Pinterest food find-taco Pizza

picture and recipe credit: Ree Drummand Pioneer Woman

Pizza AND tacos?!!!  Sign me up!!!
This recipe I found on Pinterest and comes from the talented Pioneer Woman:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil
• 1 can (14 Oz. Size) Black Beans
• 1 teaspoon Taco Seasoning (prepared, Or Make Your Own)
• 4 whole Corn Tortillas, Sliced Into Thin Strips
• ½ cups Canola Oil, For Frying
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce, Sliced/shredded Thin
• 2 whole Ripe Tomatoes, Diced
• ½ cups Cilantro Leaves
• ¼ cups Sour Cream
• 3 Tablespoons Hot Sauce (more To Taste)

Preparation

Make the pizza dough: Mix yeast with warm water and set aside for 8 to 10 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and olive oil in a mixing bowl. With speed on low, drizzle in yeast/water mixture. Allow to mix until totally combined. Cover bowl with a towel and set bowl in a warm, draft-free place. Allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours.
Pour black beans into a saucepan. Add seasonings to taste and heat up beans over medium-low heat. Use a potato masher to mash the beans to desired texture. Continue cooking/heating beans over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer runny (should be the texture of refried beans. Set aside.
In a small skillet, heat canola oil over medium heat. When hot enough to fry, drop in the tortilla strips in batches, frying quickly and removing from oil with a fork when crisp–about 30 to 45 seconds per batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.
Place oven rack in the bottom position in the oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Remove half the pizza dough from the bowl. Place remaining half in a large plastic bag and refrigerate, saving for another use. With hands, spread pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet, making sure it’s relatively thin. Spread layer of refried beans all over pizza crust. Sprinkle mixed grated cheeses over the top. Place pan in the oven (in the bottom half of the oven) and bake for 9 to 12 minutes. Watch it to make sure crust doesn’t burn.
Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle on shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cilantro leaves.
Mix together sour cream and hot sauce, adding enough hot sauce to make the mixture pourable. With a spoon (or you can put it in a pastry bag) drizzle mixture over finished pizza.
Sprinkle with tortilla strips. Cut into squares and serve immediately with good quality salsa.

What we ate, pinterest food find

I pretty much buy ground turkey meat and was looking for new ways to cook it and I found this deliciousness:

(photo and recipe credit: skinnyms.com)

Skinny Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground turkey or chicken, (hormone and cage free recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Kosher or sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Make sausage patties to desired size and thickness. I usually get about 8 patties. Uncooked patties can be frozen up to one month.
2. Add patties to a large nonstick skillet and cook on medium heat until brown on both sides and cooked through.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Honestly ALL the boys gave this a thumbs up!  SO yummy don't know that I will ever buy buns anymore-you can even use this for hot dog buns!!

photo and recipe credit: Cheery Kitchen

Homemade Hamburger Buns

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
• ½ cup (4 oz) warm water
• ½ cup (4 oz) milk (whole, 2%, or skim)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl, if mixing by hand), stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Knead at low speed, or by hand against the counter, for 10 minutes. The finished dough should be smooth, feel slightly tacky, and spring back when poked.
3. Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
4. Dust your work surface with a little flour and turn out the risen dough on top. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a tight ball. Transfer the balls to a baking sheet and let rise until they look puffy and hamburger-sized, roughly 30-40 minutes.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
6. Melt the butter and brush it over the risen hamburger buns. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft. Bake the buns until golden, 15-18 minutes.
7. Let the buns cool to room temperature before slicing and using. They are best if eaten within the next day or two, but will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.

Pinterest Food find: Super Lemon Bundt Cake

Our family LOVES lemons-honestly it's sort of silly how much we love them!  My mom gave me a few lemons straight off the tree and I decided to make a bundt cake-I turned to Pinterest and found this DELICIOUSNESS:

Picture and recipe from: Sprinkles Some Sugar

Ingredients:

Lemon Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs + 2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cups whole milk

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-5 tbs lemon juice

Lemon Sugar Topping

1 tbs lemon zest

1 tbs granulated sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease a bundt pan very well making sure to really get into all crevices then lightly flour pan. Set aside.

Lightly whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you're using one) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on low until they are thickened and very pale yellow in color. Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar to running mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined.

