Homemade Pretzel Bites

Homemade Pretzel Bites with dipping sauces!

Well after watching a brutal first half football game by the Hawks against Michigan, I decided it was time to get in the kitchen and give myself a distraction from the game. I'm thankful for being able to feed myself and Jordan each day! I came across a great recipe that seemed easy enough and we had all of the ingredients for. I tweeked it a little bit here and there but Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake is definitely a site I will be visiting frequently for more delicious and easy recipes! I made both the parmesan garlic bites and cinnamon-sugar bites. The perfect mix of salty and sweet! Make some yourself for the next gameday or group gathering and they are sure to be a big hit...they didn't last long at our place! And you'll be too busy dipping the bites and eating them one after another to even notice the second half of the game!

Ingredients: Bites:
-1 roll of frozen bread dough or frozen roll dough
-2 tablespoons butter
-cinnamon-sugar
-parmesan, kosher salt and garlic salt

Vanilla Glaze:-1 cup powered sugar
-2 tablespoons milk
-1 tablespoon melted butter
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheese Dip:
-1 tablespoon butter
-1 tablespoon all purpose flour
-1 cup milk
-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I used taco blend and it gave the cheese dip an added zip of flavor!)

Directions: 
1. set out frozen bread or rolls to unthaw. Once it is unthawed, cut it into slices and then cut each slice into 4 pieces.

2. place on a greased baking sheet and allow them to rise and fully "puff up"
3. once they are puffy, bring some water to a boil in a large pot and preheat oven to 375*. Place about 10-15 bites into boiling water for about 45 seconds. After that, remove them from water with a slotted spoon and place them on another baking sheet that is lined with paper towels.
4. remove them carefully from paper towels and place on the greased baking sheet. Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes or until they are a nice golden color.
5. melt the butter and then remove the bites form oven and butter them generously.
6. roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture and/or parmesan with garlic and kosher salt mixture

For the dips: Vanilla Glaze:
1. combine powered sugar, milk, butter and vanilla and mix well.

Cheese Dip:
1. melt butter in saucepan over medium heat then add the flour until blended.
2. slowly whisk in the milk and cook until thickened slightly.
3. remove from the heat and slowly add in the cheese until it's completely melted and stir until it is smooth.

many thanks...and chicken ranch roll-ups!

My phone hasn't rang once today from some unknown number. I have been able to watch TV in peace without being bombarded with political ads. The election is finally over and I am so thankful!!!! And I woke up this morning after sleeping easy knowing that President Obama was re-elected as our President for the next 4 years! So many things to be thankful for regarding that and now, today is a new day. Democrat or Republican, left side or right side, blue state or red state....none of that matters anymore. It's time to all unite together as one country and start having each others backs and help one another, regardless of political party. Nothing will ever get done or accomplished if people can't look past their differences and all start getting along. Let's all be friends and just be thankful for our freedom, our rights and for being alive!

Enough with that...here's a quick and great meal that we had for dinner and perfect because it contains all pantry/fridge staples (well at least for us!) so there's no reason to run to the store! What you should do is run to the kitchen and make these delicious chicken ranch roll-ups tonight or as soon as possible!!

What you will need:1 pkg cream cheese (8oz)
1 pkg crescent rolls (8 count) (you can also use TWO packages of regular sized crescents)
2 shredded, cooked chicken breasts
2 C shredded cheese (we have a 4-cheese blend that tasted great!)
1 packet of dry ranch seasoning
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
bread crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions:
1. Set out cream cheese for it to start getting to room temperature! To cook the chicken, I took the chicken breasts right out of the freezer and boiled them for 40 minutes. that way I could prepare the rest of the mix while that was cooking (and do some cleaning!) If you don't want to boil the chicken though, use whatever method works best for you but I like to boil it because that makes it shred really easy!
2. Mix block of cream cheese with shredded cheese, dry ranch, salt, and pepper.

3. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the water and shred it on a plate and remove any excess fat.
4. Unroll the crescent rolls individually and put the mixture onto the rolls. Just spoon it out first onto all of them before rolling up so you know you won't have left over mixture!

5. Roll them up and criss cross the corners in to make sure the edges are sealed. 
6. Melt the butter and brush the roll-ups with it then top them with bread crumbs. This is optional but makes them extra delicious!
7. Finally, bake them at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Yum! Super good, easy and quick to make and even easier on the wallet! We made some sweet potato fries to eat with the roll-ups which made dinner an easy clean up! And left overs for lunch tomorrow! Enjoy the roll-ups and political ad free TV because that's our plan!

Carved pumpkins & Roasted seeds!

