WTF? Stuffed Pizza

My new goal for this blog is to learn how to ONLY Cook for Two... not Twelve... and learn to use only what's in the fridge and pantry.  

I'm doing my best to stay away from italian food, but for some reason, my fridge has everything I need this week for Pizzas and Pastas... sorry! :)

So tonight was WTF? Stuffed Pizza.  When "creating" this... I had no idea what I was doing.  I was attempting to make a stromboli, or something of that nature, and it turned into a stuffed pizza!  My taste-tester, Kev, has a new fav for a red sauce pizza pie!

What I had in my fridge:

8 small meat balls (the frozen kind you find at Costco... ya... I think a new staple in the freezer)

1 1/2 chicken sausage links (left over from Presto Pesto Pizza)

1/4 ball Mozzarella 

1 Green Bell Peppers

3 slices of a Onion

Pizza dough

Parmesan Cheese

Butter

Pantry:

Marinara Sauce (you only need 1/2 a jar)

1 T. Red Pepper Flakes (or less if you don't like it spicy)

1 T. Flour

Oregano

Salt

Directions:

1.  Let dough rest for 15-20 minutes

2. While dough rests, slice bell pepper and o

nion in 1/4 inch slices and put into a pan with a 1/2 T. of Canola oil on medium-high heat.  Sprinkle with salt.

3.  Let onions and bell peppers caramelize for 3 minutes.

4.  Slice Sausage into 1/4 inch rounds and add to pan.

5.  Slice Meatballs in half and add to pan and heat through.

6.  Add red pepper flakes (to taste) and stir.

7.  Once everything is heated through, add marinara sauce and let simmer till dough is ready.

8.  Roll dough out to a rectangle. About 13x9 (the size of the pan your going to cook it on) and place dough on pan.

9.  Place dough so the short end is facing you.  Place mixture in section 2 of picture.

10.  Fold section 1 over section 2.

11.  Add the rest of the mixture to section 3 and fold section 4 all the way over the whole pie.

12.  Poke 6-10 holes on top of pie and spray or brush with olive oil.

13. Bake 10 minutes (or as directed on dough packaging)

14.  Remove from oven and brush immediately with butter, sprinkle with parmasan cheese, and sprinkle with oregano.

15. Put back in oven for 2 minutes 

16.  Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serve!

Presto Pesto Pizza

Are you sick of the same old pizza?  Is your basic pie a little sauce, cheese and pepperoni?  We are eating frozen pizzas 2 times a week because they are so cheap and easy, especially since I've been coming home late from classes.  So instead of throwing another pie in the oven, I decided to make it myself but didn't want it to taste like... well... another pizza!

*This is Kevin's New Favorite Pizza... next to Rusty's Pepperoni Thin Crust.

Presto PESTO PIZZA

Pizza dough (fresh if you can get it... I get ours at Trader Joe's)

Pre-made pesto sauce

Chicken Sausage

Sun-dried Tomatoes

Marinated Artichokes

Yellow Bell Peppers

Mozzarella Cheese

1.  Preheat oven to temp specified on package.  (around 450)

2.  Let dough proof (20 minutes)

3.  While dough is resting, cook chicken sausage links on stove or on BBQ

4.  Prep all ingrediants (grate cheese, cut tomatoes, drain tomatoes and artichokes)

5.  After Sausage is finished cooking, let rest before cutting into angled circles

6.  Stretch dough to desired width and put on a baking sheet.

7. I par-cook the dough for about 5 minutes before I put the ingredients on

8.  Take pizza dough out of oven and add pesto sauce, sausage, tomatoes, artichokes, bell pepper and cheese.

9.  Bake until cheese is bubbling and dough is cooked through.

Take pizza out of oven and let sit for 3-5 minutes.  Cut and serve with a garden salad!

Super Easy!

***Really COOL*** instead of doing a pizza, you could easily do a pasta with all these ingredients!

Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup Chicken.

No, I didn't make a type-o on that title.  This recipe (obviously) calls for Campbell's cream of chicken soup and...chicken!

This is super easy and SUPER tasty!

Ingredients:

I already snuck a few servings out of the pan before
taking this picture! Oops! :) 

2 cans of Campbell's cream of chicken (or mushroom!) soup
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
garlic powder
chicken breast (I used about 1.5 lbs of chicken breast cut into thinner slices than normally seen in the grocery stores--about 3 oz each which made for 8 perfect servings)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add the 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, cheese, and a little bit of garlic powder to a bowl. Mix.
3. Add chicken to the bowl and coat thoroughly.
4. Grease cooking pan
5. Add chicken and soup mixture to the pan.  I made sure that each chicken breast was flat and on its own (instead of kinda stacked on top of each other).  Add rest of mixture on top and around chicken.
6. Add salt and pepper
7. Bake until the mixture starts to bubble. (About 10 min.) Remove from oven and stir the chicken around.
8. Replace chicken to oven and bake again until it starts to bubble. (About 5-10 min.) Remove and let sit for about 5 minutes (it will still be cooking from the heat of the pan.)
9. Enjoy!

I originally added milk to this recipe (just a bit), but the water that is released from the chicken is enough liquid to thin out the soup just enough.  The garlic power and cheese amount can be altered based on your liking!

easy breezy stir fry!

There are a few amazing things about stir fry.  

1. It's idiot proof (My type of dish!) 

2. It's fast

3. It's easy.

4. It's versatile

All you need is a protein (tofu, chicken, etc.), a bunch of vegetables, and teriyaki sauce.  You can make rice or noodles as the base to this dish (actually adding these carbs to the stir fry may mean adding more teriyaki sauce, yielding more calories!)

