Homemade Pizza

I found this great little pizza over at www.korenainthekitchen.com.  Her pictures looked so delicious that I knew I just had to try it!  It is just as good as it looks in the pictures….maybe better.  I like that she drizzled a little heavy cream rather than traditional pizza sauce, so yummy!  I think we will start having pizza night at my house and experiment with all sorts of toppings.  What do you think?

Enjoy!

HOMEMADE PIZZA

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can pizza dough ( I used 2 because I used a large pan)

2-3 Tbsp heavy cream

2 cups Italian cheeses (mozzarella, romano, parmesan)

1 tsp minced garlic

1 pkg mild Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 jalapeno pepper, sliced and seeds removed for less heat

Preheat oven to 400F.  Drizzle a cookie sheet or a baking stone with olive oil.  Spread pizza dough over pan.  Drizzle with heavy cream and mix in minced garlic, lightly coat all of crust.  Sprinkle 1 cup cheese, then Italian sausage, tomatoes, jalapeno and lastly, the remaining cup of cheese.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Chicken Salad Croissant

 

 

 

Oh my!  I found this recipe for chicken salad in Cuisine magazine and it is so fantastically, delicious.  It’s got everything you want in a good chicken salad.  It has a nice tanginess from the yogurt and lemon juice, sweetness from the dried cranberries (original recipe used dried cherries), and crunch from the celery and almonds.  Place all of this on a buttery croissant and your tastebuds will be doing the happy dance! 

This recipe doesn’t have to destroy your diet, just skip the croissant (which of course I did not) and the mayo, or at least use a lighter version and it will be much more figure friendly.

This is a great classic chicken salad to have on hand.  I will be making this one often!  ENJOY friends!

 

CHICKEN SALAD CROISSANT

4 cups chopped rotisserie chicken

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries

1/4 cup mayonaisse

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh tarragon, minced

1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashews or pistachios)

4 croissants

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill until ready to serve.  Serve on croissants.

This recipe slightly adapted from Cuisine magazine.

Red Beans and Rice

A few months ago I had the pleasure of visiting the great little city of New Orleans.  We had many great meals while there and some of you recommended that I try and recreate a few of them.  It just so happens that my dad made this wonderful red beans and rice for the family a few weeks ago.  It was so delicious and very similar to what we had in New Orleans so I quickly snatched up the recipe so I could make it for you guys.

You can change this according to your taste.  The original recipe called for one pound of ham shank.  My dad used smoked sausage in his version and I used andouille sausage in my version.  I think I like my dad’s version the best.

I hope you will give it a try and ENJOY!!!!

With love,

Donna

RED BEANS AND RICE

1 lb light red kidney beans, soaked

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup white or yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery leaves, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups water

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 lb andouille sausage

3 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup green onions, chopped, for garnish

1.  Drain beans; discard soak water.

2.  Place oil in 4 qt. pot and heat.  Add onions, celery leaves and garlic.  Saute until onion is tender but not browned.

3.  Add beans, water, salt, pepper and Tabasco.  Stir well.

4.  Bury sausage in beans.  Bring to a boil;  reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5.  Cook rice according to package directons.

6.  Serve beans and sausage over hot rice.  Top each serving with a sprinkling of green onions.  Serves 4-6.

This recipe adapted from China Doll Rice & Beans Inc.

Croque Monsieur- Dinner And A Movie

How many of you remember the movie It’s Complicated?  The movie starred Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  Meryl Streep’s character owns a bakery and she did her culinary apprenticeship in Paris.  So as it turns out she has some skills in the kitchen.  Throughout the movie she is serving up these wonderfully, amazing, make you salivate, delicious looking meals, pastries and desserts to her friends and family.  In my opinion these incredible dishes were the true stars of this movie.  All of my fellow foodies out there who have seen this movie already know what I am talking about…am I right?  You found yourself wishing you knew how to make those chocolate croissants or wishing you knew exactly what that sandwich thing was that she served Steve Martin’s character.  They said the name more than once but you just couldn’t catch it.  Well my friends, after a little research I managed to figure out exactly what that was and found a wonderful recipe that I think you will be very, VERY, pleased with.

This wonderful little sandwich is called Croque Monsieur.  It is so much more than an ordinary sandwich.  It is made with thick crusty bread and it has a wonderful bechamel sauce and cheeses poured over it.   It is truly incredible.  I imagined (or wished) I was sitting outside a Parisian bistro with this and a glass of wine and when done I would then be heading to the nearest Parisian flea market or sorry, les puces, to walk off all of those crazy calories…..okay, one can dream can’t she?

