Pizza bake #2

You may remember that back in September, I made a pizza bake. A few nights ago my daughter had a sleepover with her best friend so I made it again thinking it might be more fun than some of the other options on our meal plan for the week (like the adobo or halibut). And I was mostly right... They just picked some things out :/ The friend doesn't like mushrooms or pepperoni, which was news to me. My daughter doesn't like mushrooms so I already knew she would pick them out.

I may have liked this one even better than last time, and I think my husband may agree.

Ingredients:
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup water
14 oz pizza sauce
8 oz pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella
Half a carton of sliced mushrooms
Half a green bell pepper, diced

Steps:
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix water and Bisquick until a soft dough forms.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the bottom of a lightly greased 13x9 dish. The dough won't cover the entire dish.
Add 1 cup of pizza sauce as evenly as possible.
Arrange half of the pepperoni, half of the mushroom slices, and half of the bell pepper on top of the dough and sauce
Add 1 cup of cheese.
Repeat with the other half of the ingredients.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Easy fried eggplant

Our second attempt at eggplant Parmesan was even better than the first! It was super yummy and really easy. It was much like what I've had in restaurants and more of what I was hoping for when we decided to go ahead and make it.

Ingredients:
2 tbs canola oil
2 cups dry breadcrumbs
3 eggs beaten
1 large eggplant
Mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.

Steps:
Peel and slice eggplant (the peeling seems optional. We didn't and it was plenty good and easy to eat.)
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in crumbs, and place in hot oil.
Fry 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
Drain on paper towel.
While hot, top with mozzarella cheese and pasta sauce.

Crock Pot Adobo

My husband went on a mini crusade lately, to make two of the dishes that his mother made when he was growing up. One of them was mole, which I'll post later, and the other was adobo.

I had never had adobo before. Apparently it can be made with beef, pork, shellfish, or more popularly chicken. We made it with chicken and in the crock pot. It's a very vinegary and garlicky dish and is great served over rice.

This was a super delicious meal and I loved it. I'm so glad that my hubby introduced me to it. It also made fabulous leftovers! Maybe even better than when it was freshly cooked.



Ingredients:
1 1/3 medium onion sliced (we did a mix of yellow and red)
13 1/3 garlic cloves, crushed
7/8 cup soy sauce
1 2/3 cups chicken broth
7/8 cup vinegar
3 1/3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp pepper
5 lbs chicken pieces

Steps:
Remove skin from chicken and sear all sides quickly on high in a pan of oil.
Place chicken in crock pot, then onions, then the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Serve over rice. Pour the liquid from crock pot over the rice, too. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

We also cooked our rice with a chicken bouillon cube in the water. We do this most of the time.

Bacon wrapped hotdogs

When grocery shopping last weekend I was surprised to see bacon wrapped hotdogs for sale. This is something I've done a few times myself and wasn't aware was a premade product on the market. I didn't come up with the idea, of course; I saw it somewhere online a long time ago. But man I wish I had been the one to market and sell it! It's always so disappointing to see something that you've done or had the idea for. That "if only I had been the one to try to patent it..." type of feeling. Things that seem so simple that nobody would sell it but then somebody does.

Anyway, it is cheaper to make myself! Buy bacon and hotdogs when they're on sale. I usually wait until hotdogs are BOGO free. And we buy whichever bacon is the cheapest because we aren't terribly picky, though for this, thinner bacon is a bit better.

All you need is bacon and hotdogs and whichever toppings you may want. I also use toothpicks to secure the bacon to the hotdog but it isn't totally necessary. If you're using a hotdog machine it will be but in a frying pan or the oven you shouldn't totally need them. I've tried the hotdog machine and frying pan but haven't done the oven yet. So anyway, you just have to wrap the bacon around the hotdog and cook it until the bacon is as done as you like (I prefer soft and my husband prefers crispy). If you use toothpicks put then in the end of the hotdog so that they don't sit on your pan or interfere with the hotdog spinning in the machine.

Garlic oregano French fries

We're trying really hard to meal plan in my home right now. We're on a pretty strict food budget so it is kind of crucial to do as much from scratch as possible and take advantage of sales and coupons. Tonight we did bacon wrapped hotdogs with chili and cheese, a salad, and the fries below.

I got this recipe off Pinterest. I was specifically looking for a French fry recipe because we've got plenty of potatoes in the house so I wasn't about to buy a package of frozen ones. I don't think I've ever made French fries before and if I have, obviously they weren't great because they didn't leave a lasting impression.

My family all really liked these, especially my 6 year old. They didn't need any condiments. I tried them with mustard and they were much better without. I didn't even bother with ketchup because they were just so yummy alone.

Ingredients:
3-4 large potatoes
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs garlic powder
2 tsp black pepper
2 tbs oregano
2 tsp parsley
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Wash and cut potatoes. Keep them as uniform in size as possible.
2. Place potatoes on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle seasoning on potatoes as evenly as possible.
3. Mix thoroughly and evenly space.
4. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Flip the fries and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Parmesan

My husband and I are in the process of trying out various eggplant Parmesan recipes right now to see which we like best. Here is the one we tried tonight. We liked this one (so did my 6 year old) and we're anxious to try more versions of this!

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt


After eggplant is peeled and sliced, lay it on a baking sheet and lightly salt the slices. Let them sit for a few minutes then pat them dry.
Set oven to broil. Generously spray both sides of the eggplant slices with cooking spray. Broil with tops 4 to 5 inches from heat about 10 minutes, turning once, until tender.
While eggplant is broiling, mix Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs; toss with oil.
Heat spaghetti sauce until heated through. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
Sprinkle 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese over eggplant slices. Spoon bread crumb mixture over cheese. Broil about 1 minute or until cheese is melted and crumbs are brown. Top eggplant with spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.