Pizza Dough

I stole this recipe from my Friends Blog. I did change it up a little and I love it. Ever since I found it I have been keeping dough in a zip lock bag in my fridge. I find myself a lot of days trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. When I get too hungry watch out I'm a total beast to be around!! So I love having the dough ready for such days. My family loves this pizza and it's so easy and can be ready to eat in 20 minutes. You can't beat that!!

In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cups hot water with 1 1/2 tbs yeast and 2 tbs sugar and let sit for about 10 min. When yeast is foaming add olive oil, salt-important salt will kill your yeast so don't add it until after it foams. And add flour

Mix in a kitchenaid or knead by hand for about 10 minutes. Now I heard the secret to the best dough is to use less flour than the recipe calls for. The dough should be a little sticky.

Spray the inside of a ziplock bag with non-stick spray and add dough. Keep in the fridge until you are ready.

When you are ready roll dough out on a floured surface. Even though I have the silpat I still use flour due to the stickiness of the dough.

Place dough on a round pizza pan. I have also used a rectangle cookie sheet and it worked fine.

Add your favorite toppings and Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. This is one I made for my kids and their friends. I favorite pizza is ranch dressing (light on the dressing just enough for the flavor) crushed garlic, fresh basil, artichoke hearts, tomato slices and plenty of mozzarella cheese!! I'm hungry just thinking about it....too bad I started fat camp yesterday...and before you ask I call eating healthy or dieting going to fat camp. I'm not really going anywhere.

 xoxo Janis!!

Pizza Dough (makes 2 pizzas)

(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

1 1/2 Cups hot water

1 1/2 Tbs Yeast

2 Tbs Sugar

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 tea salt

3 3/4 cup Flour

In a bowl combine 1 1/2 cups hot water with 1 1/2 tbs yeast and 2 tbs sugar and let sit for about 10 min. When yeast is foaming add olive oil, salt and flour. Knead or mix in a kitchenaid for 10 minutes. Spray a ziplock bag with non-stick spray and keep dough in fridge until ready to make.

Lemon Bars

Ok Truth time this picture is not mine. I forgot to take a picture of my lemon bars before they got devoured! In fact a friend of mine swung by my house while I was out on a date with my husband and sent me a text saying "your lemon bars are amazing" so rest assured they were good! And I will remake them and change the picture

In your kitchenaid mix butter, flour and sugar until combined. 

Press dough into a 13x9 and bake for 15-20 minutes

This recipe calls for room temperature eggs. I'm never prepared enough to leave my eggs out and have them ready for me and even if I did I hate waiting. When I'm ready to cook I'm ready right then. So I stick my eggs in a bowl and let them sit in hot tap water while I throw my other ingredients in the mixer.

Add your eggs, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix. Add Flour and mix until combined. When I made these I used 1 Cup of Lemon juice and I felt like they were a little too tart so I am cutting the recipe to 3/4 cup but if you like tart go for the full cup and add more zest.

Pour over your baked crust and bake about 35-40 minutes

                              
                                xoxo Janis!!

Lemon Bars

(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

Crust:

2 sticks butter

1/2 Cup sugar

2 Cups flour

Mix all together until just combined. Press dough into a 13x9 pan and bake for 15-20 minutes for 350 degrees

Filling:

6 Eggs at room Temperature

3 Cups Sugar

Zest of 2 lemons

3/4 cup Lemon Juice

1 Cup Flour

Wisk all together and pour over crust. Bake for 35-40 minutes until set. Let cool and dust with confectioners sugar

Strawberry Delight Jell-o Salad

 

My daughters coach hates chocolate.

(I know, she is crazy right?!) 

She would always ask me to make her this, as strawberries are her favorite.  I would just call it jell-o salad, but her would call it "Strawberry Delight Jell-o".  So Brittiany, this one if for you!

These are what you need.  Now lets get started.  I like to put the pineapple in the freezer for an hour.  That way it helps to get the jello to set up quicker.  I froze the Strawberries earlier in the Summer.

 1-6 oz package of Strawberry Jello. Cook with 1 cup of boiling water.  When the liquid is clear.  Remove from heat and add 1 cup of ice cold water.
Add frozen sliced strawberries, let them thaw.

Add diced Banana and cold pineapple.
Pour half of the Jell-o mixture in a 8X8 pan

Pictured is a 9X13 pan.  
I doubled the recipe. we were having a big group. 
With everything being cold, it will set up quickly.
Put in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.  It should be firm enough to spoon over the sour cream.

I know you might be thinking... Sour Cream?  But with all the sweetness of the fruit and jell-o.  It really adds a nice flavor!

Spoon over the other half of the Jell-o 
over the sour cream.  
Place in the refrigerator to set up completely.
Enjoy!


