Stuffed Crust Pizza

My husband loves the stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut, but it is very expensive to have as a treat. I knew I could make it for less. Plus, this way I could control the ingredients that went into it, and on it. A traditional stuffed crust pizza would use tomato sauce, but my husband loves Alfredo so that's what I used. This is very rich, but oh so good.

Stuffed Crust Pizza:

adapted from foodnetwork.com

Crust:

1/4 cup warm water

4 Tbsp. sugar

1 package dry yeast

3/4 cup milk

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

3 Tbsp. cornmeal, plus more for the pan

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. salt

8 ounces mozzarella

Olive oil, for coating bowl

1 small jar Alfredo sauce

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 cups grated mozzarella

1 package sliced pepperoni

To make the crust: Stir the water, 1 Tbsp. of the sugar, and the yeast together in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, add the butter, and stir until melted.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, remaining sugar, egg, milk mixture, yeast mixture and salt until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, adding flour as needed if dough is sticky, about 1o minutes. Clean the bowl and coat it generously with olive oil. Form the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.

Punch the dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 45o degrees.

Cut the mozzarella into sticks about 3"x3/4"x3/4". (I use string cheese) Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal. Place the dough on the baking sheet and stretch it into a 15" circle.

Arrange the mozzarella sticks around the dough about 1" from the edge of the pan. Then roll the dough over the cheese to form the stuffed rim.

Spoon Alfredo sauce to taste on crust. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over sauce. Sprinkle herbs over top of the cheese. Finally, lay the pepperoni slices on top of it all.

Bake until crust is golden brown, 15 to 2o minutes.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

These were super, super easy and so good!! If you have a craving for cinnamon rolls and don't have the time to put in to making them completely from scratch, this recipe is perfection. Using crescent rolls, it makes a more difficult and time consuming dish easy.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls:

courtesy of Southern Living

1 8 oz can refrigerated crescent rolls (I used reduced fat)

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. milk

1 drop vanilla extract

Unroll crescent dough and separate into four rectangles; pinch seams to seal.

Stir together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over rectangles.

Roll up, jellyroll fashion, starting with a long side; press edges to seal. Cut each log into 5 slices, and place in a lightly greased 8" round cakepan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla; stirring until smooth. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.

Mini Meat Loaves

My son loves meat loaf and I like to make the mini loaves to make it easier to portion it out for him. This recipe was in the September issue of Woman's Day and looked fairly easy. I altered it slightly to add more veggies into the mix. My son really enjoyed it and my husband snagged some too.

Mini Meat Loaves:
adapted from Woman's Day - September 2010

1/3 cup ketchup + 2 tsp.
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup seasoned dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup shredded zucchini

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Whisk 1/3 cup ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, egg and salt in a large bowl to blend. Add ground beef, bread crumbs, scallions, carrots and zucchini. Mix well using hands. Form mixture into four 2" loaves on lined baking sheet. Spread the 2 tsp. ketchup over top of each loaf. Bake 25 minutes or until cooked through and a meat thermometer inserted in centers registers 160 degrees.

Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies

I was e-mailed this basic recipe from myrecipes.com today. I needed a cookie recipe to make for my husband's lunch and he loves peanut butter, so this was perfect timing. Believe it or not, my store was out of peanuts on Sunday, so I decided to substitute peanut butter chips for the peanuts. I just finished eating one of these straight out of the oven and, boy, it did not hurt the recipe at all. They have a very distinct peanut butter flavor without being completely overpowering. They are sweet, so I think I could only eat one at a time. I will be hanging on to this recipe.

Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies:

adapted from Southern Living Food, July 2009

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together first four ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Stir in peanut butter chips and vanilla. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2" apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on pan on a wire rack five minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack and cool five minutes. Serve warm or cool completely.

Yield: 14 cookies

"Sakes Alives" Chocolate Fudge Bars

"Sakes Alive" Chocolate Fudge Bars:

courtesy of J.M. Smucker Company

Crisco Butter Flavor No-Stick Cooking Spray

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 (7.4 oz) pkgs. Martha White Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 (12 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13x9 inch pan with no-stick cooking spray. Beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg.

Stir in muffin mix and oats. Reserve one cup of mixture. Pat remaining mixture into prepared pan.

Combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips over low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts. Spread over muffin mixture to edge of pan. Drop reserved oat mixture by teaspoonfuls over chocolate mixture.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack.