Pizza Bites

I love the fall.  I even love football on Sunday afternoons.  Not so much for the football (being a Bills fan is not much fun) but for the food.  Dips and pizza and snacks... I love to eat my way through all of the games!

This is a recipe we tried last weekend.  But you don't need to wait until Sunday.  This makes a great dinner too.

INGREDIENTS

Prepared pizza dough (I used pillsbury thin crust)
4oz fresh mozzarella
olive oil
Italian seasoning
pizza sauce
pepperoni (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Cut the pizza dough into 2" squares.  Chop mozzarella into bite-sized pieces and place one in each square.  Roll up into a ball, sealing all edges.  Place together in a glass baking pan.

Drizzle with olive oil and top with Italian seasoning.

Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes (until tops are browned).

Cool slightly, serve with warmed pizza sauce.

VERDICT

I was serious when I said don't wait until Sunday.  Go buy your ingredients now.  These pizza balls were gone in five minutes flat.  The kids loved them, I loved them, and my husband loved them even though he would have liked pepperoni stuffed inside of them too.

But we were still hungry.  We devoured the dish and then immediately wanted more.  I would highly suggest buying two pizza crusts.

Enjoy.  And you can thank me later.

Soy Marinated Chicken Thighs

I was a bit of a chicken snob until recently.  I only bought the boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  But recently I've come to discover the rest of the bird- mainly the thighs.  They're a bit more fatty, but once you trim them the flavor is delicious and they grill up really nicely.  Here's one to try out before it's time to put the grill away for the winter.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 8 (2-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 4 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side or until done.

VERDICT

Easy ingredients for marinating, quick grilling time, and a great taste are all reasons to try this on your grill.   Serve with veggies, pasta, or Guarenteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries like we did.

 

Tilapia with Red Potatoes

This recipe comes from one of those blogs where the author is impossibly skinny and has copious amounts of time in which to cook.  The author prefaces this recipe by stating that she makes this whenever she has the house to herself.  Me, I order a pizza.  Or make mozzarella sticks- I mean heat them up from the freezer.

And to be honest I didn't give this recipe much hope.  There's nothing to it.  I imagined it being terribly bland.  I was terribly wrong.

INGREDIENTS

Tilapia filets

Red skinned potatoes, chopped

Fresh broccoli

Brussels sprouts

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

Ground turmeric

Ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Add olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon of butter to a large pan on medium-high heat.  Sear potatoes for several minutes, flipping often.  Reduce heat to medium and add broccoli and brussels sprouts.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, turning several times.  Please vegetables on a plate.  

Add 1/2 tablespoon of butter and sear the fish on each side on medium-high heat.  Cook for several minutes until flaky.  Do a quick trade: place fish on a plate, add the vegetables to the pan, and then top it of with the fish.  Cook or several minutes, enjoy!

VERDICT

I had to go out and buy turmeric.  My hopes were really riding on that small jar of spice.  What else was going to spice up this recipe?  Salt and pepper wasn't going to cut it.  But turmeric?  I've never cooked with it before but I can tell you honestly that it made the dish.  Whatever it is, it's extremely flavorful.  And this dish was not the flop I expected it to be.

TGI Friday's Dragonfire Chicken

So.... it's been a month since my last post.  A full month!  That doesn't mean I haven't been cooking.  I just haven't been posting.  So stay tuned in the next few weeks as I sort through the back log of pictures and recipes to put up here.

Anyways.... here's a new one.  This is somewhat of a copycat recipe of a popular TGI Friday's dish.  I love chain restaurants, or at least I did until I learned how most of the food is made.  You know how you can go into the freezer section of the grocery store and buy one of those frozen dinners that you toss in a skillet and 20 minutes later you have a dinner complete with pasta, chicken & vegetables?  Yeah, same thing at the chain places.  Except they microwave it.  Silly me, I thought my bruschetta chicken pasta was made from scratch.

So knowing that the food is hardly prepared from scratch, or even reasonably fresh, has kind of put an end to eating out.  At least at chain places around the mall.  And why spend all the money when you can make the same exact dish at home?

Just a quick warning... give yourself lots of time for this one.  With a recipe list this long it's no wonder that Friday's simply nukes your dinner.

INGREDIENTS

MarinadeMM

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped
• 2 teaspoons mince garlic
• 1 tablespoon onion, diced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 boneless chicken breast fillets, trimmed

Pineapple Pico de Gallo

• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup canned pineapple, chopped
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 4 teaspoons minced jalapenos
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Kung Pow Sauce

• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges  

Prepared Rice or pasta

DIRECTIONS


Make marinade by combining all ingredients in a blender on high for 1 minute. Pound chicken breast to about 1/2" with a mallet and combine with marinade in a zip-top bag for 2 to 3 hours. 
 

Make pineapple pico de gallo by combining all ingredients. Store in a covered container in the fridge until later. 

Make Kung Pow sauce by combining all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture starts to bubble reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Cover sauce until needed. 

When chicken is done marinating, preheat grill to medium heat. Wipe marinade from chicken and grill 5 to 6 minutes per side or until done. Serve chicken drizzled with Kung Pow sauce and pico de gallo on the side. Drain mandarin oranges and sprinkle on top.

VERDICT

So... obviously this has one heck of a shopping list.  And it takes a bit of time to throw it all together, even though the cooking part doesn't take long at all.  But it's worth is.  Really.

My only advice would be to double the batch.  Eat half and freeze the other half in a giant freezer bag to reheat another night.  Just like what you'd get if you went out to dinner and paid $14 for it.