Pizza Rolls

I still don't understand the fact that people went crazy over these on Eric's birthday party because they're so easy to make and nothing really fancy. But I guess they're really good! So here's the recipe:

What you'll need:

- Pillsbury crescent rounds (each package comes with 8 so get as many as you and your family will eat)
- Tomato sauce
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni (I cut these into tiny little pieces)
- Dry basil

Instructions:
Open up the dough and spread tomato sauce (don't exaggerate). Spread cheese, then pepperoni then roll the dough and cut it (it comes sort of pre-cut so it's really easy). Arrange the rolls in the pan (I sprayed mine with olive oil spray to make it really easy to remove the rolls out of the pan). Spread more cheese and basil on top of each roll. Bake as directed in the package.

That's it! Super easy!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tomato and Basil and Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

Okay, it's been a long time since I posted on here, but I have an excuse! I just moved back to the U.S from Brazil and my life has been hectic. I only now got pots and pans and since I'm back to cooking everyday, I'll be sharing my favorite ones with you.

So here's the first one!

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds fingerling potatoes or red skin baby potatoes
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 Italian mild green pepper, cubanelle, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced
• 4 large cloves garlic, cracked away from skin
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 2 cups shredded Parmesan, available in tubs near deli -- make sure to get shredded cheese, not grated
• 4 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 plum Roma tomatoes or small, vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 15 to 20 leaves fresh basil, pile leaves, roll then thinly slice -- chiffonade
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Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut fingerling potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on thickness of fingerlings -- thin, small fingerlings may also be left hole, larger potatoes should be quartered to speed cooking process. If you are using small red potatoes, halve or quarter them in the same way.

Cover a large cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet. Combine with peppers and onions, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Coat the potatoes, peppers and onions with extra-virgin olive oil just enough to coat vegetables in a thin layer, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Place potatoes in the oven and roast 20 to 22 minutes, until potatoes are just tender and peppers and onions are crisp at edges. Toss mixture with tongs, turning the potatoes after 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish and peel the foil off the cookie sheet and discard for super-quick clean up!

While potatoes cook, prepare chicken. Roll out a 2-foot piece of waxed paper or foil near the stove top. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat -- your pan must be very hot when the chicken is added. Pile the shredded cheese on the work surface created with the waxed paper or foil. Season your chicken breasts with black pepper but no salt; the cheese will add enough salt to the taste of the dish. Press the breasts firmly into the cheese. Coat both sides of breasts with as much cheese as possible. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to the skillet, 1 turn of the pan. Set breasts into the skillet and cook 7 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing around the tender chicken breasts.

While chicken cooks, combine chopped tomatoes with basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Drain off any excess oil from chicken as you remove it from the skillet. Top chicken with big spoonfuls of raw sauce and serve with potatoes, peppers and onions.

And for some reason blogger isn't letting me post the other picture.
But I hope you enjoy, it's totally worth it!

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

This is one of my favorite recipes for cinnamon rolls. They are easy to make and the apple filling in them is just delicious. The recipe comes from the cookbook "Best-Loved Recipes of all Time." This book is filled with lots of easy delicious recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

5 to 5 1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 envelopes of yeast (1 envelope is about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
1/4 c butter or margarine
3 large eggs
Apple filling (See below)
Cinnamon-sugar topping (See below)

In a large bowl (I just used the bowl from my Kitchen Aid), put 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk and butter until very warm. Gradually add to dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping the sides. Add eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half and roll each into rectangles. Spread apple filling evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly and pinch seams to seal. Cut each roll into equal pieces, it's really up to you how big or small you want to make them, I believe I got about 11 rolls out of each rectangle. Place, cut sides up, in greased 9 inch round pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 min. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar topping and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Enjoy!!

Apple Filling:
2 large cooking apples (I usually use about 4 granny smith apples), chopped
2 tbsp flour
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter or margarine

Combine the above ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly until thick. Stir in
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. You can let it cool, but I usually don't wait, I just use the filling as soon as I roll out the dough.

Cinnamon-sugar Topping:
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Stir well

The BEST Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

I found this recipe the other day and decided to make it. I made a few changes to the original recipe and added them in below. Clint is a huge philly fan, and he said that this was in his top two favorites! That made me feel pretty good. He wouldn't shut up about them and had to tell everyone how amazing they were. I'd have to agree, I was full at half and continued to eat, it was way too good!

