Spaghetti in Braided Garlic Italian Bread

Here is the recipe for my yummy version of a Pinterest meal.  =)

Garlic Italian Bread

1 cup warm water
1 packet instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside.  Combine all dry ingredients in medium mixing bowl.  Add oil and yeast mixture.  Stir with spoon until mostly combined.  Turn out on floured surface and knead 2-3 minutes until dough is smooth.  Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top of the dough ball.  Let dough rest for at least 10 minutes.  (I made mine in the morning and put the dough in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, until I was ready to make dinner.)  Roll dough out into rectangle shape, about the size of a standard cookie sheet.  Transfer rolled out dough to greased cookie sheet.   Cut 1 1/2"  slits on both of the long sides, leaving room in the middle for your spaghetti.

Spaghetti

1/2 lb spaghetti noodles
Thick pasta sauce of choice
Meat for sauce (optional)
1/4 lb cheese, cubed or sliced (I used cheddar since that's what I had.  Mozzarella is a good choice.)
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Mix with sauce and meat to desired ratio.


Combining the 2 for a magical meal!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place pasta on top of dough, down the middle.   Cover with cubed cheese.  Start from one end and "braid" the strips of bread down the center, tucking in the ends.    Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese, if desired.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until bread is golden on the top.   Let sit for a few minutes before slicing and devouring!  Can be served with extra pasta sauce, or eaten as is.  Enjoy!!!

Cheese Balls

Our good friends, Ryan and Tanya, invited us over for a Christmas in July party (mostly because Tanya had a game she wanted and didn't want to wait until Christmas to get it).  So we decided to go all out and plan the festivities.  We will be playing games, decorating sugar cookies, and of course - eating crackers and cheese ball.  I volunteered to make this non-sweet treat for the party, but couldn't decide what kind I wanted to make.  So, after some quick research online, I went to the store for the ingredients and set about making 2 different kinds of cheese balls.  Here are the resulting recipes (my own creations, feel free to substitute or change them as you like).

Cheese Ball #1 - Bacon and Cheese

1 8oz pkg of cream cheese*
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp bacon bits
1 cup grated marbled cheddar cheese
extra cheese, bacon bits and parsley for garnish

*I use neufchatel cream cheese instead of regular, it is much easier to stir and spread and doesn't fully harden when chilled.  If you use regular cream cheese, just make sure to leave out for a while before trying to stir it w/ the ingredients.
Combine all ingredients in medium mixing bowl, stir until all incorporated.  I didn't take the time, but you can put this mixture into a nonstick mold or form into a ball.  Place on serving plate, garnish, and chill.  If you used regular cream cheese, pull out of fridge about a half hour before serving time to allow it soften.
Voila!  A yummy cheeseball!

Cheese Ball #2 - Taco

1 pkg cream cheese*
1 tsp taco seasoning mix
1/2 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
parsley, red pepper flakes and cheese for garnish


*I use neufchatel cream cheese instead of regular, it is much easier to stir and spread and doesn't fully harden when chilled.  If you use regular cream cheese, just make sure to leave out for a while before trying to stir it w/ the ingredients.
Combine all ingredients in medium mixing bowl, stir until all incorporated.  I didn't take the time, but you can put this mixture into a nonstick mold or form into a ball.  Place on serving plate, garnish, and chill.  If you used regular cream cheese, pull out of fridge about a half hour before serving time to allow it soften.
This is quite a spicy version, but is delicious.  You can substitute the Tabasco for your favorite taco sauce or hot sauce, or omit completely.

Most cheese balls have nuts as the garnish, but since my husband isn't so fond of them, I left them out.  These would be very tasty topped with walnuts, pecans or almonds, so have fun!

Beef Barley Soup

While it's still cold outside, I have been taking advantage of the fact that soups and stews taste oh-so-yummy, and warm you from the inside out.  One of my favorite soups that is both delicious and easy is Beef Barley soup.  This is a very forgiving soup if you don't have lots of ingredients to work with.  Let's get started:

Beef Barley Soup

1 lb stewing beef
3 lbs (approx) potatoes, scrubbed and cubed*
3/4 cup pearl barley
1 can green beans
1 can green peas
8 cups beef stock (or beef bouillon and water to equivalent of 8 cups)

In a large pot (or large crock pot), heat 4 cups beef stock, and add stewing beef.  Boil meat until cooked through most of the way.  Add potatoes and barley and simmer for about 45 minutes in large pot or about 1 1/2 hours on high in crockpot.  Add the veggies - you can use one or the other or another canned veggie of your choice.  Heat through, and serve.  Can sit in pot or crock pot on low heat for several hours and it will not over cook.  Serves at least 8 people.
*I don't bother peeling the potatoes, since I like the texture of the peeling.  I just make sure the potatoes are well scrubbed.  If you prefer to peel them, they work just as well.

