Stromboli

After making calzones and spinach rolls I knew this stromboli would be good and I knew I was going to make it with the pre-made pizza crust because its so good!  It was another good Sunday night dinner!  The only thing I might do next time would be add in some banana peppers because we love them!  And I think it would taste like these Antipasto Squares that I made once, soooooo good!  Original recipe from Our Life in the Kitchen.  Check out her blog, she has amazing pictures and great recipes.

1 roll refrigerated Pizza Dough
Salami
Ham
Pepperoni
Provolone
Mozzarella
Egg Yolk
Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 400.  Start layering the meat in the center, leaving an inch or two along the edges. Add provolone and mozzarella.  Combine the egg yolk with a couple tablespoons of water and brush the egg wash around the edges.  It’ll help the dough stick together when you roll it up.  Starting along one long edge, gently roll it up.  Place it on a baking sheet, seam side down.  Coat the top and sides with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with a little granulated garlic.  Bake at 400 for about 20 to 25 minutes.  Cut into slices serve and with pizza sauce for dipping.

Garlic Pepper Shrimp

This was the first time I have ever bought fresh shrimp and peeled and deveined it myself.  I keep cooked frozen shrimp in the freezer most of the time and just heat it up when we use it.  This shrimp was so different.  It was so fresh and so tasty.  And actually not as much work as I thought it would be!  The original recipe is from Cheeky Kitchen and she served hers with rice.  We decided to go the pasta route and just added a little bit of extra olive oil, lemon juice, and the sauce with the shrimp after cooking.  Thats how I'll share the recipe below.  We had penne, but next time I'd go linguini.  This shrimp was awesome, and the house smelled amazing while it was cooking!!!

Ingredients:
1 pound raw, easy peel shrimp
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chives, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 package whole wheat linguini noodles (or other pasta or rice)
Juice from 1/2 a large lemon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Start to cook pasta.  Rinse, peel and devein shrimp (but leave tails on if you wish).
In a blender or food processor, blend together the garlic, melted butter, and olive oil until the garlic is very finely chopped. Pour the olive oil mixture over the shrimp, sprinkle in the fresh chives, salt, and a hearty amount of fresh cracked pepper.
Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through (be careful to not overcook the shrimp! they shouldn't curl into little circles, but should look like quarter moon sickles once done.)  Mine took about 9 or 10 minutes.
Drain pasta.  Dump shrimp and remaining garlic butter sauce from the baking sheet pan over the pasta.  Drizzle more olive oil over pasta if needed and add in lemon juice.  Serves 2 to 3.  Enjoy your simply amazing and irresistible dinner!

lazy this night, i need to step it up with my picture taking!!!

Southwestern Sloppy Joe's

Sloppy Joe's are seriously one of Corey's favorites.  He probably asks for them once a week.  I bookmarked this recipe on For the Love of Cooking about a month ago and then one of my friends made them and told me how good they were so I decided to put them on the list for this week.  Corey quickly agreed.  These were so good.  They were a little like the regular sloppy joes, but a tad spicy and had a really sweet flavor.  The spices were perfect.  And if you wanted to tone it down you could use green pepper rather than the jalapeno!

Southwestern Sloppy Joes with Avocado Slices:

2 tsp olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 small jalapeño, seeded and diced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coriander
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
5 small pearl tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup of ketchup, more if needed
1-2 tsp brown sugar
3/4 cup frozen sweet yellow corn, thawed
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Hamburger buns, toasted
Avocado slices

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the red onion & jalapeno and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add the lean ground beef, making sure to break it up into crumbles as it cooks. Add the chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin, garlic powder, coriander, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Mix the ingredients so the spices are evenly coating the beef and onion. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until the beef is cooked through. Add the minced garlic and diced tomatoes and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the ketchup, brown sugar, sweet yellow corn, and cilantro. Cook for 2 minutes. Taste and re-season if needed. Scoop the filling onto a toasted hamburger bun and top with avocado slices. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

I served this with puffy cheddar mustard potatoes...recipe coming soon!

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

These I made as well for my sister's birthday.  The recipe is from my friend Katie's blog and I knew my sis would love them because she loves peanut butter (who doesn't?).  They were so good, those kind of cupcakes that you savor each bite.  They were a little reminiscent of banana bread but the peanut butter icing took them over the top.  I took Katie's suggestion and added chocolate chips and definitely recommend you do that as well.  Her recipe called for a cream cheese based peanut butter icing, but unfortunately I knew these would be siting out for a while so I had to go with another icing.  I will share both below so you can choose!

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg 1 large egg yolk
1/3 to 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth.
Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition.  Fold in chocolate chips.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 cup for each).
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of each comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.



Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned or freshly ground)
Chopped lightly salted roasted peanuts (optional)

Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter.
Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth.
Spread frosting over top of cupcakes, dividing equally. Sprinkle lightly with chopped peanuts, if desired.



Peanut Butter Frosting
(I made this one) courtesy of Ina

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream (or you can use a tad bit of water)

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

don't be afraid to slather on the icing for these too.  its not too rich.  i wish i had used more!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

So my sister's 23rd bday was Friday and I wanted to make her something sweet.  We also left for our 5th annual girls trip to Nashville Friday so I decided to make some cupcakes to bring down for everyone to celebrate.  I've only made the out of the box cupcakes prior to this.  Oh my goodness, homemade icing is the best, I don't know if I'll ever go back to that store bought stuff!  Plus it gave me and excuse to use my new stand mixer again!  I also made banana cupcakes with chocolate chips and peanut butter icing...I'll share that recipe next! 

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
courtesy of How Sweet
makes 12 cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles + more for top of frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in assorted sprinkles.
Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool, then frost.

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of milk, if needed
Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly. Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl. If frosting is too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles.  You may feel like you have too much frosting but don't be scared to use it all on these cupcakes!  Its not too much and not overly sweet!

Lemon Shallot Baked Salmon

You know I really thought this would just be another salmon dish when I first saw it.  Since we try to eat fish regularly we can always use another way to mix it up so I thought I would give this a shot.  It was seriously so good though!!!  I was also a little leery of the creamy herb dressing, but it was the perfect topping.  Really light and fresh!  I made mine a little different than the recipe based on what I had at home so my modifications are below.  Recipe comes from Cheeky Kitchen.

Ingredients:
2 salmon filets
1/4 cup olive oil or less
zest of 1 lemon & juice of half the lemon (mine was pretty large and had a lot of juice so add more if you need)
1/2 shallot

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor or blender, combine the olive oil, lemon, and shallot. Blend until pureed completely.  Place salmon on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle the lemon-shallot sauce over the salmon. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly-ground pepper.  Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily when touched with a fork. Top with Creamy Herb Dressing (recipe follows).

Creamy Herb Dressing:
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (I used plain regular low fat yogurt)
1 tablespoon each fresh chopped mint, dill, tarragon (I used a few sprinkles of Italian seasonings)
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup table cream (I had half & half
1/2 teaspoon salt

Balsalmic Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes

This is such a fresh, easy side dish that looks fancy.  The flavors are surprisingly pretty outstanding together.  The recipe comes from Eating Well.  Its very easy not to mess this up so don't feel like you have to stick to the recipe as far as measuring goes, I pretty much just eyeball everything.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 pound green beans, trimmed

1/2 cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method:

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green beans and cook, stirring often, until seared in spots, 2 to 3 minutes. Add water, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes for tender-crisp or 6 minutes for tender. Push the beans to the side; add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, stir everything together and cook until the tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vinegar, salt and pepper.