Now that Halloween is getting closer, we thought it was finally time to carve our Great Pumpkins!!! After the search we had for these bad boys, we obviously couldn't let them go to waste! And with the perfect weather we had today and a lazy Sunday, there was no better time in our mind to carve them than today! 

And there's the finished products after lots of concentrating and carving, perfecting the cuts, and cleaning the seeds! I went with a monogram and Est. 2012, which is no surprise. I love monograms and since it's our first Halloween as a married couple, I couldn't pass it up! Jordan likes to carve out a challenging design so he went with Hades from Hercules! I think they look pretty awesome and now our porch is ready for Halloween! 

Now for the pumpkin seeds recipes! I made these in two separate batches today because I didn't know if cooking them in the oven at the same time would mix the flavors or have them end up tasting funky and since I was home all day anyway...I figured, why not! So the two different flavors I did were salty/spicy garlic and cinnamon-sugar apple cider! Yummmy they are tasty! I know it might seem like a lot of work to separate the seeds from all of the pulp and goop, but one taste of the seeds, and you'll know that it was worth the work! The first thing to do for whichever seasoning you decide to go with is to soak the seeds in a bowl of hot water then rinse them off and pay them dry. That really helps to get the pulp off easily!

Salty-Garlic Seeds:
2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter OR olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (I like using corse salt)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Directions: **Same directions for both flavors of seeds!**
1. Preheat oven to 275*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper 
melt the butter in a mixing bowl then add salt, garlic powder and garlic salt, worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Mix this up well then add in the seeds.
2. Once the seeds are fully coated, spread evenly onto the parchment paper in a single layer.
3. Bake for 1 hour, checking occasionally and tossing them around. Bake until the butter mixture is dried and until they are  nice and golden brown.
4. Take out from the oven and take the parchment paper with seeds still on it off the baking sheet to cool. Store in an air tight container!

Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Cider Seeds:
2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter OR olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

mmm fresh roasted pumpkin seeds!
Salty and Sweet!

Aside from the Hawks losing terribly yesterday, we still had an enjoyable weekend! It was beautiful fall weather here, we spent time with friends and each other, and got to carve our pumpkins! Next weekend our good friends Jared & Heather are getting married we're really looking forward to celebrating with them!!! Eeek and that means that my girl friends Leah and Hilary will be coming to town on Friday for the weekend/wedding! Really looking forward to next weekend already so let's hope that doesn't make the week drag on, isn't that the worst?! Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend and here's to a not so manic Monday! :)

homemade mini pizzas for gameday!

Well right now, our Hawks are playing and it's halftime. And they look awful. Man, we spent the day tailgating, hopping around seeing a bunch of our friends, soaking in Melrose Madness, and walked past the roar of Kinnick Stadium before heading home to catch the game. We were going to try and get tickets but two things in the end made us decide to come home: a. the tickets people were selling were from $50-75 a piece and we just don't roll like that. and b. I was already cold and had all of my layers on that I brought. So sue me, I forgot to bring a hat and gloves! Anyway, now after watching the first half in the comfort of our home, we're both pretty happy we passed up the tickets! Since it's gameday, I figured we'd go for a fun and easy dinner that's like the other tailgate food we had been snacking on all day. And the first thing that came to mind was, mini pizzas!!! We actually make these bad boys every Thursday night at the hospital for Bingo & Pizza with the kiddos and they love them! This seriously is a 15-minute dinner and about a $5.00 meal and it's delicious. Is there anything better than a quick, cheap and tasty meal? I think not!

Ingredients:1 can of homestyle biscuits (I used the smaller ones that had 10 in the package, but you could use the big fluffy ones that have 6-8 in the can)
1 jar of Ragu pizza sauce
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of mini pepperonis (I used turkey pepperoni--70% less fat than regular!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400*F
2. Take biscuits out of can, flatten them down between your hands and then spread evenly on an ungreased baking sheet.
3. Cover biscuits with the pizza sauce (however much sauce you like), then layer the cheese and pepperonis on top. 

equal peps on each pizza...
I forgot how much they spread so I would add more next time!

4. bake for 10 minutes or until the biscuit is golden brown and the cheese is baked to your liking.

5. let cool and enjoy! 

Then cheer on your team like crazy to play a better second half! Come on Hawks, pull it together! And there's talk of carving our AMAZING pumpkins tonight...so that could be happening! Since it's already getting so late though, it might be a two-day project but I'm excited to carve mine because I have a great idea instead of just decorating it....and then I'm going to make roasted pumpkin seeds! Mmmm! 

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread

Garbage bread, ewww, what the heck is that?! Well, it's essentially the same thing as a stromboli or a calzone somewhat. But calling it garbage bread makes it sound like the kind of pizza my parents always used to order when they referred to it as "garbage gut." Which come find out, is great pizza. So basically, this was a big pile of delicious goodness, rolled up into some pizza dough and baked. Super easy, cheap and quick to make as well! And Jordan loves all things buffalo so I knew this would be a win-win for us and an easy dinner because these are all staple ingredients we always have on hand!

Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts1 tsp. olive oil1 pizza dough (I used Wal-Mart brand and let it sit out for about 20 minutes)4 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese4 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese1/2 cup of Franks Red Hot Sauce (or any kind of hot sauce you prefer)1/3 cup of ranch or blue cheese dressing

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425*F
2. cube chicken, season it with salt and pepper, add olive oil to skillet and let heat up. Once skillet is ready,  fully cook chicken. 
3. Once chicken is cooked, add 1/4 cup of Franks sauce, stir, and let the chicken simmer for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. On a well floured surface, spread pizza dough into a long rectangle shape (or the best you can, kind of hard to get a perfect rectangle!)

 5. Before adding stuff onto the pizza dough, make sure you leave about 1/2 inch around all sides so when you're done rolling, you have extra dough to pinch it shut with! Add ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing (depending on your preference!) and remaining 1/4 cup of wing sauce.  Spread across the dough mixing the two together.  Add mozzarella and cheddar cheese, layer chicken on top, then layer chicken with remaining cheese.  You can also add a bit more of the wing sauce on top of the cheese if you want it to be a little bit spicier.

 6. Roll the dough like a big pinwheel. It worked best to use bigger folds and both hands to keep all of the toppings inside.

 7. Pinch the ends shut or fold them over to keep all of the goods from oozing out!

 8. Spray baking sheet with light coat of non-stick cooking spray.  Place garbage bread on the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. (may need to adjust cooking time so keep an eye on it!)

 9. take out and let cool then cut into it and enjoy! 

Mmmm! This was great and will likely be making frequent appearances on our weekly meal menu now! And it tasted great with a big ol' glass of milk to wash it down, so enjoy!

crock-pot pot roast...and homemade beef stew for later!

If there's one type of dinner that I love, it would be the easy crock pot meals! Throwing all the ingredients and goods into the crock pot in the morning, working the day away and then coming home to a delightful aroma and knowing all we have to do is dish up the goodness that was cooking all day....ooh boy! I love crock pot meals so today I threw together one of our favorite comfort foods: a beef pot roast! And there was a good sale going on in the meat department this weekend which is why I bought the roast in the first place! Growing up I remember always raising my nose when my Dad said we were having roast for dinner and now I love it...funny how that happens! But I have put a twist on Dad's classic roast recipe and it really amps up the flavor! The second best part of this is since it's only me and Jordan, we always have tons of leftovers so I can make beef stew after. Such a great two-fer recipe!

Beef Pot Roast Ingredients:
2-3 pound beef roast (round, chuck or rump...we always have chuck)
6-8 russet potatoes, cubed
1/2 white onion, sliced and chopped
1 small bag of baby carrots
1 packet of dry Italian dressing
1 packet of dry Ranch dressing
1 packet of dry brown gravy
1 1/2 cups of water

Directions: 1. peel, slice and cube the potatoes, slice onion then throw those along with the carrots into the crockpot. 2. place beef into crock pot on top of the veggies. 3. mix the italian, ranch and gravy packets with the water in a small bowl (helps to keep them from clumping together) and pour the mixture over the meat and veggies. 4. cook on low heat for 8-10 hours (medium heat for 6-8 or high heat for 4-6) 5. enjoy!

If you have leftovers (and you probably will if you add in extra potatoes, lots of carrots and/or have a big roast like we usually do!) here is what you'll need to make the beefstew:

1 16oz can of beef broth
1 packet of dry onion soup mix

Directions: 1. take out the meat from the crockpot and shred with two forks. 2. cut potatoes into smaller cubes if necessary. Add meat and veggies back to the crock pot. 3. add the beef broth and dry onion soup packet and stir together. 4. place crock in refrigerator to store if you plan to eat it the next day or in a freezer safe tupperware to enjoy on a cold day! It defrosts great and tastes just as good as it was fresh from the day I made it! We like to pair it with some crescent rolls and a big glass of milk! Perfect for a chilly fall or winter day meal!

BBQ Chicken Pizza On The Grill!

The other day I was leaving to go to work and was greeted by a huge Pampered Chef box waiting outside our door!! Yay for getting early wedding shower gifts sent directly to me! My cousins Britney and Andrea gave us the BBQ Pizza Grill Set from PC off of our registry. 

Mmmm! It came with this pizza pan for the grill, big flexible spatula, and their Beer BBQ Sauce! So we tested it out tonight and made BBQ Chicken Pizza!

