easy cheesy bbq chicken pizza

This BBQ chicken pizza is so easy, you'll want to make it every night for dinner!!! Here's what you'll need:

Pre-made Pizza dough, I used to use Pillsbury, and now i use the whole wheat dough from fresh and easy
1 bag of mozzarella cheese
1 chicken breast
1 red onion
BBQ sauce.

Here's what you do:

Slice the onion into strips and saute in a pan. No need to use any oil or butter, just use a bit of water when you notice that the bottom of the pan is becoming caramelized. The water will lift the bits from the pan, and will start to season the onions naturally. you can you a little salt and pepper if you like.

Saute the chicken breast. No need for oil with this either!!! just use the same water trick!!!

Once the chicken is all cooked, remove from pan and dice up, add back to pan along with BBQ sauce to coat the chicken, saute for a few seconds to let the BBQ flavor get to the chicken.

While the chicken and onions are sauteing, get the pizza dough ready, just follow the package directions on how long to cook. If you use the Pillsbury dough, you'll just form a square pizza, if using the a dough that is formed into a ball, you can roll it out into any shape.

Once the dough is all formed and ready to go, add BBQ sauce to the dough, brush it around the pizza, for a light coating! don't go over board... i would say about 2 table spoons or so...

Add cheese all over the pizza, but not TOO much, just so that you can see a little dough through the cheese, add the chicken and onions to the top, covering the whole pizza, add a bit more cheese to "glue" down the toppings. And bake as directed by the dough instructions. You can also add cilantro if you want!

Take it out, cut it up, and swallow it down! :) i hope you enjoy!

xmas goodies

here are some good ideas to try... quick and easy!!!!

make chocolate covered pretzels
just melt some chocolate chips in a bowl that is big. Once melted, add in some pretzels and mix all up. Pour them out on to a wax lined cookie sheet or tray, you can add sprinkles, or drizzle white chocolate on them. you can also make them using white chocolate. once decorated place in the fridge until they are set.

Chocolate covered cornflakes (everyone LOVES THESE!!!)

1 bag of milk chocolate chips
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 cups of corn flakes

melt the chocolate together, mix up with corn flakes, scoop out small bit sized balls, place in fridge until chocolate is set.

these will be be BIG hits!!! Hope you try em!

Calzones... cont.

Add mixture to one side of the dough, add cheese to the top, if desired, and then fold the dough over the top. Make sure you don't add too much filling because the dough will rip and not work out. Fold the edges over each other and pinch the edges closed. Brush with butter, I added garlic to my butter for extra flavor. Bake @ 350, for about 20 mins, or until the dough is nice and golden brown... I FORGOT TO TAKE A FINISHED PIC! :( they were so good that we chowed down as soon as they were out of the oven!

Here are some other filings that would be good:

left over turkey! mix it up with veggies, or left over green bean casserole, or cranberry sauce, or add some other flavors to change it up

Pizza fillings! what ever you like!

Pork! (my little brother said "pork and beans"... not my favorite, but hey! it might be yours!!!) I would mix it with potatoes, or maybe vegetables.

Make Breakfast, use eggs, sausage, or bacon, and potatoes!

Fruit! make small hand pies

Cinnamon spread with apples on the inside, and Cinnamon sugar on the top

Most important, just make sure that you add some sort of sauce to the meats because the dough can get dry, so its nice for it to be moist inside... there are many many different things you could do! have fun!

Calzones! YUM!

This is a great meal if you have left over stuff in your fridge!!! i didn't any any left overs, but wished i did... here is what i did... and again, use your own judgement when it comes to the measurements, but i will give guide lines!

1/2 pound ground beef
vegetables (i used spinach, and broccoli)
sauce (I had to use tomato soup because I didn't have any pizza sauce)
Bisquick (about 2 cups)

So, I browned the beef, and once it was browned i added all the frozen veggies i had in my fridge, about a cup of frozen spinach, and a cup of broccoli. I added the tomato soup until it was mixed with sauce, but NOT soupy! you're going to be putting this inside dough and you don't want it to be saucy! Once its all mixed together, set aside and let cool a little.

