Pizza Crescent Rolls with Alfredo Sauce

Am I the only one that's seen those commercials on TV where they take the Pillsbury rolls and do something creative with them? No? Great! So those commercials got me thinking- I want to try something like that- but do everything made from scratch instead. (We all know whenever something's homemade from scratch it's flavor is so much better!) I was looking in the fridge for what I could use to stuff my Crescent rolls with and I thought- why not try putting Freshly Shredded Mozzarella cheese, Pepperoni, and homemade Alfredo sauce  in the middle! Needless to say the hubster and I both agreed this was a recipe to keep on hand for the future- not to mention I'll be making these as appetizers the next time we host poker night! They are totally mess free, and you can slice them in half or thirds to be the perfect bite sized burst of delicious-ness!

What You'll Need: 

3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour (plus a little extra)

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Butter-Softened

1tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees)

1/2 cup very warm milk 

1 large egg

Pepperoni

Mozzarella cheese

Homemade Alfredo Sauce: Homemade Alfredo Sauce Recipe

What to Do:

 In Large Bowl (Stand Mixers work best) stir 2 cups of flour, sugar, butter, salt and yeast until fully mixed. Add the water, milk, and egg. Beat on a low speed for 1 minute, and then a medium speed for 1 minute.

Switch blender blade to a dough hook- and start mixing with that- slowly adding extra flour until dough is a consistency that is easy to handle.

Place dough on a hard very lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes- until dough is smooth and springy.

Grease a large bowl with cooking spray, put the dough ball in it and make sure all sides of the dough are greased. Then cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour- dough should double in size. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

When Dough is done rising- split in half- and roll each piece out to about a 12" circle and cut it like you would a pizza (into 8 pieces)

 Take each triangle of dough and start with a dollop of the alfredo sauce (you don't want to put too much, because it will ooze out and cause a big mess!)

Add Pepperoni and Mozzarella cheese on top  and then begin to roll the dough like you normally would a crescent roll.

Place on a greased baking sheet and cook in oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes

Vo'ila these things are so incredibly tasty! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Made from Scratch Alfredo Sauce

As you may be able to tell from my posts- my household is very big on any and all Italian cuisine. While pasta is normally eaten with the traditional red sauce, Alfredo sauce is a huge favorite with us. Even my 100% Italian step-dad says that my Alfredo sauce is better than any that he's ever made (and he's a phenomenal Italian cook!) The sauce is fairly simple to make- and I really change it up almost every time I make it (variations in seasonings and how liberal I feel like being with the white wine).

What You'll Need:
4 Tablespoons of Butter
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Cups of Milk (whole milk works best- but 2% does the trick too)
3 Tbsp Flour
1 Tbsp of White Wine

What to Do:

Start by melting the butter on a medium-low heat , when butter is melted, add the flour and seasonings

Stir all ingredients together in the pan - I've found using a silicone whisk works the best when doing this- You want the flour to soak up all the butter. It will look a little lumpy- that's OK.

Add milk slowly into mixture and whisk ingredients together. 

Note: it's very important to constantly stir this while cooking, leaving it on the stove to cook will make it lumpy and cause it to have a slightly burnt taste.

Keep mixing ingredients together until the mixture starts to really thicken. Be patient- it seems like it takes a while, but it really takes about 5-8 minutes. If your mixture is not thickening up to the consistency you'd like- you can add a tad bit more flour.

When Mixture is fully Thickened- Add in the Parmesan Cheese, and stir it into the sauce. If you want you can add other cheeses into it too (like fresh Mozzarella).

Linguini with Crab and White Wine Vinegar sauce

In our home we absolutely love to eat any type of Italian cuisine- I think partly to do with my husband being half Italian- or maybe it's just that Italian food is just SO good! Whatever the case, pasta seems to get boring when you constantly make it the two most common ways- with white sauce or red sauce. I decided to try something different for our pasta the other night- and it is now one of my hubby's favorite dinners I make!

What You'll Need:
4-5 Roma Tomatoes Cubed
2 Tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1/2 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning
1/4 Cup Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 Cup Parmesean Cheese
Whole Grain Linguini
Crab Meat (you can use any type of meat you want- seafood tastes best- or have no meat at all!)

What to Do:

While you cook your pasta on the stove- Take the tomatoes, Olive Oil, Seasonings, White wine vinegar, and Cheeses in a large bowl and mix them together.

 Once the Pasta is done cooking- strain it and the place it directly in the large bowl with the tomato  mixture. Add in the Crab meat and coat the pasta with the mix stirring for about a minute with a wooden spoon.

That's it! (wasn't that easy?!) This is such a yummy way to cook pasta- and a lot healthier than some of those heavy sauces- but trust me- it's packed full of flavor! You could also add other vegetables into the recipe if you want (like asparagus). Bon Apetit!

 

Berry Pancakes

I was in a serious mood for pancakes the other day- when I was faced with a problem: we didn't have any syrup in the house! I looked in the fridge to see if there was anything I could substitute the syrup with and it hit me- why not make a sweet topping out of fresh fruit! Needless to say- it's absolutely delicious, and I've made it numerous times after with waffles and pancakes!

What You'll Need:
Fresh Fruit ( about 2 cups worth)
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Butter
Your favorite pancake recipe

What to Do:
 Start off by washing the fruit, and cutting it up into chunks (unless they're small like a blueberry or raspberry)

Melt The Butter on a medium-low heat in a pan and add fruit.

Allow fruit to get warm (about 2 minutes) and start mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon (this gets the fruits juices out- which makes it have a syrup-y consistency)

Add the sugar into the fruit mixture

It should look like this when all ingredients are added:

Use this as a topping on your favorite pancake or waffle recipe for a delectable breakfast with tons of flavor!!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

During the holidays, it's a family tradition to make homemade cinnamon rolls the night before Christmas, and then put them in the oven first thing Christmas morning. These cinnamon rolls are so yummy and the size of those giant cinnabons (I'm pretty sure these are probably healthier for you than those ones though!)

What You'll Need:

2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 Cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 Cup warm milk

1 Cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 eggs

1 Cup softened butter

2 Cups whole wheat flour

5 Cups unbleached white flour

What to Do:

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir in the milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and 2 Cups of whole wheat flour. Stir the mixture thoroughly (if you have a stand mixer- put it on a low speed and let it mix) Slowly begin adding in the white flour.

turn dough onto a lightly floured surface- knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Place the dough in a large greased bowl, turn greased side up, and cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in size (about 1.5 hours) *I use a heating pad on the lowest setting to optimize the rise of the dough* The dough is ready if impression remains when touched.

Divide dough into two equally sized rolls. Roll each into a 36" by 6"; spread melted butter onto the dough and mix 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of cinnamon and sprinkle over the rolled out sections of dough. 

Roll the dough up, beginning at the wide side, pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well.  Cut each roll into 12 slices, and place them slightly apart in a greased baking pan (12 rolls per pan) . Let the rolls rise overnight in a warm place (they should double in size again)

Bake the roll sin the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.When the rolls come out of the oven- is the best time to put the icing on them!

To make the Icing:

Mix 1 brick of cream cheese, 5 Tablespoon of milk, 3 cups of powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until smooth and creamy.  

I'm Back!

Over the holidays I had the pleasure of some of my family coming into town to celebrate with us, so I took a break with the blogging to fully enjoy my time with my loved ones. Later today I'll start posting recipes again, so stay tuned! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  =)