BBQ Chicken Pizza

We love pizza in our house. Alex eats cheese pizza and Bernie and I love pizza with whole wheat dough, homemade sauce, pepperonis and lots of peppers – sweet and hot. This has been “our” pizza for years, and I thought it was time to try something new. When we are in a pinch we will usually go for a frozen California Pizza Kitchen BBQ pizza so why not try to recreate that – but fresh? This was really good and tastes very much like California Pizza Kitchen’s BBQ chicken. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce.

 

BBQ Chicken Pizza, altered slightly from CDKitchen

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 tablespoons honey
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Toppings:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce plus
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 cup Gouda cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 small red onion, sliced into rings
2 tablespoons cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees when ready to bake dough.

In a medium bowl, dissolve the honey in warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand until foamy, at least 5-10 minutes. After yeast mixture is ready, mix in oil.

In a separate large bowl combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the yeast mixture. Stir the flour into wet ingredients until all flour is incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a moist towel and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours. (if you use fast rise yeast – which I did- it won’t take as long).

Once dough is ready, punch down and divide into 2 pieces for thin crust, use the whole amount of dough for thick crust. Spread dough on a pan and use a fork to poke holes through the dough to prevent air pockets from forming. Place in the oven for 5 minutes, then remove and set aside, lowering oven temperature to 425 degrees.

While crust is cooking, begin to prepare chicken. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil on medium high heat and add chicken pieces. Saute until cooked completely and remove from heat. Coat chicken with 2 tablespoons of barbeque sauce. Set aside.

Spread 1/4 cup barbecue sauce over the surface of the dough. Distribute half of the cheese over the sauce. Spread chicken over the cheese. Place the onions over the chicken then cover with the remaining cheese.

Place pizza in the oven and bake until cheese is bubbling (about 7-10 minutes). Remove pizza from the over and sprinkle with cilantro.

 

Homemade Pizza Sauce

I never thought I would get a recipe from my little brother..ever. And to make something from scratch, that really surprised me. But, the truth is I did. My little brother tried out this recipe and my mom told me about it. We love making homemade pizza but I have always bought the sauce in the can. Making your own sauce is really not that hard and I hadn’t even thought about doing it myself. But let me tell you, it is worth it. The sauce can really make the pizza, and this sauce is so good. Even though I don’t like fennel, the fennel seed really give it a little something extra, and (I think), make the sauce so great. So, thank you Grant for the yummy find!

Homemade Pizza Sauce, from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

2 cans (15 ounces each) tomato sauce
1can (12 ounces) tomato paste

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a large saucepan or pot, combine tomato sauce and paste over medium heat. Add seasonings and mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Cool.

Yields approximately 4 cups

**You can freeze this sauce! Freeze in containers OR I like to freeze in ice cube trays, then pop out and put in a freezer bag, then you can get as much or little as you need! Can freeze for up to 12 months**

 

Chewy Brownies

I had actually never made brownies from scratch, I can’t believe it. Bernie’s mom loves chocolate so whenever she comes over I try to have something with chocolate for dessert. I have made cupcakes and various other treats and this time I thought brownies would do the trick. At first I thought I wanted something with some mix-ins or caramel but then I realized I am a working mom with 1,000 other things to do and I just wanted a good, fool-proof recipe that would be relatively easy. When I saw this recipe was from Cook’s Illustrated I knew it would be good, and who doesn’t love a chocolaty, gooey brownie? These are really rich and fudgy, perfect to go along with a tall glass of milk. While it is really tempting to eat right out of the oven, try to wait until they have cooled, they will be much easier to get out of the pan.

Cook’s Illustrated Chewy Brownies, from Project Domestication

Ingredients:
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. + 2 TB boiling water
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup vegetable oil + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon table salt
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 9×13 pan or line with foil.

In a medium bowl, whisk cocoa powder into boiling water until combined. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until melted and combined.

Whisk in butter and oil. Add eggs, egg yolks and vanilla, whisk until smooth.

Mix in sugar until fully incorporated.

With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour and salt until combined. Mix in chocolate chunks.

Scrape the batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top.

Bake 35-40 minutes. Once out of the oven, cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares (if you can resist!).

Strawberry cake – with real strawberries!

Have you ever searched for a recipe for strawberry cake?  It is really hard to find a recipe without strawberry jello or something else that is artificial.  My mom wanted a strawberry cake to celebrate her birthday and this fit the bill.  I was thrilled to find this recipe that actually uses real strawberries!  This is a really moist, dense cake but it is fresh and has a delicious strawberry flavor.  I cut back the sugar, which I usually do, and I don’t think the flavor or sweetness suffered – there is plenty of natural sweetness from all the strawberries in the recipe.  The cake has a nice light pink color – without any food dye.  I used this strawberry frosting, which has an intense strawberry flavor from the strawberry reduction!

Strawberry Cake, from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients:

For the strawberry puree:

• 24 oz very ripe strawberries, hulled
• 1-2 tsp sugar (optional)

For the cake:

• 1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
• 6 large egg whites, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8-9″ cake pans or cupcake pan.

