Pepperoni Bread

My mom always makes pepperoni bread around the holidays.  It is a HUGE family favorite.  For the past few years I have also been making it, just like she does, only I stuff it much more than she does!

First, you have to let the dough rise.  Well, you don't HAVE to, but it makes the next step much easier.   I used one bag of whole wheat pizza dough. 

After you roll the dough out,

COVER it in pepperoni!!! I have tried others, but only Hormel Slicing Pepperoni (sliced thin) has that perfect taste.  I order MUCH more than I need to because I tend to prepare this step like this:

1 slice on bread,

1 slice in mouth.

1 slice on bread,

1 slice... oh no, two are stuck together!  2 slices in mouth!

Add a layer of shredded mozarella on top and...

Roll it up!  Right before you bake it (about an hour at 350), you can cover it in egg white to get that golden look on the finished bread.

Now, this bread is so yummy that I could not take a picture before it was gone.  This picture is from a loaf I made in 2005 on St. Patricks Day.  (Yes.  It is green.  If you put food coloring in the egg wash that you smear on top, the bread will appear that color.  I promise!)

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Poor John!

Poor John has a sore throat!  He never really gets sick and he took SUCH good care of me when I was sick, so I wanted to make him some yummy soup.  He requested lentil rice soup.

The soup is 3/4 cup dried lentils, 1/2 cup brown rice, 3 sliced cloves of garlic, and lots of kosher salt, oregano, and parsley.  I put it all together with maybe 4 cups of homemade chicken broth and 1 cup of water and let it boil and boil.  Eventually it looked like this:

John said it was SO good.  His eyes actually POPPED when he tasted it, so I was proud.  I hope he gets better!

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Present #1

Since I moved out and began really cooking I have been using a little itty bitty food processor.  It was one of those one cup deals.  I think I actually picked it as my prize when I redeemed a bunch of tickets at Dave and Busters.  Tells you a bit about me, don't it!

If you have ever tried to do any processing of food in one of those 1-cuppers, you know how futile it it is.  I have been WISHING for a real food processor.  I even registered for one on my wedding registry, knowing it would be months until I got it, IF anyone even picked it.  I mean, it's not the most glamorous gift unless you really know me (side note to the givers of the hand mixer- YOU KNOW ME!) So, yeah, you get the picture.  I really wanted one.

Fast forward months.  I was at John's mom's house and we were talking about Fudge Babies.  Well, I was talking about them.  And drooling.  They were listening.  Kind of.  Anyway, I mentioned that I was only making about 6 at a time because that is all I could fit in my little processor.  His mom turned to me and said, "Why didn't you tell me you wanted one?  I have 2!"  Turns out, she had one that she had NEVER USED!!! I got a brand new food processor!!!!!!!!!  A huge wonderful one!!

Isn't it a beauty?  Thanks!

Right away I started working with it!  We made nut butters...

which are delicious with a side of bananas

that is almond butter, by the way.

and shredded our own cheese for the pepperoni bread!

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Long Time No See!

I have been gone for a long time, but I have been making good things in the meantime, trust me!

Scrambled eggs with grapes and blackberries

Salmon, peas, and onions over spaghetti squash

Veggie stir-fry with pierogies

In the next few posts you will see fun stuff with my two new toys!!!

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This Week's Highlights!

Today I am posting the best Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner from this week.

Best Breakfast:

It kind of looks like a sugary cereal, doesn't it?  What is it really, you ask?  WELL! It is.....

• 1 banana
• 1 small box of blackberries
• 1 big handful raisins
• 1 big handful peanuts

YUMM!  I didn't add any liquid, even though I ate it with a spoon from my cereal bowl.

Best Lunch:

This lunch is the ultimate in leftover cooking salad making.  I literally opened up my fridge, took out 1/2 of the contents, and poured it into a salad.  It is...

• Romaine lettuce
• Leftover white meat turkey
• Mushrooms
• Raisins
• Walnuts
• Lentils
  
• Ground flax seeds
• Shredded Coconut
• Hummus
• Olive Oil
• Red Wine Vinegar

On the counter it looked like this!

Best Dinner:

This meal was straight out of this blog.  The only changes I made were using chicken thighs instead of breasts (it's what I had in the freezer) and serving it over quinoa (it's what John wanted to make).  I know it looks burnt, but I promise, it is SUPER yummy!

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I Entered A Giveaway!

I am so excited!  I just entered a super-cool giveaway hosted my Chocolate-Covered Katie (Wow, I've been talking about her a lot lately!  She is just as super-cool as her giveaway!).  I could win all kinds of cool nut-butters.  Want to enter?  Click here!  Want to see a recipe of hers that I have made?  Click here!

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Macaroni Monday!

Continuing with the whole oats-in-the-morning thing, today was peanut butter and banana oatmeal.  I heated up the banana and made it all mushy and sweet.  It was really good.  

Now that I am almost totally healthy, Macaroni Monday was back!  I wanted something fast, easy, and healthy so I pulled something from here.  We had all the ingredients for "Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta" except the feta, so that's what I made!

