Pepperoni Rolls

Friday, November 2, 2012....

The sun decided to come out for a short time this morning. First time we've seen sun all week. It didn't last long though, and it's cloudy again out there, 43 degrees with a wind chill factor of 33. Brrrr....

I've been wanting to try making pepperoni rolls for quite some time now. I came across this recipe thanks to Pinterest and started making these fairly recently. I made them for supper last night. And this is my version of them....

I make three at a time, because they reheat well for leftovers, lunches, etc. I start out with a package of Rhodes frozen bread dough. I've always loved their dinner rolls and knew I wouldn't be disappointed with their bread dough. I've found that I have better luck with getting the loaves to rise if I turn my oven on the lowest temperature that it will go (170 degrees), shutting it off, and putting the loaves in the warm oven to rise. I learned this little tip thanks to my dear husband the first time I made these and it took forever for the dough to rise. He no doubt learned it from his mom I'm sure...

You only need to let the frozen bread dough rise once with this recipe, instead of twice, like some other recipes call far. Which is nice. Make sure you grease the baking sheet that you're letting the dough rise on, as well as the plastic wrap that loosely covers it while rising...

Roll out each loaf to about 11 inches square. Yeah I know mine won't look like much of a square in these photos. But I tried. lol! I put a little olive oil on the rolling pin to keep it from sticking. This recipe is a great one to make with kids since they can help with rolling out the dough and putting on the pepperoni & cheese...

Next, brush the dough with some olive oil. I buy at least 3/4 pound of sandwich pepperoni from the deli for this recipe which gives me enough to make all three pepperoni rolls...

Then you add the cheese. Depending on which grocery store I shop at, I either buy a 1-1/2 lb. bag of shredded pizza cheese and use just that. Or I use a big bag of mozzarella along with fresh shredded Parmesan. It's more economical to use the pizza cheese though since it already has the parmesan in it along with mozzarella, provolone, and romano. Sprinkle on some Italian Seasoning all over.....

and some garlic powder....

Roll up, and place on greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter...

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when you tap on them....

Remove from oven and let them set out for about 10 minutes or so...

In the meantime, make a tossed salad to go with your pepperoni rolls...

And enjoy...

This is also great to take to parties or small get-togethers. B. loves when I make pepperoni rolls, because that means she can take some to school for lunch. She's the envy of the lunch table with pleas from her friends of  "can I have just a little piece?" "How 'bout just a piece of pepperoni??" lol!  Hope you all give it a try and that you have a nice weekend ahead. We'll be spending the day out in Amish country with my husband's sister and her husband, and my father-in-law. It's supposed to be cold again tomorrow - in the 30's and 40's, partly sunny with a slight chance of snow flurries. I doubt we'll see any snow though. Welcome November.....

Stuffed Peppers

Well the weather has cooled down some the last couple of days. It's only been in the lower 70's and it was actually chilly last night. I love days where I can turn the AC off and open all the windows and let the fresh breezy air in. B. is on her third week of swimming lessons this summer and she's improving everyday on certain things like her flips underwater and on her diving.

It's time to share another one of my tried-and-true favorite recipes with you all that I just made last night for supper. I got this recipe quite a few years ago from an online friend who lives in Pennsylvania. She got the recipe from a Free Taste of Home Collector's Edition 2000 magazine. The recipe was in their "Clip and Keep Recipe Section" … a selection from their Ground Beef Roundup contest – this one was a Runner-Up and she modified it..... And I modified it even further. It's funny how recipes tend to take on a life of their own as they are passed on from one person to another over the years.  I started using this recipe many summers ago and my family loves it. It does take a bit of effort and time to make, but it is so worth it. I love the fact that it's made on top of the stove instead of in the oven since it doesn't heat up my kitchen during these hot summer months......

**Stuffed Peppers**

6 decent-sized peppers

1 - 3 Tbsp. butter (as needed)

1-1/2 c. chopped onion, divided (I use a large and small one)

2 cans (14-1/2 oz. each) Italian Recipe diced tomatoes

2 tsp. minced garlic from jar

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1-1/2 tsp. salt, divided

1 c. cooked rice (long grain rice - Minute Rice)

1/4 c. ketchup

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 heaping tsp. black pepper

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 lb. raw bulk Sweet Italian sausage

1 small can (5.5 fl oz.) V8 juice (B. loves when I make this 'cause she absolutely loves V8 and I only need one can from the pack. lol!)