For the dough, add about 2 cups of Bisquick in a bowl, add about 1/4 cup of water, and mix, you'll probably need to add more water, you want a dry mixture that can be rolled out, make sure its not too wet! add water, little by little until its incorporated, if you add too much water, then add a little Bisquick until the dough is "rollable"

Kneed the dough until its smooth, and then roll out until its about 1/4 thick. make about 7 to 8 inch rounds, use a bowl and trace around it with a knife to get the rounds perfect!

late nite snack

Not much to post tonight, we did have a really good dinner, I made chicken, and i just used honey mustard, and a lemon pepper marinade. I let the chicken marinate for about an hour, and then cooked it @ 350 for about an hour. It turned out really juicy and really flavorful. The side dish was... not so great! but maybe you could make it better... i chopped up 1 sweet potato, 1 reg potato, 1/2 onion, about 5 baby carrots. mixed it with a touch of cinnamon, parsley, cider vinegar, a little butter... they were edible, but nothing to get excited over... they needed some sort of sauce... good luck with that one!!!

our late night snack is gonna be something sooo un-original!!! we are having cocoa pebbles... haha... just wanted to leave you with a quick post! try the chicken!!! it was super easy! and super good!!!!

easy spinich dip

I don't have pictures again, but you don't need pictures for this one... is super easy!!! and again, my measurements are NOT exact! I don't use exact measurements when i cook, but these will give you an idea of how much to use, and will also help you learn to use your own judgement when making all of you dishes!

this is what you need:

Frozen Spinach
Cream cheese - 1 block
sour cream - about a cup
Parmesan cheese - couple of table spoons
mozzarella cheese - about a hand full
3 garlic cloves (minced)
salt and peeper how ever much you like

take frozen spinach, i use the kind that is chopped up and in a bag (i get it from fresh and easy, my new favorite grocery store) If I'm making it for a party, i use the whole bag. IF you are making for your self then use less. OR make a whole batch and freeze half for later, or use it for stuffed chicken breast

Saute the spinach in a pan until its all thawed out. You can use butter or oil, but i don't, its not needed, but it would make it tasty if you wanted to use it. once its all thawed out, add the garlic and salt and pepper, and saute until most of the moisture has been evaporated out.

Cut up the cream cheese in to smaller pieces so they melt faster, add them into the pan and stir up good until all melted. Sometimes it takes a little while to make it all smooth and creamy, and the pan may start to brown, if that happens just use a little liquid, water or chicken broth, and it will help to pull all of the spinach together with the cream cheese. Once its all incorporated well, add the sour cream, parm cheese, and a little mozzarella. Mix it all up, and at this point you can serve and eat. I like to put it into a small baking dish, add mozzarella to the top, and bake for a few.

You can serve this with bread (my fav!) or you can serve with chips, or veggies. A nice way to serve this at a party is to put it into a bread bowl!

ps... i have to thank my mom for clicking on the adds on the side! makin me big bucks! thanks mom!!!

Meat Loaf lighed up

just a quick tip today...

Try making meat loaf with half burger, and half ground turkey. Use broth, and things like ketchup, bbq sauce, and Worcester sauce to make it more moist since the turkey doesn't have a lot of fat in it.

For the side dish, make mashed potatoes extra flavorful by boiling in beef broth, Use onion soup mix, or bullion cube. Add in sour cream and milk when mixing instead of using butter.

Smores at home

Kel and I were at this restaurant, Cafe Tu Tu Tango, its a pretty cool restaurant that serves ONLY appetizers. They have some pretty cool deserts too, one of which is smores. They bring this little set up to your table and you can cook them right there. We thought that sounded so good, but we were too stuffed to order them so we didn't. The next day Kelvin was dying for smores, so he went and got all the stuff, and we had traditional smores, roasted over the open fire on the stove. But the next night is when the MAGIC happened. We used some Cinnamon Total Cereal in the cupboard, that wasn't that great... It was advertised like Cinnamon toast crunch.. NOT THE SAME!!! but anyway, this is what you'll need:

Marshmallows, or Marshmallow cream
Some kind of Cinnamon or Graham Cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Grahams, or what ever!
Chocolate, chips or bar (but cut the bar up)
and Cinnamon

First melt the mallows in a pan, be careful, I kinda burnt mine, but it just added to that "camp fire" taste.. lol... I used about 2 hand fulls of mallows.

once they are melted, add some Cinnamon to the mallows about a tea spoon,
pour in the cereal, just "eye" it, make sure that there isn't any clumps of mallow, and that all cereal is evenly coated, just pour in a little at a time until it looks about right
mix it up really good
add the chocolate, about 1/4 cup
mix some more

pour into a pan that is lined with foil or wax or parchment, or even saran wrap!

let cool, then pull them out and cut them up.

