Monday, September 12, 2011

Secret Recipe Club: Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Rolls


This might not be a million dollar photo of pizza rolls but I wanted to show you what it looks like to accomplish a project that I have had a fear of trying for a long time - making homemade dough for breads and pizzas. I did it. Here they are in the raw without any pretty plates or fancy tablescapes.

Delicious! (and I made the dough!)

I was very fortunate to receive Babara Bakes for my SRC blog this month. Barbara has a beautiful blog. The pictures jump right out at you, almost demanding you to try each and every recipe. Her step-by-step instructions are easy to follow - which made my challenge of trying something new so much easier. I can handle the bread machine method, but I'm overcome with panic at the thought of trying to make homemade bread by hand. When I found Barbara's recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough & Homemade Pizza Sauce, I bookmarked it and hid it for a few days before making it my final choice. I read through the instructions again and again, making sure I had everything that I needed to make this dough turn out right. The day came to make the pizza dough.... I followed her instructions step by step. Guess what? It wasn't that hard after all. The dough was easy to work with and baked tasted great.

I decided to make pizza rolls from this recipe instead of regular pizza. I added ground sausage, pepperoni, peppers & onion to her homemade pizza sauce. The sauce was fantastic. My whole family overwhelmingly loved the pizza rolls. This recipe is definitely a keeper! These will go over big for Sunday football games and school lunches!

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Rolls
adapted from tamiskitchentabletalk: pizza roll ups

1 recipe for whole wheat pizza dough (below)
1 recipe for homemade pizza sauce (below)
3 c. shredded mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese -
divided into (2) 1 1/2 c. servings
1 cup finely chopped turkey pepperoni - divided into (2) 1/2 c. servings



**Any changes that I've made to the original recipes below from Barbara Bakes, will appear in bold lettering.**

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
from Barbara Bakes

1 cup warm water (between 95º and 115º)
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 US package) instant yeast
2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the honey, warm water, and oil in a small bowl. The water should be about 95 to 115°. It should feel very warm, but not hot.

Mix 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, yeast, wheat gluten, and salt in mixing bowl, using the paddle attachment, mix on low for about 30 seconds.

With the motor running on low, pour in the liquids. Continue mixing until a shaggy dough begins to form. Clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining cup of bread flour a little at a time, to make a moderately stiff dough. Adding more or less flour as needed.

Knead for eight minutes. The dough should completely clear the sides. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more flour is needed. If the dough seems too dry, spritz with water from a spray bottle a couple of times, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more water is needed. You’ll find the dough wraps itself around the hook, so every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and then continue kneading.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it a few times by hand to be sure it’s tight and elastic. Form the dough into a tight ball.

Wash and dry your mixing bowl then mist it with oil. Place the dough, seam-side down, in the bowl and lightly mist top of dough with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size — 45 minutes to an hour.

Heat the oven to 375*. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal portions. Set one aside and cover with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

Lightly flour the table. Using a rolling pin, roll the other portion of dough into a large, thin rectangle. Cover the entire area with sauce (recipe below), leaving a 1/4 in. border all the way around the edges. 

Top with 1/2 c. of turkey pepperoni and sprinkle on 1 1/2 c. of the cheeses. 

Roll up tightly, jelly roll style, starting with one of the short ends. Slice into 12 equal portions.

Lightly spray non-stick cooking spray on a baking sheet. Lay the 12 pizza rolls onto the baking pan in 4 rows of 3 rolls. 

Bake for 20 minutes. Immediately remove the rolls from the baking sheet once they have finished baking to prevent them from sticking to the sheet. 

Repeat with the remaining dough and leftover ingredients

Leftovers can be frozen.

Homemade Pizza Sauce
adapted from Barbara Bakes 

1/2 c. onion, diced very small
1/2 c. green pepper, diced very small
1 c. cooked, crumbled Italian sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 (28 ounce) can crused tomatoes in rich puree
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a small saucepan, sauté onion and green pepper until tender. Add garlic and continue cooking until the garlic is tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness. Sauce may be refrigerated for up to 1 week.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

August '11 Cookie Carnival Round Up!




 
Welcome to our Cookie Carnival Round Up for August!


The cookie choices for this month were:

Spiced Hermits & Sweet Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

Here's what our Cookie Carnival bakers had to say:

Jackie @ foodwanderlust said " Decadent sandwiches of savory and sweet."


Christine @ Whimsical Bakery loves Anna Olsen's website and her cookies.


Katrina @ Baking and Boys! baked the peanut butter cookies but switched things up a bit when it came to the filling.


Stephanie @ Confessions of a City Eater said "You can't even taste the rum in the filling and once you eat the whole cookie sandwich, all you taste is the deliciousness of that banana-peanut butter combination."


