BBQ Chicken Pizza

Okay, so I LOVE food, I DESPISE chain restaurants, I CRAVE homemade goodness and I am a SUCKER for Pizza!  So I have created the ultimate BBQ Chicken Pizza to do at home with quickness and fun.  All the ingredients I found at my local Aldi's which is just about the only place I shop now for my baking supplies.  It's the closest market and by far the most wallet-friendly.  And yes...I forgot a picture of the final product, I was too busy shoving the food in my mouth to snap a quick pic. Sorry, not sorry.

Ingredients:

Store bought roll-out pizza dough  ~~  Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce

3 Boiled Chicken Breasts (shredded)  ~~ 2 Cups Colby Jack Shredded Cheese- Thick Sliced Mozzarella 

1 Cup Ricotta Cheese ~~ Cilantro ~~ Cumin ~~ Garlic ~~Fresh Cilantro if available

Preheat your oven to 350 (or whatever your dough tells you to do.)  

Roll out the Dough on a baking stone, or a 9 x13 metal pan

Sprinkle the crust all over with spices and then pour on enough BBQ sauce to thinly cover the dough.

 Take your Mozzarella and slice the fresh ball into thin circles and place over the BBQ Sauce.  

Drop quarter size amounts of Riccotta in between the Mozzarella.

In a separate bowl, coat your Shredded Chicken in your BBQ sauce and evenly distribute over the top of the Mozzarella and Ricotta

Top with Shredded Cheese a light dusting of Spices and Fresh Cilantro (if available.)

Bake on 350 for 12 - 15 minutes.  

As much as you are tempted DO NOT EAT RIGHT OUT OF OVEN.  

The Mozarella and Ricotta are deceivingly HOT in the middle.  

Let cool for 5 -10 minutes to avoid melting the top of your mouth!

Baked Pumpkin Bites

Fall is by far my favorite season.  I already have my fall decorations up, my hoodies pulled out and pumpkin flavoring all my favorite foods!  One of the easiest, healthiest recipes I use and abuse is perfect for fall, Baked Pumpkin Bites.  This recipe can actually be made as a cake, mini loafs or as I like them mini muffins so they are a small and portable snack.

1 Pkg 18.5oz Spice or Yellow Cake Mix
1 Can 15oz Pumpkin
(only Walmart carries this year round, found in the baking aisle)
1 Tbspn Truvia (2 packets of Splenda work as well)
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
Pumpkin Pie Spice
if you use yellow cake mix you will need to HEAVILY use the pumpkin pie spice, if using spice cake, sprinkle spice for about 5 seconds.  I have found ALDI has a great pumpkin pie spice.

Combine all ingredients, drop a teaspoon into each mini-tin(which has been greased with spray) and bake at 350.  As with all bread baking the larger the serving the longer the time in the oven.  For my mini bakes, I keep them in about 17 minutes.  Just use the old toothpick trick to check and see if they are done. 

Due to the fact these are a "light" recipe they come out with a solid frame and a chewy/pumpkin pie like center.  When making mini bakes this recipe yields 72 servings.

Enjoy my fellow fall lovers!

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
72 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		33.5
Total Fat		0.7 g
	Saturated Fat	0.2 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.1 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.4 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		50.4 mg
Potassium		19.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		6.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.3 g
	Sugars	3.5 g
Protein		0.4 g

Vitamin A	21.2 %
Vitamin B-12	0.1 %
Vitamin B-6	0.3 %
Vitamin C	0.5 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	0.8 %
Calcium	1.0 %
Copper	0.6 %
Folate	2.1 %
Iron	1.2 %
Magnesium	0.6 %
Manganese	1.6 %
Niacin	1.1 %
Pantothenic Acid	0.5 %
Phosphorus	2.1 %
Riboflavin	1.0 %
Selenium	0.3 %
Thiamin	1.6 %
Zinc	0.2 %

Simple Pasta Salad

Chances are, if you've been to a picnic or cookout with me, you've had my pasta salad.  When I was little my stepmom started making this salad for every summer function and I've carried on the tradition!  In the past 2 weeks I've had quite a few requests for the recipe.  Enjoy!

1 box Rotini Tri Colored Pasta
1 bottle Light Italian Dressing
1 bag of Colby Jack Shredded Cheese
4 Vine Ripe Tomatoes
3 Cucumbers

While the pasta boils according to directions on the box, halve de-seed and then dice both the tomatoes and cucumbers into 1/2 inch chunks.  After straining and cooling the pasta (10 mins in the freezer or 20 in fridge) add all ingredients into your best cookout dish or tupperware and serve!  So easy and soooooooo yummy!

Enjoy friends!

Cucumber Tomato & Basil Salad

Sorry it's been so long since I posted a creation!  Today while making this I decided it was a great summer salad to share :)  The Cukes, Tommytoes and Basil are all from my garden or my neighbors and everything else I had sitting in my pantry.  Free ingredients = Happy Ashley!