Wash peppers, cut tops off, removing stems and seeds. Set peppers upright in a big, deep skillet (I use a 5.5 quart deep skillet) or a cooking pot. Dice up some of the pepper tops and set aside (about 4 of them or so).

While the rice is cooking in one pot, saute 1 cup chopped onion in butter in medium-sized saucepan. Add diced peppers and saute a few minutes more; add tomatoes, garlic, brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt. Simmer for about 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally....

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine cooked rice, ketchup, Worcestershire, pepper, remaining 1/2 c. chopped onion & remaining 1 tsp. salt. Add ground beef & sausage. Mix well with hands.

Stuff peppers, using all of the meat mixture. Top with sauce. Pour a can of V8 juice over top. Cover and cook on top of stove over medium-low heat for at least an hour to 1-1/2 hrs or until meat is no longer pink. Make sure the heat is low enough so that it won't burn if you're going to cook it longer.  Don't lift the lid during cooking, since it's the steam and slow, low-heat cooking that's the secret.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

ENJOY!

* I save the rest of the tops of the peppers to put in scrambled eggs, salads, etc.

** You can prevent scorching the sauce, etc. by putting some cabbage leaves in the bottom of the pan before adding the peppers, etc. I've never personally done this, but it's supposed to help.

Happy Flag Day

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous this past week. I got up early this morning, went down to the garage, and got the flag out to hang outside on the house.  B. just finished up her first week of swimming lessons this summer. She's in Level V now so there's only one other girl in her level. Which is nice since she gets some great one-on-one instruction from 1-3 lifeguards. To pass Level V, she'll have to be able to do the butterfly stroke clear across the whole width of pool in the swimming lanes and also the breast stroke. B. is doing pretty good with the breast stroke, but the butterfly stroke is really hard, especially when they're that young (according to the lifeguard). She is doing really well though overall. She'll also have to do a somersault under water in the deep end - but they haven't practiced that yet. We'll see. I may sign her up for a couple more weeks. We are considering the swim team for next year. But that's up to B. It was too late to get her signed up this year by the time I asked about it since I didn't know how they did things or when. At least I know for next year and B. can work on the swimming strokes she'll need to do if she does decide to join the swim team. If anything, the swim lessons gives us something to look forward to and to keep her busy for awhile during the summer.

I haven't been doing anything crafty since the last time I posted, but I've done plenty of scrappy shopping if that counts?? lol! My dear husband just sold his old Kubota tractor this past week and shared some of the wealth with me. He put it up for sale out in the front yard and I kid you not, the phone would not stop ringing within just a few  MINUTES after it went up for sale. We live on a pretty busy road. Some guy came out to look at it within hours and it was sold that quick. Unbelievable. We certainly didn't expect it to sell that quick. People were still calling days after it already sold or stopping by our house to ask if we still had it for sale or sending text messages that if the pending offer didn't work out to call them. lol! It sold for just a few hundred dollars less than what my husband paid for it about eight years ago. Not bad at all.

Anyway moving on.... this past winter, I promised that I would post a recipe that I had tried and really liked, but then I forgot until I made it again last night for supper. I got this recipe from a cookbook that I picked up at the thrift store back in February and my family and I really like it a lot. Since I don't have to turn the oven on, and only use the stovetop and my rice cooker, it's a great recipe to make during the summer especially....

SWEET 'N SOUR MEATBALLS

1 egg
1/4 c. Italian bread crumbs (more if needed)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
dash pepper
1 lb. ground beef

1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. packed brown suger
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

About 4 carrots - peeled and sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, julienned

1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. cold water

Hot cooked rice

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Mix well with your hands and form into little 1" balls. In a large deep skillet, cook in olive oil until browned and cooked through and no longer pink. Drain.

Drain pineapple into a liquid measuring cup. Add water to pineapple juice to equal 1 cup (if needed - I got exactly 1 c. juice from the can, so didn't need to add the water). Stir in apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Pour over meatballs. Add carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until carrots are crisp-tender. Stir in green peppers and pineapple; cover and simmer a little while longer until peppers are crisp-tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into meatball mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Serve over rice. Yum!

We enjoyed ours last night out on the deck. I hope you give it a try and end up liking it as much as we do.

Well we're headed out to Sam's and out to eat this evening. My hubby texted me earlier and told me we're going to the Outback tonight. So, yea, I don't have to cook! lol!

