Grilled Pizza

I finally tried it....there were so many people that had posted how to grill pizza on the grill. These worked up really fast.

Recipe from: The Sister's CafeDough:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar

What I did:Made dough, let rise. Roll out into 3-4 circles. Brush a little olive oil on one side and put that side down on the hot grill. Quickly close grill and check in a few minutes. When that side is browned and crisp, flip over and quickly top with toppings. You need to use less sauce and toppings to keep the dough crisp. (I need to fix that next time) Quickly close the lid and let the dough finish cooking and the cheese melt.

Serve Immediately.

Chicken Corn Chowder

The combination of veggies in this soup sounded fantastic, so I tried it and loved it. I am thinking about freezing some red peppers just for this soup. YUM!


2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds and membrane removed (do not omit)
1/4 Cup thinly sliced or chopped ham or canadian bacon
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
3 Tablespoons flour
3 ears of fresh corn kernels (I usually end up using frozen corn)
2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 oz softened cream cheese
1 Cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute celery, bell pepper, onion and jalapeno until softened. Stir in garlic and ham; cook for another 3 minutes. Whisk the broth with the flour in a large bowl then stir into soup. Stir in corn and chicken. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat. Whisk together the cream cheese and milk in a large bowl until smooth. Stir into soup along with the salt, pepper and cheddar cheese. Simmer until ready to serve.

*I finely chopped the celery, bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno in the VitaMix

Quick Chicken Enchiladas

Found this easy recipe and was excited with how fast it worked up. I used the green enchilada sauce I had frozen....I need to freeze some more :)
John's rating: 9

1 3/4 cups green enchilada sauce (I used my homemade one)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cups diced cooked chicken
7 ounces tortilla chips (crush them to bite sizes in the bag)
4 ounces grated monterey jack cheese

toppings
lettuce
Sweet salsa
sour cream (optional)

Directions
Thoroughly mix green chili enchilada sauce, soup, and sour cream in a LARGE bowl.
Stir in diced, cooked chicken.
While still in bag, crush chips into smaller pieces (but don't make them all crumbs) and pour into soup mixture.
Mix well.
Pour into lightly greased 8x8" baking dish.
Top with grated cheese.
Bake at 350-degrees for 25-30 minutes.

When serving, add toppings of your choice.

Chicken Broccoli Crepes

I was in the mood for crepes...mainly for dessert, but this dinner was fantastic! I cut the chicken dinner part in half and made 4 filled crepes. That left me with 4 crepes for dessert :) Perfect!
John's Rating: 9 plus (He said this would rank among is favorite meals)

Crepes
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chicken Filling
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
3 cups cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
2 cups sour cream
2 (9 ounce) packages frozen broccoli, cooked and drained
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

In VitaMix, blend crepe ingredients until smooth.

Heat a lightly greased 8-inch nonstick skillet. Stir batter; pour 1/4 cup into the center of skillet. Lift and tilt pan to evenly coat bottom. Cook until top appears dry. Cook all crepes.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; stir in 2 cups of cheese. Cook and stir for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream until smooth.

Place four broccoli and 1/3 cup of chicken down the center of each crepe; top with 1/3 cup of cheese sauce. Roll up and place seam side down in a greased 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Pour remaining cheese sauce over crepes; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Italian Meatballs

I'm not a big fan of meatballs, but it's one thing my kids will eat....so every oncce in a while I'd try a new recipe. I think I am done looking! This recipe was so good! You can also make them and freeze them for later.

John's Rating: 8

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (FRESH!)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs (or use enough to hold the meat together)
1-2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Shape into small meatballs (at this point you can place on a jelly-roll/baking sheet and freeze to use later, or cover with plastic wrap refrigerate up to 24 hours before using).

Drop the meatballs into simmering pasta sauce, do not stir for at least 20 minutes or you will risk breaking the meatballs.

Continue cooking in the simmering sauce for another 20 minutes (depending on how fast your sauce is simmering 40 minutes total should fully cook the meatballs).

After the 40 minutes cooking time continue cooking your sauce with the meatballs in for as long as desired.

Serve over warm noodles.

Pineberry Smoothie

I dumped this one together and John told me to hurry and write it down...hopefully these are the right proportions.
John's Rating: 10

1 1/4 cup pineapple tidbits with juice (I just had tidbits open)
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
3/4 to 1 cup coffee mate, french vanillla

Blend in VitaMix.

