Stuffed Bread

This time of year it's nice to get cooking with the kids in the kitchen. My brother Greg visited last weekend and we made stuffed bread (aka, pizza rolls).

I used to make these in my pre-kid days, when the husband and I spent our weekends watching various sporting events with friends.

The rolls are easy to prepare and they make for a quick dinner that goes nicely with a salad. These also make great appetizers, snacks and party or lunch-box fare.

Our favorite part? You can dress them up or down, make them sweet or savory and really use any kind of filling you want. We made three stuffed breads: pepperoni, sausage supreme and taco. Other ideas: brie, cranberry and nut; peanut butter and jelly, etc.

Just remember not to overstuff the bread, or you'll end up with the filling exploding out of the bread and onto the pan (which might even happen anyway.)

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

P.S. If you like this recipe, check out more of my brother's creations by searching #gregssundaydinner on Instagram and Facebook.

Pepperoni Stuffed Bread

1 package refrigerated pizza dough (not thin crust)
1/2 to 3/4 cup tomato sauce, plus more for dotting on top
6 slices provolone cheese
Pepperoni slices (about 1/2 a package)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll pizza dough onto parchment and gently spread it out to a rectangle shape.

Spread tomato sauce in a thin layer on the dough. Top with the provolone slices. Add the pepperoni slices.

My son Sam and my brother Greg working on the pepperoni roll.

Top with shredded mozzarella. Dot with small dabs of additional tomato sauce.

Starting with a short side of the dough, gently roll the dough up. Smooth out and seal the opposite end of the dough. Pinch the ends together and tuck them under the roll.

Reduce oven heat to 375. Bake stuffed bread for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top.

As you can see, some of the filling escaped from one of our stuffed breads.

Let stuffed bread cool a bit before cutting.

Sausage Supreme Stuffed Bread

1 package refrigerated pizza dough (not thin crust)
1/2 to 3/4 cup tomato sauce, plus more for dotting on top
6 slices provolone cheese
3/4 cup scant cooked sausage crumbles
1/2 cup thinly sliced bell pepper
1/2 of a small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll pizza dough onto parchment and gently spread it out to a rectangle shape.

Spread tomato sauce in a thin layer on the dough. Top with the provolone slices. Add the sausage crumbles, pepper and onion slices. Top with shredded mozzarella. Dot with small dabs of additional tomato sauce.

Starting with a short side of the dough, gently roll the dough up. Smooth out and seal the opposite end of the dough. Pinch the ends together and tuck them under the roll.

Reduce oven heat to 375. Bake stuffed bread for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top. Let cool a bit before cutting.

Taco Stuffed Bread

1 package refrigerated pizza dough (not thin crust)
1/2 to 3/4 cup salsa or taco sauce, plus more for dotting on top
6 slices cheddar cheese
3/4 cup scant cooked taco meat (use your favorite)
1/2 cup thinly sliced bell pepper
1/2 of a small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll pizza dough onto parchment and gently spread it out to a rectangle shape.

Spread taco sauce or salsa in a thin layer on the dough. Top with the cheddar slices. Add the taco meat. Top with shredded cheddar. Dot with small dabs of additional taco sauce or salsa.

Starting with a short side of the dough, gently roll the dough up. Smooth out and seal the opposite end of the dough. Pinch the ends together and tuck them under the roll.

Reduce oven heat to 375. Bake stuffed bread for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top. Let cool a bit before cutting.

Not to be left out, our dog Trixie also tried to get in on the action of making stuffed bread!

Pomegranate Wine Spritz

Friday ended a loooooong week at work (but aren't they all?) and marked the end of summer as the kids head back to school today. To honor these events, on Friday evening, I made happy-hour-in-the-'hood drinks for me and my neighbor Judith. I guess you could say I was inspired by Andrea's Watermelon Raspberry Rum Punch.

Cheers, y'all!

XOXO,
Amy

Pomegranate Wine Spritz

POM Wonderful juice
Vodka
Sparkling white wine, chilled

Add one ounce of POM to each Champagne flute, followed by one ounce of vodka that you pulled from your freezer. (Tell me you DO store the vodka in the freezer.) Fill flutes the rest of the way with sparkling white wine. Stir gently; I used a chopstick.

If desired, pour some POM (just POM) in a shot glass for your 6YO so she can enjoy an end-of-summer "cocktail," too.

