Portland Pie Never Fails

    Breakfast pizza...It is honestly one of the most perfect foods I can think of, being a college kid. It is simple, cheap and can be eaten leftover for a quick grab-and-go breakfast, or basically for any meal of the day. Load it with veggies and layers of cheese, top with some greasy bacon and maple sausages and dinner is served. (I can hardly wake up for my classes as it is, so I make it for dinner and have leftovers for breakfast) It is filling, satisfying and takes only a short time to make...all fairly essential qualities for college cooking. I will continue to make this pizza and add/change different ingredients until it is absolutely perfect. This recipe is so delicious though, don't get me wrong! But with pizzas, there is always room for improvement and change of ingredients depending on what is available in the fridge (which is not often much!)
       Just writing about it now is generating all sorts of ideas of variations...spinach and mushroom, tomatoes, canadian bacon! Ahhh how I LOVE cooking, the possibilities are endless!

As usual, I used Portland Pie Co. dough for the pizza. The beer dough and the garlic dough were both frozen solid in the grocery store, and we were making the pizza later that day so we used their white dough. Once again, it was a great crust. I swear I will never buy a different pre-made dough again....maybe they should pay me to blog about their products ;) I'd try making a new pizza every week!

(Ignore the dirty old cookie sheet - I'm thinking I really need a pizza stone!)

Breakfast Pizza:

1 pre-made pizza dough

2 Tbsp cornmeal

1 Tbsp olive oil, garlic powder

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 large green bell pepper

1 medium onion

6 slices bacon (preferably maple)

1/2 lb maple breakfast sausage

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Optional hot sauce/ketchup for dipping 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Fry bacon and sausage (with casings removed) on stove until bacon is crisp and sausage is cooked through. Remove from heat, drain and crumble/cut into small pieces. Leave grease in pan and cook onions and bell pepper until soft. Grease pizza stone/baking sheet with cooking spray and sprinkle with cornmeal. Stretch and toss pizza dough and spread onto pan, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder. Layer with bacon, sausage, onions and peppers and top with cheese. Scramble the eggs with milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper and pour over mixture. (For neatness, avoid eggs pouring over side of crust, but if it does don't worry. This has happened to me and the pizza still comes out fine!)

Bake 15 minutes or until eggs are set and the crust is golden.

It is more like a pie than a pizza, but I personally like the thickness of it. So yummy!!!

         

Simple Pleasures

          Not going to lie, I spent about two hours last night (that I could have been doing homework) on organizing my cooking folder on my computer and making a new list of must-try recipes. (Mom, don't worry my grades are fine!) This whole blog just has me so excited and I want to experiment with so many things! I am beyond obsessed with foodgawker.com and as hard as I try and pry myself away, I continue to think of new foods to search and recipes to read. The boys and I planned a bunch of meals to make this week and it's safe to say we are all looking forward to it. They're lucky that I am basically their personal chef and I make whatever they want because it gives me more opportunity to learn and I can continue to increase my cooking skills. Maybe one day I'll be better than my mom....ahh just kidding, I already am ;) shhhh...

Here she is, what a wonderful woman! I dedicate today's delicious post to her, because she supports me in everything and of course taught me so much about workin' in the kitchen! Also...it is her birthday! Too bad I wasn't three hours south so I could cook her an extravagant birthday meal :(

Pancakes were one of the first things I learned to cook, with help of course from my mom. I remember having sleepovers with friends and  taking turns flipping them and throwing them across the room (feeding the ones that fell on the floor to my brother...yes we were naughty children, I admit). Since then, I have upped my game a little bit and have tried a whole mess of recipes from pumpkin to whole wheat to buttermilk to my personal favorite, cinnamon roll. Yes you heard me right...cinnamon roll pancakes. A fluffy, hot pancake swirled with sweet brown sugar and butter that has melted to perfection. They look amazing and they taste even better, and it is just a simple enhancement to any old pancake recipe! 

You can simply use any pancake recipe you'd like, but I do have some suggestions for how to make the best pancake possible. Here are some tips:

*For super fluffy pancakes - use the suggested amount of eggs, but first separate the yolks and the whites. Add the yolks to the dry ingredients, but beat the whites until stiff peaks form then gently fold into the batter. With this method, cook the pancakes immediately!

*Adding lemon juice and baking powder to pancake mix makes them extra light and fluffy, and they melt in your mouth. 

*Wait to flip the pancakes until the top is bubbling. This will make sure it is cooked all the way through so you don't have wet batter in the middle at the end. (simple stuff!)

