Sweet & Smokey Chicken and Bacon Pizza

INGREDIENTS
Ready made pizza crust
2 chicken breasts
1/2 lb bacon
8oz fresh mozzarella cheese
5-6 fresh basil leaves
1 cup Sweet bbq sauce

Directions:

Fire up your grill and cook up your chicken and bacon. Lower your grill down to low and if you have a pizza stone, put it on your grill to get it heated up (if you don’t have a pizza stone you can just put your pizza directly on the grill but it is very easy to burn your crust that way…so, maybe ask for a pizza stone for New Years Cut/break up your chicken and bacon into bite size pieces, Chiffonade the basil and cut the fresh mozzarella into 1/4 inch slices. Now it’s time to assemble your delicious pizza…place your crust on your stone and spread about half a cup of BBQ Sauce on top. Spread the chicken and bacon evenly over the crust then apply the fresh basil and then the mozzarella on top. Finally drizzle on the remaining BBQ Sauce and close the lid of your grill until your cheese is all melted.

That’s it, Cut and enjoy!

Sweet Mesquite BBQ Bacon Shrimp

Ingredients:

1-½ cups Sweet Mesquite BBQ sauce.
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
½ pound pepper bacon (or preferred bacon)

Preparation:

Cut slices of bacon in half. Cook bacon half way (should not be crisp). Combine Sweet Mesquite BBQ Sauce, lemon juice and garlic powder (pour half of mixture into separate bowl for use later). Dip shrimp into half of sauce to thoroughly coat.

Wrap each piece of shrimp with ½ piece of bacon. Place on skewer (leave small space between pieces). Place on greased hot grill, basting with remaining sauce mixture. Grill for approximately 4 to 6 minutes (depending on size of shrimp).

7 Layer Dip

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can refried beans
2 tablespoons hot sauce
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
4 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 (16 to 18 ounce) jar green chili or tomatillo salsa
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, a palm full, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can black beans
2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2/3 palm full
1 (16 to 18 ounce) jar chipotle salsa
2 cups sour cream
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 ripe avocados
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
Salt
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Pimiento stuffed jumbo Spanish olives, chopped
Tortilla chips, buy 2 sacks in 2 different colors/varieties
Directions

Heat refried beans in small nonstick pan over medium heat and season with hot sauce. Transfer the beans to a small, deep casserole dish. Scrape pan clean with rubber spatula and return to heat.

Add a little extra-virgin olive oil to the pan and raise heat to high. When the oil smokes, add the scallions and sear them, 2 to 3 minutes. Add green salsa to scallions and heat through. Add cilantro, remove salsa from heat, and layer on top of the beans.

Return the same pan to the stove, lower heat to medium and add black beans, heat through and season with cumin, layer on top of the green salsa.

Top the black beans with a layer of chipotle salsa. Mix sour cream the lime zest and juice and spread on top of the chipotle salsa.

Combine the meat of 2 ripe avocados with garlic, lemon juice, jalapeno and salt to form a chunky guacamole. Top the salsa with guacamole. Garnish the dip with the final layer of diced tomatoes and sliced olives.

hot spinach & artichoke dip

Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
2 (13 3/4-ounce) cans artichoke hearts
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Heat the spinach in a microwave oven on high for 5 minutes and squeeze dry. Drain the artichoke hearts and coarsely chop in a food processor.

Combine all the ingredients except the jack cheese in a large bowl. Stir well. Scrape into the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the jack cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Transfer to a chafing dish and keep warm over a low flame. Serve with bagel chips.

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies Stuffed with Cookie Dough and Double Stuffed Oreos

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies
5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1¼ cups (8¾ oz.) sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (5 oz.) all-purpose flour

Directions:
Place an oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until incorporated. Then stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined. (It took me a while to get the flour evenly incorporated and I was worried it would affect the texture of the brownies, but they turned out fabulously – no need to worry.) Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer. Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

chocolate chip cookie dough
Cookie Dough:

1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/8 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons soy milk or milk
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

double stuffed oreos 

DIRECTIONS:

Make the cookie dough:
Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla with electric mixer until creamy. Add the soy milk and beat well. Add in the salt, baking soda, and flour and slowly mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with greased aluminum foil. Spread a layer of brownie batter.



Wrap Oreos in cookie dough, and place in a line on the brownie batter.



Top with more batter until covered.



Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick plunged into the middle comes out fairly clean.



Let cool completely in pan before carefully using the aluminum foil to lift out and slice. Then blissfully live in your sweatpants for three days as you polish each and every one of these babies off.

I am OBSESSED with these recipes. They’re fantastic.

Eggnog Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

Ingredients

For the Filling:
4 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons prepared vanilla spiced eggnog
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Cookies:
2 sticks butter, softened
2 2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons red food coloring
3 cups all purpose flour
8 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt

Preparation

Make the filling: In a small bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the confectioners sugar, eggnog, nutmeg & cinnamon. Place in the freezer until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Make the cookies: In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter & sugar. Add in the egg and beat well. Beat in both the vanilla and red food coloring.In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, scraping down the sides in between additions.

Scoop about 1-2 tablespoon scoop of cookie dough, rolling into a ball.



Then with your thumb and index finger shape the ball into a bowl to hold the filling then add about 1 teaspoon of filling.



Then take another piece of cookie dough to cover the filling, flatten it slightly then delicately roll to reshape into a ball.



Bake for 12 minutes until center appears set, make sure not to over cook. Allow to cool slightly then move to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!

Traditional Latke Recipe with Chunky Cinnamon Apple Sauce

Ingredients:
4 Idaho Potatoes (Washed but not peeled)
1 Large Yellow Onion
3 Large Eggs
1-2 Cups Regular Flour
1 Tablespoon Coarse Salt
½ Tablespoon Fresh Ground Pepper
Oil for Frying (I Use Half Olive Oil / Half Corn Oil)

Preparation:
Cut the potatoes and onion into quarters.

Place in the Bowl of Your Food Processor (with the “s” blade or Knife blade installed).

Grind until finely ground – you can pulse if necessary.

Add Eggs, salt and pepper – grind until mixed.

Remove bowl from Food Processor and stir in Flour (mixture should be the consistency of thick oatmeal).

Cooking:
Heat the oil in a fry pan. You will need about 1” of oil. Be patient and wait until it heats. I use an electric fry pan set at high heat – you can make these just as easily on the stovetop in a regular fry pan. The electric fry pan gives a consistent heat that I can never really get on the stovetop.

Using a Coffee Scoop scoop the batter into the fry pan. I can usually fry 6 – 8 pancakes at a time. You will see that they begin to bubble – just like regular batter pancakes. Turn them when brown. Try not to turn them more then once. The less you turn them the crisper they will be. I remove all that are cooking before I add new batter – that way I can control the temperature of the oil and I find it easy to keep track of cooking time.

Put them on paper towels to drain and continue frying the balance of the batter. This recipe should yield approx. 30 latkes. They freeze really well and can be reheated in the microwave; but they are best when eaten right after cooking!

If this all sounds too complicated – just call us and order ours. They are not the same as homemade – but they are delicious.

Chunky Cinnamon Apple Sauce

Ingredients:
4-5 cups Granny Smith apples (3 very large or 6 small), peeled and sliced thin
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T brown sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large sauce pan, add all ingredients and stir to coat apples. Cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and stir well to break up the apples. Cook another few minutes until the mixture is thickened. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to serve