I steamed a bag of frozen broccoli in 1 cube of homemade chicken broth.

While that cooked, I cut up an onion and 4 cloves of garlic.

I mixed it all together with a little olive oil and 1/4 cup of parsley and let it cook up.

While THAT cooked, I squeezed up 2 lemons and added it to the mix.

When it was all cooked I threw it in the blender.

Once mixed in with whole wheat shell macaroni?  YUMMY!

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Sweets!

Chocolate Covered Katie has been making babies for a while now.  She makes them often.  I always read about them and think, "hmmm, they sound good!" but I never make them.  I sometimes wonder if they are really as good as she makes them out to be.  Last night, I decided to try.  Armed with peanuts, dates, and sheer determination, I tried. 

I used 3/4 cup dates and 1/4 cup peanuts.  They are super easy to make.

 

The verdict?  They were AMAZING.  You have to click yourself over here and make them yourself.  You will become a believer.  I did.  

On the subject of sweets, John and I made a gingerbread house today!  Not a foodie gingerbread house, a fun, pre-made gingerbread house!

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Oats and Oops

I have been running with this whole oats-for-breakfast thing.  I made clean out the fridge oats the other morning.

Oats with peanut butter, leftover apple butter (yes, from a million years ago when we went apple picking.  I finished the last bit in this meal.), flax seeds, and raisins.

Life was good.

Dinner was not.

Recently, John and I went to a restaurant and had a beet and lentil salad that was amazing.  I tried to re-create it for dinner and failed miserably.

It started out innocently enough.  I boiled some beets and cooked some lentils in chicken broth.

(for the record, it is 10:58 AM.  I prep dinner before work)

 

 I then cooked the beet greens in oil and vinegar.  Mistake #1.  They were super bitter.

I combined everything with a bunch of spices.  Mistake #2.  It was just not yummy.

 

THEN, I added ricotta cheese.  Mistake #3.  The salad we had at the restaurant had delicious goat cheese on it and it really made the dish.  We didn't have any so I thought to use ricotta.  NOT GOOD.

All in all I learned that my creation was gross and some things are better eaten out.  Especially when you have no idea what you are doing.

Oh well.  At least the leftover lentils were good in hummus. 

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Wish List

There are so many recipes that I want to make soon!  If you know me well, you know that my memory is not the best, so I am going to keep track of what I want to make here!  When I finally make something, I will try to update this page with the link. 

Home Made Ricotta Cheese

Home Made Butter

Beef and Broccoli Chinese Food Style

Apple Crisp
Pumpkin Ravioli
Pepperoni Bread
Cheesecake
Rice Milk
Fudgey Babies and Variations 
Meatloaf
Gravy and Meatballs

......

Any additional ideas are welcome!

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Sick Sick Sick

Hi!

So, I'm back!

So sorry I was gone for so long.  I had pneumonia.  For a while.  I was sick.  Really sick.

BUT NOW! I am back and cooking and eating again!!!

I was lucky enough to be sent some yummy leftovers to tide my over when I was sick.  I added the chicken to my salad and had that for dinner last night.  MMMmmmMMMm!

Today, I wasn't quite ready for a smoothie for breakfast.  I decided to have cinnamon raisin oatmeal instead.  UNFORTUNATELY there was no cinnamon left.

So I soaked some raisins, 

Cooked some oatmeal,

and added peanut butter to make it yummy!!!  It was probably the best oatmeal I have ever made myself. 

And I deserve it!

Lunch was a simple spinach salad with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar.

 aaaaaaand dinner was a version of this but with spinach.  Just rotini, penne, in a garlic clam sauce WITH spinach.  GO ME!

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Catch-Up

I promise to be better with posting regularly, really I do!  I was away for the weekend and not feeling too well.

So... Recently?  I have been working on....

Pancakes.

Cheap Food.

Eggplant Smush Macaroni with leftovers.

Leftover Teriyaki Stir-Fry

LET'S BEGIN!!

Pancakes:

Whole wheat dough + cinnimon + flax seeds+ fake eggs + blackberries = ????

Cheap Food:

Each of these were $1.  Can you believe it??!?! $1 for like 15 pears and $1 for a bag FULLLLL of garlic!

Eggplant Smush:

Cut up some eggplants.

Add it to pan with onions, garlic, bread crumbs, olive oil, and parsley.

When it was adequately sauteed, I added some tomato sauce I had made before and frozen, then added it to macaroni and spooned some ricotta on top.

I had some leftover.... Lunch the next day was an eggplant smush sandwich!!!

Leftover Teriyaki Stir-Fry:

I knew I wanted veggies and macaroni.  This meal started out as maybe frozen peas with chicken broth or something. I saw that I had frozen asparagus stir fry, so that was in.

I was peeking in the fridge and noticed I had some honey-teriyaki marinade/sauce leftover.  It wasn't the type of thing I usually like to cook with, but it was perfect for this and I wanted to finish it.  There was also a BBQed chicken breast from John's mom's house that I threw in.

Served over whole wheat shells!

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