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.

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.

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.

Spiral Cut Honey Glazed Ham

My mother-in-law got a ham from the local grocer. So all I had to do was mix the glaze, pour on and heat the ham. Done! I am not a ham fan, so I let everyone else enjoy this dish. The only ham I have ever had that I liked was from Heavenly Ham. But at their prices, I’m happy with letting the rest of the family enjoy a ham from the grocer and doing without myself.

Roasted Turkey

So, I am not a traditional oven roasted turkey girl. I use an electric roaster oven every year – they cook faster and have fewer issues with drying the meat out.

Remember, to completely defrost your bird. I have heard the electric roasters can actually cook frozen birds, but have never had the guts to try it. So, defrost! Remember that it’s approximately five hours per pound of meat to defrost. So if you have a 15 pound turkey, be sure to put it into the fridge at least three days in advance. And check your bird the day before. If it still seems too frozen, there is always the quick water defrost method. To defrost with water, be sure your turkey is in a waterproof package. Immerse in cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Allow about 30 minutes of thawing in water per pound. So if you have a 15 pound turkey, it’ll take about 7 hours.

On the day of cooking, take out your roaster’s insert pan and pre-heat your roaster to 450°F. While roaster is heating, pull your turkey out of the fridge and prep it. Remove packaging (but leave plastic hooks holding legs if yours have it) and organs and neck from cavity. Rinse with water, inside and out, and pat dry. Rub the bird with butter. Sprinkle your favorite kind of salt and pepper all over outside and inside of bird (we like to use seasoned salts and peppers). Place a stick of two of celery, one coarsely chopped onion and a stick of butter in cavity.

Place the bird in the insert pan on top of the wire rack that comes with your roaster. Make sure the handles are up, not tucked below, or it’ll be a pain to remove when done. Fill the bottom of the pan with water, but not so much that the water level comes over the wire rack (usually only a cup or two in mine). Place into the roaster oven and cover.

Roast at 450°F for 30 minutes. This is to give your bird a nice brown skin. After 30 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 325°F. 8

The roaster will self-baste if you do not lift the lid, so you don't have to baste it every 20 minutes like you do in your conventional oven. So don’t life the lid during cooking time! Lifting the lid will increase your cooking time (as roasters lose their heat a lot faster than ovens) and can make your turkey dryer.

Check turkey for doneness. Your roaster should come with time tables for how long to cook a turkey. Make sure to follow it! Roasters cook faster, so if you go by the amount given for cooking a turkey in a traditional oven, it will be overdone and possibly dry! If you can’t find your roasters manual, figure to start checking about an hour before it would be done in a traditional oven. Final temps should be 165°D in the breast (be careful not to touch the bone). Juices should be clear, not pink.

Remember, if you’re using a pop-up thermometer, they stick sometimes. So you should have a regular meat thermometer to double check.

When done, remove from the roaster, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

So, my husband, daughter and I LOVE cordon bleu. But buying the premade frozen ones is expensive. And making them from scratch is a pain. Also, I've had a hard time find a recipe that tastes like the store bought ones. Most recipes make heavy use of Swiss cheese, the store bought ones are mozzarella. We have found that we don't like the Swiss cheese because it is so strong tasting, but straight mozzarella is too runny. I found this recipe a while back, and after some tweaking, I think I've found a winner. As the casserole is a bit runny, we serve this in a bowl over mashed potatoes. Yummy and easy!

RECIPE
2 lbs skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks
dry breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cup milk, divided
1 egg
1 cup Swiss cheese, cubed
2 cups mozzarella, cubed
1 cup ham, cubed
1 (10 3/4 ounces) can cream of chicken soup

Mix 1/2 cup of milk with egg. Dredge chicken pieces in egg and milk mixture, then toss with bread crumbs, coating well. Fry chicken lightly (light golden brown). Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish. Spread ham and cheese over top. Mix soup with remaining milk and pour over casserole. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, until tender and bubbly.

INVOLVING KIDS IN THE COOKING
This is a fairly easy recipe to let the kids help on. My ten year old cubed the cheeses and ham while I prepared the chicken, cutting the prep time in half.