For this recipe I am just using a boxed pancake mix with some additions to make it better. Sometimes it is just easier, and I don't have all the time in the world!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes:

4 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 Cups bisquick mix

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp baking bowder

2 eggs

Heat griddle to medium-high heat and grease with cooking spray. In a bowl, stir together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and scoop into a plastic baggie. Stir the rest of the ingredients until blended (a few small lumps are fine). Pour batter by 1/4-1/3 of a cup and reduce heat to medium-low. Make sure the brown sugar mixture is mixed well, snip the corner of the plastic baggie and squeeze in a spiral motion onto the pancake. Cook until the top begins to bubble and flip carefully, then cook for another minute or so. Make sure to scrape any cinnamon sugar mixture off of the pan between batches. 

Original recipe from Recipe Girl

Beef Stew is Good for the Soul

        Coming home from classes after walking through what "feels like" -20 degrees due to windchill to and from classes (and that is not my own made up estimate...that is what the weather actually stated...ugh!) there is nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING that is better than a crock pot waiting on the counter with a steaming bunch of beef stew with tender meat, soft veggies and a flavorful broth that warms you right up....if only my little apartment had a fireplace, then this would seriously be the greatest thing ever. It's a cheap (stew meat isn't expensive because it isn't from a tender cut, but if it is slow cooked in a liquid, it will have great texture! The more tender, well marbled meats actually become chewy in stews because the fats melt away in the soup) and hearty meal that packs a bunch of nutrients, especially with the addition of sweet potatoes, and it tastes great. What could be better? It requires little preparation, throw it in the crockpot before class, and stick the leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's chilly afternoon!

(I guess chilly is an understatement....you can see now, hot soup is basically necessary for survival up here!!)

This is a really simple recipe with traditional flavors, it is sure to please!

         The sweet potatoes get very soft in the soup, and because I accidentally left the warmer of the crockpot on for an extra few hours (woops) they basically disintegrated into the broth, which was surprisingly nice because it thickened it and added flavor to every bite! Even if they didn't stay in whole chunks in the stew, I personally would not omit them because they are so healthy for you (and cheap too!)

         I used baby carrots also, it was just so easy to cut them once or twice in half, and saved some time not having to peel...maybe I was a little bit lazy 

Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds cubed stew meat

1/2 cup flour

tsp salt

tsp pepper

2 tsp minced garlic

1 Tsbp olive oil

1 onion, chopped fine

2 Tbsp dried parsley

2 tsp dried thyme

4 cups beef broth

2 medium potatoes, diced

1 sweet potato, diced

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 cup carrots chopped

Directions: 

Mix flour, salt and pepper in bowl or large ziplock bag. Dredge the meat in the mixture and heat oil in pan over medium heat. Shake excess flour off of meat and add to the pan with garlic, browning but not cooking through. Add in onions and transfer mixture into crockpot. Add parsley, thyme and broth and cook for 1 1/2 hours on low heat, stirring occasionally. 

Add the rest of the chopped veggies, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 50 minutes. 

**TIP: If you don't have a crockpot, still follow the directions exactly, just cook meat in a large dutch oven and cook over the stove

**TIP: The meat will seem tough until the connective tissue (collagen) has broken down, so if it has been a couple hours and the meat isn't falling-apart tender yet, don't worry. Keep cooking it on low and be patient and give time for it to break down! :)

Homemade Pizza & Caesar Salad

      College kids love pizza....it's a proven fact. I don't know many kids who dont LOVE to have a hot, cheesy, greasy pizza delivered straight to their doorstep after a long night of shenanigans. It's so satisfying and really has been almost a tradition of college students (we can probably thank these habits for the "freshman 15"). As much as I love the Orono House of Pizza, there is something that I love even more: saving money, especially if that involves experimenting in the kitchen.
      Homemade pizza is a really fun thing to make. It allows for so much creativity and really lets you make it exactly how you like it, and I promise it will come out delicious. In our poor excuse for a kitchen, we have no pizza stone or even a round pan and the oven is a P.O.S and the heat levels always fluctuate. We spread the dough out onto our old cookie sheets, and still managed to make it work. They came out sooo good and tasted just as good leftover. The cost of a pizza with the sort of toppings we used at the pizza place can get pretty pricey, especially with delivery charges. Being a poor college kid, saving money is very important....especially if it gives you a final product like this! Spend the extra money you saved on a nice drink to go with it ;) Who doesn't love pizza & beer?!

