Pizza Roll-Ups

2 loaves Rhode's bread
Pizza sauce or 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
Toppings of your choice
Mozzarella cheese, grated

Set the frozen bread out 7-8 hours before you want to make the pizza rolls. Cover with plastic wrap so it won't dry out.
When ready, roll each loaf out to an approximate 10"x12" rectangle. Spread pizza sauce lightly over the middle of the bread, keeping the outer 1" of each edge clean. Place meat and other toppings of your choice over the sauce. Last, sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.
Starting from long edge, pull the dough up over the meat and cheese. Work carefully, keeping the meat and cheese inside as you pull. When the dough is covering a little more than half the meat and cheese, pull the other long edge over the meat and cheese. Seal the edges and the ends of the dough. Place both rolls seam down and lengthwise, about an inch apart, on a cookie sheet.
Allow to rise while heating your oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and spread olive oil or butter over the crest to soften it. Cool for 5-10 minutes, slice and serve.

Mom's note:

• This was a family favorite when our kids were growing up.
• You can use bottled pizza sauce for a milder flavor or the tomato paste makes a more robust flavor.

Cilantro Lime Rice

In my quest to remake all my favorites from Cafe Rio, I have discovered this recipe.  Justin, Scott, and I are huge fans.  The other kids...not so much.  They don't really count though because they do not yet adore Cafe Rio as I do.  So give it a try.  It is a little limey, but I like it that way.  You can reduce the lime juice of you want.  This is so good served with Janae's enchiladas or Pineapple and Green Chile Pork Tacos.

Cilantro Lime Rice

4 tbls butter
2 1/2 cups rice
4 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use Minute Rice so I only use half this amount of broth)
1 1/2 tsp salt
juice of 4 small limes or 4 tbls lime juice (You can use less if you don't love lime)
4 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin

Mix all in rice cooker or pot until done. ( I don't have a rice cooker so I just cook it in a sauce pan)

Crock Pot Chicken Bowtie Pasta

I have had this recipe in my binder for a long time, so I have no clue where I got it from.

Combine the following in a crockpot:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I always cook with thighs instead of breasts)

1 jar four cheese alfredo sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

3/4 pkg real bacon pieces (I couldn't find a pkg, so I bought a jar of real bacon pieces in the salad dressing section instead)

1 pkg fresh sliced mushroom (looking at the picture, I think I forgot those!)

1/2 pkg dry Italian Dressing mix

1 cup cubed swiss cheese

1/4 stick of butter, melted

Salt and pepper

Cook on low 6-7 hours, shredding the chicken breasts about 1 hour before finished cooking.

Serve over bow tie pasta (as you can see we didn't have bow tie, so we used shell instead)

This was really good and made the house smell so yummy all day.  It was really good leftovers the next day too.  I just stored the chicken mixture seperate from the pasta in the refridgerator.

Crock Pot Pesto Chicken

Recipe adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

The recipe originally had you make your own pesto, but I have fallen in love with this pesto (pictured below) so I thought I would just buy it instead.  It is in the refrigerated section, (at WinCo it is on the top shelf near the salsa by the tortellini).  At my house any time the kids hear us say pesto, they say "pesto is the besto".  This is so yummy on hoagie sandwiches too.  It really is the besto!

4 chicken thighs

sliced mozzarella cheese (I just layered one or two slices on each thigh)

Pesto

In the bottom of a large slow cooker, arrange your chicken pieces. Mine were still frozen. Layer on slices of mozzarella cheese. Pour pesto evenly on top.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 4-5. If your chicken is frozen it will take a bit longer.

This was so good.  It had a lot of flavor to it.  We just served it with dutch oven style potatoes (cooked in a frying pan this time of year). 

Sinful Bread

I got this one from The Sisters Cafe . It's another food blog written by sisters and they always have awesome recipes. I modified the recipe a bit, it says to put the mixture on French bread but all I had was garlic bread. I left out the minced onion cause it seemed like all the garlic on the bread AND minced onion would just be too much. It turned out good, but I still would like to try it as the original recipe reads. I made this a few weeks ago while Janae was visiting and she must have liked it cause she called me later to get the recipe. This is one I think we'll definately be having again sometime soon.

Sinful Bread

2 loaves french bread
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated fresh
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup minced onion

Combine ingredients. Split french bread horizontally, spread mixture and sprinkle with paprika (if desired). Broil to crisp up. Enough for 2 loaves of french bread.

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Source:  http://www.bettycrocker.com/

I made these today for a Sunday afternoon treat.  They are very good, but very rich.  My kids really liked them, and it is something we would make again.  Give 'em a try!

Brownie Base
1 box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix (or whatever brownie mix you have)
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box

Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk (I just estimated this, I may have used more.)

Topping
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, we don't like dark chocolate)
1/4 cup butter


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray or shortening. (For easier cutting, line pan with foil, then grease foil on bottom only of pan.)

2. In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, pouch of chocolate syrup, water, oil and eggs until well blended. Spread in pan. Bake 28 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. In medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over brownie base.

4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave topping ingredients uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds; stir until smooth. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set. For brownies, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Tuscan Macaroni and Cheese Bake

I found this great recipe on My Kitchen Cafe a while back and have made it a few times already. Mike loves it, and that's saying a lot. He's a pretty picky eater. I modified it slightly from the original recipe and it turned out great!


Tuscan Macaroni and Cheese Bake
(modified slightly from My Kitchen Cafe)


16 ounces ground pork, cooked and drained
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
8 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened
1 cup sliced olives
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 1/2 Tblsp butter
1 1/2 Tblsp flour
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tomato, sliced thinly

Cook macaroni according to package directions but undercook theby 1-2 minutes since it will continue baking in the oven. In a large bowl, combine the sausage, cooked pasta, cream cheese, olives and 1 cup mozarella cheese. In small bowl, mix flour and spices.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter, then whisk in flour and spices. Allow to cook without browning for about 30 seconds while whisking. Slowly add the milk and stir until slightly thickened, about 5-6 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan. When slightly thickened, pour over pasta mixture and mix well.

Pour into 9 x 13 greased casserole dish. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove cover and add tomato 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and bake uncovered for 10 minutes more. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.