I hope you all have a great evening and weekend ahead....

One-Pot Pork Chop Supper - Version 2

Good Morning everyone,

As I was going through my cookbook where I keep my written tried-and-true recipes this morning looking for a crockpot chicken recipe to make today, I came across "One-Pot Pork Chop Supper". Apparently, I had already made this recipe back in November around Thanksgiving and had completely forgotten all about it. The recipe that I just tried the other day is from my new Gooseberry Patch cookbook and is almost the same. Go figure! lol! This other version is just slightly different and uses about 1/2 of all the ingredients as the other recipe. It's great for someone with a smaller family or if you don't want so many leftovers. Either version is good depending upon how many people you are cooking for...

ONE-POT PORK CHOP SUPPER

VERSION 2

4-6 boneless pork chops

1 can tomato soup

1/2 c. water

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

about 7 med. potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters

about 1/2 bag of baby carrots

In a large, deep skillet, brown pork chops in hot olive oil. Drain grease. Return pork chops to pan.

Mix together soup, water, Worcestershire, salt and oregano. Pour over pork chops. Add potatoes and carrots.

Cover with tight-fitting lid and simmer on medium for about 50 minutes or until pork chops are tender.

Hope you enjoy and that you have a terrific Tuesday! :)  I'm hoping to get a little scrapbooking in today. I haven't done anything crafty since I made that baby mini album a few weeks back. I'm itchin' to get started on the heritage scrapbook that my mother-in-law asked me to do and have already bought a few things for it. I decided to go with the new Timepiece papers from Bo Bunny and went ahead and ordered a couple paper collections (one set for my mother-in-law's album and one set for me) and some of the matching cardstock stickers, etc. last night because they've been selling out the Timepiece collection everywhere online. It seems to be pretty popular. I love all the clocks in that collection and it's perfect for a project like this. I also picked up the MainStreet DCWV stack over the weekend 50% off plus an additional 25% and ordered the Heritage Cricut cartridge. I figured I better get the cartridge now while it's still affordable before the prices go up 40% more like they said they're going to. So hopefully this will be enough to make the album with. I'm not sure how many pictures, documents, etc. I'm supposed to scrapbook since I haven't gotten them yet. But like I said, I'm gettin' anxious! lol!

Thanks for stoppin' by...

One-Pot Pork Chop Supper

Happy Monday! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. B. and I went to a bridal shower for my cousin's upcoming wedding and got to spend the day visiting family we hadn't seen in a really long time. It was nice catching up and seeing everyone again.

I dusted and reorganized my cookbook shelf over the weekend since it really needed it. I think it's safe to say that I don't have much room for many more cookbooks since these shelves are almost full with the 75 that are on them (including the one that I write in that has our tried-and-true family favorites). Of course it has taken me almost 20 years to accumulate this many...

I have been on a roll lately when it comes to trying out new recipes and have been having a lot of fun with it. On Friday I tried out a recipe from one of the new Gooseberry Patch cookbooks that I recently got and it turned out really good. So I wanted to share it here with you...

ONE-POT PORK CHOP SUPPER

1 large onion, sliced

8 boneless pork chops

2 to 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

7-8 potatoes, peeled and quartered

8 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 2" pieces

2 - 10-3/4 oz. cans tomato soup

1 c. water

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

In a very large, deep skillet (I used my 5.5 quart one) - over medium heat, cook onion & pork chops in oil until browned. Add potatoes and carrots to the skillet. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour into skillet. Cover; reduce heat and simmer for one hour, until pork chops are tender. Makes 8 servings.

Hope you enjoy and that you have a great week ahead! :)

Slow Cooker Round Steak

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you all are having a great week. :) It's a beautiful, sunny, yet chilly 34 degree day here. Hopefully, it'll start warming up again soon.

I've been asked to make a heritage scrapbook album by my mother-in-law. She found some family that she never really knew about in the past year or so (her cousin who is 80+ years old and her family). She went to visit them a couple of times and now she wants to get everyone together to meet this other branch of the family tree and have a big family reunion this summer. She asked me if I would put together a scrapbook album to have at the reunion since everyone is going to be bringing pictures to share. She has some documents like a copy of the ship record of when her dad came over from Italy to America, etc. . I'm actually excited about doing this and really looking forward to it. I've never scrapbooked anything heritage or vintage before. I know I'm probably going to be doing a lot of one-photo/one-page layouts. My plan is to use one line of patterned papers for the whole scrapbook. I just need to decide on what papers, etc. I'll be using. So I'll be busy working on that in the coming months. Of course I'll be keeping a copy of all the pictures, documents, etc. for my hubby, daughter and me. So, in the long run I'll be scrapbooking this side of the family's heritage album twice.

