Mini Pizza's

Nick told the boys about a recipe he made at a birthday party when he was 7 or 8 years old.  Cooper decided we needed to make them, so here they are.  EASY!

Ingredients:
1 English muffin per person (makes 2 mini pizzas)
1/4 Cup pizza sauce per English muffin
1/4 Cup mozzarella shredded cheese per muffin
Pepperoni, olives, peppers, other pizza toppings...

Directions:
*Cut your English muffins in half.

*Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.

*Pour the pizza sauce over the muffins.

*Place cheese on top of the pizza sauce.

*Put your toppings on top of the cheese.

*On some of the pizza's (one's with lots of toppings) I put an extra set of cheese to make sure they all held.

*Bake at 425*F for 12-14 mins or so (until cheese is melted).

Salsa

I would love to say I didn't get this on pinterest...but  I can't...because I did...and I love it.  I REALLY like this salsa because it tastes like the salsa you would get in a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant.  My jalapeno should have been stronger, but I will absolutely not change anything next time...okay, who am I kidding?  I might play around with it...  The great news is I will absolutely make this again.  It honestly took me 5 minutes.  Nothing is cooked.  Everything is just thrown in and chopped up.  AMAZING!

Ingredients:
1 (14oz) Can diced tomatoes (with the juice...do not drain)
1 (10 oz) Can Rotel (original or hot)
1/2 Small yellow onion (I did on the small side of a half...)
1 Big garlic clove (must be fresh, not powder)
1 Jalapeno (I will do 2 next time)
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Small handful cilantro (fresh!!!)
1 lime's juice

Directions:
*Get a food processor or blender out.  Food processor is better, but a blender will work okay too.

*Pour your tomatoes into the processor and mix.  Pour the sauce into a bigger bowl.

*Blend up your rotel next, then place into the bigger bowl with the blended up tomatoes.

*Cut your onion into smaller pieces.  Put it into the food processor and blend.  Pour into big bowl.

*Put your jalapeno, cilanto, and garlic into the food processor and mix it up.  Put into bowl.

*Pour the honey, salt, cumin, and lime juice into the big bowl.  Mix it all up.

*Eat.  SO SO SO Good!

NOTE:  Next time I will either add a second jalapeno (taste test it first.  The one I used today had NO spice to it at all.  SO mild.  I needed a bit more spice.).  If I don't add another jalapeno I will add 1/2 a can of green chili's to it to spice it up.  YUM!

BBQ Cheddar Bacon Chicken

Um, could this recipe's title be any longer?  WOW.  I wish I could shorten it, but I don't know what I would call it.  So we are stuck with the ridiculous long name.  Its good though, so I'm sure you will all forgive me.  AND...it's easy!

Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken breasts (I used small one's, but big one's would be so much better!)
3/4 Cup BBQ sauce
6-8 strips of bacon (2 per chicken breast)
3-4 Slices of Cheddar cheese

Directions:
*Cook your chicken breasts.  You can cook them in a pan on the stove with a bit of oil covered for 20 or so mins (flipping a couple of times), or on the barbeque.  We did ours on the bbq.  Okay, Nick did.

*Line a microwave safe place with a few sheets of paper towels (like 6-8 of them).

*Line your bacon slices up beside each other on the paper towel.

*Cover the bacon with one sheet of paper towel.

*Cook them in the microwave for 9-11 minutes.  I'm  serious, this way makes them SO crunchy for this meal.  You could cook them another way, but I promise it won't be as good.)

*After the bacon is cooked it is 100% crunchy, see:

*Once your chicken breasts are cooked (or baked, or grilled, or pan fried...) rub bbq sauce all over them.  Just drench the chicken!

*Once your chicken is covered in the bbq sauce, put 2 slices of bacon on top of each chicken breast.

*Cover the bacon with a slice of cheddar.

*Pre-heat your oven to broil and cook the cheese/chicken until the cheese melts, or place it back on the bbq for a minute until the cheese melts.

SO EASY!

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, so I made mine look like burritos rather than enchiladas (enchiladas have open ends, while burritos ends are turned inwards so filling doesn't come out).  There were really good!  I got the recipe from http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com.  Its a nice,easy little blog about foods that is similar to mine.  Anyways, she said these were the best enchiladas ever and went on about them...I liked them, but I would change it up a little bit the next time I make them.  They needed more sauce inside, and less rice.  So, here's the version we made...change it a bit if you want too!

Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken breasts (or rotisserie chicken)
2 Cups cooked rice
1 28 ounce can green enchilada sauce (I used Los Palmos)
1 Can black beans (drained and rinsed)
8 8-inch flour tortillas (I used 10 inch which meant I had to roll them into burritos to fit into my baking dish)
1 Pkg cream cheese
2 Cups shredded cheese

Directions:
*If you bought a rotisserie chicken, shred it up.  If you are using chicken breasts, fill a pot about 3-4 full of water, then place your chicken breasts in the water.  Cover it up.  Cook on medium until done (about 20 or so minutes).  I flipped my chicken breasts over and cut them into a few smaller pieces while cooking.

*Cook your rice.  I did brown rice, I might try mexican rice next time...

*When chicken is done, place it into a medium sized bowl and shred it with two forks.

*Put your cream cheese and 2 cups of the enchilada sauce into the bowl with the shredded chicken.

*Mix it all up.

*In the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray, pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce.  Cover the bottom of the dish with it.

