Philadelphia Cooking Cream and Pizza

Over the weekend I got to host a Philadelphia Cooking Cream house party!!  It was a lot of fun! The people at House Party sent me a free box with all the party supplies!  I got a brand new pan, and a bunch of other stuff, including coupons and recipe booklets to give to all my guests. There are four different flavors of this cooking cream.  Since they gave me coupons for free tubs, I got all four.  I made pizza and used a couple of the cooking cream flavors as the sauce.  It was really good!  I think it might even be the best homemade pizza I have ever made!  I've been trying to perfect homemade pizza for years because it is my hubby's favorite food, so when I saw this recipe for crust on my friend's blog, I decided to try it. It was really good!  I will definitely make it again!  Here is what I did:

Yummy Homemade Pizza

• Crust
• Chicken, cooked and cubed
• Pizza Cheese
• Mushrooms, sliced
• onions, sliced
• Philadelphia Cooking Cream (original and savory garlic flavors)
• BBQ sauce
• Ranch Dressing Mix (Dry)
• Pineapple Tidbits

I made two different pizzas.  The first was a BBQ Chicken pizza, the second was a Garlic Chicken pizza.

For the BBQ Chicken pizza, I combined half of the tub of original cooking cream and about 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce.  Then I added in about half of a packet of ranch dressing mix.  I used that as the sauce, and then piled on the cheese.  I then added chicken (cooked in BBQ sauce), onion, and pineapple. 

The Garlic Chicken pizza was easier!  I just put enough garlic cream on to cover, and then piled with cheese, chicken, pineapple, mushrooms and onion. 

Both pizzas were delicious!  I can't wait to try the other flavors and make other things! :)

Banana Pancakes with Butter Syrup

This morning I decided that I would make my kids pancakes instead of cereal.  I decided to save time and use the "Jiffy" baking mix in my pantry.  Here is the recipe:



Banana Pancakes with Butter Syrup

"Jiffy" baking mix
1-2 bananas, smashed
1 TBSP flax
Milk

Make the pancake mix as directed on the box.  Add in bananas and flax (I added it to give it a little more nutrition).  Mix in a little more milk to make batter the right consistency.  Cook like normal pancakes!

BUTTER SYRUP
(I got this recipe from my old neighbor, Annie.  We love it!)

1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 C Buttermilk
1 tsp. Vanilla

Melt butter on low heat.  Once the butter is melted, add sugar, buttermilk and baking soda.  Bring to a boil (it will get really foamy).  You just want to get the sugar liquified.  I just pick up some with a spoon and dump it back in the pot.  When there's no grains left it's done.  Remove from heat.  Add vanilla, stir, and serve.

"Cafe Rio" Style Pork Burritos

One of our favorite restaurants is Cafe Rio.  They have the best pork burritos!  In an effort to save money, we have not eaten there in a while, but we have been missing it!  I had a pork roast in my freezer and decided that I wanted to try to recreate the pork burritos that you can buy there.  I looked online to see if I could find a recipe, and I found several.  This recipe is what I did with it, which was kind of a combination of several different recipes.  It didn't taste exactly like Cafe Rio, but it was REALLY good!

"Cafe Rio" Style Pork Burritos

Pork Roast
Coke
2-3 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/2 packet of Lipton Onion Soup

Put the roast into the crockpot and set it on low.  Pour a cup of coke over it and add the brown sugar and soup.  Cook for 8 or so hours, or until it can be shredded.

When the roast is cooked, shred it.  (I dumped the coke mixture out of my crockpot and put the shredded pork back in.  You could easily put it into a sauce pan to finish.)

Add the following:
1 cup or so of Coke
2 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Salsa
1/2 can Tomato Sauce

Let it simmer on low for 20 or so minutes.


Rice:

In the meantime, I put my rice cooker to use.  I cooked the rice in chicken broth and added some chopped Cilantro.  Next time I am going to add some green chilies and lime, as the rice was pretty bland.


