It’s not delivery, It’s homemade ~ Pizza

 
On a Friday night the easy choice is pizza right?
Instead of ordering your favorite delivery, save money and make your own!
You get to choose your own toppings.
You get to decide how much sauce – too little or too much
You get to decide how much cheese or how thick/thin the crust is!
It’s a win win situation.
This is seriously the easiest pizza crust I’ve ever made.
You make it with Bisquick of all things!
{Printable Link}
You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
  
• 1/3 cup very hot water
  
• 1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce
  
• 1 package (3 1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (6 ounces)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450ºF. Grease 12-inch pizza pan. Stir together Bisquick mix and very hot water; beat 20 strokes until soft dough forms.
   
2. Press dough in pizza pan. Spread pizza sauce over dough. Top with remaining ingredients.
   
3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

Have a great weekend! Stay safe if you are on the north east coast!

Dumplins or Dumplings?

 
Since I was born and raised in the south,
I have a tendency to leave the “g” off of words.
I have a bad habit of sayin things like “fixin” and “warshin” and “dumplins”
Dumplins just don’t sound right with a “g”
and if you make Dumplings I bet they don’t taste like “Dumplins”!
I had a request to make Dumplins over the weekend from the birthday boy!
Chicken and Dumplins are good to make when it’s your birthday ~
or a rainy day, or a holiday or any day really.
Give these a try if you are feeling the need to leave off a “g” or two in your life.
My GG used to make these for me when I wore pigtails.
My GG taught me how to make these when I wore high heels!
She was the best! At everything!
She also made the best fried chicken this side of Texas!
Chicken and Dumplins – GG Style!
{Printable Link}
What you’ll need:

• 3 Chicken breasts with bone and skin
  
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
  
• 1 cup chicken broth from boiling chicken
  
• Flour
  
• Oil
  
• Salt
  
• Pepper

Directions for the Chicken:
(they are simply complicated!)

• Fill the pot half full of water, add salt and pepper.
• Boil the chicken (for about 45 minutes).

• Remove the chicken.
  
• Oh look who showed up right on cue! Chicken stalker!

• Cool the Chicken.

• Shred the Chicken. Removing all fat and bones.
  
• Let chicken continue to cool while preparing the Dumplins

 

• Drink the wine. (required when shredding)

• Feed the stalker (required when shredding)

• Remove 1 cup of chicken broth now.
• In the same pot that you boiled the chicken in, add 2 cans of cream of chicken soup to the remaining broth.
  
• Stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil
• Reduce heat and let simmer while you prepare your dumplins.

Directions for Dumplins:
For the Dough you will need:

• 1 cup chicken broth you saved from boiling your chicken with
  
• 3 tbsp of oil
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• **flour

Directions for making your Dumplins

• Add your cup of chicken broth, oil and salt to a large mixing bowl.
• **this is a tricky part** Add your flour. If you noticed there is no measurement. I don’t measure this. I just add until the broth is absorbed and you have a nice size ball of dough to work with. You can’t make more than you need and you can’t mess it up. I’m thinking it’s about 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of flour if I had to guess.
• knead the dough.

 

• Flour your counter top/workspace
  
• Refer to ancient index card recipe for reassurance

• Pinch the dough into small workable sections

• Roll out the dough thin, but not too thin or the dumplins will break up and not to thick or they will not get done.

• Cut the dough into strips of your liking (long strips or short squares).

Combing the two (there is a small science to it):

• Before you add the dumplins to the pot, add the pieces of chicken to the broth and stir them in.
• Once you have your dough all cut up, add them one at a time to the pot, carefully stirring them in along the way.
• Bring back to a boil, reduce heat, add salt and pepper to taste and let simmer about 30 minutes or until dumplins are done.

It might seem a little complicated but your mouth, tummy and southern roots will rejoice!

Enjoy! I know we did!

Pollo Sabroso

I have to admit that I am not a fan of chicken thighs

Nor am I a fan of cooking them.

Give me a breast fried, boiled, broiled, baked, grilled

or any other way you can muster and I’m a happy chicken!

Ha Ha

But when a recipe comes along this good and simple it is hard to fight that fact!

I bet you could do this with just about any type of chicken I just stuck to the requirements because I’m that type of girl :)

But only part of the time - when I actually have all of the required ingredients!

{Printable Link}

You will need:

• 6 Boneless skinless chicken thighs (I only had skinless)
• 1 Tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 package of Sazon
• Adobo seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Oregano

Directions:

1. Season chicken with vinegar and soy sauce.
2. Add sazon, a generous amount of adobo, garlic powder, oregano and adobo and mix well. (Don't use your hands or they will turn orange)
3. Let chicken marinade at least 20 minutes.
4. Broil or grill on low until chicken is cooked through, careful not to burn.
5. Be careful not to step on the chicken stalker! He guards that oven so well, don’t you think!