Skippy (aka Skip and Go Naked)

I love when I get to hang out with my Ohio family. We play cards, usually euchre, gin and knock poker, while drinking Skippies. The Skippy is short for Skip and Go Naked. But I can assure you that we are fully clothed -- if not fully sober -- while partaking.

And it turns out we are not alone. Just Google "Skip and Go Naked" and you will find plenty of recipes, some called "Hop, Skip and Go Naked."

Also, ask your friends if they have heard of this frozen limeade/beer/vodka concoction. Andrea and Erin have pals in Illinois and Wisconsin respectively who refer to this drink as the Strip and Go Naked. If I had to guess, I would say all this nakedness has to do with the Skippy being the perfect drink in the heat of summer. (Hello, it's approaching 100 degrees in Charlotte as I write this!)

The traditional Skippy -- at least in my family -- is made of limeade, beer, and vodka. However, I do like the Skippy with cranberry, beer and vodka. If you are looking for a poor man's margarita, make a limeade, beer and tequila Skippy.

About the beer: think cheap, canned, all American beer. Absolutely do NOT waste your craft brews on the Skippy.

XOXO,
Amy

Skippy (aka Skip and Go Naked)

6 oz. frozen limeade (or pink lemonade or cranberry)
6 oz. cheap beer
6 oz. vodka (or tequila)
Ice (amount varies by taste)

Blend together equal parts of limeade, beer, and booze along with the right amount of ice for you and your fellow Skippy drinkers. How slushy do you like your Skippy? How strong? Only you know the answer. Experiment -- that should turn out well!

Ideally, you can find a 6 ounce can of limeade concentrate, but they are hard to find. That's what works best; you dump the entire thing into the blender and then fill the empty can up with beer and toss that in the blender, and repeat with the booze of your choice. Most standard home blenders will accommodate 6 ounces -- max! -- of each of the main ingredients (limeade, beer, and booze), allowing plenty of room for ice. The Vitamix might be roomy enough for a bigger batch; I'll have to try that.

Another thing to try: One of Andrea's friends makes her Skippies over ice and to cut down on the limeade -- which has a ton of sugar -- she uses some lime-flavored La Croix sparkling water.



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Pretzel Wrapped Hot Dogs

I've mentioned before that I love hot dogs. I don't care what they're made of; they taste awesome. That's all that matters to me.

When I saw this recipe for hot dogs wrapped in pretzels, I had to have them. Conveniently, the Super Bowl was coming up, and I decided it was the perfect occasion to test my pretzel-making skills.

I must admit that this was my first attempt at baking with yeast. (Well, besides using my bread maker, that is.) I was a little nervous about everything turning out, but my angst was unnecessary. Although it took some time and attention, it was easy to follow the recipe step by step. And the delicious result was most certainly worth the effort.

One thing I'll point out, my pretzels weren't the deep brown hue of traditional pretzels. They were every bit as tasty, though. I think the pale color was because I over-crowded my oven. So, maybe consider baking your pretzel dogs in batches if you are after the official pretzel color.

Pretzel Dogs
From: Joy the Baker
Serves: 16

1.5 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon sugar
2.25 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
4.5 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
8 hot dogs, cut into thirds*
Lots of water (about 14 cups)
1 cup baking soda
1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon or so of water
Coarse salt, for topping

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, combine warm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast on top of the water and let it stand for 5 minutes. The mixture will get frothy and foamy. If it doesn't, throw the mixture away and start from scratch with new yeast.

Attach the dough hook to your electric stand mixer. Add the flour, salt, and melted butter to the frothy yeast/water mixture. Mix on low speed until well combined.

Increase speed to medium and allow the dough hook to knead the dough for about 4 minutes. The dough should be smooth and pull away from the sides of the bowl, forming a ball around the dough hook.

Remove the dough from the dough hook and the bowl. Coat the bowl with a vegetable oil (I used a paper towel to spread it around). Place the dough back in the bowl and flip it around so all the surfaces are covered with the oil from the bowl. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise in a warm location for about an hour, until it is doubled in size.

Place baking racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat it to 425 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper, then brush the parchment paper with oil. (Apparently, pretzels are sticky buggers!)

Combine water and baking soda in a very large pot (about 8 quarts) and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, lightly oil a work surface to start rolling out your pretzels. Divide the dough into 24 pieces.

Roll each piece of dough into a rope about 12" long. (Channel your inner toddler; this is just like playing with play-dough! Start in the center of the dough and roll out to the ends.)

Wrap each pretzel rope around a piece of hot dog, making sure to pinch the ends to seal them. (Your pretzel dogs will resemble little mummies. Speaking of which, I'm thinking this might make a fabulous Halloween party snack...)