In a small saucepan, heat milk until very hot and butter is just melted. Do not boil and whisk the mixture to help the butter along. Pour into batter and mix until smooth. Batter will be very thin. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 27-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Once done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan. Release the sides of the cake with a butter knife to ensure it isn’t going to stick. Turn cake onto a large round platter or cake stand. (If using a 9x13 pan, do not remove cake, just place entire pan onto wire rack so underneath the pan can cool also.) Allow cake to finish cooling until warm to the touch.

While cake is cooling, prepare lemon sugar and glaze. For the lemon sugar, thoroughly mix the lemon zest and sugar together and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you don’t want the lemon zest on top of the cake, push the sugar through a fine mesh strainer, separating the two and discard the zest. If you don’t mind the zest on top of your cake (it will give it a nice pop of color!), then just set the mixture aside.

For the glaze, whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice, using more or less lemon juice as needed to get desired consistency. (I like to keep mine slightly thick so it won’t thin out too much when I serve it over warm cake.)Once cake is cooled down slightly, drizzle glaze over warm cake. Alternately, you can drizzle the glaze over each individual piece being served. Sprinkle lemon sugar on top.

Cake will stay soft and moist for 3 days stored in an airtight container.

Pinterest Food Find-Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Brocolli Casserole

I made this for dinner on Monday night and 3 out of 4 of us REALLY liked this-I TOTALLY recommend adding the optional bacon! ;)

• photo and recipe credit a Pinch of Yum
• 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups water, divided
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (optional… sort of)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 teaspoons seasoning (like Emeril’s Essence or any basic blend you like)
• 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (any kind will work)
• 3 cups fresh broccoli florets

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sauce: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a 9×13 baking dish (seriously, be generous because it really really sticks to the sides). Bring the chicken broth and 1/2 cup milk to a low boil in a saucepan. Whisk the other 1/2 cup milk with the poultry seasoning and flour; add the mixture to the boiling liquid and whisk until a smooth creamy sauce forms.
2. Assembly: In a large bowl, mix the sauce from step one, one cup water, quinoa, and bacon and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips and lay the chicken breasts strips over the top of the quinoa mixture. Sprinkle with the seasoning. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Broccoli: While the casserole is in the oven, place the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute until it turns bright green and then run under cold water. Set aside.
4. Bake: Remove the casserole from the oven, check the mixture by stirring it around in the pan, and if needed, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes to get the right consistency. When the quinoa and chicken are cooked and the sauce is thickened, add the broccoli and a little bit of water (up to one cup) until the consistency is creamy and smooth and you can stir it up easily in the pan. Top with the cheese and bake for 5 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese.

What we ate; pinterest inspired: Cauliflower Crusted Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

photo and recipe credit found HERE.

These were YUMMY-and no it didn't taste like Cauliflower.  I had these for lunch one day.  If you want picture for picture tutorial-click on the link above.  The only thing that I changed was to add a sprinkle of garlic because I love it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium head of cauliflower (raw), cut into small florets and stem removed
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp Italian herb seasoning
• *I added a sprinkle of garlic
• 2 thick slices of white cheddar cheese (you can also use shredded cheddar cheese)

• DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 450F. Place cauliflower into food processor and pulse until crumbs about half the size of a grain of rice.
  2. Place cauliflower into large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Your cauliflower should be soft and tender (and hot!). (If you don't want to use the microwave to dry out the cauliflower and prefer to steam and wring with a cloth to dry, check out my wringing instructions here.)
  3. Stir cauliflower to mix up the bottom and top cauliflower. Place back into the microwave and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove and stir again so that all the cauliflower cooks evenly. Place back into microwave and cook for 5 minutes. At this point, you should see the cauliflower is starting to become more dry. Microwave for another 5 minutes. Cauliflower should still be slightly moist to the touch, but should look dry and clumped up (like photo above; similar to as if someone had chewed it up and spit it back out.) If you've made cauliflower pizza or breadsticks with the cloth wringing dry method, it should look the same.
  4. Allow cauliflower to cool for a few minutes. Then add in egg and cheese. Stir to combine until smooth paste forms. Stir in seasoning. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Place onto large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using your knuckles and fingers, shape into square bread slices about 1/3 inch thick. Bake cauliflower bread for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes.
  5. Using a good spatula, carefully slide cauliflower bread off of parchment paper. Now you are ready to assemble your sandwiches. You can do this a few different ways. You can either cook on the stove top as you would normally cook a grilled cheese. You can also place sandwiches into toaster oven and broil for several minutes (5-10) until cheese is completely melted and bread is toasty. If you don't own a toaster oven, you can also do this in the oven.

