Easy Pizza Pockets

With Cheese on Top

So I have seen these pizza pockets all over "Pinterest" but there has been 1 major thing bugging me about them.  They never have any sauce in the recipes.  They are only meat and cheese.  This morning I came up with my own little twist on the average pizza pocket, and I have to admit that it turned out amazing.  Definitely a Hubby's top favorite recipe, and a recipe that will now be a staple at our house.  Anything easy, and delicious, is something I will make over and over and over!!  I made 2 different batches so I'll give you some pictures of both.  I hope you enjoy this one!

Ingredients

18-24 Rhodes Rolls, thawed

1 Package Pepperoni (regular size)

1 lb. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 8oz. can Tomato Sauce

1 tsp. Minced Garlic (I used the kind that comes in a squeeze bottle)

a Handful of dried Onions

1 Tbs. Dried Parsley

1 Tbs. Dried Oregano

1 Tbs. Dried Basil

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Pepper

Directions
In a bowl combine tomato sauce, garlic, onions, dried seasonings, and salt and pepper.  Whisk until well combined.  Set aside.

Without Cheese on Top

On your counter put a handful of flour down and dip each thawed roll in flour. Then take your rolling pin and roll it into a small disk (about the size of an individual pizza).

Place on one side of the disc 4-5 Pepperoni slices, a sprinkle of Mozzarella Cheese, and then in the middle of the disk pour 2 1/2 tsp. full of sauce.

You're then going to fold the dough over to create a little pocket.  Fold over all the stuffing and pinch all the sides close. Then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Once you have done this with each roll, take a sharp knife and cut a little hole in the top of each pizza pocket. Sprinkle on a little cheese, and cover with a paper towel for about 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are browned and the tops are very lightly browned.

Removed from oven and place on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before eating.  Serve with ranch dressing, or anything you like for dipping, or just eat plain like we did in our house.  I promise you are going to love these, and the possibilities are endless.  We just used Pepperoni, but you could add olives, mushrooms, peppers, anything your little heart desires.  Enjoy your own pizza pocket for everyone in the family.  There's enough for everyone to have 2nd's and even 3rd's.  Great dinner!!

Tomato Baked Eggs

This is one of my most favorite recipes. I know it says eggs, but I like this recipe for Lunch the most.  It's deliciously creamy with a little kick of spicy.  Above everything else though, it's insanely easy, and it's the perfect meal for brunch or even Father's Day.  Just a little hint to one of our upcoming summer holidays.

Ingredients

2 Large Eggs

1/4 C. Marinara Sauce

2-3 Tbs. Parmigano Reggiano, Grated

1 Tbs. Cream

1/8 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

1/8 tsp. Pepper

1 tsp. dried Parsley

1-2 tsp. Olive Oil

Touch of Salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a small oven safe baking dish (I use my rachael ray dish) spread your Marinara sauce on the bottom.  Sprinkle red pepper flakes, parsley, and pepper over the top.

With a spoon make a little trough in the center. Crack your eggs into a bowl one by one to make sure there are no shells. Then place each egg in the center of the baking dish, and make sure the yolks stay intact.

On top of the eggs drizzle cheese, cream, and olive oil, and then just a touch of salt.

Bake for 10-12 minutes just until the only thing that jiggles are the yolks.  You want them to just be firm.  Then mix the yolk into the white, and then spoon onto buttered (yes, real butter) toast, and you're going to die!  It's delectable.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do in our house!

Homemade Twinkies

I have long had an obsession with Twinkies.  I think they're amazingly delicious.  They are soft, chewy, moist, and full of delicious cream.  

Mine are not the typical twinkies because I add a little bit of "Flair" to these puffed little cakes.  I hope you enjoy my version....I've yet to have a complaint.  I've included the cupcake and layer pan directions.

Ingredients

2 C. Cake Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 C. Butter, room temp.

1 C. Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

1 tsp. Vanilla

3/4 C. Milk, room temp.

Vanilla Buttercream filling (recipe below)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until soft.  Beat until light, and then one by one add your egg yolks while mixing.  Mix until light and creamy.  Add vanilla.

Beat in the milk and the dry ingredients, until well incorporated.

Bake in a greased layer pan for about 25 minutes. 

You can also bake in a cupcake pan.  You fill the cupcakes 1/2 full and bake for 25 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream Filling

2 sticks unsalted Butter

3-4 C. Powdered Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Mix with hand mixers in a bowl until soft and creamy. 