Serve with rice and beans or roasted veggies (to make it a free points meal!)

Have an awesome day!

Original recipe source: www.skinnytaste.com

Menu Planning Monday

Today is the first day of school ‘round these parts.
So its back to schedules, bedtimes, and two week menus if I can handle the heat!
I worked out a meal plan for the next two weeks that is quick easy and doesn’t require a spatula everyday!
Sunday ~ Hot Tortilla Soup
Monday ~ Leftovers
Tuesday ~ Crescent Roll Casserole
Wednesday ~ Leftovers
Thursday ~ Taco Casserole
Friday ~ Birthday Boy dinner choice!
Saturday ~ Pinwheel Pizza dippers
I’ll save you the time of reading and add next weeks meal plan, uh next week :)
Two of these recipes are new, new for me, new for you.
I will fall on the floor crying if they don’t taste good!
Have a great week!

Round and round we go… with veggies!

All of these vegetables in my refrigerator needed to use before they expired.
I looked at my usual  method of making roasted goodness but Pinterest has sparked my creativity lately =)
This recipe looked so easy and yummy that I couldn’t wait to give it a try.
I added a few ingredients from the original recipe found here.
I think the original name of this is called “Vegetable Tian” but I just called it yummy!
{Printable Link}
You will need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 russet potatoes, unpeeled
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• Package of pre-sliced portabella mushrooms (the chunky ones)
• 3 large Roma tomatoes
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• Dried thyme, to taste (I only had ground but it still came out good)
• 1/2 cup of low fat Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup low fat tomato and basil feta cheese ( I added this because I’m just a cheesy kinda girl)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 60 seconds. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the greased baking dish.
Slice the potatoes, zucchini, squash mushrooms (if they are not pre-sliced) and tomatoes in 1/4 inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. Season with sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme, to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.
Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan and feta cheeses on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned.

Have yourself a heck of a Wednesday!
Now go make this for dinner.

It’s all in the sauce ~ Asian glazed chicken

Borrowed from Skinny Taste Picture source

Wowza! is a word that comes to mind after making and eating this meal!

I had to borrow this picture from Skinny taste for 2 3 reasons:

1. I live in a new kitchen with terrible lighting

2. Gina’s picture displays this meal perfectly

3. One more ~ I live in a kitchen with terrible lighting!

So with all that, I will say again this meal was amazing.

I made the Broccoli with it that you see in the background with some rice on the side.

It is seriously simple!

The best part is we were done with dinner and kitchen cleaned by 7:30! Woohoo!

Here is what you need:

{Printable Link – from original source}

• 8 skinless drumsticks (I’ve heard that boneless, skinless thighs work great also)
• olive oil spray 
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 4 tsp agave nectar (or sugar)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp chives or scallions, chopped
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In a heavy large saucepan, brown chicken on high for 3-4 minutes with a little spray oil.
2. Add water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave, garlic, ginger, hot sauce and cook on high until liquid comes to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes.
4. Remove cover and bring heat to high, allowing sauce to reduce down, about 8-10 minutes, until it becomes a thick glaze, turning chicken occasionally. (Keep an eye on glaze, you don't want it to burn when it start becoming thick)
5. Transfer chicken to a platter and pour glaze on top.
6. Top with chives and sesame seeds and serve.

I served it with Roasted Broccoli w/ smashed garlic! YUM!

In total this meal cost me a whooping 4 points!

Both of these recipes come directly from www.skinnytaste.com. Enjoy!

Meal Planning Fun!

I don’t know why I did this to myself.

I will really have to reconsider how I do things!

I planned 3, count them, 1-2-3 new recipes in one week!

Somehow it also ended up being a week full of chicken.

Sunday ~ We actually had take out because we were dog tired!

Monday ~ Chicken Tacos with chips and salsa

Tuesday ~ Orange Rosemary Chicken with Roasted veggies

Wednesday ~ Grilled Chicken Bruchetta with crock pot “baked potatoes”

Thursday ~ Asian Glazed Drumsticks with wild rice

Friday ~ Chimichangas(with ground beef) with Guacamole and chips

Saturday ~ Pizza Night!

Actually I don’t have a clue what we are having on Saturday so I just threw in pizza! I really hope we enjoy these new recipes and I will update you with pictures and their success or failure.

Happy Monday meal plan on Tuesday :)