Last night, I decided to wander down to Chelsea Market to pick up some produce.  I already had chicken breast in my freezer and teriyaki sauce in my cabinet, so all i needed were some good vegetables.

Here was my spin on the simple recipe:

1 chicken breast (cut into bit size pieces)

1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce

Mushrooms

Snow peas

Brocolli

Onion

(Other vegetables to consider: carrots, peppers, water chestnuts, yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage...)

(Other proteins to consider: FIRM tofu, shrimp...)

If you're Angel, then the rotisserie chicken will do just fine, and you won't need to cook the chicken! That means you can add the chicken after ALL the vegetables (but before the teriyaki sauce)

1. Add oil to a wok (or regular pan)

2. Add onions until they start to become soft/transparent

3. I added my bite size pieces of raw chicken breast into the pan to cook. 

4. Once everything starts cooking, I added the vegetables as I see fit: brocolli, then snow peas, then mushrooms (i like the firmness of mushrooms)

5. Add the teriyaki sauce and let simmer!

For an EASY spin on rice, I added oil and two minced garlic cloves to a pot.  Add your rice and follow the packaged directions.  Instead of using water, however, I used CHICKEN BROTH to give it more flavor. 

Rotisserie Chicken- Recipe #3 ?!

So apparently, 1 Rotisserie Chicken has gotten my husband and I 3 different meals... with leftovers for lunches! It's totally awesome that a $5 bird ... plus the fixings... was able to stretch so far.

Apparently I sold myself short when I posted the "Rotisserie Chicken 2 Ways" recipe because here's Number 3!  We had left over BBQ Chicken that I didn't use on the pizza.  So instead of putting the chicken in between two slices of bread, we made a BBQ Chicken Salad!

Again... Sooo Easy!

Chicken Recipe #3

BBQ Chicken Salad

This was done on a whim and based on what was in our fridge so improvise to your likin'-

BBQ Chicken (What's left over)

Chopped Tomato

Lettuce

Thinly sliced red onion

shredded carrot

Thinly sliced red bell pepper

Bottled Ranch

Bottled BBQ Sauce (KC Masterpiece... ovi)

(you can add avocado, boiled eggs, shredded cheese, olives, and/or black beans)

Put everything in bowl except Chicken, Ranch, and BBQ Sauce.

Season salad with salt/pepper/salad seasoning (we use Spike)

Add just a little Ranch to slightly coat lettuce (1-2 Tablespoons)

Add Chicken 

Add a little of the BBQ Sauce (1 Tablespoon)

Mix and serve!

Rotisserie Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken- 2 ways! Perfect for College….

Kev wanted enchiladas, so instead of going through the process of boiling chicken, shredding it, re-seasoning it, cooking it again… I bought a rotisserie chicken. Easy. So I shredded the whole thing, and kept half for another meal.

So easy to do bomb enchiladas.

Chicken Recipe #1-

Bomb Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Get a baking dish ( I use glass) and add enough enchilada sauce to coat the bottom.
1. Take flour tortillas ( you could totally do corn, but make sure to dip them in canola oil that’s heated on the stove for about 5 seconds…it softens them)
2. Dip both sides in enchilada sauce (store bought… the big can)
3. Put into glass and add the shredded chicken, grated cheese, and some finely diced onion.
4. Roll into burrito and leave in dish
5. keep doing this until pan is full (I make about 6 in a pan)
6. Pour remaining sauce on top of enchiladas and add more cheese on top.
7. Bake for 20 minutes (or until cheese has melted)
8. Serve!
Can easily feed 3 people (2 enchiladas each) or have it for left overs

Chicken Recipe #2

The BEST BBQ Chicken Pizza!

I totally didn’t want tacos or more enchiladas with the rest of the shredded chicken, so I was trying to figure out what to make with it. I’m a sucker for BBQ sauce so I started thinking… BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, BBQ Chicken Quesadilla, BBQ Chicken Pizza…. Oooo… Pizza! Yup! BBQ Chicken Pizza!!!

What you need: (all this was in my pantry and left over from the enchiladas!)
PIZZA:
Store bought Pizza Dough
BBQ Sauce (KC Master Piece.. the OG)
Mozzarella Cheese (or whatever)
Minced Red Onion
Cilantro
Red Bell Pepper
Shredded Chicken (other half from Chicken Recipe #1)

BBQ SAUCE for CHICKEN: (adapted from Rachel Ray)
½ medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ T Tabasco
1 T Santa Maria Seasoning (or your favorite seasoning mix)
3 T brown sugar
4 T tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
So this is what I did…

- Add 2 Tablespoons of Canola Oil to a deep pan (something with high edges).
- Add minced garlic and chopped onion
- Let simmer on medium low for 10 minutes. (while this is cooking julienne your bell pepper, chop cilantro, and thinly slice the red onion).
- To onion and garlic mixture add Tabasco, Seasoning, Brown Sugar, and tomato paste and let simmer/slight boil for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the shredded chicken (what was left over from the rotisserie chicken you bought to make enchiladas.)
- Let cook for 10 minutes or so, or until sauce has lightly thicken.

Start assembling pizza

Take pizza dough and add a very light layer of cheese (this acts as the glue for the toppings).
Add BBQ sauce from bottle… just a little. I did a swirl starting from the outside going inward. Don’t use too much.
Drain chicken from sauce with slotted spoon (or tongs) and add a layer to pizza.
Add more cheese.
Sprinkle bell pepper, onion, and cilantro then add… more cheese!

Bake according to pizza dough directions… make sure cheese is melted and WALLA!...the best BBQ Chicken Pizza Ever!