Ranch pizza

We love ranch pizza at our house.  I got this idea from Vinny's resturaunt.  It's a nice way to use leftover bacon.

• Pizza crust (I use boboli precooked pizza, or a can of pillsbury's rolled pizza dough - sold by the biscuits, or I make it with a bread dough recipe, rolled into a pizza shape)
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups motzarella cheese (more or less according to your taste)
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 6 slices of bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 fresh roma tomato, diced

1. Preheat oven to recommended temperature for the pizza crust.
2. Combine cream cheese and ranch dressing.  Pour evenly over pizza dough.  Top with cheese, bacon, green pepper, and diced tomato.  Cook according to recommended time for the pizza crust you use.

Raspberry Breakfast Braid

This is the first homemade pastry I've made - yummy!  It's sort of a cheater recipe, but it was still lots of fun.  Too bad there's really no redeeming nutritional value.  I didn't have raspberry preserves, so I used raspberry syurup instead, didn't turn out as well as it could have, the consistancy was way off, but still not bad.  I'm excited to try this again the "right" way.  The pastry doesn't have to look perfect, once you drizzle the glaze over it, it looks very nice. 

• 2 cups Bisquick mix
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBS milk

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Measure bisquick into a medium bowl.  Cut in cream cheese and butter.  Stir in milk.  On a lightly floured surface, lightly knead the dough 10-12 times.  Roll dough into a 12"x8" rectangle.  Turn onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
3. Spread raspberry preserves onto the center 1/3 of dough.  Make 2 1/2" cuts at 1" intervals along the long sides.  Fold strips over filling.
4. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.  While pastry is cooking, combine ingredients for glaze.  After pastry has cooled slightly, drizzle with glaze. 

Acorn Squash

MMMM  I LOVE LOVE LOVE acorn squash.  I don't get it very often because the rest of the family doesn't like it too much, so I always forget how to make it and then I have to waste time searching the internet for what to do...so here goes...nothing fancy, just something to help me remember next time...

Microwave:  Cut squash in half, remove seeds, cover with plastic wrap and cook on high approx 8 minutes until tender.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Flavor with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, or dark syrup or brown sugar.

Bake:  Cut squash in half, clean, place cut side down in 1" water.  Bake 30 minutes at 350.  Pour off water, turn over and bake an additional 30 minutes.  Flavor with butter and other sweets. 

**I only add butter and salt.  To me it tastes plenty yummy without all the sugar/cinnamon stuff.  I can't vouch for the microwave directions, I always bake it in the oven.**

Baked Pork Chops

This is a yummy way to cook pork.  Everyone in the family enjoyed it, and the gravy tastes great over mashed potatoes. 

• 6 pork chops
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 TBS olive oil
• 1 (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup white wine (which obviously I couldn't use, so I just added 1/3 C milk and a heaping teaspoon of chicken granules)

1.Preheat oven to 350F
2.Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs.
3.Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops on each side until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil. (I used a casserole dish and the lid)
4.Bake in the preheated oven for 45 hour. While baking, combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk and white wine in a medium bowl. After the pork chops have baked for an hour, cover them with the soup mixture. Replace foil, and bake for another 20 minutes.

Super Easy Calzones

Yummy homemade dinner in 35 minutes.  Ahhh.  This is one of my new go-to recipes when I forget to thaw the meat or when we have stuff to do in the evenings.  :)  The kids LOVE to help add toppings, so it's a fun family event, too. 

• 1 package Pillsbury Pizza Pie crust (sold with their packaged biscuits)
• any pizza toppings you'd like, we've used all of the following at one point or another: sausage, pepperoni, ham, pineapple, onion, fresh cut tomato, diced jalepenos
• 1/4 cup (approx) pizza sauce, such as Ragu.
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 TBS water

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Lightly oil pizza pan.  Unroll pizza dough directly onto prepared pan and using rolling pin to flatten.  Place pizza toppings onto dough, leaving about an inch around the side.  Top with sauce and cheese.  (I usually add a little bit of garlic powder or onion powder to the sauce).  Fold over and press around edges to seal. 
3. Mix egg yolk and water and brush onto dough.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Allow to cool about 5 minutes before serving.