Potato Chips

Since becoming pregnant, our financial outlook has been pretty bleak.  So, it has allowed me to become very creative in order to satisfy some of my cravings.  I love looking for new recipes and things that sound absolutely delicious to me.  My new habit is that when I am craving an item, I check online to see if there is a recipe for it that uses the things I have in the house, or could easily (read - cheaply) obtain.

Last night's craving?  Potato chips.

Now, I love to crack open a bag of Lay's and chill out on the couch with a sappy movie, but last night I decided to try making some.  Here was how I did it:

Potato Chips

2 large russet potatoes
oil for pan - enough for about 1" deep in my trusty sauce pan
salt

First, I scrubbed my potatoes.  Then, I sliced the potatoes with my slicer (the one that is on the back side of a standard cheese grater).  This made them about 1/8" thick.  Next, I soaked them in cold water for about 30 minutes.  Next, I laid them out on paper towel to dry as completely as possible.

While they were drying, I heated my oil on the stove.  If you have a deep fryer, that works, too.  I just don't have one to use...  =)  I have no idea the temperature my oil was, I had the stove on medium, and it seemed to work well.  Now it's time for those taters to take a bath!  Drop a few in the pan.  If the oil sizzles when they go in, it's hot enough.  Fry until golden brown on both sides. (Time will vary, depending on thickness of potatoes).

Pull them out of the oil, and drain on paper towels lined cooling racks.  They will crisp up as they cool.  Sprinkle with salt or other seasonings before they are cooled. 

 Serve!  2 potatoes made about 40 chips for me.

Fajita Sammies

I am always trying new ways of fixing old meals.  I am also a big fan of versatile ingredients I can make to have on hand.  Some of my favorites that work well for lots of different meals are:  rice (plain white), ground beef, stewing beef and chicken breast.  I like to make some of these and switch up what I make over the course of the week.

This week, I cooked up some stewing beef and had it in the fridge.  Besides the obvious use of making stew with it, my favorite use is for fajitas.  Normally, I have tortillas on hand, along with a packet of fajita seasoning mix.  Well, today I didn't have either of those.  I had the stewing beef, red bell pepper and onion.  But nothing to put it in.  So, with a little creativity, I came up with:  Fajita Sammies (which is just a fancy way of saying Fajitas on a sandwich).  So, here is my recipe:

Fajita Sammies

1 lb stewing beef, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 bell peppers, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic salt
12 slices of bread, toasted and buttered

In skillet, heat oil.  Add onion and saute until slightly caramelized.  Add stewing beef and cook as you like it (I prefer mine med well to well done).  Add the peppers and spices just before the meat is cooked to your liking.  Let simmer until the peppers are cooked through.  Make sure to coat all ingredients with the spices.

While the meat is cooking, toast or broil your bread and butter it.  For extra flavor, add a sprinkling of paprika to the buttered bread.

Once the meat is all ready to go, divide it up and serve it on the bread!  You can add the extras like guacamole and salsa, if desired.

When you are ready to take a bite, roll it like a taco shell around the meat filling.  Mmmmm!  Enjoy!

Scone-nuts

Here is yet another use of the wonderful Pizza Crust recipe (see post below)!  It is for making donuts.  These donuts are across between donuts and scones, and taste absolutely wonderful!  Here we go...

Make dough from Pizza Crust recipe.  Let dough rise 30 minutes.  Punch down and let rise again for another 30 minutes. 

Then heat your oil.  I don't have a deep fryer, so I just use a pan w/ about 2 inches of oil in it with the burner on at about medium to medium high.  Let the oil get nice and hot.  While that's heating, you can either roll out the dough and use a cookie or donut cutter, or you can do them free-form like I did.  I broke off a small piece of dough (about the size of a walnut) and flattened it out in my hand, poking a hole in the middle. 

As soon as your oil is ready, start dropping your donuts in.  Fry until light golden brown (the dough cooks rather quickly) - about a minute and a half on each side. 

Place donuts on paper towel to cool. 

Once cooled a bit, you can top them with powdered sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon, glaze or frosting, or you can treat them like scones and use honey butter.

The number of donuts this makes depends on the size of your donuts, but expect at least 2 dozen small donuts.

Enjoy!!

Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

Being pregnant, I've had many new and innovative ideas for meals.  This is one of them.  Although, the idea isn't all mine... CiCi's Pizza makes a really good one as well.  This is my version of the

Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

1 box of Macaroni and Cheese (doesn't matter what brand, I use whatever is on sale)
Pizza crust see http://camicrocker.blogspot.com/2011/02/pizza-crust.html
1 cup grated cheese (pick your favorite - I usually have cheddar on hand, but mozzarella would be good, too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare macaroni and cheese, per box instructions.  While that is being prepared (i.e. while water is boiling, or microwave is heating), make the pizza crust recipe from previous post.  Let rise while finishing the macaroni and cheese.  Roll out dough onto pizza pan, and pour prepared macaroni and cheese onto dough.  Spread around to the edges of the crust, and then top with the grated cheese.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  It is done when the cheese is melted and the crust is lightly golden brown.  Enjoy!