Philly Cheesesteak Pizza

It's that time of year when I'm absolutely tired of cookies, chocolate treats, and just sweets in general. My body just needs some good wholesome food. Now I know pizza is not really considered wholesome home cooking, but this pizza was just what my husband and I were looking for late last night.

It was late and we were just starving and we wanted something that was half way healthy for us and I remember seeing this recipe for a Philly Cheesesteak Pizza in one of my cooking magazines. I had already marked the page anticipating making this yummy pizza, so it was easy to find. The next step was to see if I had everything to make this. Because the ingredients are so basic I of course had everything to whip this together.

Know the recipe says it serves 6, but there is no way it would unless you are serving this in little tiny pieces as if it were an appetizer. My husband and I demolished this pizza with no trouble. I would recommend doubling this recipe if you're making this for more than two people.

So on with the recipe. Let me know how you like it.

Philly Cheesesteak Pizza
1 tube (8oz) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2T olive oil
1/4 t beef bouillon granules
1/2 lb. thinly sliced deli roast beef
1 T prepared Italian salad dressing
1 1/2 C (6oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Unroll crescent roll dough into lone long rectangle; seal perforations. Press into the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 13-in x 9-in baking pan. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes pr until lightly browned.

Saute green pepper and onion in oil and bouillon in a large skillet until begetables are tender; set aside.

Arrange beef over crust. Brush with salad dressing; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 4-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Top with green pepper mixture. Cut into 12 pieces.

Credit: Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazine

Nut Goodie Drops

Well the big day is almost here! For my family and I Christmas Eve is the big event for us. This is the time we open presents from Santa and from each other. Usually I let the kids open one present under the tree before we go to Church in the late afternoon. I also quickly fill stockings while everyone gets in the car to go to church.

Even though my children are college age I will still fill their stockings when they are otherwise preoccupied. And yes I still have packages from Santa for them. They shake their heads at me, but old habits are hard to break.

Today I am still making Christmas goodies. One treat that is a snap to make is Nut Goodie Drops. This recipe I got from my mom. She use to make these when I was a kid. These take very few items to make and they are done in literally a few minutes. In fact I was able to finish these in under 15 minutes.

Nut Goodie Drops
16 ounces white almond bark 
6 ounces of chocolate chips
1/2 C peanut butter
3 cups raw Spanish peanuts
Wax paper

Directions
Melt almond bark in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl, stirring every minute to minute and a half. Once bark is melted stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter until melted and smooth. Add peanuts and stir to mix. Use a tablespoon to drop mixture onto wax paper. Let drops cool and set up on wax paper. Once drops are set you can place them in a container. I separate layers with wax paper so they don't stick together.

Christmas Count Down!

Well we are now into the final days before Christmas and if you are still trying to make some yummy treats for the holidays, but feel you don't have the time do not fear. I have two super quick and easy treats that will wow your friends and family.

My daughter and I made both of these last night in a matter of a couple of hours. We had never made either one and were very happy with the results. In fact we may just have to make some more of these to give to family and friends.

The two treats we made were Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and Easy Sea Salt Caramels. The cookie recipe I found on Allrecipes.com and the caramels recipe I found on the blog Lucy's Best. I found this blog by pure accident, but I have found a lot of recipes that I would love to try, so please visit their site. They are on my blog list so super easy to get to from my blog.

You will need mini muffin pans for the cookies and parchment paper or wax paper for the caramels. Well on with the recipes. Give them a try and let me know what you think of them.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 t vanilla extract
2 T milk
40 minature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375degrees F. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan. 
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.  

Easy Sea Salt Caramels
6 Tablespoons of butter cut into 6 pieces
3/4 Cup white sugar
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup light corn syrup
3/4 Cup sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoon vanilla
Coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Place a sheet of aluminum foil in a  9X13 pan. Spray the foil with cooking spray, making sure to coat sides as well.
2. In a microwave safe bowl (at least 2 quart), add butter, white and brown sugar, syrup, sweetened condensed milk, & vanilla. Stir together and place in microwave, uncovered. Cook in microwave on full power for 8 and a half minutes, stopping and stirring thoroughly twice during the cooking time (about every 2-3 minutes). 
3. Remove from microwave and stir until well mixed. Pour hot caramel into a prepared 9X13 pan. Place in fridge until firm enough to remove & cut (about 60 minutes). 
4. Pull up on sides of aluminum foil and remove the whole slab of caramel at one time. Place caramel slab on cutting board covered with parchment or waxed paper and cut into pieces of desired size. Then sprinkle a dash of sea salt on each individual caramel. 
5. Wrap each piece individually in parchment paper or wax paper.  

