn't normally add them to, so they can get the nourishment from them. I have added the veggie pucks to two different recipes so far, and I've got lots more in mind. So keep checking back on how to incorporate more veggies into your kids meals. :)

Directions:

Follow directions for making chicken stock. After you separate out the broth, chicken and veggies here is what you do.

Since when I pull the chicken out I seem to always pull some of the veggies out too. I remove

chicken from the bone, set the onion peels, bay leaf and bones in my trash pile.

Chicken pulled off of the bone.

Chicken broth

Chicken bones, onion peels, bay leafs

Veggies and spices left.

I add the leftover veggies back into my veggie bowl. After my chicken broth has been strained, the added spices and veggie debris left in my cheese cloth I add back to my veggie bowl.

blending the veggies and spices

Once I have all of the veggies and leftover spices, I use my hand blender to blend them all down. It turns into an orange mixture that resembles canned pumpkin.

a fully blended veggie mix

After it's well blended, I pull out two muffin pans (12 total muffin cups). I take my 1/3 measuring cup and place 1/3 cup into each muffin cup. Once the entire mixture is in the muffin cups, I place the muffin tins into the freezer to freeze the veggie mix.

adding by 1/3 measuring cup to my muffin tins

a perfect fit into my muffin tins.

Once they are frozen (usually 2-4 hours)

I remove from the muffin tin

and place in a freezer ziploc bag.

The veggie pucks are now finally ready for use in any dish you desire. These would be good to use when your making homemade chicken fingers as part of the dredge, or added to pretty much anything. Enjoy!

They are not the most beautiful thing to see, but full of wonderful nutrients for a healthier diet :)

Beef Egg Rolls

I decided to try my hand at homemade egg rolls. I have never made egg rolls before... Nor have I ever seen them made. So I really had no idea what I was doing. But I had a recipe that I used from the back of the egg roll wrapper bag, they were Nasoya egg roll wrappers. I figured it would be a good recipe. So here is my trial into homemade beef egg rolls.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef, pork, chicken or firm tofu, drained and crumbled

1 tsp minced ginger

2 cups finely chopped cabbage

1/4 lb been sprouts

1/2 cup shredded carrot

3 green onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 pkg egg roll wrappers

vegetable oil for deep frying

mustard and catsup or sweet and sour sauce

Directions

Stir-fry meat or tofu and ginger in wide skillet over high heat until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.

Add cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot and green onion; cook 2 min.

Stir in oyster sauce. :t mixture cool.

Use 2 tbsp filling for each egg roll.

Follow folding directions.

Deep Fry at 350F, a few at a time, turning occasionally, until golden, 2-3 min. Drain on paper towels.

Serve warm with mustard and catsup, or serve with sweet and sour sauce.

makes approx 20 rolls.

Verdict... I think i either added too much oyster sauce, or should omit that all together. I am not a fan of oyster sauce, so I am not sure what to do with all these egg rolls. I ate one and I'm hoping my kids like them when they get home. :) I also think that I will add more cabbage next time, I didn't taste much of it, and that is one of my favorite parts. I hope you try it and let me know what you think. Thanks, Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada's

I had this pulled chicken from when I made the chicken broth and I wanted to use it up, before it went bad. I polled on Facebook what to make either chicken noodle soup or chicken enchilada and the verdict was a unanimous chicken enchilada. :) yummy.

My recipe makes two large pans, so feel free to share one of these yummy dishes with a neighbor, or freeze for future use.

Ingredients:

Filling

2 veggie pucks (see chicken broth)

1/2 cup salsa

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp dried minced onion

3 tsp taco seasoning

3/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp fresh ground sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can sweet corn

4-5 cups diced/pulled chicken

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

12-14 flour tortillas

Topping

2 cans cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream

1 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 medium minced jalapeno (no seeds, or green chili's)

Sprinkle a little mexican cheese blend on top..

Mix all of the fillings together and fill into the flour tortillas,

roll and place into 13X9 pan. (this will fill 2 - 13X9 pans.

Mix all of the topping ingredients together. Use the same bowl you mixed the filling in without rinsing to get some of the flavor.

Spread topping on top of the rolled flour tortillas, and then sprinkle with cheese.

Cover with Foil and bake in the oven 350 for 30-45 min until bubbly and heated through (all things precooked) just needing heated through. Enjoy :)

Verdict! :) Well, I love it! This has great flavor, not too much to be spicy, but just enough of a kick to let you know its a mexican dish. The sweet corn makes a nice touch and adding a little crunch to the dish instead of being all mushy. Another thing that I like is that since I didn't add any sauce to the bottom of the pan or spray it with cooking spray, it is nicely golden with a little crunch too, not a stale crunch but a nice crunch. In all, I am very pleased with this dish. I made this with things I already had in the house and it is very healthy. Lots of added veggies from the veggie pucks, and you don't even know it. :) I love that. My son has scouts tonight at 5:30, and this will be something he can eat before he goes. :) I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. I gave away my second dish to have a friend try it. :) I'll let you know what she says. But I give it two thumbs up!!