*Lay a tortilla on a plate and pour a scoop of rice, then a scoop of beans onto it.

*Pour some of the chicken mixture on top.

*Roll it into either an enchilda (just roll it straight leaving the ends open), or roll it into a burrito (folding in the sides as you roll it up).

*Do the rest of the tortillas the same way.

*Put all of your enchiladas beside one another in the dish.  I ended up having two dishes since my burritos were so big.

*Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over all of your enchiladas.

*Put the 2 cups of cheese over top of the sauce.

*Cover your dish with tinfoil.

*Bake at 375*F for 25 minutes.

*Remove the tinfoil and BROIL for 3-5 minutes in the oven (Until the cheese darkens).

*Serve with your favorite salsa or queso or sour cream!

Oven Roasted Beets

Either you like beets or you don't.  If you don't like them, skip this recipe.  I'm not going to try and convince you to try it because in the end they still taste like regular old beets  :)  We like beets  though, so we tried cooking  them a new way.  Typically we boil them with their skins on, then remove the skins once they are cooked.  Tonight we tried something new and it worked out really well!

Ingredients:
5-10 Fresh beets (the smaller they are the tastier they are)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
1 Tbsp oil (I used olive oil)

Directions:
*Cut the leafy part and the long  stringy end off your beets.

*Take a vegetable peeler and peel all the edges off of your beets.  Yes, your hands will be red...very red.

*Cut all of your beets into small bite-sized pieces.

*Line a 9x13 pan with tin foil, then  spray it down with cooking spray.

*Pour your beets into the foil lined pan. (okay, my pictures are already showing the beets in the pan...I am trying to do step by step but I had my pan already lined before we started...oops).

*Pour the oil over your beets.  If they aren't covered once you mix them, all a little more oil.

*Sprinkle salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder over the beets.

*Pre-heat your oven to 375*F.

*Bake your beets for 30-40 minutes.  Once they are soft, they are done.

Let them cool before eating!  Yummy!

New Camera

Well, if you haven't noticed....my food pictures are a bit better than they used to be!  The hubby bought us a new camera and we have been working hard to figure out how to use it.  I love our new Sony A77!  It was SO worth the wait!

Chicken Pot Pie in Pastry Puffs

I LOVE those small Puff Pastry things.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry...I'll post a picture of them in a minute.  Anyways, they are sooooooo good!  I had a box of them in the freezer and wanted something fun and easy for dinner.  I looked at the box and there was a chicken pot pie recipe on it.  I changed it a little, so here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:
1 Box puff pastries
1 Big chicken breast, or 2 small one's
1 Can of Cream of chicken or mushroom soup
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Bag frozen vegetables
drop of oil to cook the chicken in
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
*Cook the pastries according to package (mine took 20 minutes to cook)

*Take the tops out of your pastries.

*Cut up your chicken into small bite sized pieces.

*Put a drop of oil into a large pan and place the pieces of chicken.

*Cook the chicken until well done.

*Cook your veggies in the microwave until cooked.  Drain the excess water from them.

*Pour your veggies, milk, and soup into the pan with the chicken pieces.

*Cook until warm.

*Add some salt and pepper to the chicken mixture.

*I thought about throwing some shredded cheese into the mixture, but didn't.  If you want to, do that now.

*Pour the chicken mixture into the pastries.  Eat it up!

Flour Tortillas

I LOVE it when you go to a Mexican restaurant and they bring you butter and tortillas.  They are delicious.  The problem is when you crave them at home.  Store bought tortillas don't taste very good, especially when you simply role them up with a bit of melted butter.  Gross.  I informed Nick that it bothered me how simple of a snack it is, yet it is impossible to have the fresh taste like the restaurant one's.  An hour later we had fresh, homemade tortillas.  It didn't take Nick but a minute or two to look up a chewy type version online.  They were really easy to make and took about 45 minutes.  We have made them 3 times since our first time now and they get easier to make each time.  We served them to family who are in town last weekend with white trash dip and boy was it a hit!  Hope you love them as much as we do!!!

Ingredients:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 Cup lukewarm milk

Directions:
*In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.

*Add the oil and salt to the warm milk and mix well.

*Slowly mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture.

*Work it into a dough, it will be sticky...

*Pour some flour onto your counter.  Spread it out.

*Put your dough onto the counter and knead it.  (Kneading dough is where you take your hands and put them into fists.  Now push your fists from the center of the dough out.  Rotate where you are and continue to push out the dough.  Then grab the dough and fold it over onto itself...if you don't understand this, google how to knead...  ;)  Its a fold and press sort of motion...

*The stickyness will be gone mostly now (after kneading).  Put the dough back in the bowl after you have kneaded it for about 2 minutes.

*Cover the dough with a damp cloth.

*Let sit for 15 minutes covered.  It will not rise, but it needs to sit for 15 minutes covered.

*Divide your dough into 8 equal sized balls.  Set them apart from one another so they are not touching.  Cover them with a kitchen towel.

*Let them sit covered for 20 minutes.

*After 20 minutes, place a bit more flour onto your counter.

*Take a rolling pin and roll each dough ball into a 7 inch square.

*Turn a pan on the stove onto medium heat.

*Do not spray it with baking spray, it won't stick...

*Cook the tortilla in the pan for about 30 seconds on each side.  They blister on each side when the side is cooked.

*After cooking each side for 30 seconds, place it onto a plate.  Cook the rest of the tortillas the same way.  Enjoy!