Looks Can Be Deceiving!

Looking at the picture above, what do you guess it is????

Yes….it looks like an ordinary biscuit, but if that was your guess, then you would be wrong!

Yesterday someone had asked for suggestions of an appetizer to make for an upcoming holiday party. It had to be simple! So, I took to my Pinterest profile to look at some recipes I had already pinned to my “Small Bites and Appetizers” board. One of the first things I ever posted was a pepperoni monkey bread (here). It looked so good, and I had been thinking about that recipe ever since. I had most of the ingredients, but wanted to change it up and add a few things. Below is my version!

Stromboli Pockets

Ingredients:

1 pkg whole wheat Pillsbury Grands biscuits
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Turkey pepperoni (about 24)
Turkey sausage (casing removed), about 1 tbsp per biscuit
Shredded mozzarella cheese, about 1 tbsp per biscuit
Green pepper, thinly sliced or chopped
1 small onion, thinly sliced or chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line large baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.

Melt butter in small sauté pan. Add garlic. Cook on low while assembling Stromboli to allow the butter to absorb the garlic flavor.

Cut pocket in each biscuit, being sure not to cut through or create any holes other than the opening for the pocket. Fill each biscuit with the desired ingredients. I made 4 biscuits with pepperoni, green pepper, onion, and cheese. The other 4 then had pepperoni, sausage, and cheese.

Once filled, seal opening by pressing ends firmly, still maintaining overall biscuit shape. Place on prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each biscuit with garlic butter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

This in an extremely versatile recipe. You call fill the biscuits with anything you and your family like. Ham and cheese would be delicious!!

ENJOY!! 🙂

Not exactly cooking, but…..

….so simple and delicious!

I have been pretty lazy lately about going to the grocery store. For some reason, I have lacked the motivation. Which is unusual because typically I love going grocery shopping!! So, needless to say, I am down to bare bones with what to cook.

Again, I laid out some chicken breast to thaw with barely a clue of what I was going to make. When I came home from work I scoured my pantry, fridge, and freezer to see what I could come up. I found some steam-ready green beans and a jar of Alfredo sauce, and this is what I created!

Weeknight Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 cups short cut whole grain pasta, uncooked (like penne or rotini)
1 jar light Alfredo sauce
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 pkg frozen steam-ready green beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in sauté pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook 7-8 minutes until cooked through. Halfway through, add minced garlic.

Cook green beans according package directions. Add to sauté pan. Stir to combine. Pour half of the Alfredo sauce into sauce pan. Stir.

Drain pasta and add to chicken and green beans. Add remaining sauce. Stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.

ENJOY!! 🙂

Obsessed With Buffalo!

This is definitely not the first time that I have posted a recipe that used buffalo sauce. I just can’t seem to get enough of it!!

This recipe is very similar to the way in which I prepared the Buffalo Burgers in a previous post. One major change…..I used boneless, skinless chicken breast instead of turkey burgers.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 bottle buffalo wing sauce (I again used Ken’s)
1/4 cup margarine or butter
Cooking spray

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with foil. Lightly spray with cooking spray.

Combine flour, cayenne pepper, and salt in a shallow bowl or plate.

Coat each of the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, combine buffalo sauce and butter. Heat and stir until butter is melted.

In a shallow bowl, pour just enough sauce to coat each of the chicken breasts. Return to prepared baking sheet. Reserve remaining wing sauce.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees.

Transfer chicken to 8×8 prepared baking dish. Top with reserved wing sauce. Cover with foil. Return to oven for 30 minutes, allowing time for the chicken to absorb the wing sauce.

I then thinly sliced some celery and used a store bough ranch dressing to complete the sandwiches.

WAIT!!!! There’s more!

Along with the buffalo chicken sandwiches, I made some french (baked) fries. When I bought my potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner, my store had them B1G1. I though t this was a good way to use up some of those potatoes.

French (Baked) Fries

Ingredients:

5-6 medium sized red potatoes
Olive oil, enough to coat potatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.

Cut potatoes into French fry shape. Place on prepared baking sheet. Coat fries with enough olive oil to cover all potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to your liking.

Spread potatoes in single layer on baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, or until fries are cooked through.

This meal was a hit with my family, and I hope it will be in your’s too!

ENJOY!! 🙂