Here's what you'll need:
-pizza dough: I used the pillsbury dough from the refrigerated section and rolled it out
-BBQ sauce of any flavor
-chicken
-cheese
-red onion
-green pepper

Total time: 45 minutes

1. Cube the chicken first, then cook in olive oil with some minced garlic. Once it's about done, pour in half cup BBQ sauce and let simmer. 
2. Cut green pepper and red onion and set aside.
3. Roll out pizza dough. I sprinkled flour on the counter and just rolled it out then put it on the pizza pan.
4. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup BBQ sauce on the dough and spread evenly. Then top with chicken, cheese, onion and pepper along with any other additional toppings you like.
5. Cook on grill set to medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes. Check frequently to see if it needs to be rotated at all or if the bottom is getting burned.
6. Let cool then transfer to safe top to cut the pizza on.
7. Enjoy some awesome grill style pizza!

Perfecto!
The pizza was delicious and this pan worked
awesome to grill it on! Can't wait to try out
some more homemade pizzas this summer!

Homemade Tag Alongs

I found a recipe on Pinterest that I just knew I had to make on my own! It was for homemade tag along Girl Scout cookies!!! Who doesn't love to devour a whole box of Girl Scout cookies in one setting? Oh wait, only I do that? Shoot, you all are missing out because a cookie coma is the best. When talking about Girl Scout cookies, people usually name Thin Mints or Tag Alongs (now renamed to Peanut Butter Patties...lame) as their favorite kind of cookie. And rightfully so because they're both the ones I'd pick but I'd choose the Tag Alongs any day over Thin Mints! Maybe it's because of my obsession with peanut butter and Reese's that they remind me of so much....good thing Jordan is equally obsessed with all things peanut butter and Reese's so I knew this recipe would be a win-win for both of us. This was our cookie project that we made yesterday! I followed the recipe from Baking Bites and tweeked it a little bit here and there....

Cookie Ingredients

1 cup butter (or 2 full sticks)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Filling Ingredients1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Coating
12 oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Makes about 3 dozen

Total time: 2-3 hours

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk. The dough should come together into a soft ball. (This was about the time I was wishing I had a KitchenAid mixer...I'm hoping that we get one for a wedding gift!)

3. Take a tablespoon full of dough and flatten it into a disc about 1/4-inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Cookies will not spread too much, so you can really squeeze them in more than you would for chocolate chip cookies. Or you could roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter but that seemed more time consuming to me...

4. Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes, until bottoms and the edges are lightly browned and cookies are set.

5. While cookies are baking, I made the peanut butter filling. In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt and vanilla then set aside. 

6. Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, use measuring spoon or a small spoon to make a depression in the center of each cookie

7. Cool for a 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet then I transferred the cookies from the sheet right to the counter since they were on the parchment paper.

8. Once the cookies are cooled, heat up the peanut butter filling in the microwave in 15-20 second intervals until it is really smooth and creamy. It should be easy to work with. Carefully spoon the filling to into the depression on the cookie and across the top of them.

Mmmm! So much peanut butter!
I didn't make them as thin or pretty as the real Tag Alongs
but there's nothing wrong with some extra peanut butter!

9. Chill cookies with filling for 20-30 minutes, or until the peanut butter is firm. (At this point, I stopped and made dinner and then came back to the cookies...)

10. To melt the chocolate, I didn't want to use the microwave because I knew I would have to keep reheating it repeatedly to coat all of the cookies. So I made a make shift double boiler (after burning and ruining an entire bag of chocolate chips first. Good thing I bought 2 just in case!) I filled the pot about 2 inches with water and had the oven set on medium-high heat. Pour the chocolate chips into a heat-resistant bowl that can sit on top of the pot and make a secure seal or as secure as possible to keep the steam in, which is what melts the chocolate.

Some of the steam got out but overall, it had a
tight enough seal to keep the chocolate melted.

11. This part got messy so that's your fair warning! Dip the chilled cookies into the chocolate....there's really no easy/smooth way to do this. I tried it with a spoon, fork and tongs and ultimately, just by carefully using my fingers to hold the cookie and coat it worked the best. Let the excess chocolate drip off then place on parchment paper on baking sheet to cool. Once the baking sheet was full, I put them back in the fridge to chill and harden. 

12. Once they are chilled and hardened, pour yourself a nice big glass of milk and enjoy! And accept all compliments from a very satisfied fiance who 100% approved and also devoured some right away!

Go Cubs Go!
The Perfect Combination!

13. Store in fridge to keep chilled so chocolate coating doesn't melt. I stacked them and used parchment paper between so they didn't get stuck to each other. These were easier to make than I thought they would be and well worth the time! Now we can have Tag Along year round...sell your heart out Girl Scout but don't come knocking around here anymore! Oh who am I kidding, I'll still buy some!