I want more Smores!!

What a fun summer treat. Reminds me of when I went camping with Girl Scouts. I make mine for my kids indoors. Not too big a fan of starting a fire in the backyard :)

Preheat oven to 325. Line a pan w/ foil to avoid having your house smell of burned marshmallows (ask me how I know!)

Place 1 half of a graham cracker on the pan and top w/ 3 rectangles of Hershey's chocolate. Place 1 jumbo marshmallow on the chocolate and bake in the oven for about 6 minutes. Take another half of cracker and gently smoosh the marshmallow down.

Enjoy the ooey, gooey, goodness!!

Super Easy Pizza Rounds!

This is fun for kids to make, and super easy!

8 English muffin halves
1 container of Contadina Pizza Squeeze pizza sauce
1 8 oz package of mozzarella cheese

Optional: pepperoni and other toppings


Preheat oven to 375. On a foil lined pan, place 8 english muffin halves. Liberally apply the pizza sauce and spread w/ the back of a spoon. Generously top w/ shredded cheese and other toppings. Place in preheated oven for 6-7 minutes, or until the cheese is melted!

French Toast Casserole (make the night before)

This is a great casserole, but do not forget that it needs to be prepared the night before you want to eat it. I went to make this last Christmas for brunch and saw the directions "Refridgerate for 8 hours" Oops! I served this with diced organic Braeburn apples. I will put that at the end of the recipe :)

1 10 oz loaf of french bread cut into 1" cubes ( I used a little more than 10 oz because my pan didn't seem full enough)
8 eggs (I used 1 full container Egg Beaters and 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters)
3 cups milk (use skim milk to make it lower in far, but I used Horizons 2%)
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt (optional)
Topping:
2 tbsp butter or margarine, cubed
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
maple syrup can be used to pour over once plated, but I dusted w/ powdered sugar once it was cool.

Place the bread cubes in a greased 9x13 pan. In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla and salt if you are using it. Pour over the bread evenly. It will look really liquidy, but once it sits overnight, the bread soaks it all up. Cover and stick in the fridge overnight, or at least 8 hours. Take out of the fridge and bring to room temp, around 30 mins before baking.
Dot with the butter (from the topping list). Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the top of the dish. Cover w/ foil and bake at 350* for around 50 minutes. Check with a knife in the center to be sure that it comes out clean (no evidence of uncooked eggs). Let stand for 5 mins.

I then took 4 Braeburn apples and diced them up and combined them with about 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. The juice from the apples makes a syrup. I stuck the bowl in the microwave for about 3 minutes and stirred and checked a piece to see if it was soft. Basically just wing it and microwave until the apples are soft.

Plate the french toast and spoon apples over it if you want to, and then dust w/ powdered sugar. We didn't even need syrup! I served this with Wellshire Farms Chicken Apple breakfast sausage patties.

Pizza Dough in the breadmaker

I have a Cuisinart convection breadmaker, and this is the recipe I use from my recipe book.
To make a 2 lb (large) pizza, follow this recipe:

Water, 80-90 degrees- 1 1/3 cups
1 tsp honey or sugar
2 tsp sea or kosher salt
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 1/4 cups bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry, instant or bread machine yeast

Place ingredients in breadmaker in order listed, fitted w/ kneading paddle. Select dough/pizza dough. Select dough size (2 lbs). Press START to mix, knead and rise. When dough cycle is completed, deflate dough and use to make your own pizza.

I roll it out on a floured counter and place it onto a round pizza pan that is brushed w/ olive oil. I bake at 375 for 18-20 mins, but eyeball it since all ovens differ. You can tell by the cheese and the texture of the crust if its done or not.

Pic to come soon!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

These are really good, and HUGE! Be sure to use a greased cookie sheet or they stick really bad!

Homemade Soft Pretzels:


3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons baking soda
3 cups water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt, or to taste

Directions:



In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1 1/3 cup water. Let this mixture stand until bubble begin to form, about 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and gradually stir in the remaining flour until dough can be picked up and kneaded on the counter. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding more flour if needed.

Divide the dough into 6 pieces and let them rest for a few minutes. Roll out one piece at a time into a rope about 15 inches long. Loop and twist into that cool pretzel shape. Set on a baking sheet while you roll out the remaining portions.



Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bring the remaining 3 cups of water to a boil and add the baking soda. Remove from the heat. Dip pretzels into the water bath for about 45 seconds, flipping over about halfway through. Place the soaked pretzels on a greased baking sheet. Brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes

Crock Pot Italian beef sandwiches

I made these for my housewarming party and everyone loved it!

4-5 lb beef chuck roast
0.7 oz pkg dry italian salad dressing mix (not the zesty kind)
8-10 pepperocinis
2 cups hot water
16-20 buns

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. heat on low for 10 hrs. Shred beef, serve on buns. Serves 16-20.

Baked Bananas

Looking to use up those nasty blackend bananas? Here is a super easy recipe!

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt (optional)
7 ripe bananas


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, mix together cornstarch and sugar. Gradually stir in water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in butter, lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt.
Peel bananas, and place in a casserole dish. Drizzle sauce over bananas.
Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes. Serve warm.