Take an apple core or paring knife and create a hole length wise in the twinkie or in the middle of the cupcake. 

Fill a ziploc baggie with the buttercream and cut off the corner.  Pipe into the cakes.  (Just a note, I have shown the cupcake, and layer pan style.)  Enjoy!!!

Corn Dog Recipe

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!! In celebration of this great day, I am sharing my traditional Fat Tuesday recipe with y'all.  Every Fat Tuesday my husband and I make my corn dogs.  Not only are they delicious, and 100% NOT nutritious, but they're Amazing!  I know you'll try one bite and you're going to Love them! Have a Happy Mardi Gras!

Ingredients

2/3 C. Flour

1/4 C. Cornstarch

1/4 C. Cornmeal

1/4 C. Sugar

1 Tbs. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Onion Powder

1 C. Buttermilk

8 Hot Dogs

8 Thick Wooden Dowels

Soy Bean Oil (I like to go with the healthiest oil when I'm making these, but you can use what you want.)

Directions

Preheat 4 inches of oil to 350 degrees.

Mix Flour, Cornmeal, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt, Garlic and Onion Powder, and Buttermilk together, until well incorporated into a somewhat smooth batter.

Push each wooden dowel into the hot dog at least 3/4 of the way up.  I like to leave about 3 inches sticking out of the bottom.

Put Cornstarch into a pie plate and dredge each hot dog in the cornstarch.

Then dip and heavily cover each hotdog in the cornmeal batter. Circle around to get the top to twist a bit, and place in HOT oil. 

Fry for 3-4 minutes turning over 1/2 way through cooking.

After 4 minutes or when the outside is completely nice and really golden brown, pull out and place on a paper towel until it's cooled down a bit. 

Serve with Mustard and Ketchup.  Enjoy!

Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk

Coconut water is HUGE right now, and rightfully so.  It's extremely healthy, and has a lot of good nutrients, but I'm sorry, it's disgusting.  I needed something with a lot of potassium and electrolytes, and I came across this beautiful product...Sambazon Protein Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk.  It's nutritious AND Delicious!  My only problem was shelling out $3 a day for it when I'm drinking 2 of them a day.  

As I was walking down the aisle in Whole Foods to go pick some up, I walked passed CANNED coconut milk.  Well this got me thinking (which is something I really try not to do) and I figured, why not make my own?  I mean I have an amazing blender that will blend anything, and this canned coconut milk is only $1 a can, so I'm going to do it. 

I went and bought one of the bottles so I could see the ingredients on the back.  I figured that the only important things to have to make this was dutch process cocoa, powdered sugar, almonds, vanilla soymilk, vanilla extract, and coconut milk.  Turns out I was right.  So instead of spending a ton of money stocking up on these delicious bottles for the week, I stocked up on the ingredients to make it. 

As I checked out with my ingredients I realized that I had spent about $20 on everything, and I bought 6 cans of coconut milk so I would have it on hand.  I knew I better make this work or I just wasted money on what could have gone to the real deal.

I got home, pulled down the Blendtec to see if my Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk really would blend.  (I know, my sarcasm is hysterical.)  After I experimented a bit and tasted the final product I was VERY happy.  It literally tasted the exact same, and I only used 1 1/2 cans of coconut milk for 2 quarts of the finished product.  So my friends, I am here to share the wealth with all of you!  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 14.5 oz can Coconut Milk
1/2 of another 14.5oz can of Coconut Milk (I put the remainder in ice cube trays, froze them and saved them for next time)
1 1/2 Tbs. Dutch Process Cocoa
1/2-2/3 C. Powdered Sugar
1-1 1/2 C. Vanilla Silk Soymilk
1/2 C. Raw Almonds
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
6 ice cubes (just to make it cold. this is optional)

Directions
In your Blender, blend up the coconut milk, almonds, and soymilk. Blend until the almonds have broken down. Then add remaining ingredients and blend until it's the consistency you want. 

If you want it runnier add more soymilk. If you want it thicker add more almonds.  If you want it sweeter more powdered sugar. Creamier? more coconut Milk....you get the idea.

Then I just pulled out some hand dandy mason jars, spaghetti jars, any jars, filled them up, and put them in the fridge to drink.  This recipe made 2 Quarts.

The best part is the little almond bits you get in every sip.  Put it on ice and drink it straight out of the jar. I hope you like it!!