I know i didn't give correct or exact any measurements... I eyed the whole thing, but you really can't go wrong, just make sure that you don't have too much cereal, or too much mallow! and you can never have too much chocolate, so don't even worry about that!!!

Kelvin devoured them! and I didn't get 1 single picture! but i thought this was too good, and easy not to share! I hope you make it!

long time, no blog

Hey all... I've been bad on the blogging lately.... i don't know why... i guess i just haven't been cooking things that are that interesting... I have been cooking every night though... I've been working on a few other things... I purchased a sewing machine, and I've been "re-purposing" old clothes of mine, into new clothes for McKenzie. I made her a cute skirt, and tutu... pics to come soon... This weekend Me and Kel headed to San Fran... He had a DJ gig, and i decided to tag along. I hope you enjoy the pics... I'm going to post a good recipe soon! I PROMISE!

my cooking tips...

These are just a few tips that i use when cooking:

- when sauteing anything in the pan, like veggies, meat, and onions, use a little bit of broth, either vegetable, chicken, or beef broth to "de-glaze" the pan. You can avoid using oil or butter because the liquid will pull the food up from the pan and prevent it from sticking. It also helps to make a little sauce in the pan so the items aren't dry, do this once the items have cooked a little and you notice there are brown bits in the bottom .

- when cooking anything on the stove, and you want to make a sauce to cover the food, pull things from your condiments. I like to use Ketchup and Italian dressing for a zesty flavor. Sometimes I use ranch and taco seasoning for a ranchero sauce (like from taco bell), sometimes just ranch. Honey mustard is also a good flavor.

- Always add some kind of seasoning to vegetables while steaming, this will make them more appealing to your picking husband... (kelvin!)

- For a lighter take on spaghetti, use shredded chicken instead of ground beef. Sounds strange, but its very good.

- I like to make flavored butters for garlic or Cinnamon bread. I take a stick of butter, and i put it in a glass bowl, one that has a lid (i have the mini prep bowls from pampered chef) i melt the butter about half way, and then mix it up until the solids and the liquids are one. Then i flavor it, with garlic and basil, or Cinnamon and sugar, or any other flavor you could think of! Then i use what i need, and then refrigerate the rest. The butter will harden and you can use it any time you need a little flavored butter. And if its in the fridge for a while and you just want to get rid of it, just put it in the pan when you need to use butter or oil.

- when I'm making gravy's or soups that need to be thickened, instead of using flour or cornstarch, i use Bisquick. It seems to taste better, and doesn't need to be "cooked out" like flour, and doesn't instantly turn to a solid like corn starch.

well I hope these tips were useful to you! I'll be sure to give some more along the way!

CocoCornflakes

This is one of Kelvins favorite things in the world! he often begs me to make it but I don't like to because we end up eating it all... so i decided i would make him a half batch so he would bug off... here goes the original recipe... at the end I'll give you my changes:





6 cups of cornflakes


1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips


1 bag of milk chocolate chocolate chips





Melt the chips together in a bowl,


add the cornflakes


stir, scoop out, on to a wax paper lined tray or cookie sheet, refrigerate until set.



Variations:


you can add powered sugar or sprinkles before chocolate has set, You could also add nuts if you like them.





MY WAY:


I love love LOVE dark chocolate, so I only use semi-sweet chips, and i do 1 bag and 3 cups of flakes if I'm just making them for us to snack on. If I'm making them for the holidays, i usually add powered sugar and/or x-mas sprinkles. But it seems like everyone likes them plain, so that's how i usually make em. eat up and enjoy!

Zesty Chicken and Veggies

I made this one up with all lots of stuff from my fridge. Here's what i used:

Ketchup, Honey mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, lemon juice, season salt, and pepper,

vegetables: potatoes, squash, onions, carrots, and broccoli (you can use what ever you want!)

And Chicken Breast cut up into strips, you could use other pieces of chicken, or pork or beef if you wanted.



I cut up all the vegetables small and in a bowl i mixed them along with all the condiments from my fridge, you can mix and match anything, but i think the ketchup and lemon are key to making it zesty. You could use lime too if you wanted. Just a squirt, or a dash of everything. Mix it up really well, and then add to a casserole. Make sure that you lift the vegetables out of the bowl with your hand rather than dumping into the casserole. This way you will have left over marinade for the meat. Let the meat marinate for a few mins. You may want to start the veggies because my potatoes came out raw and i had to put them back into the oven to cook a little longer. Once they've cooked for about 30 mins, add the meat to the top and let cook for another 20 to 30 mins.