Pinterest food find. Banana Bread

Picture and photo credit:Mom to Mom nutrition

Banana Bread Muffins

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: Katie Serbinski

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 12-14 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter [1/2 cup] --*I subbed half greek yogurt
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 350. Spray muffin tin pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed banana. Then add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined.
3. Fill muffin tins with batter [almost to the top]. Bake for 20 minute

Pinterest food find. Ranch Dressing.

This was SO good!  EASY quick and ready to eat right away!
*For my dairy base I used greek yogurt and mayo.

picture and recipe from Listotic.com

Pinterest Food Find-Fish & Chips AND Tartar sauce

I honesty LOVE Fish & Chips and I was really craving it the other day and I stumbled on this recipe, the only ingredient that I had to run to the store for was brown rice flour-SO yummy especially with homemade tartar sauce (not a huge fan of sweet pickles but this was DELICIOUS!)

Picture and Recipe from: Food Network

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 4 large russet potatoes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 (12-ounce) can soda water
• 1/2 cup rice flour, for dredging
• 2 (8-ounce) cod or haddock fillets, cut in 1/2 on an angle

Directions

Heat 3-inches of the oil in a deep fryer to 325 degrees F. Alternately, heat 3-inches of oil in a deep pot. (I fried mine on the stove top because I don't own a deep fryer)

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips, about the size of your index finger. Put the potatoes in the oil. Fry the chips for 2 to 3 minutes; they should not be crisp or fully cooked at this point. Remove the chips with a spider strainer or slotted spoon, to a paper towel-lined platter to drain.

Crank the oil temperature up to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and egg. Pour in the soda water and whisk to a smooth batter. Spread the rice flour on a plate. Dredge the fish pieces in the rice flour and then dip them into the batter, letting the excess drip off.

Put the chips in the bottom of the fryer basket and carefully submerge in the hot oil. Carefully wave the battered fish into the bubbling oil before dropping them in on top of the chips. Fry the fish and chips for 4 to 5 minutes until crispy and brown. Remove the basket and drain the fish and chips on paper towels; season lightly with salt. Serve wrapped in a newspaper cone with malt vinegar and/or tartar 

Tartar Sauce:

recipe and picture from: Natasha's kitchen

Ingredients for Tartar Sauce:

1 cup real Mayonnaise
1 cup finely chopped pickles
1 Tbsp dill (fresh or frozen), OR 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion is good too, but optional

Instructions:

Combine everything and stir!

What we ate Wednesday-Beef Stew

This recipe is such a crowd pleaser-my boys LOVE this and get really excited.  I usually buy my meat already cut up for stew at the grocery store, Sam's Club or Costco.  This makes it easier to trim off any fat.  And being the frugal person I am I will buy it when it's marked down and if I don't use it right away throw it in the freezer! ;)

• BEEF STEW:
• 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 pound beef stew meat, visible fat removed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 cups homemade beef stock or canned unsalted chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 medium red potatoes (about 1 pound) cut in 1-inch chunks
• 2 large carrots, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• For thickening:
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup stock

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the meat on one side for 5 minutes without turning over. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.
2. Turn meat, add 1 tsp. oil & brown another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Do not crowd the meat. Brown in two batches if necessary.
3. With all the meat browned and in the pan, reduce heat to medium. Add onion & garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes until onion is browned.
4. Add stock (enough to cover the meat), salt, thyme & bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover & simmer for 2 hours, checking occasionally.
5. After 2 hours, stir in potatoes, carrots & celery and bring to a boil. Cover & simmer 10-15 minutes until vegetables are done.
6. Combine flour with 1/4 cup stock or water, whisking until there are no lumps. Stir into stew and cook 5 more minutes until thickened.