Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza

Homemade Pizza: Take Two. Since my first homemade pie turned out well, I decided to venture into something a bit more challenging…stuffed crust pizza.
Same dough recipe as last time. However, this time I rolled it out a bit thinner, added mozzarella string cheese around the edges, and rolled the crust over the string cheese to form a rectangular shape.
With the mozzarella sticks tucked safely inside their doughy home, I added the usual suspects: a little sauce, way too much fresh grated mozzarella, and a handful of pepperoni.

The only thing that kept this from being pure cheesy, pizza-ey nirvana was that I just couldn’t wait to get this cooking, and I made the mistake of putting it in before the oven was completely preheated to 500 degrees. As a result, the pizza cooked a bit slower which caused some of the cheese in the crust to ooze out into the middle of the pie. No worries, still tasted great. Live and learn.

The Dough:Mark Bittman’s Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

The Directions: You’ll need about 8 cheese sticks for the stuffed crust. Use whatever toppings you like. To bake, preheat the oven to 500 (and wait until it actually gets there…unlike my impatient self). I use a rectangular pizza stone that preheats in the oven. While the oven is preheating, spread a sheet of parchment paper on a cutting board. Toss a little cornmeal on top of the parchment paper. Rub a bit of olive oil on the dough, and roll it out on the parchment paper. When the crust is stuffed and the toppings are added, slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto the stone in the preheated oven. Bake for about 10 – 12 minutes until cheese is melted and pizza is golden brown.

Juicy Lucy – The Ultimate Minnesota Cheeseburger

Molten hot, oozing cheese encased in seasoned, sizzling ground beef. This is how we do “cheeseburger” in Minnesota.

The Juicy Lucy, or Jucy Luicy…as some spell it, was born in Minnesota. While the rest of the world tops their burger with cheese and calls it a cheeseburger, we prefer to stuff our burger with cheese. The result: an ooey, gooey, cheesy masterpiece.

To make homemade juicys, all you need is a shallow, round container. I use a plastic Tupperware container. Anything round without tapered sides will work. After the beef is seasoned, I press 1/6th of a pound into the container with a fork. Then, I add my cheese. Top with another 1/6th of a pound of beef, and press down again. This will make a perfectly formed 1/3rd pound juicy.

Minnesota’s Own Juicy Lucy

Makes 3 burgers. Double or triple recipe, as needed.

1 lb ground beef
1 Tbsp Heinz 57 sauce
3 slices American cheese
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Mix Heinz 57 and a few dashes of garlic powder with ground beef. Select a round container to use for forming the patties and spray with cooking spray. Add 1/6th of beef. Press down. Unwrap cheese slice. Fold cheese in half once, then fold in half again to form a square stack of cheese. Lightly press cheese into the center of the beef in the container. Top with another 1/6th of beef and press down with fork. To release the patty, flip over and give it a good smack or two onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. This will pop it out cleanly without losing the shape. Sprinkle both sides with a bit of salt and pepper. If you have the time, toss the cookie sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes or so to help firm up the patties further.

To grill, transfer the patties to a sheet of aluminum foil and place on the grill. The foil helps catch any extra cheese that might ooze out while cooking. Grill over medium, high heat until cheese just starts to ooze out a bit, then immediately transfer to a plate and cover with more tin foil to finish the cooking and allow the juices and cheese to settle. When serving, BE CAREFUL…the first bite will release a river of HOT, melted cheese. That’s the best part!

One final note on the cheese: use plain old American slices. Other cheeses will work and will taste just fine; however, American melts the best.

Give it a try, and leave me a comment on how yours turned out!

Homemade Pizza…a work in progress…

The Plot: A busy mom with limited kitchen skills succeeds at first homemade pizza attempt and the family, including the two pickiest eaters, love it.

The Challenge: If Mark Bittman, author of How To Cook Everything, can teach anyone to cook, than he CAN teach this mom to make pizza.

The Credits: Mark Bittman’s Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

The Verdict: Delish!

Fabulicious French Toast

How does a mom get protein into a child that won’t eat eggs? Trick him with egg-stra special French toast! In my daily struggle to ensure that the Oldest gets a balanced diet with adequate protein for a growing seven year old, this is not an easy task. The Oldest is allergic to nuts and basically a vegetarian (he can’t stand the texture of meat).

However…he loves homemade French toast and has no clue about the eggs in it. We’ll keep that as our little secret, ok?
For the adults, you can easily dress up this no-fuss breakfast by plating it on your best china with a drizzle of maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream on top. Your brunch guests will think you worked hard to put this together…but we know the truth.

For the kids, simply slice into French toast sticks, serve with a side of syrup, and watch them happily dip away!

Fabulicious French Toast

6 slices of bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

Preheat griddle to medium-high. Mix everything together in a flat-bottom dish, such as a square baking pan. Dip bread in batter for a few seconds. Flip bread over and dip other side. Don’t let bread sit in batter or it will absorb too much liquid and will fall apart when you lift it out. Cook French toast on griddle for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Sprinkle extra cinnamon on top and serve warm with maple syrup, whipped cream, and fresh seasonal berries.