Cucumber Tomato & Basil Salad

1 Cucumber
5 small Tomatoes
1 handful of Basil
1 tsp minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil (mine is bay leaf and garlic infused)
Sea Salt (to taste)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
Balsamic Vinaigrette (to taste)

1. Halve and scrape out the guts of the tomatoes.
2. Peel, halve and scrape out the guts of the cucumbers.
3. Chop tomatoes and cucumbers into 1/2 inch pieces.
4. Mince basil leaves.
5. Toss tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, garlic and olive oil into bowl.
6. Add remaining ingredients to taste ( I like a health serving of the balsamic vinaigrette, or about 2 Tbsps.)

Cover tightly and refrigerate or leave at room temperature for 4-6 hours for optimal taste.  I am refrigerating mine for approx 6 hours as suggested by other blogs until it is ready to serve.

 Bon Appetit!

Parmesan Penne Bake

Okay for a quick and easy dinner solution the other night I came up with a "mac and cheese" for a refined pallet.


Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Penne Pasta (4 servings)
Italian blend shredded cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, Romano, Mozzarella)
Italian blend spices (LOVE my pizza and pasta spices grinder!)
Salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic
Olive Oil
Bread Crumbs (Italian if available)

Utensils:
Saucepan
Glass baking dish 8x8 or 9" round

-Preheat oven to 325.
-In sauce pan add one tsp of minced garlic, 1Tbsp of olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper, simmer on medium heat for 3 minutes.
-Add appropriate amount of water as per penne boiling directions.  Boil noodles and strain once done.
- In oven safe glass dish add noodles, 2 Tbsp of Italian seasonings and 1 cup of blended cheeses, mix well into noodles.  Add another thin layer of cheese to the top of the dish and dust the top with bread crumbs.  Lighlty shake olive oil over top of the dish leave uncovered and place in oven.
-Leave in oven for 20-25 minutes uncovered and switch to the broiler for last 3 minutes of cooking.  Be sure to watch your dish and make sure not to over broil.  I like mine to have a crispy top, hence the broiler but this is an optional step.




Serve as is or add a side of your favorite marinara sauce (mmmm...home made sauce :)) for a true Italian pasta dish.

Enjoy!

You ain't never had my Cornbread

Yes, It's true and obvious, Dave Matthews Band is the source for much of my inspiration. Having said that, of course I attempt to make Cornbread...while jamming out to Dave singing about Cornbread. This cornbread is a little sweet and a little spicy just like me :) Enjoy

-Preheat oven to 400

Ingredients:
1 box corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 red hot chili
5 slices jalapeno
Dash cumin

Utensils:
Mixing bowl
Fork
Spatula
Cutting board
Sharp small knife
2 mini loaf pans or one muffin tin

Mix corn muffin mix, egg, milk, cumin and sugar till a thick and slightly lumpy consistency.
Cut one long slice down the red chili pepper, open it and scrape out all seeds. Continue to make one long slice down the other side of the pepper and then chop the pepper into fine pieces (DO NOT GET YOUR HANDS NEAR YOUR MOUTH!! Ouch!)
Chop jalapeno slices into small slivers, the same size as your chili pepper slices.
Add both peppers while stirring mix.

Pour into two well greased mini loaf pans and bake at 400 16-20 minutes, or until top of loafs are golden brown.

Enjoy with a bowl of butternut squash soup or as a side with some bbq chicken and greens!

New Blog!

Hello to the three readers out there I think I'll have to this blog! :-) I am beginning this blog in response to requests for my recipes and because I love to cook and this gives me one more reason to show off my skills. I do not pretend to have any background in the culinary arts, however I spent 4+ years working the dining side of a country club where I learned quite a few tricks. Furthermore, as a kid I always found my grandmother's cooking interesting. I would watch her with subdued fascination and dream of having my own kitchen as a "grown-up." So now, I try my hand at something I've been longing to do since childhood, develop my own recipes and give them to others to try.

To the right you will find a list of ingredients that I will *ALWAYS* have in my cabinets. I do not let myself get low on any of these ingredients and I find they are the band-aids to my attempts at cooking. If you wish to follow along with my cooking, I highly suggest stocking up on these ingredients. I prefer organic spices, but there is nothing wrong with grabbing these from your local Aldi or Kroger, spices are spices and no matter the packaging, all contain the same ingredients.

Secondary to the list of ingredients I also tend to have frozen chicken breasts, cream cheese, milk, white fish, spaghetti, penne, elbow macaroni and an assortment of canned vegetables on hand. Thus no matter the situation or diner I may be having I can cater to my guests diets.

So now that you have read a bit about me and my kitchen, please feel free to continue and cook with me! If you have any comments, I'd greatly appreciate them and hopefully make a follower out of you!

Ciao xoxo
Ashley