Winger's Salad

So...we love Winger's...for their delish sauce! So we were super excited to find this recipe here. The closest Winger's is an hour and a half away...but that doesn't matter now...
Our favorite way to enjoy their sauce is on a salad...with the works...cheese, croutons, chopped breaded chicken (We use Simmons chicken from Costco because that's our favorite breaded chicken)...then drizzled with this sauce and then Hidden Valley Ranch. Mmmmm....
The freakin' amazing sauce recipe: (We usually double or triple it and keep some in the fridge)

3 Tbsp. Franks Hot Sauce (It has to be Franks Hot Sauce... no other sauce will taste as good)
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water

Heat up hot sauce, brown sugar and water in a saucepot until all the sugar dissolves.

Yep...it's that easy and so good!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Our family loves these pancakes, esp. Kyla. I found it as a recipe for IHOP pancakes, I don't know how they compare since we are not IHOP fans, but we are fans of this recipe.
John's Rating: 9...and he's not a big fan of pancakes :)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (I used pwd.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 pinch salt

Mix and pour on griddle.

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe has a different flavor than any other chicken enchiladas I've had. The meat if very sweet and the sauce is spicy.
John's Rating: 76 Tbs honey
4.5 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 lb cooked chicken, shredded
8 flour tortillas (I cooked fresh ones from Costco)
Monterey jack cheese, shredded
2 cups green enchilada sauce

Mix first 4 ingredients together and toss with shredded chicken. Let it "marinate" for at least a half hour. Pour some green enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 10x10 casserole dish or 9x13 pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese. Pour the rest of the can of green enchilada sauce over enchiladas then sprinkle with more cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Green Enchilada Sauce

This Recipe.

1 pound peeled (paper skin) and washed tomatillos, cut in halves
2 medium white onions coarsely chopped.
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon mild chili powder
4 diced jalapenos
3 cups mildchicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, place the olive oil, onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add the broth, tomatillos, cumin, chili powder and jalapenos and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover, continue cooking until the tomatillos are soft. Cool until room temperature. (At this point, you may refrigerate sauce for later or freeze) When ready, process sauce until smooth (in a blender or food processor).

Cheddar Bacon Wrapped Hamburgers

These were a nice change to the burger. They were so moist and full of flavor!
John's Rating: 9 (he says this is almost as great as having steak)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 small onion, chopped
1 egg
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 lb ground beef
12 slices bacon
6 hamburger buns, split, I used these.

Preheat a grill for high heat.

In a large bowl, mix together the Cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, onion, egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Crumble in the ground beef, and mix together by hand.

Form into 6 patties, and wrap two slices of bacon around each one in both directions.

Place patties on the grill, and cook for 5 minutes per side, or until well done.

Stuffed French Toast

This is my favorite breakfast. I have also made it for dinner :)
 
John's Rating: 9

Lightly Blend:
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
dash of salt

Pour in shallow dish.

Make Cream Cheese Filling:

Microwave a 8 oz of cream cheese (I use reduced fat) just until soft enough to stir easily with a spoon. Stir in powdered sugar until it is sweet to your liking. About 3 to 4 Tbsp.

Dip Texas toast in egg mixture and cook on griddle. Cook both sides. As soon as you take them off the grill, slather a layer of cream cheese mixture on one slice of french toast and top it with another piece of french toast. Serve Warm.

We love ours with blackberry syrup or carmeled apple jam. Chokecherry syrup, strawberry and raspberry jams are also quite good on these.

Watermelon and Raspberry Smoothie

This is a great way to use extra watermelon...we have lots this time of year :)
John's Rating: 9

2 cups watermelon-seeded and diced
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup frozen raspberries
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup ice

Blend in VitaMix...Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Found this recipe and instantly thought "yum!" My picture is not as good as hers...I seem to have issues with gently folding in blueberries and keeping them from turning batters blue...oh well...it tasted great! I don't have a bundt pan, so I used 2 bread loaf pans...turned out great. Make sure you peel the zucchini so that you don't have green specks in your bread.
John's Rating: "strong 8"

3 cups peeled and shredded zucchini
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
2 cups blueberries

Beat zucchini, sugar, eggs, oil, and lemon juice. Sift together dry ingredients and stir in with lemon zest. Fold in the blueberries gently.

Pour into 2 well greased bread pans or one bundt pan. Bake at 325 for about 65 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean. Let sit in pan for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack.

Cool completely and frost with lemon cream cheese frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
3 Tbsp soft butter
3 oz soft cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
2 cups powdered sugar
dash salt
zest of 1 lemon (2-3 tsp)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (approximately)

Beat butter and cream cheese till smooth. Add powdered sugar, salt, zest, and enough lemon juice to make a spreadable consistency.

**Store leftovers in fridge.