Using up all the fresh veggies in the fridge and creating more space in the freezer...

Last week some friends gave me chicken and bacon.  Since it has been in the freezer I have been thinking about what I can make with it and then I had this idea of wrapping the chicken breasts with the bacon before baking.  My thinking is that it would add some flavor and keep the chicken moist.  Broccoli and cauliflower were on sale last week at the grocery store so my refrigerator is full of it and thought it would make a fantastic side if I roasted them in the oven.  I also noticed some red skinned potatoes on the counter and garlic mashed potatoes on a raining cold day sounded supper yummy!


I planned all this in my mind the night before it was planned.  First thing in the morning I took the chicken and bacon out of the freezer so it would be ready to go as soon as I arrived home from work.  My goal was to have the dinner ready in about 30 minutes.  I used my George Foreman to cook the chicken which works so easy and not messy.

The whole meal came together very quickly and was quite tasty. 

4 servings, prepped and cooks in about 45 minutes.

Bacon wrapped chicken:

• 2 Chicken Breasts
• 4 pieces of bacon
• Pepper
• Fresh sage leaves

Wrap each breast in 2 pieces of bacon add some fresh sage under the bacon, add a dash of fresh ground pepper.  Cook until 165F in the center of the chicken.

Mashed Potatoes

• 2 medium red potatoes 
• several cloves of garlic
• couple tablespoons of sour cream
• a little butter
• salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes with the garlic until potatoes are soft, strain and mash together.  Add a couple tablespoons of sour cream and some butter.  Add salt and pepper as desired.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

• 2 heads of broccoli 
• 1/2 head of cauliflower 
• olive oil, EVOO
  
• salt and pepper 

Cut the florets off of the broccoli and cauliflower then place on a baking sheet.  Drizzle some EVOO over veggies.  Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.  Bake at about 350F for about 30 minutes.

Now you are ready for a yum yum dinner!!
 

Home Made Rolls

Last week I saw a recipe for focaccia rolls and thought they looked and sounded fabulous.  Looking over the recipe it didn't seem as overwhelming as I thought it would be.  I have never made a bread product that involves yeast so I thought I would try it out this weekend for Easter Dinner with my family.   I have been pleasantly surprised how easy they are to make.  

Yesterday afternoon I made up the dough which was just flour, salt, yeast and water. I adjusted the recipe because I was doubling and I had some whole wheat flour I wanted to use up.  So I used half white and half wheat.  It rose overnight and most of today.  Then I took the dough and cut it roll sizes and put them to rise another hour on cookie sheets.

Rolls with Italian Seasoning.

Regular Rolls

They are in the oven now and swell wonderful!!  They all stuck together because my oven is small and there was a lot to cook today so I only wanted to bake one batch.  I'm supper excited for them to come out of the over.

Here is the link for at recipe I used: Focaccia Rolls

Final Product!

Quick Easy Pizza

Pizza is my favorite meal, because I can take what ever I am craving and turn it into a quick and tasty meal. Most of my pizzas are what every I can find in the refrigerator and then add some cheese and tomato sauce and call it a pizza! One time I put peas on my pizza and it was fabulous because it added some sweetness.

One thing I have never tried is making pizza dough.  The thought of making a break produce is overwhelming. I found this great produce at Safeway last month.  They sell fresh pizza dough. When I went to buy it they only has one package left and I wanted two dough balls so Safeway said they had some dough that was still frozen. That worked perfect for me, because it makes a quick and easy freezer meal.

I learned a trick for using refrigerated or frozen dought. If its frozen allow it to thaw over night. Then about thirty minutes before you want roll it out take it out of the refrigerate and allow it to come to room temperate. This makes the dough softer and easier to roll out.  This is the first time I have done this and it was easier to handle.

After I had the dough ready to go it was time to figure out what to put on it. This is my favorite part, looking thought my pantry for yum stuff to add to the pizza.  This time I added pizza sauce, a little cheese, sweet peppers and mushrooms.  I kept looking at the pizza and kept thinking it needed some more protein other then the cheese...hmm.. then I remembered I had some Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork in the freeze.  That thawed really quickly under some running water. 

The pizza just before it was baked.

Now the pizza was ready for a little more cheese then be placed in the over.  I used my pizza cooking stone to cook it.  My stone is not well seasoned so I added a little EVOO to the stone before I cooked it.  I cooked the pizza for about 15 minutes then placed some sliced tomatoes on it and cooked it for a few more minutes.  The pizza was about 5 minutes undercooked.

This pizza was supper yummy and even better for lunch the next few days.  I like to top my pizza with some kind of hot sauce and some light plain yogurt.  The yogurt cuts down the spice of the hot sauce.

Ingredients:

1 Safeway Pizza Dough

1/2 c. Pizza Sauce

3 Handfuls of Cheese

Couple Sweet Peppers

Mushrooms

5 oz Pulled Pork

Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork

 I found this on the internet about I year ago and it is so yummy!! Quick and easy. 

Must try.  And is freezes wonderfully.

INGREDIENTS:
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced thin
1 (4-6 lb) boneless pork butt or shoulder

RUB
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sauce
¾ cup cider vinegar
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoons dry mustard
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse pork roast under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Place onions in crock-pot. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, paprika, kosher salt and pepper; mix thoroughly. Rub mixture all over roast and place the roast on top of the onions.

3. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne pepper; whisk to combine. Drizzle about 1/3 of vinegar mixture over roast. Cover and refrigerate remaining vinegar mixture.

4. Cover crockpot; cook on low for 10-12 hours. Drizzle about 1/3 of reserved vinegar mixture over roast during last ½ hour of cooking.

5. Remove meat and onions; drain. Chop or shred meat and onions. Serve with remaining vinegar mixture or your favorite barbeque sauce.