Stromboli!

I have been meaning to post this recipe for a long time (almost 2 months to be exact) and today I decided I would finally do it!  I needed to share this because it has changed our life.  We have Stromboli all the time now.  We make it for friends who come over for dinner, we make it for people who are sick and need a meal, and we make it for ourselves because we like it that much.

The first time I made this recipe I did it for Valentines day and thought I would get creative by shaping it into a heart.  I will admit, I was pretty pleased with the result.  It looked so beautiful!  Even with the cheese spilling out and the dough busting out at the bottom, it was still so goldeny delicious.  I got the recipe from this blog and I used her pizza dough recipe too.  The only change I really made from her recipe is that I didn't ...This is Eliza!

My post was highjacked.  As I was saying, the only real change I made was that I left the sauce off and we dipped our Stromboli! (you always have to say it with an exclamation point) in the sauce while we ate it.

The pizza dough recipe is this:

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup...depending on the heat & humidity}

for the cheesy garlic bread sticks-
1/2 recipe Fail-Proof Pizza Dough from above
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese {use the real stuff!}
1/4 pound grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

DIRECTIONS:

For the pizza dough--In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix. Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn't stick to your hands. Once you reach this stage, knead for 6 minutes. Turn a timer on and walk away! Resist the temptation to stop earlier than 6 minutes! That seems to be the magical number. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with. And the bowl should be clean! {*This is the point when you could freeze your dough!! Divide into portions, place into freezer bags, seal removing all air and freeze. To use, remove from freezer and let sit out to get to room temperature and double in size; 6-8 hours. Then use as you'd like.} Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn't dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. That's it! Use as desired.

For the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks- Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside. {If you don't have a pizza stone, use an upside down cookie sheet...a tip I got from Natalie!}
Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.}
Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, if desired. {That step is totally optional!}

I copied the recipe straight from Lauren's Latest.  I love her site too, in case you are in the mood to browse a food blog.

Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 500, split the dough in two and then roll out a rectangle shape.  spread the cheese on one-third of the dough and then spread your toppings on top of that.  My favorite toppings are red onion, diced bell pepper, and spinach.  

Once the toppings are on, grab an egg and beat it (just beat it! No one wants to be defeated!) in a bowl.  Fold the shorter edges in about an inch and baste the folded edges and the third of the dough left without toppings.  

Roll the dough, beginning at the end with the toppings and roll until shaped like this:

Only you can keep it shaped as a straight log if you don't love your family as much as I do...

Place the log on top of a pizza stone or upside down pizza pan.  I wasn't sure why it said an upside down pan but then I tried it without and the Stromboli! didn't brown quite as evenly.  Next, baste the log with the egg and sprinkle pizza flavored herbs on top (I use a spice I own called Pizza Spice but I'm sure a little basil, oregano and garlic would do just fine) and some parmesan cheese. Slit the top of the Stromboli! every inch and a half or so.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and beautiful.

Cut it up into slices and dip in whatever favorite pizza sauce you might own.  Or  if you're like me and never have pizza sauce on hand, whatever spaghetti sauce you have lying around.

And viola!  You are done and ready to eat your Stromboli!

Home Made Alfredo

I have hated store bought Alfredo sauce for a while now.  I buy it for my girls because that's their sauce of choice when we have noodles and I try to like it but when all is said and done, I just don't.

Monday night I finally decided that enough was enough!  I was making my own Alfredo!  And so I did and it was delicious.  You should make it too.  Here is the recipe:

4 T butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 - 1tsp onion powder
1/3 cup all purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste (I did about 1/2 teaspoon of both)
4 cups milk
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Melt butter in a large pot.  Saute garlic and onion powder for 2 minutes.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper; cook 2 minutes.  Slowly add milk, stirring until smooth and creamy.  Stir in Parmesan and Monterey Jack cheeses; stir until cheese is melted.  bring just to a boil and then turn down heat to low.  Allow to simmer until sauce has thickened (about 5 minutes).

I adapted the above recipe from this one.  I changed quite a bit because I didn't have half and half, I thought onion chunks would be weird in it and I thought a tablespoon of salt would have killed all the other flavors.  I was really pleased with how mine turned out.  I think it would have been good to add the tomatoes and sour cream but I didn't have any.  I also chunked up 2 chicken breasts and basted them with olive oil mixed with Italian Seasoning and then grilled them on my George Formen grill.  It was all very yummy.  My kids still preferred the store bought stuff, but I will never go back.  I liked this so much better.

Monica's Fresh Salsa

I got this recipe from Monica and have made it a couple of times for parties that we were attending. Both times it got rave reviews. I figured Monica won't post it herself (I was going to say a mean jibe about how she won't post unless the recipe has her name in it, but then I saw that she put TWO recipes on today! Way to go Monica!) Here is a little tip that I learned after the first time making it: don't cook the beans or corn. It does make a difference (even with that mess-up it still got rave reviews).

Monica's Fresh Salsa

2 Roma tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can corn

cilantro

3 limes

3 avocados

3 green onions

salt

Dice the tomatoes, avocados and green onions and put them in a large bowl. Finely chop your cilantro and throw it in, too. Pour the beans and corn in as well. Squeeze your limes into the bowl and gently stir it all together. Add enough salt that you like the saltiness of it (novel idea). Actually, all of these ingredients are to taste. If you aren't a cilantro fan, go easy on that one. If you adore avocados, add another (how's that for alliteration?). You get the idea, right? And here is what we did with the leftovers:

Oh, it was double delicious on our hamburgers the next night! We used ranch instead of ketchup and mayo and it got two thumbs up (mine and Dustin's).

Monica's delicious wonderful perfect chicken noodle soup of the soul and the belly

I am pleased to announce the first recipe that I have ever created on my own (which is why I also was able to create the name. Do you like it?).

4 carrots - sliced
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 small onion - diced
10 cups of water
10 bullion in whatever form you prefer (I personally like the powder because it lasts longer, dissolves faster and tastes better, but you can do whatever you like)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 tsp basil
1 package egg noodles
1 chicken breast - shredded
cornstarch or flour

In a large pot combine the water, bullion and carrots and bring to a boil. While the water is heating up, put the olive oil and garlic into a small pan and stir it on medium heat for about two minutes. Add the onion and celery and cook until the onion is tender and beginning to be translucent. Add that mixture to the boiling water and then add the pepper, salt, basil and chicken. You may want to add more salt and pepper depending on your preference and the saltiness of the bullion, but I have found that this amount works for me. Add the noodles and continue to boil until the noodles are tender (usually about 1/2 hour).

I like a thicker soup so I add some cornstarch or flour to thicken it up. To use cornstarch combine about 1/8 cup cornstarch and about 1/2 cup cold warm water in a container that can be sealed. Shake the mixture until it is blended and then slowly add to the soup until it is the desired thickness. Use flour the same way. I like cornstarch better because it keeps the soup a little clearer. Neither affect the taste. Another option is to use potato flakes.

Another thing that really changes the soup is the type of noodles you use. The best kind are those made from scratch, but because I don't usually plan ahead I like to use a kind that you find in the frozen section of Aldi or just some that are dry but still resemble the homemade kind.

And viola! That is my chicken noodle soup. I realize that there are probably a bunch of recipes that look very similar to mine, but I have literally made soup a dozen times trying different spices and combinations and in the end this was the one that tasted the best by far. The bullion really changes things too because some brands are a lot stronger than others or have a lot more flavor. you really have to find one that you like. The one I have now has MSG in it (I didn't notice until the last time I made soup...) and so now I understand why my soup has so much flavor. I also know now why my children seem to be lacking a few brain cells...