Garlic Cheese Twists!
These are a great appetizer and oh-so-super easy. They cheat a little with the pizza dough, but that’s what makes them quick and easy.
You’ll need:
-1 package classic Pillsbury pizza crust
-3 Tb butter, melted
-1 Tb olive oil
-Garlic clove
-1/4 cup shredded “fiesta” cheese (this is some sort of blend with monterery jack, colby jack, etc blend)
-Seasonings like marjoram, basil or Italian…or any combination thereof
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Unroll the pizza crust and cut slices of dough about 1 inch wide (this will make about 10 sticks).
2. Take the ends of a dough slice and squeeze them together, twist the dough. Place it on a baking sheet and repeat this for all the dough.
3. Mix the butter and oil together. Use a spoon to drizzle most of the mixture over the sticks (save some to put on the sticks after they are baked).
4. Dice up the garlic and sprinkle it over the sticks as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the seasonings over as well.
5. Bake for 11 minutes. When the timer goes off pull them out and turn off the oven. Sprinkle the cheese over and put them back in the OFF oven for two more minutes.
6. Pull them out, drizzle the rest of the butter/oil mix on them.
Serve as is, or with some warm marinara on the side!
Mac ‘N Cheese Muffins
Hannaford’s Fresh magazine has a lot of great recipes and this mac and cheese muffin recipe I got from it a while ago has been a hit. I’ve added a few spices but kept everything the same.
You’ll need:
3 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 cups elbow macaroni
1 12oz can regular evaporated milk
1/2 cup nonfat milk (I actually use plain, light soymilk and no one ever notices)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp flour
4 oz (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
I’ve added:
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp taco seasoning (sounds weird, just do it
)
a couple pinches of red pepper flakes
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pan. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp of bread crumbs into the bottom of each muffin cup and swirl around to coat bottom and sides.
2. In a large pot boil water for macaroni, add mac.
3. While water is boiling, prepare the cheese sauce. In a medium bowl mix the evap milk and milk.
4. In a large saucepan on LOW heat, melt butter. Gradually mix flour with butter, one Tbsp at a time, stirring completely. Mixture will be very thick.
5. Add milk mixture gradually to pan, mixing well. It will get really thick but that’s what’s supposed to happen. As it gets thinner switch to a whisk. Raise heat to medium-low, continue stirring and don’t let burn.
6. When mixture starts to bubble slightly, add the cheese slowly.
7. When all cheese is mixed in, lower heat all the way, just to keep warm.
8. Add cooked pasta and stir.
9. This is when I throw in the salt, pepper, and other spices. Do a little at a time and taste it for more/less.
10. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the macaroni and cheese into each muffin cup. sprinkle about 1/4 tsp bread crumbs on top.
11. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
12. Let rest in pan about 10 minutes, scoop out and EAT!
Stuffed Shells
OK, I’ve re-entered the blogging world again, sorry for the delay. This recipe came from my mom but I’m not sure where she got it from. You’ll need:
-12 oz box of shells
-1 1/2 lbs ricotta cheese
-8 oz mozz cheese
-2 eggs, beaten
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp. chopped parsley (always, always go with fresh-but if you can’t throw in the spice)
-1/4 c. grated parm cheese
-Abotu 2-3 cups pasta sauce
-1-8 tsp pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the shells until they’re tender, about 12-15 minutes. Drain them and let them cool (sometimes it’s useful to spray a little bit of butter on them to keep them from sticking). In a medium-sized bowl, combine ricotta, mozz (set a little aside to sprinkle on after), eggs and mix. Add salt, pepper, and parsley (feel free to throw in some fresh shredded basil leaves, or the spice). Fill the shells with your cheese mix. Layer a pan with a little bit of sauce, the stuffed shells, more sauce, and sprinkle a bit of mozz on top.
To bake; cover with aluminum foil and bake about 25 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes. Let cool and serve with salad and/or garlic bread (which I conviently also have a recipe for, search “garlic bread”). Evantually I’ll get a pic on here!
Homemade doughnuts in 15 minutes
My friend Nick showed me this recipe a few years ago, and everyone should know it, so here it goes!
You’ll need:
-Oil (vegetable or canola)
-One package Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
-1/2 c. cinnamon sugar
Optional: jelly, Nutella to fill doughnuts with
If you aren’t going to fill the donuts, just follow the following instructions:
Take a medium or large sized skillet (the larger the skillet the more oil you will have to use) and heat up about an inch worth of oil on medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, break open the biscuits and seperate them. Take a small knife and cut out a doughnut hole, about one-inch wide (keep this part for doughnut holes!). Take a paper bag and pour the cinnamon sugar inside. By now the oil should be ready. Place a few doughnuts inside the skillet (about 2-4 depending on how big your skillet is) and let them fry 4-7 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown color. Flip them, and fry the other side. The same is done for doughnut holes. Take fried doughnuts and place them in the cinnamon sugar bag, then shake until fully coated. Place on a plate and eat! These are definitely best warm.
If you want to fill the donuts:
My favorite things to fill the doughnuts with are raspberry jelly and nutella, but you can fill them with frosting or whatever you’d like. Instead of cutting a doughnut hole, take the doughnut and split it 3/4 apart (the buttermilk biscuits are meant to be flaky so they will easily rip open). Fill it with your filling and seal the donut back up. The only other change is that they will take a couple extra minutes to fry.
Enjoy!
PS- I’m working on getting pic’s up…I broke my camera a couple months ago si it’s a little harder than usual.
