Snake Calzone

Ingredients
1 can (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
1 egg white
1 drop each yellow and green food coloring
2 manzanilla olives
1 cup pizza sauce

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F.

Unroll dough on lightly floured work surface; roll or flatten to 17x10-inch rectangle.

Cut 1 pepperoni slice to resemble a snake's tongue; set aside. Arrange remaining pepperoni slices over dough rectangle, leaving 1-inch border around all sides; top with cheese. Roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, starting at one long side; pinch seams together to seal (use water on your finger to seal stubborn spots). Place, seam-side down, in "s" shape on baking sheet lined with parchment paper to resemble snake.

Beat egg white and yellow food coloring lightly; brush about half over dough. Add green food coloring to remaining egg white; brush randomly over dough to resemble a snake's splotched skin. Cut hole and insert olives into one end of dough for the snake's eyes. Add pepperoni tongue.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until golden brown. Meanwhile, heat pizza sauce just until warmed.

Serve calzone with the sauce.

Jack-o'-lantern Cheese Ball

Ingredients
3 green onions, divided
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red peppers
2 slices pepperoni
crackers

Preparation

Cut 4-inch length from green end of 1 onion; slice remaining onions. Beat cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups Cheddar with mixer until well blended. Stir in sliced onions and peppers. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Shape into pumpkin shaped ball; roll in remaining Cheddar. Cut pepperoni into shapes for the jack-o'-lantern's eyes, nose and mouth; press into cheese ball to make face. Insert green onion piece into top for stem.

Serve with crackers.

Mummy Pizza Bites

Ingredients
1 plain bagel, divided in half
2 Tbsp. pizza sauce
2 sticks string cheese
4 slices black olives

Preparation

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Spread bagel halves with sauce. Pull cheese into thin strips; place in random criss-cross fashion on tops of bagels to resemble mummy bandages. Trim ends with kitchen shears and fill in holes with trimmings. Add olives for the eyes.

Place on baking sheet.

Bake 10 min. or until bagels are crisp and cheese is melted.

Pancakes: Scratch vs. Mix

So, I've had many a discussion about the pros/cons of pancake mix with various people. I am a fan because it makes my life a bit easier and isn't very expensive. But you wouldn't believe the lectures I've gotten from people about how it's more expensive and doesn't taste as good. So apparently, people have strong opinions on this subject. I therefore found an article in Bon Appétit's blog, titled Is Making Pancakes From Scratch Worth the Effort? very interesting. The final analysis was that they taste the same, cost the same and scratch takes more time - so you might as well use mixes.

Christmas Dinner 2010

Our family’s tradition for Christmas dinner is that we each get to pick two dishes that we want and then I fill in the menu with sides, breads, etc. Usually, there is no limit on what a person can pick (for example, last year my oldest daughter chose crab legs). This year, because we are living with another family and are on a tight food budget, each person only got to pick one dish and couldn’t pick anything expensive. I also didn’t cook everything, as both families contributed. But I have posted recipes and thoughts on those things that I did prepare.

Menu:
Grilled Tilapia
Mini-cheeseburgers & Buns
Paninis
Hotdog & Buns
Soft Tacos
Shrimp Ramen
Broccoli & Cheese
French fries
Utah Scones
Honey Butter

Paninis

Sliced sourdough bread
1 pkg. deli sliced turkey
1 lb. sliced Colby jack cheese
1 tomato, sliced
1 lb. bacon, cooked
1 medium avocado
2 tablespoons ranch dressing
Butter

Mash avocado into a small bowl. Add dressing and mix well. Butter outsides of two sourdough slices. Inside, layer turkey, cheese, tomato, bacon and avocado dressing. Grill over medium heat, flipping occasionally until sourdough is toasted golden brown and cheese is melted.

Hotdog & Hamburger Buns

I prefer homemade bread of every kind to store bought. So, I often make our own hamburger and hotdog buns when there is extra time. Having a Bosch mixer with a dough hook or a bread maker with a dough cycle makes bread making SO much easier. If using a Bosch mixer for kneading, the dough is ready when it pulls from the sides of the bowl and the bowl looks clean.

1 ¼ cups skim milk, warm
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
¼ - 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 ¾ cups bread flour
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
butter

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add oil, sugar, salt and flour. Knead well until smooth and elastic to touch.
Let rest in warm, draft-free area for 15 minutes. Punch down and knead gently.
Roll in a long log. Cut into 12 pieces for hot dog buns or 9 pieces for hamburger buns.
Hot Dog Buns: Roll into a long skinny hotdog shape.
Hamburger buns: Flatten with palm of hand till thickness of a pancake.
Put on parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter.
Cover with cloth or pam sprayed plastic. Put in warm oven for 45-60 minutes to rise.
When doubled, remove from oven.
Bake on top shelf of oven.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place buns in oven and turn temperature down to 375°F immediately. Bake hot dog buns abt. 15 minutes and hamburger buns abt. 17 minutes.

Broccoli & Cheese

Steam broccoli until fork tender. Dump your preferred amount of shredded cheese on top and allow to melt from the heat of the broccoli. You can use any kind of cheese, I prefer Colby jack. When making about 3 lbs. of broccoli, I use two large handfuls of shredded cheese.

French Fries

The only way to make French fries is in a fryer. An oven just doesn’t get them as crisp. Yes, it’s fattening. So don’t eat fries every day. I just get whatever brand is on sale of the crinkle fries in the local grocer's freezer aisle.

Keep the fries in the freezer until you are ready to put them in the fryer basket. If you are making two batches, put the fries back in the freezer in between. Set your fryer to about 350 degrees and fry the first batch for 6 - 8 minutes. Batches after will take more time, so keep checking every 3 - 5 minutes. When they look golden, they're done. Drain on paper towels, salt, and serve hot with fry sauce!

Utah Scones

Scones in Utah are different from scones I’ve had anywhere else. They’re similar to Indian frybread, made with a sweet yeast dough and buttermilk. They are absolutely delicious. These can be used as a dessert/breakfast food with honey, butter, jam, etc. Or you can use them for Navajo Tacos. One of my daughters likes to just eat them plain. They’re very versatile. Be warned, this recipe makes a massive amount of medium sized scones, so make sure you have enough people to eat them! There are ten people in our household and it takes us 3 to 5 days to eat them all.

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 quart buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8-9 cups flour
oil for frying

Sprinkle yeast over warm water. Warm buttermilk (careful not to overheat, as it can seperate. Warning, it stinks while heating). Add sugar, eggs, butter, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in yeast mixture. Beat in 4 cups flour. Continue to beat until smooth and well mixed. Stir in enough flour to make soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover, put in warm place (I prefer my oven) and allow to rise until double in bulk. Punch down. The dough will keep for three days in fridge, just be sure to punch it down daily.

Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a deep pan to 375°F. Pinch out some dough and roll in hands into a ball about 1 to 1 1/2 inches diameter. Then pull flat until dough is almost see through. Place in oil and fry until scone puffs up and is lightly browned. Turn and brown opposite side. How many you can fit at once depends on your pan and how big you're making the scones. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Honey Butter

Equal parts honey, butter & powdered sugar. Mix well and refridgerate.