When the water is boiling, gently place a few pretzel dogs into the water. Boil for 30 seconds.

Carefully remove pretzel dogs from the boiling water using a slotted spoon. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining pretzel dogs.

Brush the boiled pretzels with the beaten egg and sprinkle with plenty of salt.

Bake pretzel dogs for about 12-14 minutes until they're deep brown and shiny. Serve warm.

If you didn't manage to finish all of your pretzel dogs in one sitting, you can freeze the leftovers. Wrap them individually in plastic wrap, then place all the wrapped pretzel dogs in a freezer-safe storage bag. When you're ready to eat them, simply remove the dogs from the plastic, wrap individually in aluminum foil, and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

*You can certainly feel free to leave your hot dogs whole or cut them in half if you'd like your pretzel dogs to be larger. I thought the small size was fun, though.

Chocolate Trifle

We got together recently to celebrate Kelly's birthday, and I was in charge of birthday cake. Since we were planning to stuff our faces with plenty of food and drink before Kelly blew out the candles, we wanted to keep dessert a bit lighter. Well, I'm not sure I'd consider this "lite," but I did use No Pudge brownies. It therefore qualifies as downright healthy in my book.

Now, you can certainly make all of the trifle components from scratch: homemade fudgy brownies, pudding slowly stirred in a saucepan, cream whipped to soft peaks. But I didn't this time. 'Tis the season to take shortcuts, I suppose.

Anyway, the trifle was a huge success. The best thing about it? It takes best if you let it sit in the fridge overnight, so you can make it ahead.

Chocolate Trifle
Serves 6-8

1 package brownies, baked according to package directions for an 8"x8" pan, and cooled (As I mentioned, I used No Pudge brownies to make this a "healthy" dessert.)
3.8 ounce package instant Devil's Food pudding, made according to package directions with 2 cups milk
8 ounces Cool Whip
Raspberries, for garnish

Cut brownies into 1" cubes. Gently fold 3/4 of the Cool Whip into the pudding until it's evenly blended. Layer 1/3 of the brownie pieces in the bottom of a trifle bowl. (If you don't have a trifle bowl - a glass bowl with straight sides - just use whatever bowl you have. A clear bowl is prettiest so you can see the layers.) Top brownies with 1/3 of the pudding mixture.

Repeat the layers two more times until you've used all the brownies and pudding. Top with the remaining Cool Whip and garnish with the raspberries to make it look fancy. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve, preferably overnight.

Pesto Goat Cheese Spread

It's time to whip up some Pesto Goat Cheese Spread. It's the perfect appetizer for a holiday get together, ladies' night, or football party for a number of reasons: 

1. You can make it ahead and bring it to room temperature before your guests arrive.
2. It takes two minutes to throw together. Literally, people. Two minutes.
3. Red and green. Merry Christmas. Put on Nat King Cole and smile with holiday spirit. 
4. It tastes unbelievably fabulous.

You don't have a party coming up, you say? Well, don't let that stop you! The husband and I shoveled this stuff down our gullets for dinner the other night. 

Pesto Goat Cheese Spread

8 ounces goat cheese at room temperature

1/3 cup prepared pesto

4 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes

3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Pita chips, slices of baguette, or crackers for serving

Spread goat cheese onto a pretty plate or platter. The goat cheese should be about 1/4" thick so you can scoop it up with your cracker or a knife. Top with pesto, spreading it towards the edges, but leave a border of goat cheese so you can see the white color peaking out of the bottom. Sprinkle sun-dried tomatoes and then pine nuts over the pesto. Serve at room temperature with your favorite crackers, crusty bread, or pita chips. 

Savory Pesto Palmiers

The holiday season is upon us. We are trussing our turkeys, watching Santa star in commercials, and some of us (ahem, the Lady of the House) have nearly completed our Christmas shopping.

In addition to the requisite good cheer, November ushers in the season of parties. I love holiday parties. I always feel like I'm on Mad Men when I'm off to one. Kitten heels, an apron protecting my party frock while I'm putting the finishing touches on my make-up, maybe some pearls. It's just...fancy. And whether you're the host or an honored guest, these affairs often involve appetizers.

Today's recipe is absolutely perfect for the shin-digs filling up your social calendar. And they sound as classy as you'll look in your hipster skinny tie: Savory Palmiers. You can prepare them ahead and pop them in the oven just before your guests arrive. Or bring them to the party already cooked. Although they're sublime straight from the oven, these palmiers are also delicious at room temperature.

