Stuffed Pizza Rolls

First time making this one. I got the recipe from Our Best Bites. They have some great looking recipes on there. The kids loved this and Brian liked it too. Too bad I had some kind of mild stomach flu thing going.

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough* (or make your own)
marinara/pizza sauce (click here to make your own)
2T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T olive oil or melted butter
1/2 t garlic powder
1  t dried Italian seasoning
mozzerella cheese, diced or grated
Pizza toppings of your choice: ie, ham and pineapple, pepperoni slices, sausage, etc.

*You can use regular pizza dough, or thin crust. 

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package.  Usually it's 400 degrees.  If you make your own dough, 400 is usually a good heat as well.

Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Pat or roll the dough so it's about 12" by 8".  You're going to want to cut it into 24 squares, so just eyeball it if you need to.  Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 24 squares (bet ya didn't see that one comin' did ya?) 

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square.  (Note that you're not putting the marinara sauce on the dough- it's for dipping after)  You guys are smart, right?  Just eyeball how much.  You just need to be able to enclose the toppings in the dough so keep that in mind.

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings.  Pinch to make sure each ball is sealed shut and then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).

Brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil or melted butter (I've used both and there's not much difference in result) and then sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese.  (In lieu of the Parmesan, garlic, and Italian seasoning you could  substitute this garlic bread seasoning.)

Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Keep an eye  on them! Doughs vary, so I'd check them after even 10 minutes.

Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Easter Dinner

I don't have a picture of the roast, but it's SO easy and very yummy.

Pork or Beef Roast, almost any size will work
1 jar of sliced pepperoncinis
1 onion soup mix - Liptons works well.

Put all together in a crockpot and cook on high about 3 or 4 hours depending on roast size. It turns out best with pork.



This is Russell Stover Pie
Basically just layer a graham cracker crust (pre-cooked), chocolate pudding and coconut cream pudding. Top with whipped cream. I homemade all the puddings, but I'm sure a mix would be fine.




Potato Rolls - so good that no one can stop eating them

2 C warm water
2 Tab yeast
6 tab sugar
1/2 C oil
1 egg
1/2 C warm mashed potatoes prepared with milk and butter - instant flakes or pearls work just as well.
1 1/2 teas salt
1 teas baking powder
1/2 teas baking soda
2/3 C powdered milk
1/2 C whole wheat flour
~ 5 C white flour

Proof yeast in water and add sugar. Mix ingredients in order given. If you don't have whole wheat flour, you can use all white. Don't add too much flour, it should be pretty soft. Knead for 6 - 8 minutes and place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour or so. Punch down and divide in half. Each half makes ~ 16 balls. Place an inch or two apart on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375º for 15 - 18 minutes. In Colorado it took 12. Brush with butter if desired.



And Huckleberry salad. This stuff is amazing and Ryan says it's basically dessert. You can substitute blackberries or blueberries for huckleberries if you need to. My grandma says she's also done cherries with it and they were great.

1 1/2 C huckleberries
1/2 C water
4 teas sugar
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
15 oz crushed pineapple
1 C huckleberries
8 oz cool whip
2 C mini marshmallows

Place 1 1/2 C huckleberries with water and sugar in bowl and microwave for about 4 minutes or until it's boiled a bit. Cool in fridge or freezer. Mix with cream cheese making sure not to get any clumps of cream cheese. A mixer works fine, but we've done it by hand. Add pineapple and 1 C huckleberries, slowly stirring them in. Gently stir in cool whip and marshmallows. Chill. It'll set up a bit after an hour or so.

Pigs-In-A-Blanket. Sort of.

So, this is SO not how mine turned out. But pretend that I'm a culinary genius that makes all my food look palatable.

Mine are a little simpler because I just buy the 'lil smokies from the store and then wrap biscuit dough around them. If you want them to be pretty you can roll out the dough and do fancy shapes, but usually I make a double batch of biscuits, half plain and half with the smokies. I use about half a biscuit's worth of dough around them.

Biscuits (Eggless!)

2 C flour
1 Tab baking powder
1 Tab sugar
1/2 teas cream of tartar
1/4 teas salt
1/2 C butter or margarine at room temp, although I have been known to slightly melt mine when in a hurry. Ok, confession. I've sometimes accidentally melted them all the way and whoop-dee-doo, they still turn out fine.
2/3 C milk

Preheat oven to 400º.

Put dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk with fork. Cut in butter, although if it's slightly melted it's more like mixing. In the end it should look like cornmeal. Add milk. Fold a few times on a floured board. Cut out.

Place fairly close together on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10 - 12 minutes. I'm in Colorado and it usually takes about 13.

Stuffed Bread

Stuffed Bread is super easy, very versatile and oh so yummy.

Start with my French Bread recipe:

French Bread
2 1/2 C water
2 Tab yeast
1 Tab sugar
1 Tab salt
1 Tab oil
5+ C flour

Proof yeast in water with the sugar. Pour into mixer, add the salt and oil and mix. Add flour, one cup at a time and mix on slow, but until incorporated. Pour out onto a well-floured surface, and knead for about 5 minutes. Sometimes I do it for 10 - do whatever feels right. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled. Punch down, knead a few times and shape into a loaf.
Bake at 400º for about 20 minutes or golden brown all over. I bake this in a special french bread pan that looks like this. You can also bake it on a cookie sheet, but it doesn't taste nearly as good. Also use parchment paper if you're doing that.
(I know it seems like a splurge of a pan, but it seriously makes a HUGE difference baking french bread, stuffed bread, any any other kind of bread that is similar. I've used mine over and over, and I'm hoping to get a second one for Mother's Day - it's that good. I know you can get knock-off brands else where for about 18 instead of 27.)

For the stuffed bread:
Roll out to the length you want it to be and then roll in the other direction until it's about 1 - 2 inches thick. Spread about a tablespoon or so of oil on the surface so it will hold the spices in place. Sprinkle spices, then cheese, then meats and/or vegetables. Fold the points from the long ends in a little and then roll up to make a loaf, then bake in the pan as normal.

For spices:
My mother uses Italian spice, or basically a combination of basil, oregano, salt, and maybe a little garlic powder.
I prefer to use salt, garlic powder, a little onion powder, and a smidge of red pepper.
All of this is to taste or your preference...I'm a little scared to start adding amounts onto spices.

For cheese:
White cheeses are the best here, and Mozzarella is always the winner. I grate mine and then sprinkle what looks right as evenly as possible.

Meats/Veggies:
Again, you can have creative license here. I like lunch meat like ham and turkey, but you could even put pepperoni or salami if you're into that. I LOVE to add tomatoes - they are incredible in this bread, but green peppers can be good too.

For this particular picture I used my spice mix with mozzarella cheese, a few slices of lunch meat (turkey).