I picked up a couple of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks recently from JoAnn's. I haven't seen any Gooseberry Patch cookbooks there in a long time so it was nice to see some fresh new ones...

Gooseberry Patch cookbooks are some of my favorites next to Taste of Home and I've slowly been adding them to my cookbook library during the past 12 years or so. (Shhh! the Slow Cookers, Casseroles & Skillets cookbook is actually a birthday gift for my mother-in-law since today's her birthday). I plan to go back and buy another one for myself. She's been saying that she never knows what to cook these days. I thought this might give her a little inspiration to try a few new recipes. :)

Here is a simple, delicious slow cooker recipe that I made yesterday for supper that doesn't require very many ingredients. I picked up some round steaks on sale the other morning and found the recipe somewhere online which I changed up a bit. It turned out really good and the round steaks were fork-tender. I'll definitely be making this again...

SLOW COOKER ROUND STEAK



2-1/2 lbs. eye of round steaks, cut into quarters

1 large onion, sliced

2 cans (10.5 oz. each) cream of mushroom soup

1-1/2 tsp. oregano

cooked noodles

Put round steaks in bottom of crockpot. Top with sliced onions. Spread cream of mushroom soup over top. Sprinkle with oregano. Cover and cook on high for 2 hrs. Then on low for about 6 hours. Serve over top of cooked noodles. I used the thick, wide Amish-made noodles. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for stoppin' by! :)



Mexican Beef and Macaroni Casserole

Today was the Book Fair at B's school. She has always loved books since she was a baby. I started reading to her when she was an infant every night before bed. Now that she's older, she absolutely loves to read books and buying her a book now and then is a real treat for her that she truly appreciates. She's into chapter books these days, and so I let her pick out a few at the book fair (well one is actually a knock-knock jokes book since B. loves telling me knock-knock jokes. lol!), plus we got a book to donate to her classroom like we do every year. And although I've never bought a book at the book fair for myself before, I couldn't resist bringing home this one...

I know, I know, like I really need another cookbook. However, there are some really yummy-looking recipes in there that I can't wait to try and it helps the school out by purchasing it at the book fair. So I decided to go ahead and get it and even put it to good use tonight for supper by trying out one of the recipes that I just so happened to have all the ingredients for already here at home. Plus it looked like a good meal for a cold, rainy day like today. It has been raining non-stop all. day. long.  I did change up a few things and it turned out really good and everyone loved it, so it's a another keeper for sure. I think I'll make some corn bread to go with it the next time I make it though...

MEXICAN BEEF & MACARONI CASSEROLE

2 c. dried elbow macaroni
1-1/4 lbs. lean ground beef
2-1/2 c. picante sauce or salsa (we prefer mild salsa for this)
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed & drained
2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp. cumin (I only use 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp. chili powder (again, I use just 1/2 tsp.)
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
16 oz. sour cream
2-1/4 oz. sliced black olives, drained (optional)
Mexican-blend shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large Dutch oven (4 qt.), cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and return to hot Dutch oven.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook ground beef until browned, drain off fat. Stir meat into cooked macaroni. Stir in picante sauce (or salsa), beans, oregano, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder. Spoon into a greased 9" x 13" baking dish (3 qt.). Cover with foil. Bake about 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Spread sour cream over top. Sprinkle with sliced black olives and cheese. Bake, uncovered, about 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

ETA: 8-7-11 After making this dish a few more times, I've tweaked it a bit - cutting the chili powder and cumin in half and using mild salsa from Aldi's. I tried the picante sauce from Sam's with the full amount (1 tsp. each) of chili powder and cumin and it was way too spicy. I also skip the part of spreading the sour cream, black olives and cheese over top and putting it back in the oven. Instead, we put the cheese on top as soon as it comes out of the oven, put the sour cream on the side and skip the olives. We like black olives, but don't feel they are really necessary.