Wash, hull and slice strawberries.  Places in a medium sized bowl and toss with sugar if desired, let sit for 1-2 hours until nice and juicy.  Puree strawberries in food processor and set aside.  Reserve 3/4 cup of puree for the cake.  The rest can be used in frosting, or something else.

In a separate medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, whip butter until fluffy, then cream sugar into butter until smooth.  Incorporate vanilla extract and egg whites one at a time.

Mix in flour mixture gradually until just combined.  Combine strawberry puree and milk and fold into batter by hand.

Bake cake for 25 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean (cupcakes about 15-20 minutes).  Let cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out and let cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Yields one two-layer cake or 24 cupcakes

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Hot Chocolate

This is the first time I have ever had homemade hot chocolate.  And let me tell you, it is delicious!  This is the most chocolatey, rich, yummy hot chocolate I have ever had.  Now I just need to make some homemade marshmallows and we will be all set.  Until then, the store marshmallows will have to do.  I can’t think of a better beverage to enjoy with these frigid cold temperatures!

Hot Chocolate Mix

from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients

2 vanilla beans
4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 pounds good quality semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
9oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate
2 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions

Split and scrape the vanilla beans and place in a large bowl (or jar) with a lid. Mix in sugar and work vanilla beans in with your fingers. Bury the pods under the sugar and cover (tightly). Let stand overnight or up to several months at room temperature. When you are ready to use, remove the pods.

Use a food processor to combine the sugar, semisweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa. Process in 4-second pulses until the chocolate is finely ground and all ingredients are well combined. You can store the mixture for up to 6 months in an airtight container!

To enjoy your hot chocolate, mix 2 tablespoons with 8oz. of warm milk. Stir until well blended.

Yields approximately 76, 2 tablespoon servings — I know that seems like a lot but you are going to love every bit of it!

Whole Wheat, Oatmeal Pancakes

My cooking priorities have shifted just a little over the past year. I don’t really have a lot of time to prepare fancy or involved meals for myself so what I have is pretty boring these days. I do make sure to have healthy and yummy food on hand for Alex though. Now he is a toddler on the move and completely on solid foods so we are trying new things all the time, which is pretty exciting! I have made these pancakes too many times to not post them. They are fluffy, moist and freeze well. I think they are so good you don’t even need a topping on them. The banana version was the best pancake I had ever had…until I tried the apple cinnamon! Seriously, these are so delicious. Alex goes crazy flinging his arms and legs when I get these out, he is so excited I barely have time to cut the pancake up for him to eat. On top of that, these freeze great (which is what I do to have them on hand all the time)!! Just make sure to let pancakes cool completely then put in a freezer bag, voila! To reheat I just defrost in the microwave then pop in the toaster for a little bit.

For the apple cinnamon version just replace the mashed banana with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon, yum!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana, mashedDirections:

1. Blend oats in a food processor until the texture resembles coarse flour. Mix together the blended oats, flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Mix together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Once combined, stir in the mashed banana. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Let batter rest for 5 minutes.

3. Heat lightly oiled pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.Yields about 12 pancakes, depending on how large you make them.

Nutrition per pancake:

Banana: 159.2 calories, 3.9g fat, 2.2g saturated fat, 17.5mg cholesterol, 204.5mg sodium, 28.4g carbohydrate, 2.3g fiber, 9.7g sugar, 5g protein

Apple cinnamon: 155.3 calories, 3.8g fat, 2.2g saturated fat, 17.5mg cholesterol, 204.7mg sodium, 27.5g carbohydrates, 2.4g fiber, 9.5g sugar, 4.9g protein

Chili Con Carne

Chili is the perfect winter meal.  I love it and could eat it anytime of the year but Bernie won’t touch it when it is warm outside.  Luckily for me, we are well into chili weather.  I usually do a spicy chili, my mom’s recipe, but I wanted to try something different.  The original recipe calls for cornbread to be cooked on top of the chili in the oven but I was a little worried about it turning out soggy being on top of the chili.  So, I made sweet cornbread separately to be served with the chili.  This is a really yummy sweet chili.

Chili Con Carne, from Nigella Lawson

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried or crushed chili flakes
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 red peppers, seeded and finely diced
3 pounds 92% fat or less ground beef
7 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 1/2 cups canned red kidney beans

Directions

Heat the oil in a very large pan and add the onion and garlic, cook until softened.  Add the chili, coriander, cumin and stir well.

Add the peppers then break up the ground beef into the pan and, using a fork, keep turning it to separate it as the meat browns. Add the crushed tomatoes, ketchup, tomato puree, and water stirring to make a rich red sauce. When the chili starts to boil sprinkle over the cocoa and stir it in.   Add beans and cook for 1.5 hours. (or you could put it in the crock pot on low for several hours)

Yields about 20 servings

Nutrition per serving: 163.1 calories, 5.8g fat, 1.4g saturated fat, 19.5mg cholesterol, 381 mg sodium, 18.1g carbohydrates, 5.3g fiber, 1.9g sugar, 11.5g protein.