Snickerdoodles

Aw, there's nothing better than coming in from the cold and having a hot cup of cocoa and some snickerdoodles! I was introduced to these cookies by my sister-in-law. I had never heard of them before and she was so surprised that she just had to share some with me.

It's been many years since my first encounter with these yummy cinnamon, melt in your mouth cookie, but I still love having them on a chilly winter day. I usually make them at Christmas time, but have been know to make them other times of the year too.

These cookies again are very simple to make. I like simple, especially when I feel like my life is a rat race sometimes. Isn't my life suppose to slow down a little now that the kids are in college? I guess I'm gonna have to rethink how I'm spending my time. LOL!

Anyways, when I mix up these cookies I usually mix them up the day before and throw it in the fridge overnight. The dough has to be chilled for at least an hour, so I figure what's the difference if it's overnight. For me it just makes it easier, because the mixing is done and all I have to do is roll the dough into balls and roll in the sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake.

Well here's day 2 of my holiday cooking recipes.Oh and of course I just automatically double the batch. They are just too good. Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Cup Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tarter
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the 1 cup sugar, the egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tarter. Beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Shape into 1 inch balls. Combine the 2 Tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. roll balls in sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 11 minutes or till edges are golden. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Makes about 3 dozen.

Oatmeal Gingersnaps

I'm finally back in the kitchen! I've had a few things that were keeping me away, but I'm really going to try and make an effort to blog at least once a week if not more. I'm starting out with some Christmas goodies. Today I was baking away in anticipation of Christmas. I actually made two different kinds of cookies, but I'm going to share with all of you one that I have just tried for the very first time.

I got this recipe from Taste of Home. It was one of those that gets sent to my email account and I just couldn't resist trying it. To start off it looked so easy to make and right now I'm looking for anything that is quick and easy to make. The other thing that I liked about them is they were a gingersnap cookie. I love the way gingersnap cookies smell. It just makes your whole kitchen smell delicious.

This recipe makes 3 dozen, but this is a good recipe to quickly make another batch or just whip up a double batch when making these. I know that they are going to go fast at my house so I'll have to keep the recipe handy so I can make another batch.

Like many recipes I kinda tweaked this one. Instead of flattening them with a glass dipped in sugar, I just rolled the cookie in sugar before putting them on the pan. This recipe kind of reminded me of my mom's Molasses Sugar cookies and that's how my mom use to do it. They flattened out nice, no glass needed.

So here's the recipe. Enjoy! I'll be back tomorrow with another holiday recipe.

Oatmeal Gingersnaps
Ingredients
1/2 Cup Shortening
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Molasses
1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Quick-Cooking Oats
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves
Additional Sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. roll into 1 inch balls; roll in additional sugar.
• Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until set (do not over bake. I did not flatten them). Remove to wire racks to cool.
• Yield: about 3-31/2 dozen.

Bacon Chicken Barbeque Pizza

I'm back!!! It's been a while since I've posted and I promised myself that I would do a better job of posting my recipes and sewing adventures. But believe me I've got a good excuse or two. If it isn't work or life in general it's a little health issue that I needed to take care of. I'm now on the mend and have completed my first cooking adventure with the help of my son Jeffrey.

Jeffrey told me about this amazing pizza that he eats at college. It had barbeque sauce, chicken and bacon on it, made my mouth water just talking about it. I told him we could make this pizza during summer break and so here it is summer break.

One problem my summer break doesn't start as early as his. He started his on May 7th and mine did not start until June 10th. Although my last day was May 10th I had surgery scheduled for May 14th to fix a little issue with my foot. I am finally feeling better and I am able to walk around a little better, so we decided today was the day to do it.

We started by making a pizza dough in the bread machine, but you could simply buy pizza dough from the grocery store. I just like to make my own. The recipe I used I got from Recipe.com, one of my favorite websites for recipes. Whatever dough recipe I find just toss it in my bread making machine and program it for dough. I haven't had a recipe fail me yet. Once the dough is made just roll it out and put on a cookie sheet and bake for about 5 minutes before adding any of the ingredients.