Garlic Lime Shrimp Fettuccine

Garlic and lime are wonderful, tasty additions to virtually any pasta dish. This delish recipe pairs them with shrimp and fettuccine for a light, yet filling, meal.I created this dish as a lower fat substitute for our favorite shrimp fettuccine alfredo recipe. You still get the texture of the thick fettuccine noodles combined with the delicate shrimp, without the heavy, calorie-laden cream sauce. So, why not go ahead and have dessert, too? Maybe some key lime pie…
Garlic Lime Shrimp Fettuccine

12 oz. cooked tail-on shrimp
3 cloves garlic
1 lime
16 oz. fettuccine
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
sea salt

If frozen, thaw shrimp, and then remove tails. Cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is almost finished, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add shrimp to skillet, squeeze in half of the lime, add a dash of sea salt, and cook for 2 -3 minutes. Finely chop garlic cloves, or use a garlic press, and add to the skillet. Cook for an additional minute, and then remove from heat. Add drained noodles to the skillet, along with the parmesan cheese. Squeeze in remaining half of the lime. Toss noodles to mix everything together, and serve.Amy’s Notes: If you have extra time, thaw the shrimp in advance, and marinate in a bit of lime juice and sea salt just before cooking to help infuse the shrimp with extra tangy lime flavor.

Got Ham?

Easter Sunday has come and gone. Now what to do with all the leftover ham? This brings to mind a blog post I wrote a few years back on my old Spin The Deal blog where I shared tips on how to use a ham to make a week’s worth of meals: 7 Meals For $7

This year, we celebrated Easter at our house with my husband’s parents, and despite our valiant efforts, we barely made a dent in the 10 pound Archer Farms spiral honey ham I baked.

My plan of attack for leftovers will be to use as much as we can in ham sandwiches for the week, and then, when we’re all ham-ed out, I’ll dice the rest and freeze for later use in omelets and ham and scalloped potatoes.

What’s your favorite way to use up leftover ham?

Bunnies, Butterflies, Ducks, and Bears…oh my

It’s almost Easter Sunday, and since I’m the only one that will eat hard boiled eggs in our house, we decided to make Easter cookies rather than Easter eggs this year.

I used my sure-thing sugar cookie recipe…the same one I use for Christmas cut-out cookies. The recipe is from my well-worn Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook, one of my cherished wedding gifts that I’ve made good use out of over the past decade.

Although the recipe is named No-Roll Sugar Cookies, I do in fact roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, rather than the “roll balls of dough and flatten” method suggested in the recipe. I cut out the extra 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, and instead, I top the cookies with a batch of my mom’s special sugar cookie frosting tinted with a bit of yellow food coloring to enhance the spring theme.

Dorothy’s Sugar Cookie Frosting
2 Tablespoons butter – softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
2 – 4 Tablespoons milk

Mix butter and vanilla until smoothly combined. Slowly add powdered sugar. Then, add milk until the frosting is easily spreadable, yet not too thin. Frost cookies and let sit until frosting firms up before stacking and packaging away.

Happy Easter everyone, and thanks for joining me on my cooking adventure so far this year!

Strawberry Feta Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

A simple lunch on a warm spring day…

Whisk a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar with a tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper. Drizzle over a bed of spinach, sliced strawberries, sliced cucumbers, onions, and feta. Wash down with a cold glass of lemonade.

Gone in a Flash Tortilla Roll-ups

There are two ingredients that are always on hand in our household: cream cheese and tortillas. In a pinch, I can always whip up some sort of appetizer with either of my main go-to staples. This weekend, I made a variation of my mom’s “Appetillas” recipe. If you search online for tortilla roll-ups, you’ll find many different versions, but most start with a cream cheese base. Some use ham and cheese…yum. Others suggest flavored tortillas to add color and spice…like jalapeno cheddar…I might try that one next.

The trick with any roll-up recipe is to make sure the filling is soft and thin enough to spread easily on the tortillas, yet thick enough that it won’t squirt out the end when you roll it up. While my original recipe called for equal parts cream cheese and sour cream, I’ve had much better success with a higher ratio of cream cheese to sour cream.

Gone in a Flash Tortilla Roll-ups
16 oz. light cream cheese, softened
½ cup light sour cream
1 small onion, chopped
1 can green chilies (4 oz.), undrained
16 green olives with pimentos, finely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 package flour tortillas
Dash of sea salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Spread a thick layer of filling on the tortillas with a spatula. Carefully roll the tortillas, keeping all filling inside. Use a butter knife to stuff a bit of extra filling into the ends of the rolled up tortillas. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least a few hours before serving. When ready to serve, remove from plastic wrap. Slice in ½ inch increments…eat the less attractive ends…to ensure quality of course…and serve the sliced appetizers on a decorative plate.

Keep additional uncut tortilla roll-ups in the refrigerator and take them out and slice as needed to replenish the plate. Or, just slice them all, pile them up, and watch how quickly they disappear!

What are your favorite tortilla roll-up ingredients?

March Grilling in Minnesota

Mother Nature has handed us an early taste of summer in mid-March. It’s hard to believe we were shoveling snow only two weeks ago.

This weekend, we’re biking, playing baseball, and…the ultimate warm weather pleasure…grilling.

Fresh spring asparagus with a squeeze of lemon, pressed garlic, and a dusting of sea salt and pepper.

Waffle fries with homemade seasoned sour cream…equal parts sour cream and mayo mixed with a squeeze of lemon, splash of soy sauce, a diced clove of garlic, and a hint of chili powder…made in advance for the flavors to mingle.

Half-pound pub burgers topped with molten cheese sandwiched between garlic-buttered french bread.

Ah…it almost feels like summer…well, at least it tastes like it.