         We also felt like making the meal extra yummy, and making a homemade caesar dressing for a salad. If you have never had or made a homemade caesar dressing....I'm begging you, please try it. You will never want to eat it from a bottle again. The flavors are way better, it's so much more fresh and not to mention it is super easy!! 

       The pizzas we made were a BBQ chicken pizza with caramelized onions and a jalapeno and pineapple pizza - my boyfriend and his friend's own invention....I had never tried it, and it sounds a little weird, but it was definitely a great combination of sweet and spicy! I think they're on to something ;) The dough used is by Portland Pie Co. out of Portland, Maine. I have used their dough on multiple occasions and it never fails to have a nice crunch but also rise nicely on the crust. I highly recommend using this brand! (I prefer the beer dough or the garlic dough) 

The dough isn't perfectly shaped, but who cares?! It was gone too quick to even notice ;)

BBQ Chicken and Caramelized Onion Pizza

1 large sweet onion

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs butter

salt & pepper

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1 pre-made pizza dough 

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Mozzarella cheese

2 pieces of bacon cooked and chopped, optional

2 tbs cornmeal

Extra BBQ sauce for topping, optional

Directions:

To caramelize the onions, heat 2 tbs of oil and 1 tbs of butter in pan over medium-low heat. Slice onions and add to pan with salt and pepper, cooking and stirring until golden brown and caramelized- about 20 minutes.  Cook cubed chicken over medium-high heat with 1/4 cup BBQ sauce until juices run clear. 

(If you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven to get hot, but before you preheat the oven to avoid cracking- hot stone = better pizza)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Sprinkle cornmeal on pan, and stretch dough. Fit dough to pan and push fingers around edges to form a crust. Avoid holes in the dough. 

Mix the pizza sauce and 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and spread onto dough. Top with mozzarella cheese, then follow with chicken, onions and bacon. Sprinkle more cheese and squeeze bbq sauce in a spiral pattern on top of the pizza. Bake until crust is golden and cheese has fully melted, about 15 minutes.

Here's a link to some good homemade pizza TIPS :)

Jalapeno Pineapple Pizza

Ingredients:

1 pre-made pizza dough

10 oz can pineapple

2 jalapenos, chopped

1 1/2 cups pizza sauce

Mozzarella cheese

2-3 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

2 tbs cornmeal

Directions:

Prepare pan and dough as in BBQ chicken recipe above and preheat oven to 425. 

Spread sauce onto dough, top with desired amount of cheese. Top with pineapple, jalapenos and bacon, distributed evenly. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

I know it's more work than just buying a bottle...but you have to believe me, it is so worth it! Absolutely DELICIOUS! 

Homemade Caesar Dressing

4 whole anchovy fillets

3 Tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put anchovies, dijon mustard, vinegar, worcestershire, garlic and lemon juice into food processor and blend until smooth. Add olive oil in slowly and mix until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate before serving, as it sits the flavors get better! 

We tossed the dressing with some chopped romaine lettuce, fresh parmesan shavings and garlic croutons. TO DIE FOR!

(original recipe found at Foodnetwork.com)

Favorite Heath Trifle

         My grammy has been making a trifle for years during the holidays, and it has always been one of my favorite desserts. Weirdly, I hadn't tried to make it on my own until just recently my boyfriend requested it. Its basically just a whole mess of treats piled up to look fancy and pretty, but in all honesty it is soooo simple and you really can't go wrong! Even if the layers don't look so neat in the end, the flavors will still be wonderful! (Mine weren't by any means perfect)

          My friends were veerryy excited about it, and despite the large size of it, it was gone quick! I looked up a bunch of different recipes, and I couldn't choose one, so I made a bunch of adjustments to my taste preferences. It turns out that I probably won't do it any other way next time...it was absolutely DELICIOUS :)

         I didn't have a trifle style bowl here at school (our supplies are kinda limited compared to what is available at my house) but we did have this pitcher that was used for other purposes ;) and it ended up looking really cute - like a giant mug of hot cocoa, perfect for winter!

I'm not sure how smart it was to blog about this because its very much convincing me to make it again really soon....

Whipped Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, fold in vanilla and powdered sugar.

(It will probably take about five minutes of pretty vigorous whipping...be careful to over whip because the cream will get lumpy and butter-like and that is no good!)

Chocolate Oreo Heath Trifle

1 pkg chocolate cake mix (and ingredients to prepare)

1 pkg white chocolate pudding

1 pkg cheesecake pudding

2 cups crushed oreos

2 cups heath bar pieces

Whipped cream 

Directions:

Prepare the cake according to package.