Zesty Chicken and Vegtables

These pics are a little backwards, but basically you'll put the chicken into the oven at 350. add a few dots of butter to the top. Bake for about 30 mins. at the 30 min mark, spoon some of the juices from the bottom onto the chicken. Bake for a little longer until the chicken is golden brown. (side note) my potatoes did not come out cooked, so i had to take the chicken off and bake the potatoes longer. You may want to marinate the chicken for a little longer, and let the vegetables cook for about 3o, and then add the chicken and bake until the chicken is done. I added a spoon of sour cream to the plate and ate it up!

Strawberry Lemon Cake

For this cake, i just use a store bought lemon cake mix, and strawberries. you'll also need 2 lemons, and 1 cup of powdered sugar.

to start, mix cake batter together as directed on box, and add juice of 1 lemon.

spray the bottom of cake pan with cooking spray, and then dust with regular sugar, about 1 tablespoon. slice the strawberries into 1/4 thick pieces. Don't make the slices too thin because they will just disappear. Lay the strawberries in the bottom of the pan, and pour the batter over. Bake as directed....

Strawberry Lemon Cake

Pour in the batter, you may have to use 2 pans, but the box of cake i bought was only for 1 pan
Bake as directed on the box.
once the cake is done, let it cool, but not completely, just enough so that you can touch the pan with out getting burned. Gently loosen the sides and bottom from the pan, and turn out onto a plate. Make a glaze using 1 cup of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon, mix and pour over top and let drip down sides.
cut into small slices and serve. okay, you can cut into big slices and serve too

Meat Loaf Dinnaaaaa

This is my FAMOUS Meat Loaf Dinner. I usually Serve Mashed potatoes, and either veggies or a salad.
Here is what you'll need:
1 Onion
1 lb of beef (some get fancy and use 1/2 pork, 1/2 beef... I don't)
Beef Broth (just buy a box and keep it in the fridge, and use it for other things... it lasts a LONG TIME!)
Worcester sauce

Ketchup
BBQ Sauce
salt & pepper
Bread crumbs
Sage (if you have it.. if not, don't worry about it)
Italian seasonings
garlic
french fried onions (can you guess... this is my favorite thing! i use em almost every night!)

So start off by chopping an onion and sauteing it until almost transparent, you don't want them to disappear into the meat loaf.
While they are cookin, add into a large bowl, the meat, a few squirts of ketchup and BBQ sauce and Worcestersauce. A sprinkle of salt, pepper, and other seasonings, Garlic, How ever much you like! I added about a table spoon full of minced garlic. about a 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, and about a 1/4 cup of broth. Do not mix until the onions are ready. Once the onions are ready, mush it all together with your hands, be gentle, and don't over work the meat! all of the ingredients should be incorporated. Put the meat onto a baking pan, make sure it has edges because you don't want a mess on your hands. Form into a loaf, add some ketchup to the top and brush all over. Add French Fried onions to the top and bake @ 350 for 45-1 hour. or until you think its done :)

Mashed Potatoes for the Meat Loaf

Take 3-4 potatoes, and chop them up into about 5 or 6 pieces each.
Add the potatoes to cold water, add in seasonings, I added half package of onion soup mix, parsley, garlic, and salt. Bring to boil, and when fork tender drain out the liquid. Place the potatoes back into the pan and add in half a stick of butter, and 1/4 cup of milk, you could use evaporated milk (which makes them VERY GOOD!!!) or cream. Beat the potatoes with electric beaters until smooth, NO LUMPS! if you need more liquid add a little more milk until creamy.

Veggies for the Meat Loaf

I used zucchini, and squash, i chopped up all the veggies into bite sized pieces,
I added seasoning: Season Salt, Garlic, a few table spoons of Onion Soup.

Added the veggies to a steamer, and let steam for about 10 min, or until fork tender. You could also make a foil pack: just lay a large piece of foil out, pour the veggies into the center, take the opposite sides and fold together, and then bring in the sides. Make sure the packet is sealed and won't come lose. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven @ 350 for about 20 to 30 min.

Final... Meat Loaf Dinner

Mashed potatoes
Meat Loaf
and
the meal on plates!