Donna, one of our Cookie Carnival email bakers said "I made the hermit cookies today and loved them! They reminded me of the old Archway cookies I had in my lunch as a child.


Take a few minutes to check out all of their scrumptious cookies!

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I threw a twist into the recipes this month!
To find out what I did, sign up to bake with us!


Lucky Charms & Golden Grahams Treat Bars Review & Giveaway!


As a member of My Blog Spark, I was recently given the chance to try Betty Crocker's Lucky Charm & Golden Graham cereal bars. My kids were more than willing to jump right in with me to try them. Both kids chose the Lucky Charms cereal bars as their favorite. They loved the Lucky Charm cereal paired with the white chocolate, while I chose the chocolate and marshmallow combo of the Golden Graham cereal bar as my favorite.

With only 100 calories per Lucky Charm bar and 130 calories per Golden Graham bar, as a Mom, I feel just fine including one of these bars into my kids' lunch bags as a treat or handing one out to them with a glass of milk for an after school snack.

As a PTO board member in my daughter's school, I'm thrilled to see not just one, but two, Box Tops for Education included on every box of these cereal treat bars! That's double the money for the school with every purchase.

Included with the 2 boxes of cereal treat bars were these very cool back-to-school items:

a lunch bag
a locker white board
and a tube of colored pencils.


~*~*WE HAVE A WINNER! ~*~*

Congratulations!!

Post # 10 

Mrs T said: "I would bring these along in the car to feed my granddaughters while traveling from one after-school activity to the next, or to give them after an activity when they are hungry."

You have 48 hrs. to contact me with your mailing info. or another winner will be chosen.  

Check out Cereal Treats Bars online for great information and coupons for new products. Also, be sure to visit the Betty Crocker Facebook page and get involved in the conversation.

Now you have a chance to win one of the Cereal Bar Prize Packs of your own!

{Open to US & Canada entries only}

To enter this giveaway:

Mandatory first entry - Tell me how you would serve these cereal bars to your family.

Extra entries:  

(2 entries) Sign up to follow me on Google Friends - if you are already a follower, just let me know (thank you!)

(2 entries) Sign up to follow me through email  - if you are already receiving my emails, just let me know (thank you!)

Please make sure that your contact info. is included in each entry. The winner will be emailed and will have 48 hrs. to respond.

 ~*~* Hurry! This giveaway ends on Monday, Sept 5, 2011. ~*~*

Disclosure: Cereal Treats Bars, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Menu Plan for 9/4 - 9/10

We've certainly had our share of bad weather lately and tonight is no different. We had a down pour just a few minutes ago, paired with the threat of a tornado right in our neighborhood. Thankfully the funnel cloud never touch the ground. The rain is supposed to hang around all week.

Here's our menu for the week - again in no particular order: 

steak salads (using this flank steak recipe) w/garlic bread
chicken parm rolls w/spaghetti
tuna wiggle
pork egg rolls w/ fried rice
johnny marzetti w/ salad
farmer's market chicken fettuccinni

Looking for some lunch box ideas? Here's a few!

hot & crispy chicken legs
pita pizza
lunch box fruit, meat & cheese kabobs
chili cheese dog tortilla sticks

I'm linking up to:

Menu Plan Monday

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Rigatoni Florentine


It feels like forever since I've posted anything to my blog. The status at our house is "back-to-normal" crazy with school back in session, soccer games and of course, a bout with the flu for me.

If you've followed my blog during the previous school years, you know that I'm all about quick and easy dinners that gets our family to the dinner table to eat together, no matter what's going on in our schedules. My recipe for Rigatoni Florentine a simple, colorful pasta dish that packs a whollop of flavors.


Rigatoni Florentine
1 lb box of rigatoni, cooked al dente
8 oz fresh button mushrooms, sliced
8 oz frozen spinach, thawed
1 jar of roasted red peppers, drained and sliced into small strips
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/2 lb hot sausage - I had to use link
hot sausage and remove it from the casings
1 container of Philadelphia Italian Cheese
Herb Cooking Creme
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350*

Cook rigatoni as directed on the box, drain and set aside.

In a large frying pan, saute button mushrooms in olive oil for 3 minutes. Stir in spinach and roasted red pepper strips. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes. Stir in minced garlic and Italian seasonings. Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover to keep warm.

In the same frying pan, brown hot sausage in more olive oil. Drain off any grease, if necessary. Add the hot sausage back into the pan, along with the spinach mixture. Stir in the Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme. Mix well.

If your frying pan is big enough to hold all of it, mix together the rigatoni and Florentine cheese sauce. If not, use a large bowl to mix all of it.

Layer half of the rigatoni mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Spoon on the remaining rigatoni and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 10 minutes.

Serve with garlic cheese bread.


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