Daring Pizza!

This months Daring Bakers was hosted by Rosa of Rosa Yummy Yums and she chose to have us make pizza like the pros. That meant tossing the pizza by hand! I made the dough but just couldn't get the courage to toss it, so I rolled it instead. I know, I'm a chicken! The hubby and I love a place in Utah called The Pie Pizzeria and our favorite pizza from there is Chicken Ranch so I re-created that pizza for us. The dough was super easy to make and freezes really well for later use! And the pizza was excellent and came together really quick!


Chicken Ranch Pizza
By Amber

Dough Recipe
2 grilled chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces (nothing special, just cooked it on the grill)
5 pieces of bacon, crumbled
1 garlic clove, minced (use more if you like)
1 cup ranch
1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tablespoons parsley (fresh or dried)

Roll or toss the dough, cover with ranch dressing and add toppings. Bake for about 15 minutes or until dough is slightly browned and chicken is warm.

I'm Going To Be On TV!

I entered a recipe contest about a month ago to Good Things Utah (a local morning talk show). The recipe had to include ground turkey and I had just made my Thanksgiving Bundles, so I entered the recipe. I just got an email that I am one of four contestants and get to make my recipe live, on air November 24th at 10am! I am scared and so excited! So for all you Utah folks, please watch me!

Happy Birthday Harley!

Ready to be baked-they look like regular human cookies!

Still Steaming!

Harley waiting for us to throw him a cookie!

My little Golden Harley turned 2 on October 21st so we celebrated by making cookies! No, not sugar cookies with frosting, not chocolate chip cookies, not oatmeal cookies, but dog cookies! Rachael Ray has pet friendly recipes so I snagged her recipe and whipped up a batch. My dogs loved them and I will definitely make them again!
Recipe makes about 2 1/2 pounds of cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 Pound bacon
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup beef broth
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with foil.
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain, reserving the grease. Let the bacon cool slightly, then crumble.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal and crumbled bacon. In a large measuring cup, stir together 1 1/3 cups warm water and the broth and pour into the dry ingredients. Add the EVOO and stir together to form a loose dough. Knead on a work surface until smooth.
4. Divide the dough into balls of the appropriate size for your dog (about 1 inch for large dogs and 1/2 inch for small dogs) and set on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the reserved bacon grease. Bake until firm to the touch, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely.

Betty Crocker Got No Game/Weekly Menu

My nick name at work is Betty Crocker because everything I bake I take into work! But this week, I got no game. It took me several hours to come up with a menu this week, nothing sounded good or looked good as I searched through blogs and books. Oh well, food is food and my stomach will be filled either way!

Monday: Chicken Alfredo
Tuesday:Sloppy Joes (they didn't happen last week)
Wednesday:Chicken Dumplings
Thursday:Tacos
Friday:Sausage and Potatoes

Wreath Hanger

Hanging in the hall

My sisters birthday was in September and I made us both wreath hangers. You can change the wreath out according to the season, hang a festive sign from it, or hang a picture from it. I got the frame from The Wood Connection and painted it black. I inserted a "C" hook so you can hang things from it. And then I put a hook on the back to hang it on the wall. It was very easy and minus the wreath it cost me about $20!

Weekly Menu

I found a new blog and am making some recipes from it this week!

Monday: BBQ Chicken and Corn
Tuesday: Beef Teriyaki with Rice (from Favorite Family Recipes Blog)
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes
Thursday: Meat Balls with Noodles (from Favorite Family Recipes Blog)
Friday: Take-Out

Mae's Best Banana Bread

My middle name is Mae which came from my great grandmother Mae Bailey. Mae contributed to her church cookbook probably before I was even born and my mother has a copy of this book. As a little girl I would often look through this cookbook and look for the recipes made by her. One of my favorites is her banana bread. This is the easiest and best bread ever and I love it! My mother would add a mixture of brown sugar, flour and some other things on top of the bread. When I make it now, I just sprinkle some brown sugar on the top and it creates a crunchy and delicious topping for the bread!

Makes 1 Loaf

1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter/margarine
3 mashed bananas
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour

Mix in order given. Place in loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.Then bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until bread is done.

From Blog To Book

I have heard that you can turn your blogs into books and my friend at work found the website, it is http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook. Maybe all you fancy bakers and chefs out there would like to print off your recipes and keep them on your counter for easy access or give them to suckers, I mean family and friends, for Christmas presents!

Drumroll....Thanksgiving Bundles

I have wanted to "create" my own recipe for awhile. I'm not quite sure what constitutes making-up a recipe though. Is it throwing random things from your pantry together or following a recipe but tweaking a few things? I don't really know. But it is hard, how do you all do it? As far as I know I've only made a dip recipe before. But I'm pretty sure that I haven't heard or seen anything exactly like this before.

For any of you that know me, I have an addiction to bread! I love it! But I especially love Crescent Rolls. So when I saw the new Crescent Dough Sheets, I knew that I had to use it for something. So I concocted Thanksgiving Bundles! I made the recipe for dinner one night and the hubby loved it (that takes a lot)! Then I took the leftovers to work and they loved them too! One of my co-workers even dreamed about them, so they gotta be good!

Drumroll... here is the recipe:
Makes about 16 bundles

2 rolls of Crescent Dough Sheets
6 oz. Turkey Flavored Stove Top Dressing (plus ingredients to make)
2 Celery Stalks
3 cloves garlic
1 pound ground turkey
.87 oz Gravy (pick your style)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350. Follow the directions to cook the Stove Top in the microwave. While the Stove Top is cooking, ground the turkey until browned. Cut up the garlic and celery into small pieces. Cook the gravy according to package directions. Combine the ground turkey, celery, garlic, salt and pepper and half of the gravy in a large bowl. Roll out the dough and cut into 2X2 inch squares. Place about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the center of each dough square and fold edges to meet at the top. Place in muffin cups and cook about 13 minutes or until dough is golden brown on top. Serve with remaining gravy, mashed potatoes and a veggie of your choice. You could even grab and apple pie to complete your "Thanksgiving" meal!

Peach Cake

I had a dinner party a few weeks ago and wanted to try something different. I found a recipe for Peach Cake on THIS website. This cake was so light and refreshing! The recipe says to mash your peaches, but the only peaches that I could fine were hard. So I pureed them in my food processor and then added it to the cake, kind of like apple sauce. I gave the leftover cake to my guests and after eating dinner and the cake at my house they had the rest of the cake on the way home!