For 2 sandwiches you will need:

1/2 pound of roast beef sliced from the deli
1/2 package of fresh sliced mushrooms
1 small to medium onion
Approx. 1 Tbs. Soy Sauce
Approx. ½ Tbs. Brown Sugar
White Sugar (Just Sprinkle a light coat)
Green chili’s, enough to liking
Pepperoncini Peppers or Jalapeño Peppers, enough to liking
1 ½ inch slice of cream cheese (or more if you’d like)
4 slices of Swiss cheese
Steak sliced rolls (these look like sub sandwich bread)

Heat griddle to 400 degrees (these sandwiches work best with a griddle but you could make one at a time in a frying pan). While griddle is heating up cut up onions into straws no more then about 1 1/2 inch pieces. Spray griddle with cooking spray or use vegetable oil. Put onions and mushrooms on griddle and use a spatula to move onions and mushrooms so they don't burn. Wait until the onions are almost translucent and add soy sauce, brown sugar and white sugar, just sprinkle on some white sugar to coat lightly. Add in cream cheese in and let melt. Then add green chili’s and roast beef slices. It is easiest if you pull the roast beef slices apart into chunks before cooking. The roast beef doesn't need to be cooked so just wait until it turns a deeper brown then the pinkish color that it has. Mix it together with the onions and mushrooms and separate it into two equal rows. Place two slices of Swiss cheese on each sandwich and then put the steak roll on top like a tee pee. Hold the top like a hot dog bun and put a spatula under it. Gently turn over sandwich by trying to keep as much as you can inside the sandwich as you turn it. Anything left over scoop up and stuff inside. It doesn't have to be perfect. Then put whatever condiments you like on it, like Mayonnaise, tomatoes slices, red or green peppers and lettuce. (We just used mayo)

Alfajores

This is another recipe from my friend Elizabeth. She has many more yummy Peruvian recipes to share with us and I will continue posting them until she gets her own account to add them on here.

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These cookies are filled with dulce de leche!!! Yum!

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INGREDIENTS:

1 cup flour

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup butter (softened)

1 egg yolk

6 tbsp confectioner sugar

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Sift the flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar. Add in the butter and begin mixing/kneading until dough starts sticking together, add the egg yolk and keep kneading. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Roll out the dough over a floured surface. Form small circles (not too thick or thin). Place circles on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 min or until cookies (alfajores) are lightly golden. Let cool and begin uniting the alfajores by spreading dulce de leche in the middle. Roll sides (where dulce de leche is) on powdered sugar. Makes about 4 dozen.

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Note: You can buy dulce de leche in cans at your local grocery store, look in the Latin section aisle. They are Nestle brand.

Also, you might want to add a little bit of milk to the dulce de leche so it's not as thick and therefore becomes easier to spread. Make sure you don't add too much milk though.

Crunchy Asian Pasta Salad

1	box Betty Crocker® Suddenly Salad® classic pasta salad mix (We have liked the Greek flavor the best, if you can find it... I have also used off brands)
1	package (3 oz) Oriental-flavor ramen noodle soup mix
3	tablespoons sugar
3	tablespoons vegetable oil
2	tablespoons white vinegar
2	tablespoons water
1	tablespoon soy sauce
3	cups coleslaw mix
1	cup snow pea pods, strings removed, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2	cup sliced almonds, toasted
1	can (15 oz) mandarin orange segments, drained (I leave these out & add sliced black olives) Empty Pasta mix into 3-quart saucepan 2/3 full of boiling water. Gently boil uncovered 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta; rinse with cold water. Shake to drain well. In large bowl, stir together seasoning mixes from pasta mix and soup mix, sugar, oil, vinegar, water and soy sauce. Add pasta, coleslaw mix, pea pods, almonds and oranges; toss to combine. Just before serving, coarsely crush dry noodles from soup mix; stir into pasta mixture. Serve immediately, or refrigerate.

Choco-Flan

I actually tasted this cake/flan several years ago at a church activity, but never got the chance to ask for the recipe. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to make since it was a chocolate cake and flan baked together, I just didn't know how you accomplish that without mixing the ingredients. I did some searching online and was able to find the procedure for making it-this is also known as the impossible cake. Anyway, I ended up using my own flan recipe and I just bought a box of chocolate cake mix for the cake.

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Just a few things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you don't over-bake, or the cake will be dry

2. The cake pan I used was a spring-form pan and I believe water was able to creep into the cake pan and also some flan mixture got out at the bottom. I suggest you use a solid bundt pan.

3. During the baking process, the cake will rise and bake at the top and the flan mixture will sink to the bottom and cook there.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 box of milk chocolate cake mix (follow the instructions as in the box to make the batter)

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Flan Ingredients:

1 can of evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar (for caramel)

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In a small saucepan, melt the sugar on medium heat until it becomes caramelized, pour on the bottom of a bundt pan.

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Mix the chocolate cake mix according to the instructions on the box and then pour on top of the caramel.
In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the flan: milks, eggs and vanilla. Make sure they are mixed well (mixture will be runny) and then carefully pour over chocolate batter.

Bake cake a Bain Marie for 1 hour at 350 degrees farenheit, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, let cool, invert onto a cake platter. Enjoy!!!!

Note: To bake a cake/custard A Bain Marie, you just need to insert the bundt pan into a larger container and partially fill the large container with water.