Party on, dudes.

Savory Pesto Palmiers
From: The Barefoot Contessa
Makes 60 appetizers

1 package frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1/4 cup prepared pesto
2/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt

Unfold one of the puff pastry sheets onto a lightly floured board or parchment paper. Roll it out slightly using a rolling pin until the pastry is about 9.5" x 11.5". (Mine was a bit bigger than this, and it worked just fine.)

Spread half of the pesto over the pastry. Sprinkle with half the goat cheese, half the tomatoes, and half the pine nuts. Season with salt.

Starting at the short end of the pastry, roll each end halfway toward the center. Then fold each end toward the center again until the folded edges almost touch. Fold one side over the other and press together gently. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat the process with the second sheet of puff pastry and the remaining ingredients. Cover the puff pastry with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the rolls of puff pastry into 1/4" thick slices.

Place the palmiers face up on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 14 minutes until the palmiers are puffed and golden. This makes about 60 appetizers, so you might need to bake them in batches. If you bake two trays of palmiers at once, make sure you rotate them halfway through so they cook evenly. Serve warm.

P.S. You can reheat Savory Palmiers at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes.

Haute Dinner

The lovely ladies over at Haute Apple Pie invited me to bring a dish to pass at their Virtual Thanksgiving Potluck. And what's a party if you can't bring a friend? Come on over and join me today at Haute Apple Pie.

Skewers

Hot Dinner Happy Home received a cry for help from an Anonymous Reader who I have never met, is not related to me, and who certainly never ripped my Barbie's head off when she was a toddler. This Anonymous Reader (heretofore referred to as A.R.) had volunteered to help her boyfriend get ready for a housewarming party at his new digs. Being a woman known for her party-throwing prowess and excellent hostessing skills, she was perfect for the job. That said, she was feeling a bit daunted at the prospect of preparing food for the large gathering of people...especially since guests would be arriving at the open house throughout the day and late into the night. 

After a series of telephone calls to discuss the fete, A.R. and I came up with a perfect plan for feeding the hungry masses about to converge on the new house: kabobs. These were the perfect meal solution for several reasons:

1. They can be prepared ahead of time.
2. You can thread your skewers with a variety of ingredients to please even the pickiest of palettes. 
3. Kabobs can be cooked throughout the party so guests have something warm to nibble on whenever they arrive. 
4. By filling skewers with veggies and/or fruit in addition to meat, kabobs are a budget-friendly meal for a large group.

On the morning of the housewarming party, I woke up bright and early and drove down to Illinois, where the festivities were set to take place. A.R. and I set to work preparing about a million kabobs. For meat, we used a variety of cubed steak, chicken, and shrimp. We interspersed the meat with slices of onions, red and green peppers, and mushrooms. We were in a bit of a hurry, so we didn't marinate the meat, but we did sprinkle the beef kabobs with Penzey's Chicago Steak Seasoning and the chicken and shrimp kabobs with Penzey's Mural of Flavor. Although, I'm sure a healthy dose of salt and pepper would have been delicious as well.

The prepared kabobs waited patiently for us until the guests were getting hungry, and then the new homeowner manned the grill. He prepared several batches of kabobs throughout the evening as additional revelers arrived, grilling kabobs for about 10 minutes each, until the meat was cooked to the desired temperature (165 degrees for chicken and 125 degrees for medium-rare steak).

All in all, the party was a huge success. My favorite part, though, was spending an afternoon cooking and chatting with my wonderful little sister, uhhh, I mean, an Anonymous Reader with whom I have never shared bunk beds. 

Evites You'll Be Proud to Send

With the Holidays upon us, it's likely you have a hearty menu to share with friends and family thanks to HDHH. When you want to send word quickly, digital invitations do make a fair option. Then the search is on for a decent invitation, and alas, there isn't a pixel to be found that even begins to announce your event in style. Please allow me the great pleasure of introducing you to a few sites that take the art of eviting to the next level, leaving your dignity in tact.

PaperlessPost.com

CocoDot.com

Pingg.com

I promise you, you will not miss the ads for magical belly shrinkers, the host of pop-ups, the fiercely obnoxious tunes and jiggling graphics. Alright, maybe you'll miss the girls that dance 'cuz interest rates have dropped again. But they're invited to the party anyway...

I always say, the invitation is the first thing your guests receive from you, so make it special. Oh, and prepare to be copied. Remember, imitation is the best form of flattery.