Pizza Rolls

I came up with this idea so that we could have bite size snacks in the fridge or freezer. Pizza is a favorite around here so I put the two together. They were a hit! We all loved them and even Annie asked for more!

Ingredients:

Store bought pizza dough or click here for homemade

pizza sauce

cheese

favorite toppings: veggies, pepperoni, pineapple,

canadian bacon, grilled chicken .... the possibilities are endless!

1. Roll you dough into a circle. Using pizza cutter, cut into wedges. The skinner the wedge the smaller the pizza bit will be.

2. Carefully spread sauce over entire wedge. The top with cheese and toppings.

3. Starting at the widest end carefully start rolling your dough. Place on a cookie sheet. If you want you can brush on melted butter to make them golden brown. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The bigger the rolls the longer they will need to bake! Use left over sauce for dipping! Enjoy!

Berry Oat Bars

Ok, Rex and I were talking about Great Harvest one day and reminiscing about there delicious food and we remembered that they made really good berry bars. Anyone who has gone there knows what I am talking about :) So, for dessert last weekend I made this recipe up and these babies were a hit!! So good, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 applesauce

1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

2-3 cups quick oats

bag of frozen mixed berries, thawed (or your fav berries)

1-2 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Mix sugars, applesauce, egg white and vanilla together. Add the dry ingredients to wet. (Add enough oats to make a moderately stiff dough.) Press about 2/3 dough into a greased 8x8 pan with floured fingers. Set aside.
2. Place the berries in a sauce pan over med heat. Add enough sugar to sweeten how you like it. Bring the berries to a boil then add a tablespoon corn starch. Turn heat down to medium and stir constantly until thick. Add more cornstarch if you want a thicker sauce. You want it pretty thick so it doesn't soak into your crust.
3. Pour and spread over the top of crust. Take remaining dough in small amounts and press with hands into flat pieces. Lay them on top of berries until the top is mostly covered. (It is ok to have gaps in between dough, it makes it look pretty and it will cook up nicely). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until set. Cool and cut into bars.

* Adding walnuts to the dough would be delish!
* This recipe is incredibly low fat and it is great because the bars are nice and soft all the way through!

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Well, we tried a new salad last Friday and loved it! For all of you who love Ceasar salad, you will have to try this! Easy and affordable. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cooked and diced chicken breasts

washed and cut romaine lettuce (how ever big you want your salads)

1 tomato, diced

sliced olives

Parmesan cheese

2 cups cooked short noodles (2 cups fed 2 people, so more noodles if you are feeding more people)

Cesar dressing (I found it fat free!)

garlic croutons

1. Mix lettuce, tomatoes, olives, and noodles together in bowl.
2.Top with desired amount of dressing and toss to coat. Plate salads and top with chicken, a sprinkle of cheese and croutons!

Two new recipes!

I didn't want to wait to post two different recipes so I am just putting them both on here! The are both new and divine! The first is a yummy dessert that I made. They are blondies, like brownies but without the cocoa. Next is a creamy soup you will love! Enjoy!

Three Great Taste Blondies

These are so moist and rich. Rex was sad when I gave most of them to our friends, but don't worry I saved him a few! These are great to cut into bars and really good with a big glass of milk!

Ingredients

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup (of each) peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, and semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease really well or line with sprayed foil a 15 1/2 X 10 1/2 X 1 inch jelly roll pan. (I don't have a jelly roll pan so I put mine in a tart dish but a 9X13 pan would work just fine).

2. Stir together brown sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add flour, salt, beating just until blended; stir in all the chips! Spread into prepared pan.

3 Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan. Cut into bars. Drizzle with melted chocolate. (put a handful of chocolate chips into a zip lock bad and microwave for 30 seconds at a time until smooth. Cut tip of bag off and drizzle.)

* Since I was delivering these bars and it was my first time making them I didn't experiment with them by trying to make them low fat but I will now! I will let you know how they turn out!

Creamy Potato Soup

I have tried lot of different soup recipes and I am always looking for the best potato soup and I am pretty sure that I found it! This soup is really easy, fast, very low fat, and delicious!! I found so yummy french bread soup bowls at the store that went prefect with this soup!

Ingredients

5 medium potatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon butter/margarine

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon dill, 1/2 teaspoon dried chives

pepper (as much or little as you like)

1 cup milk or half-and-half (I used fat free half-and-half)

1. In a large pot cook potatoes and onions in plenty of boiling water for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and reserve 1 cup of potato/onion mixture.

2. In a food processor or blender combine remaining potatoes/onions and broth. Cover and blend or about 1 minute or until smooth. Set aside.

3. In the same saucepan melt the butter. Stir in flour, salt, dill, chives, pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute.

4. Stir the blended soup, reserved potatoes, and milk mixture all together. Cook and stir until heated through. Add additional milk if you would like it thinner. Pour into bowls or bread bowls and top with bacon bit, cheese and more chives!

* This recipe takes about 25 minutes to make. It only has 205 calories and 4 grams of fat! Eat a lot, it is really good!

Italian Mini-Meat Loaves

This is a great Rachel Ray recipe that Rex just loves! It is perfect because it makes mini meat loafs so you don't have a huge amount of leftovers. With the extras Rex likes a meat loaf sammy the next day for lunch! Your family will love this healthy, personal sized dinner. I serve them with baked sweet potatoes and corn muffins ...yum!

Ingredients:

1& 1/3 lb. ground sirloin (I used ground turkey)

1 large egg, beaten

2/3 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons tomato paste

salt and pepper

olive oil

1.Place meat in a bowl and make a well in meat. Fill well with egg, bread crumbs, 1/4cup cheese, onion, garlic, tomato paste, salt and pepper.
2.Mix all together and form into loafs. (You can make them small or big as you like. This recipe will make 4-6 depending on size). Make loafs about 1 inch thick. Coat loafs with a bit of olive oil and arrange on sprayed baking sheet.
3.Roast for 18-20 minutes on 425 degrees.

Wheat Dinner Rolls

This is a great go-to recipe if you want yummy homemade rolls! You let your bread maker do the work and can have these warm for dinner tonight! ( If you don't have a bread maker I put directions at the bottom for you too!) I make them all the time to complement a delish dinner!

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons soft butter/margarine

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons yeast

1. Measure carefully placing all ingredients in bread machine pan in order recommended by the manufacture. (usually in the order they are on the list above, or wet then dry)

2. Select dough cycle.

3. When dough is ready (usually about 1 1/2 hours) remove dough with floured hands. Place on lightly floured surface. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

4. Grease or spray a 9x13 pan ( used 2 pie pans) and divide dough into 15 equal pieces Shape each piece into a ball, place in pan. Rise in a warm place until double in size. ( I turn the oven on for a few minutes onto 150 degrees, then turn it off and let them rise in the warm oven)

5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover rolls and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

* YOU must try this!! So good! If you don't have a bread machine then all you need to do is let the yeast soften in the warm water. Mix the butter(melt it first), egg, sugar and salt together. Next add yeast mixture. Then add flour a little at a time until it makes a soft dough. Let rise in bowl. Then pick up from step #3 and continue. Bread always takes a little more time but it is worth it!