Sunday, April 16, 2023

Cheese and Pepperoni Pizza Stromboli


Ingredients:

Pizza or spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni

Note:  Thinly sliced toppings work the best.  Also toppings that do not produce a lot of moisture also work better.

Directions:
  1. Make the pizza dough and roll it out into a thin rectangle.
  2. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
  3. Cover ⅔ of the dough (left side) with a thin layer of pizza or spaghetti sauce; make sure to leave a 1-inch edge without sauce and the ⅓ of the dough (right side) without sauce to allow the dough to seal properly.
  4. Sprinkle with an even, yet thin layer of cheese.
  5. Layer on the pepperoni or other toppings.
  6. Starting with short edge of rectangle on the left side of the dough, roll the dough up and pinch the edges closed to seal in the ingredients.
  7. Place the Stromboli seam side down on a foil lined baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
  9. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Friday, April 7, 2023

Homemade Pickled Ginger (Gari)



 Ingredients:

8 ounces fresh young ginger root, peeled
1 ½ t. sea salt
1 C. rice vinegar
⅓ C. white sugar

Directions:

  1. Slice ginger into paper-thin slices. 
  2. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with sea salt, and stir to coat. 
  3. Let stand for about 30 minutes.
  4. Rinse most of salt from ginger slices, then transfer to a clean lidded jar.
  5. In a saucepan, stir together rice vinegar and sugar until sugar has dissolved. 
  6. Bring to a boil, then pour the boiling liquid over ginger slices in the jar.
  7. Seal the jar. 
  8. After a few minutes, the liquid may change to a slightly pinkish color; don't be alarmed. 
  9. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 week.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Tamale Pie



 Ingredients:

1 box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
1 large egg
½ c. sour cream
½ c. canned creamed corn
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. chili powder
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded.
½ c. red enchilada sauce
1 c. shredded cheddar
1 c. shredded Monterey Jack

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. 
  2. Grease a large oven-safe skillet with cooking spray. 
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together corn muffin mix, egg, sour cream, and creamed corn. 
  4. Transfer to prepared skillet and bake until golden, 20 minutes. Let cool.
  5. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. 
  6. Add onion, cumin, and chili powder and season with salt and pepper. 
  7. Cook until soft, 5 minutes. 
  8. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. 
  9. Add chicken to onion and garlic mixture.
  10. Add ⅓ cup of enchilada sauce.
  11. Poke entire surface of cornbread with a fork and pour over remaining enchilada sauce. 
  12. Spread chicken mixture over crust.
  13. Sprinkle with cheeses.
  14. Cover with foil and bake until cheese is melty, about 20 minutes. 
  15. Switch oven to broil, remove foil, and broil until cheese turns golden, about 5 minutes.

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Homemade Flour Tortillas Made From Scratch

Ingredients:

1¾ C. All-purpose Flour
½ C. Water
¼ C. Coconut Oil
1 t. Salt
½ t. Baking Powder, optional

Directions:

  1. Heat the water in the microwave. 
  2. Then mix the oil into the water until it is all melted. 
  3. In a large mixing bowl add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix well.
  4. Pour the water-oil mixture over the flour, using a fork mix it together well. 
  5. Using your hands, knead the dough several times. It should look and feel like a big ball of playdough. 
  6. Divide that dough into 9 balls. 
  7. Flatten each ball with your hand trying to keep it as round as you can.
  8. On a clean suffice or plate add a light dusting of flour then place one of the flattened balls on top. Lightly dust the top of the ball with flour. 
  9. Using a rolling pin (or a tortilla press if you have one) slowly start working around in a circle to flatten it out. You want to get it as thin as you can without ripping it. 
  10. After you have it flattened heat a non-stick or cast iron skillet on medium to high heat on the stove. Cook it about 40 to 60 seconds on each side. 
  11. Repeat for each tortilla.
  12. When you remove from the pan, place in a warmer or on a plate with a lid over it to keep them hot and moist do they do not harden or dry. 

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie


Ingredients:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 C. onion, diced
½ t. salt
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
½ C. Bisquick Baking Mix
1 C. milk
2 eggs

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
  2. Spray 9" pie plate with cooking spray.
  3. Cook ground beef and chopped onions until beef is brown; drain.
  4. Stir in salt
  5. Spread in pie plate and sprinkle with cheese.
  6. Stir remaining ingredients until blended.
  7. Pour into pie plate.
  8. Bake 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Zucchini Fritters

 Ingredients:

2 zucchini
2 carrots
1 onion
salt, pepper and spices to taste
4 T. flour
1 egg

Directions:

  1. Grate the zucchini, carrots, and onion into a bowl.
  2. Remove excess moisture from mixture.
  3. Add salt, pepper, flour and egg, and mix well.
  4. Form into pancake shapes.
  5. Place into hot oil to cook

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Party Pretzels

 


Ingredients:

4 to 4½ C. all-purpose flour
1 pkg. active dry yeast
2 T. sugar
2½ T. salt, divided
1 C. milk
½ C. water
2 T. vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten with 1 T. water
Vegetable cooking spray
Coarse salt, Parmesan cheese, poppy, sesame or dill seeds

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl thoroughly mix 1½ cups four, undissolved yeast, sugar and ½ teaspoons salt.
  2. Heat milk, water and oil to 120 to 130° F.
  3. Add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at low speed of an electric mixer.
  4. Increase speed to high, beat an additional 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough.
  6. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
  7. Place in a bowl coated with vegetable cooking spray.
  8. Cover; let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 40 minutes.
  9. Punch dough down. Divide dough into 12 portions.
  10. Roll each piece into a 12-inch rope.
  11. To make pretzels, curve ends of each rope to make a circle; cross ends at top.  
  12. Twist ends once and lay down over the bottom of the circle.
  13. Cover shaped pretzels; let rest in a warm, draft-free place for 5 to 10 minutes, until risen slightly.
  14. In a large pot bring 2 quarts of water and remaining 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil; reduce heat to simmer.
  15. Place 4 to 5 pretzels in water; cook 20 seconds, turning once to cook both sides. 
  16. Remove and drain on a wire rack.
  17. Repeat with remaining pretzels.
  18. Place pretzels on baking sheets coated with vegetable cooking spray.
  19. Brush with beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with desired toppings.
  20. Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 35 minutes or until done. 
  21. Cool pretzels on wire rack.  
  22. Serve with various spreads or dips, if desired.
Tip:
If you are looking for Pretzel Buns, but are having a hard time finding them in the store, try using the recipe above, but instead of shaping them into pretzels in Step 10, shape them into round buns.  We did this and they were quite good.