Real Belgium Waffles

I have an amazing neighbor from Belgium.  She is absolutely darling, and is an amazing cook!  I went and visited her the other day and she had just made a batch of waffles.  She gave me one, and I swear I went into my own little Dreamland that was made of the most delicious things you could ever imagine.  I was running through fields of candy, cakes, and cookies.  When I finally came back to reality, I asked her if she would teach me how to make them.  She was so excited, and more than happy to teach me.  So I spent a day with her and watched her create this amazing masterpiece.  I asked her if she would allow me to post the recipe on my blog, and SHE was flattered!  I told her that I'm the one that will be eternally grateful.

The other day in the mail my "Belgium Pearl Sugar" came from Amazon, and I was so excited to think that I got to make my own waffles.  I was a little nervous about screwing it up, but she told me she would run over if I had any questions.  I've always been pretty good with yeast recipes, but I had her number on speed dial just in case.  After about 2 hours of preparing the dough I was finally able to cook them.  I'm happy to say that they turned out amazing!  Now all I need is for one of my friends to get pregnant, or married, so I can throw a Waffle Bar shower!  Trust me, once you try these you're never going to go back to regular waffles.

(I also wanted to let you know that I am making these in Utah, where it's cold, so the yeast directions should be adjusted to where you live.  If you live in a warm climate it will take a shorter amount of time, by about 30 minutes)

Ingredients

6 Tbs. Warm Whole Milk (no more than 110 degrees)

2 tsp. Dry Active Yeast

1/2 tsp. Sugar

1 1/2 C. Bread Flour (yes, it really has to be BREAD FLOUR)

1 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Vanilla Bean Paste (You can substitute extract, but the paste is amazing and if you don't have it, GET SOME! order on Amazon)

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 Large Egg

1 Large Egg Yolk

1/2 C. (1 Cube) Butter, slightly more cool than room temp. cut into chunks

1/2 C. Belgium Pearl Sugar (you can purchase on Amazon)

Directions

Warm up your Milk, and sugar until completely dissolved.  Making sure that the milk is no hotter than 110 degrees (I just make mine a little bit warmer than bath water), stir in the yeast.  Set in a warm room and let Bloom (about 10 min.)

While the yeast is blooming, mix together flour, cinnamon, and salt.  When they yeast has bloomed, mix into the flour mixture. Mix until it's just combined.  Add the vanilla bean paste, egg, and egg yolk. Mix on medium speed until just combined and no more.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm room for about 1 hour (30 min. in warmer climate).

When the dough has had time to rise, put back on the mixer and slowly mix in the chunks of butter 1 at a time. You don't want the butter to melt which is why you want it chilled.  You want chunks of butter throughout your dough.

When your butter is mixed in, place dough on a cutting board and knead in the pearl sugar until well combined.  Cut into 12 small balls, and space out on cutting board.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a small room to rise for 30-45 min. (45 if you want it more chewy, and 30 if you want more dense.)

Heat your waffle iron to medium-hight heat. Spray with cooking spray and place the dough in the center of the iron.  Cook until the outside is golden brown, and the sugar has crystalized the outside.  Serve hot with any toppings you like. This recipe will make about 12.

If you are making a waffle bar, serve with whipped cream, strawberries, melted chocolate, syrup, any fruit you would like, and cream.  Enjoy!

Best Brownies

As I was baking my brownies today, I realized that I had never share my recipe on the blog.  WHAT?!  How could I have done this?  I mean everyone needs to know how to make brownies.  It should be a law.  So today I am going to share my favorite and most delicious brownie of all time recipe (at least in my opinion).

Ingredients

2 Sticks of Butter

1/3 C. Cocoa

2 C. Flour

2 C. Sugar

4 Eggs

4 tsp. Vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Over medium heat, melt the butter and cocoa until smooth.  Pour into a mixer and add the eggs, vanilla, and sugar.  Mix until creamy, and add the flour.  Mix until well incorporated, and do not over stir.

Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and pour the batter into the dish.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes and then frost.

Frosting Recipe

Ingredients

1 cube butter

1/3-1/4 C. milk

3-3 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 C. Cocoa

Pinch of Sea Salt

Mix all together until it's the consistency that you would like.  (If you want it more runny add 3 C. Powdered Sugar, for firming add 3 1/2 C.)

Pour over warmed brownies and let harden just a bit.

I serve with Vanilla Ice Cream.  Enjoy!!