Strawberry Delight Jell-o Salad
(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)
1-6 oz box Strawberry Jell-o
1 cup hot water
1-13 oz can of crushed pineapple
2 large ripe bananas
2-10 oz packages sliced Strawberries
1 cup ice cold water
1 cup sour cream




In a pot add 1 cup boiling water and jello mix.  Boil until the liquid is clear and everything has dissolved.  Remove from heat and add 1 cup ice cold water.  Add strawberries and stir until they have thawed.  Add pineapple and banana.  Spoon half the Jell-o in a 8X8 pan and refrigerate for 15 minutes.   If the pan with the remaining half starts to set up, just give it a little stir.  Spoon sour cream over the jello in the 8X8 pan and 
add remaining Jell-o from the pot.  
Refrigerate until firm.


Print Recipe

Enjoy!

Love,
Barbara


This is really pretty for holidays. 
Christmas, Thanksgiving and Valentines Day!

Lettuce Wraps

With the New Year I'm sure you are all making resolutions to eat healthier or lose weight. I have the most delicious healthy lettuce wraps to help you on your way. I love these so much. I went to PF Changs with some girl friends and we ordered the lettuce wraps there. I actually preferred my wraps to theirs and it was actually hard for me to pay for something that I felt I make better. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Chop onion and throw it in a hot pan with a little sesame oil. 

While onion is sauteing Chop your napa cabbage leaves. Here's a picture of what Napa cabbage looks like in case you are like me and not have a clue what it looked like.
 
Throw cabbage into the pan with onions. Cook until tender about 4 minutes. Drain Excess water in a colander

Add ground turkey to onion/cabbage mixture and cook until no longer pink. Drain meat and add back to pan. Add cabbage/onion mixture,water chestnuts and shitake mushrooms.

  Shitake mushrooms can be hard to find and they can be pricey. I found the easiest and cheapest is to buy them in a can which can be found in the asian isle in the grocery store. Winco has them for about $0.44/can. If you can't find the can or them fresh you could always use the dried shitake mushrooms also found in the asian food isle. 

This is my favorite brand hoisin sauce.  My husband loves it so much he will add more on top of his lettuce wraps. Add Hoisin sauce, soy sauce and five spice powder and cook about 3 minutes. These tend to have a lot of liquid so I will sometimes add 3 TBS cornstarch to thicken it up. Serve in Lettuce leaves

 xoxo Janis!!

Lettuce Wraps 
(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

1 Chopped Onion

10 Napa Cabbage Leaves

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 can Water Chestnuts

1 Can Shitake Mushrooms

1/4 cup Lite-Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Hoisin Sauce

1 tea Five spice powder

Chop onion and throw it in a hot pan with a little sesame oil. While onion is sauteing Chop your napa cabbage leaves. Throw cabbage into the pan with onions and cook about 3 minutes and drain excess water in a colander.  Brown ground turkey  until no longer pink Drain excess liquid. Add onion/cabbage mixture back in the pan with turkey and add Chestnuts and shitake mushrooms. Add soy sauce, hoisin sauce and five-spice powder and cook about 3 more minutes. Serve in Lettuce leaves

Chicken Penne Pasta

This is a recipe that a was given from my friend Jenny.  Of course I had to change it up a bit from the original.  It is another one of my family favorites.

This is really super easy, but not low cal!

Drain the oil from the sun dried tomatoes.  Reserve 2 Tbsp of the oil for sauteing onion and garlic in.

Chop onion, garlic and fresh basil.

Saute onion and garlic until clear and add chicken.

Cook chicken for 8 minutes.  Boil the pasta while the chicken is cooking

Add 2 handfuls of baby spinach to the colander and drain the pasta into the colander.  

It will steam the spinach.

Add pasta, sun dried tomatoes, basil mushrooms, and cream to the pot.  

Simmer on low heat for 2 minutes.

Toast pine nuts and add to the pasta.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Penne Pasta

(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

1 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 small or 2 large chicken breast, cubed

3 Tbsp fresh basil chopped

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

2 handfuls baby spinach

1 6oz can sliced mushrooms

8 oz penne pasta (Cook as directed)

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Drain tomatoes of oil, reserve 2 Tbsp oil to saute garlic and onion.  Add chicken and saute 8 minutes. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, spinach, pasta and cream.  Saute 2 minutes.  Toss in toasted pine nuts and sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Print Recipe

Love,
Barbara

Crock Pot Chicken and Stove Top

This is a special shout out to the girls who have the misfortune of working with my brother!! Haha! Just Kidding I love him. They were requesting some crock pot meals. I'm glad because I have been wanting to figure out some more delicious meals that I can throw together and forget about. The problem for me tends to be I throw all this stuff in a crock pot expecting that it is going to be the most delicious meal and I'm always disappointed by the watery end result.

This was really simple. First Spray your crock pot with some non-stick spray and pour half of a box of stove top on the bottom. Pour 1 tbs Melted butter over bread crumbs

Lay down 3 chicken breasts on top

In a bowl mix 2 cans cream of chicken soup, parsley I used fresh parsley but dried would work just the same, chicken broth and some oregano.

Dump the rest of the stove top on chicken breasts and half of the soup mixture. Lay 3 more breasts down. Cover with the other box of stove top and rest of Soup. Cook on low for 6-7 hours

I was thinking about my sisters family when I was making this meal. They love love love canned Cranberries. I thought this would be the perfect meal to serve with their beloved side dish.

 xoxo Janis!!

Crock Pot Chicken & Stove Top

(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

(2) 10.5 Oz Cans Cream of Chicken soup

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth

1-2 TBS Fresh Parsley (or 1 tea Dried)

1 Tea Oregano

2 Boxes Stove Top Stuffing

2 TBS Melted Butter

Spray Crock pot with non-stick spray. Pour half of a box of stove top on the bottom of crock pot. Pour 1 tbs Melted butter over bread crumbs. Layer 3 Chicken breasts on top of bread crumbs. Cover Breasts with more stuffing. In a bowl mix 2 cans cream of chicken soup, parsley, chicken broth and some oregano.Pour half soup mixture on Bread crumbs. Add 3 more chicken breasts. Pour remaining stuffing. Drizzle 1 tbs melted butter. Pour remaining Soup mixture over chicken and cook on low for 6-7 hours

You can download this recipe from our google drive:
http://alturl.com/zovqf

Tres Leches Cake

My Nephew is coming home today from a month long trip to Utah to build a motorcycle!!! This nephew will call me whenever he is craving something sweet. One day he had asked me to figure out how to make a Tres Leches Cake. He told me all I had to do was bake a cake mix...I don't know what he said after that because I stopped listening to the rest of his story once I heard cake mix!! I googled a bunch of recipes and combined all the things I liked about each recipe into one delicious goodness. This is now his favorite cake and I'm making it just for him to celebrate his home coming!
I would say that this cake is the vanilla version of a better than sex cake. In the summer I think it would be fantastic with fresh strawberries...

This seems a little complicated but actually its pretty easy. Get out 2 bowls and separate egg whites from the egg yolks into each bowl. In the silver bowl I am putting my egg whites so my kitchenaid can beat the whites while I beat the yolks

Add 1/4 sugar to whites, 2 tea vanilla and beat until you can turn the bowl upside down and not spill the whites. Egg whites are temperamental there can not be any moisture or the whites will not beat up the way you want them to. Without fail whenever my husband sees the whites all beat up like whip cream he will attempt to lick the beater. Sometimes I warn him and sometimes I keep my mouth shut so I can see his reaction when he tastes the nasty eggs expecting something else...

In the other bowl beat your yolks, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tea vanilla ( no not a typo I add vanilla to both) until the yolks are light and have doubled in volume. Add Baking powder, milk and flour and mix

Fold Yolk Mixture into egg whites. Batter is light and airy almost like Angel Food Cake. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

The cake will be golden brown and pull away from edges. While cake is warm poke all around with the bottom of a wooden spoon. I let my kids do this step. They love to help.

In a bowl combine Can milk, whipping cream and sweet & condensed milk and stir. Pour mixture all over cake. Cover with siran wrap and set in fridge. Now if you can wait it's better to let sit in the fridge overnight but it usually doesn't last that long in our house.

Whip whipping cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl until thick. Again you should be able to hold whipped cream over your head without it dumping on you. Spread on your cake and serve.

 xoxo Janis!!

Tres Leches Cake

(recipe by http://twistedflavor.blogspot.com)

5 Eggs Separated

1 Cup Sugar 

1 1/2 TBS Vanilla!!!

1 1/2 Tea Baking Powder

1 Cup Flour

1/3 Cup Milk

1 Can Can Milk

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 Cup Whipping Cream + 1 tbs sugar

1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tbs Vanilla!!

Get out 2 bowls and separate egg whites from the egg yolks into each bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar to whites, 2 tea vanilla and beat until you form stiff peaks. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down and not spill the whites.

In the other bowl beat your yolks, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tea vanilla  until the yolks are light and have doubled in volume. Add Baking powder, milk and flour and mix. Fold Yolk mixture into the whites. Pour into a Greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Cake will be golden brown and will pull away from edges. Poke holes all over cake. In a bowl combine 1 Can Can Milk, 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk, 1/2 Cup Whipping Cream + 1 tbs sugar. Pour liquid mixture all over cake and let cool in the refrigerator overnight. Before serving beat 1 pint whipping cream, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until firm peaks form. Spread all over cake and serve!!