Hope you enjoy and that you all are having a good evening. We may get more snow late tomorrow evening into Friday - up to 6" of the heavy, wet kind of snow. I don't think winter is ever gonna be over. lol!

Thanks for stoppin' by,

Cranberry-Glazed Pork Roast

Happy Tuesday Everyone! :)

I tried a new recipe out today for supper and wanted to share it real quick with you all. One of the local grocery stores had boneless pork loin roast on sale today and so I picked one up this morning. Since I usually cook pork roast with sauerkraut, and I wasn't in the mood for sauerkraut today, I started looking through a cookbook on my shelf that I hadn't tried any of the recipes in yet, Fix It & Enjoy It, looking for a pork roast recipe to try. As you all know (if you've been following my blog), "Fix It & Forget It" is one of my most favorite crockpot cookbooks. So I bought "Fix It & Enjoy It" a few years ago before the local bookstore went out of business. It has regular stovetop and oven recipes in it including this Cranberry-Glazed Pork Roast recipe...

The recipe turned out delicious and I served it alongside homemade mashed potatoes, pork gravy, and Italian green beans. This is a keeper for sure and I'll be making it again...

CRANBERRY-GLAZED PORK ROAST

2-1/2 lb. boneless pork loin roast

salt & pepper

16 oz. can whole-berry cranberry sauce

1/2 c. orange juice

1/4 c. brown sugar

Rub pork roast with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1-1/2 hours. Meanwhile, combine cranberry sauce, orange juice, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over low-med heat until mixture comes to a boil, making a thin sauce. After the meat has baked, brush (or pour) 1/4 of the sauce over the roast and bake, uncovered, another 30 minutes. Remove the roast from the pan and place it on serving platter. Cover with foil and allow to stand for about 1/2 hour. Slice thinly and serve with remaining sauce. 

Enjoy and thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Creamed Chicken & Noodles

Is anyone else excited about the upcoming Super Bowl?? I know I am. :)

Today I made another crockpot favorite of ours, Creamed Chicken & Noodles. This is a super simple recipe that uses just a few ingredients and we love it....

CREAMED CHICKEN & NOODLES

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper
2 cans (10.5 oz. each) cream of chicken soup
14 oz. can chicken broth
16 oz. pkg. thick, wide-noodles, cooked (I use the kind made by the Amish)

Put chicken breasts in 3-quart crockpot. Salt and pepper both sides of chicken. Spread cream of chicken soup over top. Cook on high 1/2 hour; then turn down to low for 6 hours. Shred chicken with fork. Stir in chicken broth and cooked noodles. Cook additional 1/2 hour or until heated through. I add the chicken broth while the noodles are boiling and crank the crockpot back up to high to speed the heating-through process along.

Serve with a side of veggies like carrots or steamed broccoli/caulifower/carrots or whatever you like.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for stoppin' by. :)

Artichoke Chicken

Happy Monday Everyone! :^)

It sure is a happy Monday because the Steelers are goin' to the Super Bowl! WhooooHooo!! 

Needless to say, I went out first thing this morning and bought my husband, B. and I all Steelers AFC 2010 Champion t-shirts and a hat for my father-in-law. The kids had a 2-hour delay before school today, so I ended up getting B. and I some breakfast from the  MickeyD's drive thru as per her request. I figured it's the least I could do since I woke her up fairly early to go get us all Steelers shirts. lol!  :)

In other happy Monday news, the latest volume of Sketches for Scrapbooking showed up today. I'm really liking alot of the sketches in this one too. So much scrappy inspiration and I know I'll be putting this to good use very soon....

I've been working last night and today on another winter layout and I'm really liking how this one is looking so far. I just have to adhere it all down, write my journaling, and do some stitching...

Now on to the recipe....

I made one of our favorite suppers last night - Artichoke Chicken. I started making this over a year ago and have made it lots of times. And since this makes a lot, we had the leftovers today which are just as delicious.....

ARTICHOKE CHICKEN

2 - 13.75 oz. cans artichoke hearts in brine, well-drained, and chopped

1-1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

1-1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts

cooked egg noodles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in a greased baking dish - 8" x 11-1/2" x 2" (2-quart).

In a large bowl, combine the artichokes, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, garlic powder, and diced tomatoes.

Spread artichoke mixture over top of chicken. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for about an hour or until chicken juices run clear. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, stir back into artichoke mixture, and serve over noodles. Yum!  :)

Hope you enjoy and thanks for stoppin' by!