We like our burritos without the beans, but you could easily add in black or pinto beans!  :)

To assemble:

Warm tortillas.  Fill with rice, pork mixture and cheese.  Roll up and place in an oven-safe pan. Put some green Enchilada Sauce on top.  Top with cheese and broil on high until cheese is melted and bubbling.

 Here is the final product, and it was tasty! My husband told me that it was even better the second day!!

Yummy Chicken Alfredo/Pesto Tortelloni

My hubby went on a business trip a few years back, and they had a pasta bar at the office he went to where they could pick their own sauces and ingredients to put with their pasta. He loved it! When he got home, he told me about this yummy pasta that he had. This is my attempt at re-creating it!

Mushrooms, sliced
Onion- sliced into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
Chicken, cubed (For the two of us, I usually just do 1 chicken breast or 3 tenders)
2 TBSP oil
1 package of Tortelloni pasta (We like the 3 cheese flavor)
1 package of pesto sauce prepared per instructions
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cream (or fat free half and half works too)
Parmesan cheese to taste

Cook the chicken in a pan with oil. When it starts to brown, add in the vegetables. Saute until done. In the meantime, boil some water. Cook the pasta according to the directions. Drain. In the same pan, melt 1/2 cup of butter. Pour in cream and stir. Add in desired amount of Parmesan cheese to make it taste like alfredo sauce. Pour pasta into the alfredo sauce. Mix in desired amount of pesto. Add chicken/vegetables and stir together. I like to top it with shredded Parmesan. Enjoy!!

Popcorn Goodies

This recipe came to my attention when we were first married. My hubby worked for the DMV, and one of his co-workers made this for us for Christmas that year. It's really yummy and even my hubby (who doesn't like caramel popcorn) likes it!

In a large bowl combine:
6 quarts popcorn, popped
3 cups marshmallows

Melt 2 cups of butter in a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup Karo Syrup and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Heat until it boils. Let the sauce stand for 1 minute, and then pour it over the popcorn mixture. Stir until mixed. When it cools down, you can add in your favorite candy. (We usually put in M&Ms.) Enjoy!!

Chicken Parmesan

Tonight for dinner, I decided to try to recreate one of our favorite meals! When my hubby and I were on our honeymoon, we drove up to Portland, Maine one night. We ate dinner at this little restaurant that is on a boat in the harbor. We both ordered the Chicken Parmesan. Since then, we have loved eating it because it reminds us of that really fun night! Here's how I made it:

Chicken Tenders or Breasts
Parmesan Cheese (As much or as little as you would like)
1 egg, beaten
Chicken Shake 'N Bake or Italian Bread Crumbs
Mozzarella Cheese
1 jar Spaghetti Sauce
Spaghetti noodles

Combine Parmesan cheese with the chicken covering. Dip the chicken in the egg to cover it, and then place it in the crumb/cheese mixture. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until chicken is done. When it is done, put some Mozzarella cheese on each chicken piece and cook until the cheese is melted. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to package directions. Heat up spaghetti sauce. Serve it all up and enjoy!!!

Kneader's Key Lime Pie With Pretzel Crust

I was just looking at an email and saw this recipe. We have a Kneader's down the street, but I've never tried this before. It looks really yummy!!!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. pretzel crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
7 Tbsp. butter (melted)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" pan with non-stick baking spray.
• Crush the pretzels until very fine; processing in a food processor for about 30 seconds works well.
• Add the sugar and melted butter, mixing to combine; you can do this right in the food processor.
• Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes; the crust won't change color much, but will firm up. Remove from the oven and make the filling.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING
½ cup fresh lime juice (3 to 4 limes)
4 tsp. grated lime zest
4 egg yolks
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

• It's easiest to remove the lime zest from whole limes so start with that.
• Cut the limes in half and squeeze out the juice being careful to not include any seeds.
• Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl until tinted light green. This takes about 2 minutes.
• Beat in the milk, then juice and set aside at room temp till it thickens. Pour into the crust and smooth with a spatula.
• Bake the pie for 28 to 32 minutes, until the filling is set, with a small spot in the middle still soft looking. Cool for several hours before serving. Top with whipped cream and a garnish of crumbled pretzels.