BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza

12" pizza dough (my fav is from Fresh and Easy, seriously so good and easy!)
3 Tbsp. bbq sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's)
3 Tbsp. ranch dressing

Roll out dough into a 12 inch circle and transfer onto a greased pizza stone or pan. Mix Bbq sauce and ranch together and spread on to unbaked crust.

1 cooked and shredded chicken breast (I season with garlic salt pepper, etc whatever is in the cupboard!)
1 small diced tomato
1 c. fresh spinach
1/2 c. sweet onion (I used red onion)
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
2 slices turkey bacon, chopped
A few squirts of Bbq sauce, eyeball it.

Mozzarella or pepper jack cheese

Combine these ingredients, except for the cheese, in a bowl and mix until blended. Pour on top of crust. Sprinkle cheese on top of toppings and place in a preheated oven. (425 for 15 minutes)

You can sprinkle some more fresh cilantro on top before serving

My Favorite Steak Topper

So easy, so delicious, period! I know most of the recipes for this sauce uses some kind of wine in a reduction but it tastes perfectly fine without it. Goes perfectly with the marinade recipe on the previous post.

Mushroom and Onion Steak Sauce
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup mushrooms
3 Tbsp. butter
1/3 c. sour cream (or heavy cream)
salt and pepper to taste

Place butter onions and mushrooms in a shallow saucepan, cover and cook on low for about 7-8 minutes, or until almost softened. Uncover, turn the heat up to med./high and saute until carmelized, maybe another 7-8 min or so, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from sticking. Lower heat to low again and add the salt and pepper and sour cream (or heavy cream) to saucepan, mix until combined and cook for an additional couple minutes. Perfect time to whip up your steaks while this is cooking!

My Favorite Steak Marinade

I've got real love for my BBQ... some might even say I am a better griller then the hub... I know don't tell him I saide that! haha This is a savory sweet marinade that on the right cut of meat (look for good marbled swirls) will just melt in your mouth! Yum I seriously can't wait to throw it on the fire again.

Teriyaki Marinade

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
  
• 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce/marinade
  
• 2 (6 ounce) lean beef rib eye steaks (I used a thin cut flank steak)

1. Whisk together the soy sauce, water, sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, olive oil, onion powder, garlic, and teriyaki sauce in a large bowl. Pierce steaks several times with a fork. Marinate steaks in soy sauce mixture for at least 2 hours.
2. Grill the steaks over medium heat; 7 minutes per side for medium. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 140 degrees F (60 degrees C).

Lemon Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

I wasn't to wild and crazy about the first blueberry muffin recipe I posted on here so I am hoping this one is up to par. I am sure it will taste fine with frozen berries but to me fresh tastes so much better and doesn't overwhelm the batter with excess juice and water. Plus I can't wait to try baking them with my vanilla bean infused sugar (which is making everything I bake with extra vanilla-y and yummy!) I love the paring of zesty lemon and the mild blueberries in this recipe. But I'll probably half it since my hub isn't a muffin lover.


Lemon Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Cook's Illustrated


Muffins:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Lemon-Sugar Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
zest from one lemon


For the topping, stir together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.

For the muffins, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse one cup berries under cold water and spread on a double layer of paper towels to dry well. Bring remaining one cup berries and 2 teaspoon sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the berries that have dried on the paper towels in with the flour mixture. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy with a few dry spots of flour - don't overmix. This is the key to moist and tender muffins.

Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill the cups). Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a skewer (or toothpick or dry spaghetti strand), gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the muffins.

Bake until the top of the muffins are golden and just firm, 17-18 minutes. Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Knock yer socks off Zucchini Cakes

Since I don't have a garden myself (still traumatized by the tomato worms of '07!) I am glad that I have great friends with even greater gardens! A great way to use up all those zucchini's you got lying around!
Also try this great chocolate zucchini bread recipe, which is indeed more like a cake and is ta-die-for :)

I made these last night for dinner with some steaks. They were really super tasty. I'll definitely be making these again. These taste great by themselves, with spaghetti sauce or ranch dressing.
Keep bringing on the good stuff PW!

Zucchini Cakes
Makes 1 dozen cakes

1 large zucchini
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup Progresso bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Wash and cut ends off zucchini. Shred zucchini with the large holed side of a cheese grater. Squeeze the zucchini shreds in a paper towel to remove as much moisture as possible.
Combine zucchini, garlic, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well mixed.

Heat olive oil in a shallow skillet (with oil being about 1/4 inch deep). When the oil is nice and hot, place a glob of zucchini into the oil and flatten slightly. Cook each side about 2 minutes each or until nice and browned.

Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

I got this recipe off of Pioneer Woman's new recipe collection Tasty Kitchen. It was a super horrible bad idea for me to log onto that site last night at 10pm with a wicked chocolate craving.
I halved the recipe but being tired and addiction crazed I used just regular unsweetened baking cocoa and double the sugar without realizing it. Fortunately it turned out really good and I went to bed much happier.

So if you like a not so sweet cake use unsweetened baking cocoa (3 tbsp + 1 Tbsp oil = 1 square (oz) of baking chocolate, and double the sugar. (I also had to add 1 Tbsp. milk to thin it out a bit) But if not stick to the original recipe.

It also tastes wonderful for breakfast the next day...

Please don't judge me.


Molten Chocolate Cake
Makes 4 servings

• 4 pieces (squares) Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate
• ½ cups Butter
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar, plus extra for dusting
  
• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 whole Egg Yolks
• 6 tablespoons Flour

You can serve this with whipped topping or the much better tasting homeade version:

• 2 cups Real Whipping Cream (seriously It's So Much Better!!!)
• 2 tablespoons Sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and place on cookie sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.

Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour.

Divide between cups.

Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute.

Dust with powdered sugar

Combine sugar and heavy cream and whip until stiff.

Invert cakes on dishes and top with whipped cream.

Easy Peasy Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

This is one of my safe go-to dishes that tastes great and is super easy to make. It also makes great leftovers!

3 cups of cooked white rice (sometimes I use garlic rice)
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded (I just steam them in a shallow pan with seasonings)
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 small container sour cream (I've also used ricotta cheese and cream cheese)
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 sleeve Ritz cracker crumbs (just smash inside sleeve, inside a ziploc bag)
5 Tbsp. butter melted

Preheat oven to 375
Mix together in a small bowl; cream of chicken soup, sour cream, pepper and poppy seeds. Place aside.
In a greased 9 x 13 baking dish place rice as bottom layer. Next, arrange shredded chicken over rice until rice is completely covered. Pour sour cream mixture over chicken, until chicken is completely covered. Sprinkle Ritz crumbs over the entire casserole. Pour melted butter slowly over cracker crumbs so cracker crumbs are moistened. Bake for 25 minutes.

Summer Potato Salad

I've had to rack my brain to get this recipe written down... it's hard you know. I can't exactly write "put 2 giant blobs of dijon and however many potatoes your biggest stockpot will hold..." well you get the point. So please excuse me for the short hand recipe. I love potato salad yet my husband loves it so much more. So it's quite the staple over summer while we are 90% BBQ'ing around here (probably why there has been a shortage of posts going on around here! Just staying cool and falling back on my usual recipes I guess!) I really prefer the taste of red potatoes in this salad then regular baking potatoes. They give it a more unique mild flavor.

3 lbs. new red potatoes (about 10?)
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise (got to be the full fat stuff!)
3 Tbsp. Grey Poupon dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. white vinegar (or whatever kind ya got)
2 Tbsp. prepared sweet relish
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped
5 slices cooked bacon
1/2 c. green onion
3 Tbsp. very finely chopped vidalia (sweet) onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
Salt and pepper

Boil potatoes in a large pot with salt water until tender firm (about 20 min?) Cool and drain. Chop into 1 inch cubes. Place in a large bowl, set aside.

In a medium bowl combine mayo, mustard, dijon, vinegar, relish, sugar, garlic salt. Stir until incorporated. Add chopped onion, green onion, and celery, bacon and eggs. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add mayo mixture to the potato cubes and combine. Dust with paprika if desired and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Strawberry Cream Pie

I'm making this for a small get together at a friends house tomorrow night... I can't wait to see how it turns out!

For the crust:
Please don't cheat and buy a pre-made crust! They taste like junk and this one is so easy to make :)

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (1 pkg crushed)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 Tablespoons melted margarine or butter

Mix above ingredients together. Using the back of a large spoon, press crumb mixture firmly on bottom and up sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake crust at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool then fill.

Cream Cheese Mixture:
1 small pkg Cream Cheese (3 1/2 oz.)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip
(I buy a small cool whip, you will use the rest for the top of pie)

Beat Cream Cheese with hand mixer, until smooth. Blend in Powdered sugar until smooth. Blend in the cool Whip. Fill Cooled Pie shell with Cream Mixture on bottom and almost to the top of crumb shell. Refrigerate while preparing berry mixture.


Berry Topping:
1 1/2 to 2 cups of sliced or whole Strawberries
1 pkg Strawberry Danish junket (4 3/4 oz.)
It's close to the jello in the grocery store)
1 3/4 cups COLD Water

Stir contents of junket pkg into 1 3/4 cups cold water in medium saucepan. Bring to a full boil or medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for one good minute. The Berry sauce, will darken in color after that minute. Cool slightly, and then add your sliced or whole berries. Pour Berry Sauce over the top of Cream mixture, being careful, not to cover the tops of the graham cracker crust completely. It will make your crumbs soft. Cool in the fridge until pie is well set. Top with additional Cool Whip if desired. Enjoy! So simple.

Watermelon Lemonade

Hey. I'm a slacker. They say the first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem. Hello. I am Allison. I don't keep up on my blog. There. I feel better.
Walah... and since I am instantly forgiven I would love to share this recipe with you put out by Smitten Kitchen. Loooove them! Just in time for summer too!

Makes one pitcher of lemonade.

1 cup (8 ounces) fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 cups (16 ounces) fresh watermelon puree, strained through a coarse strainer to remove seeds
3/4 cup (6 ounces) simple syrup*
3 cups (24 ounces) cold water

Stir it all together and serve over ice. Garnish it with a thin watermelon or lemon wedge, if you’re feeling fancy.

Spritzy variation: I have never met a beverage I didn’t think would taste better bubbly, thus, if you’re looking for a spritzier version of this, swap one-third (1/4 cup) or more of the water with seltzer or sparkling water.

Boozy variation: My husband thinks this would taste even better with a splash of vodka. I am not one to argue.

* Make your own simple syrup: Please. I see it sold in stores and it just boggles my mind. Simmer one part water with one part sugar (I did a cup of each and ended up with more than I needed for a quadruple batch) until sugar has dissolved. Let cool. Or, you can use my speedier method where you simmer one part sugar with half as much water and once it has dissolved, add the second half of the water, cold, which cools the mixture down faster (when you like nothing to slow your pace to the nearest mocktail).