While cake is in oven, Prepare both puddings according to package 

Fold 1 1/2 cups of the whipped cream into the cheesecake pudding, and fold about half of the oreos into the white chocolate pudding

When cake is done and cooled, cut into small pieces (lady finger style) and begin the layering! Layer pieces of cake, top with one pudding mixture, then the other, a layer of heath, a layer of oreos and repeat until you are out of ingredients. Top with the remaining whipped cream and sprinkle with heath and/or oreos! 

**Tips - The longer it sits before serving the better - it gives time for everything to set and the pudding to absorb into the cake.

**Feel free to substitute any type of pudding or candy for the recipe...it is very forgiving! I am obsessed with cheesecake so I really like that flavor in the trifle. Experiment with different ones! Next time I think I am going to try a chocolate and butterscotch....yummmmmm ;)

Salmon Appetizer & Lamb Chops

 
      Now I know lamb isn't the cheapest thing to prepare...but I couldn't think of a better way to start this blog than with one of my all time favorite recipes. It isn't one I do too often, but every once in a while if I am willing to spend extra money and spoil myself, this is my go to meal. It always seems to come out tender and juicy and the flavors work beautifully together. My sister and I have made it multiple times and each time has been ohhhh so satisfying. Who doesn't love a good lamb chop?! Especially with a sweet balsamic sauce that pairs so perfectly with the savory flavor of lamb. We first made this years ago,and neither of us were too experienced in the kitchen so don't fret! It is simple and so worth spending the extra money!
      On this specific occasion, my sister and I made this meal before I headed back up to Umaine for my second semester. To make it extra special, we also prepared one of my favorite snacks as an appetizer; Smoked salmon crostinis.....to die for. It is a tiny bite but full of flavor, and probably one of the simplest things to make! There are dozens of recipes for this, and you really can't go wrong with a crunchy bite with cream cheese and salmon! Here are some recipes below and there is also a link to the original recipe found. We tweaked it a little to our own taste, but I encourage you to try either one!

Smoked Salmon Crostini:

     Ingredients- 

  1 Baguette, cut into 1/2 inch slices, depending on preference

  3 Tbs olive oil

  1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

  4 ounces of thin cut smoked salmon

  8 oz cream cheese

  1/4 cup of fresh chopped dill (we love dill)

  Salt & Pepper to taste

 2 tbs Capers (optional)

Place slices of bread onto a baking sheet. Mix olive oil and garlic and brush onto both sides of the slices and put in preheated 400 degree oven. Bake 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown. In a small bowl mix together the cream cheese, half of the dill, salt and pepper. Spread mixture on top of the crostinis, then top with salmon. Sprinkle the remaining dill on the salmon, and add capers if you'd like. 

Onto the mail course!

        We chose to serve the lamb with a wild mushroom risotto (recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Jamie's America 2010) and some pan fried asparagus with the lamb drippings and seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper. It made a wonderful and filling meal with so many great flavors. In all honesty just reminiscing about the meal has my mouth watering.....maybe I will have to splurge and make this again soon ;) 

        Lamb lollipops used with this same recipe are amazing as well. I think I prefer them because they seem a little more tender and are just fun to eat! 

Lamb Chops with Balsamic Reduction:

Ingredients- 

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme 

1 tsp dried basil

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 lamb chops

1-2 Tbs olive oil

2-3 minced shallots*

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 Tbs butter

Directions:

Mix together dried herbs and salt and pepper and rub onto lamb chops. Cover them and set aside for 20 minutes to absorb the flavors. 

Heat olive oil on skillet over medium-high heat and add the chops, cooking just about 3 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness and the thickness of the meat. Remove from the pan and keep warm for serving (we put in the oven at 250 degrees). Add shallots into the lamb pan and cook until tender. Pour in the balsamic vinegar and stir and scrape to deglaze the pan. Cook and stir until the sauce has reduced by half, about five minutes (more if recipe is doubled etc). Remove from heat and melt in the butter. Serve over the lamb.

Even my sister's dog was begging for some! He may have gotten some scraps at the end ;) 

(Original Recipe found at All Recipes)

*Do not recommend substituting onions for shallots. If it is all you have on hand that is fine, but the flavors just aren't the same. Onions provide more crunch which isn't necessarily desired in this recipe, and their flavor doesn't mellow out in the sauce the way that shallots do.