I hope you will make this for someone special and possibly watch the movie too so you can have the total food experience that I had.  ENJOY my friends!!!

With Love,

Donna

CROQUE MONSIEUR

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups milk or half-and-half

a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg

6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup gratred Parmesan cheese

8 slices French or Italian loaf bread

12 ounces ham, sliced

dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2.  Make the bechamel sauce.  Melt butter in a saucepan on med/low heat until it just starts to bubble.  Add the flour and cook, stirring until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously, cooking until thick.  Remove from heat.  Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup Gruyere cheese.  Set aside.

3.  Lay out the bread slices on a baking sheet and lightly toast them on each side.

4.  Lightly brush half of the slices with the mustard.  Add the ham slices and about 1 cup of the Gruyere cheese.  Top with the other bread slices.

5.  Spoon on the bechamel sauce to the tops of the sandwiches.  Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyere cheese.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the cheese topping is bubbly and lightly browned.  Serve this with a fresh green salad.

If you top this sandwich with a fried egg it becomes a Croque Madame.

This recipe adapted from Ina Garten.

Beef Enchiladas-Cinco de Mayo

 

 

Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for “fifth of May”.  It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico.  Most people believe that we are celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day, but this is not correct.  In Mexico this day is celebrated primarily in the State of Puebla where it is called El Diade la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla).  The date observes the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862.  Mexico’s Independence Day is actually celebrated on September 16th.  Sounds like we could be having another party, huh?

If you do plan on having a celebration with friends and family then this will be a great little Mexican dish to include.  It has all the wonderful flavors of Mexico and all you need to go with it is a nice tall margarita!  Have fun and ENJOY!!!!

BEEF ENCHILADAS

(taco meat)

1 lb ground beef

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried minced onion

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 c water

(enchilada sauce)

3 Tbsp chili powder

3 Tbsp flour

1 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

2 c water

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

8 flour tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c chopped olives

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9 x 13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.

2. Brown the ground beef. Drain. In a saucepan, combine with the remaining taco meat ingredients. Stir over low heat for a few minutes until mixed well. Set aside.

3. For the enchilada sauce, combine the chili powder, flour, cocoa, garlic powder, salt and cumin with a couple of tablespoons of water to make a paste. Scoop the mixture into a saucepan and stir in the remaining water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in tomato sauce. Spread about 1/2 cup of the enchilda sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

4. Fill each tortilla with taco meat and fold up like a burrito. Place the filled tortillas, filled side down, in the baking dish. Cover with the remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle on the cheese, olives, and green onions.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted.

This recipe found in The Stocked Kitchen cookbook.

Paella

 

 

I have wanted to make Paella for a while and now that I have, I have to say that it is one of those recipes that is so wonderfully tasty that I question myself as to what on earth took me so long.  It has many levels of flavor that you build that creates one incredibly delicious dish.  I knew this would be good but I was surprised at how flavorful it turned out.

I had to make this on a night my son wasn’t home since he is not a big seafood eater.  This is suppose to feed six to eight people so it was a lot of food for one person.  Needless to say I had leftovers for the rest of the week….and I didn’t mind one bit!  I used more shrimp in this dish and completely left out the chicken, but you could do just the opposite  and use all chicken if you are like my son and not a seafood eater.

I changed this recipe up a bit from the original to my own liking and taste.  The original recipe called for mandarin orange segments and frozen peas which I didn’t want in this dish but you may.  I also cooked the rice seperately and added it to the dish rather than placing the Paella in the oven to cook the rice.  It seems I have had trouble in the past getting the rice done that way.  This may break Paella tradition but it was insanely delicious just the same.

Please do give this a try my friends.  Enjoy!

With love,

Donna

 

PAELLA

1/2 lb bulk breakfast sausage

2 tbsp white wine vinegar (I’m sure I doubled that)

6 drops Tabasco

1 lb shrimp (or 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb chicken)

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 cup rice

In a LARGE frying pan over medium heat, brown the sausage.  Meanwhile get the rice started.  Stir the vinegar and hot sauce into the sausage.  Add the chicken (if using) and cook thoroughly.  Add the bell pepper, onion and garlic and cook until the vegetables are soften.  About half way through the rice cook time, add to the rice the tomatoes and remaining spices.  At this time add the shrimp (if using) to the sausage and cook until opaque.  When the rice is tender add the mixture to the sausage.  Stir until ingredients are well combined and serve.  Serves 6-8.

This recipe adapted from The Stocked Kitchen cookbook.