Bacon Chicken Barbeque Pizza
Barbeque sauce
chopped onion
bacon, cut into small pieces
Chicken, cooked
Mozzarella cheese

1. Spread barbeque sauce on top of partially baked crust. We used Masterpiece BBQ sauce
2. Sprinkle chopped onion on top.
3. Add bacon and chicken. We used a Mesquite chicken from Sam's club that we love.
4. Top with cheese.

Bake pizza for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is getting golden brown.

Hot Fudge Brownie Cake

The weather has been so rainy and cold lately that it is getting quite depressing. It seems that all I do is go to work and freeze. Come home from work and freeze. One can hardly believe that it is the end of April and next week it will be May.

Now every one has their own way of dealing with this awful weather. Some do yoga. Some take deep breathes. But me I eat chocolate. I usually keep chocolate of some kind in the house just for these times when I need a lift.

Today though, I'm sharing my special recipe for Hot Fudge Brownie Cake. This cake is so delicious you won't believe how great it is. It is also super simple to make. Once you make this cake for your friends and family they'll ask for it again and again.

Hot Fudge Brownie Cake
1 C all-purpose flour
2 T unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/4 salt
1 1/4 C granulated sugar, divided
1/2 C milk, at room temperature
3 T vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 C boiling water Whipped cream or ice cream

1. Preaheat oven to 350. Stir together flour, next 3 ingredients, and 3/4 C granulated sugar in a large bowl; stir in milk, oil, and vanilla. Spread batter in a lightly greased 8 inch square pan.

2. Combine brown sugar, cocoa, and remaining 1/2 C granulated sugar in a small bowl; sprinkle over batter in pan. Using a spoon, gently drizzle 1 1/2 cups boiling water over batter, being careful not to disturb layers. (DO NOT STIR).

3. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a cake layer forms on top and layer springs back when touched. Let cool on a wire rack 25 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Barbecue Pork Pulled Sandwiches

Well Sunday Night is upon me and I'm dreading getting up in the morning to go to work. It's not so much the job as it is the getting up in the morning. I really hate getting up at 5:30 am to get ready for work.Thank goodness for coffee and my dogs. If I can just get up and hit the shower I'll be ok because the next thing I do is take the dogs for a quick little walk. After our walk I can have a cup of coffee.

The other thing I hate is I always have professional development on Monday nights at work, so this makes getting dinner ready a headache. I try to think of things that are easy to make and very quick.

So if you're like me you appreciate any short cut you can take for dinner. I have a super easy recipe for making Barbecue Pork Pulled Sandwiches. I used my crock pot to help me with this dish and it's perfect for a day when you are gone all day and need some dinner ready when you get home.

Barbecue Pork Pulled Sandwiches
3-4 lb pork butt (I had a pork loin so I just used that)
14 oz of beef broth
1/2 water
1/2 t liquid smoked
salt and pepper
barbecue sauce
hamburger buns

1. Cut pork into two pieces. Salt and pepper each piece and place in crock pot.
2. Pour beef broth,water and liquid smoke over meat.
3. Put cover on crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
4. After 6 hours of cooking remove pork to shred.
5. Take two forks and shred pork. Put pork into a microwavable dish and add barbecue sauce.
6 Heat meat in microwave to warm and serve on buns.

Barbecue Pork Pulled Sandwich

How to make a Fence Rail Quilt

My first ever quilt was a Fence Rail quilt. I just learned how to quilt this past fall and have fallen in love with it. I love it so much that I'm considering purchasing a second sewing machine so I have one machine for piece quilting and one machine for quilting.

I'm going to give the directions and supply list for making a Fence Rail quilt. I'll also include a picture of one of my quilts so that you have a picture to look at for arranging your blocks and hopefully be able to see how I quilted it too.

Fence Rail Quilt
Supplies need:
1 1/8 yds each of three different fabrics, 1light, 1 medium & 1 dark
1/2 yd for binding
3 yards for backing
1 1/2 yds of batting
gridded ruler (6"x 24")
rotary cutter
neutral color thread
thread to blend or compliment fabric for quilting
pins
scissors
seam ripper
Sewing machine
iron and ironing board
Painters tape
safety pins
Steps for making the quilt
1. Cut six 5 1/2" strips from each of the three fabrics.
2. From each strip cut two 15 1/2"strips.
3. Take a 15 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangle from each of the fabrics to make a set. Make 12 sets.
4. To make a block, pin two of the 15 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangles, long edges together. Sew using a 1/4" seam. Pin the third 15 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangle to the sewn pair on the preferred side and sew. Iron seams towards the darker fabric. Make the other 11 blocks the same as the first. Block measurement after sewn is 15 1/2" x 15 1/2".
5. Lay out the quilt in four rows of three blocks in a pattern that you like.
6. Sew each of the rows together then iron. Sew the rows together. Iron.
7. Take the 3 yards of baking and fold in half like a hamburger or the short way. Sew on a 1/4" seam on one of the short sides. Cut the folded edge of the material to make your backing.
8 Take this backing and tape wrong side up to a large table. If you don't have a table tape it to a hard surface floor (not on a carpet or rug).
9. Lay your batting on top.
10. Lay quilt top on batting and center. It may help to fold quilt top in half and unfold on top of batting to help with the centering.
11. Take safety pins and pin through quilt top, batting and backing. You want to start in the center and work out. Pin about every 3-4 inches. Remember you will have to remove these so don't go too crazy but make sure you won't have any shifting going on either.
12. You are ready for quilting! I quilted mine by echo quilting. Echo quilting is following the seam a 1/4" to the side. Start in the middle and work your way out.
13. Once you've finished the quilting part you are ready to bind your quilt. The easiest way is to use the backing, but their are other options for finishing your quilt. You can always google or reference a quilting book. My first quilt I made a binding strip and attached. The second one I simply used the backing to bind the quilt.
14. If you're going to use the backing trim the excess batting even with your quilt top. Take the corners of the backing and fold the tips inward. Iron these flat. Take and fold the sides of the backing inward to edge of quilt top and press. Fold baking over top of quilt top and pin in place. Your corners should meet as mitered corners at this point. Make any adjustments you need to make corners as clean as possible.
15. Sew binding (backing edge) along edge of quilt removing pins as you go. DO NOT SEW OVER PINS!
16. Voila! You have just finished your first quilt.

Let me know if you have any questions on making this quilt. I'll try and answer your questions as quick as I can and as thorough all as possible.

Brownie Cookies and Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Well I'm officially on spring break from school. It started out great. The weather was warm, I had lots of ideas for things I was going to do like start posting again on my blog, but suddenly the weather reared its ugly head and wham! We've got snow! Not just a little snow, but a good 4-5 inches. This stuff is heavy too. Well needless to say this changed my plans a little, but hopefully today I can get back on track.

After shoveling for like 2 1/2 hours my body just aches and I long for something yummy chocolate. So I decided that today I would bake something chocolate. Should I make brownies, chocolate cupcakes with my super cool silicone muffin cups? Should I just simply make chocolate chip cookies? No! I'm going to make Brownie Cookies!

You know those super moist and chocolately brownie cookies you get from the bakery well I'm going to make these today. The recipe is something that I clipped from a magazine or one of those buy me cookbook offers. The ones that tantalize you with a few recipes and dozens of mouth watering pictures of all the great stuff you can make. Well I didn't buy this one, but I did clip the recipe so I could enjoy this chocolate treasure.

Also I'm going to make doggie treats for my beloved dogs, Katie and Bella. These treats have peanut butter in the mix and what dog doesn't love peanut butter? These treats are easy and your dogs will love them. Miss Mercury if you're reading my blog try making these for Hazel she'll love them. This recipe I found on the internet and I just kind of tweaked it to work for me and of course for Katie and Bella.

Brownie Cookies
1/2 C butter
4 (1oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 C (18oz) semisweet chocolate morsels, divided
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
2 t vanilla extract
2 C chopped pecans, toasted

Combine buttr, unsweetened chocolate, and 1 1/2 cups chocolate morsels in a large heavy saucepan.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter and chocolate melt; cool.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add dry ingredients to egg mixture, beating well. Add chocolate  mixture; beat well. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups chocolate morsels and pecans.
Drop dough by 2 tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen.