Pizza Bread --Part 2--

I wanted to share a few other ideas on fillings or stuffing for pizza bread.  Here was my original post a few days ago with directions on how I make it.......PIZZA BREAD using pepperoni and mozzarella.
And the possibilities are endless....

How about one with chicken and mozzarella with a little gravy (sorry I'm Italian and that's what I call it -- tomato sauce)??

Chicken Parm Pizza Bread


chicken (boneless, skinless)
an egg
breadcrumb
shredded mozzarella
gravy (homemade or jarred)



Wash and clean chicken
Slice cutlets thin
Bread and fry them (using egg and breadcrumb)
Let them cool completely

Roll dough
Put a thin layer of gravy
then some chicken
then top with shredded mozzarella.

Then go HERE to see how to assemble and cook.

***The trick to this one is NOT to over stuff it...or the whole thing will rip while you are assembling and folding. ****

DELISH!!!!!

How about.......


Spinach and Provolone Pizza Bread Filling:

olive oil
2 boxes of frozen spinach -- cooked and squeezed very well, you want all the water out.
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 pound sliced provolone.

In a pan heat oil and garlic.  Add onion and spinach and heat through.  LET COOL (this is important b/c if you put the hot mixture on your dough it will ruin the dough).

Follow directions  here on how to assemble and cook!    DELISH!

Other ideas that I've (or my Mom's) done before and are just as easy and delicious.  Instead of chicken,  fry an eggplant and make an eggplant parm one!  Instead of just pepperoni add some salami or ham to it so it's stuffed with meat and cheese!  Or do ham and cheese!  Or how about chicken, roasted peppers and cheese?   Sausage, peppers and onions?!?!   Like I said the possibilities are endless!   Have fun with it and get creative!

Just make sure if you do something that I haven't posted....share it!  I love hearing how it turns out with other fillings!  :)



~Gianna~

Buffalo Chicken Dip (the lighter version)

My life has been overtaken by counting calories the past few months.  I actually really enjoy it, which is shocking because it's not something I ever thought I'd do.   BUT at the same time, it's also really awful because I actually see how many calories are in some of my favorite foods and it's depressing!   If anyone is interested in tracking calories....I use livestrong.com to track mine!  It's a super easy website and my favorite part is that I can plug in my favorite recipes and it tells me how many calories I'm actually eating in a serving!     Which leads me to my next Family Football Favorite......

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP!  YUMMY!!!   If you like buffalo-style chicken wings, you will love this dip!  It's creamy, with a little crunch and a whole lot of spice and it's really easy!  It's a perfect dip for anytime..but especially football season!   It's also one of my husband's favorites!

I tweaked my original recipe (which I got from one of my best friends, Alyssa) to make it a somewhat lighter version.   The only difference is to swap out regular cream cheese for the 1/3 less fat and serve it with crackers and tortilla chips instead of celery and carrots!    You decide which is the right fit for you!  :)

Buffalo Chicken Dip (the healthier version)

2 pkg. 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese (Neufchatel)

2 small or 1 large can of chicken (I use all white meat Swanson)

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch (dry mix)

1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce (more or less to your liking)

1/2 cup diced celery

Celery, Carrots, Crackers or Tortilla Chips for dipping

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine cream cheese, hot sauce and ranch packet in a bowl and mix well with a mixer (hand or stand) until smooth.

Add chicken and celery and mix until it's incorporated.  

Pour mixture into an 8x8 baking dish.  

Cook for about 20 minutes or until it starts to bubble...stirring every so often.

Serve warm with celery sticks, carrot sticks, crackers or tortilla chips. 

ENJOY!

~Gianna~

Pizza Bread

This is not only a perfect game day food, but also a food that I grew up with!  My Mom used to make pizza breads often and she always changed them up, which is why I love this recipe.  There are so many fillings you can use and they are interchangeable....even the food itself is called different things.  I've seen it called Stromboli,  stuffed bread, and pizza bread...as I'm sure there are other terms for it!    Today I will be blogging about Pepperoni Pizza Bread (which reminds me I have heard it called Pepperoni Bread as well). I don't really use a specific recipe for amounts, I just wing it on how much stuff I want to fill it with.  Sometimes I'm in a cheesy mood so I'll put more cheese, sometimes if I'm making it for a larger group with men,  I'll put more pepperoni.  Some people serve theirs with a side of marinara sauce for dipping, I do not.  But feel free to add some on the side if you'd like.

PEPPERONI PIZZA BREAD

1 pound of pizza dough -- store bought or homemade (make sure it's at room temp)
Pepperoni (sliced thin from the deli counter)
Shredded Mozzarella (you can use provolone too, I personally like mozzarella in this)
Olive Oil
1 Egg White

Preheat Oven to 375.

Roll your dough out flat and longer than a round pizza on a WELL floured surface.  Length should fit in a baking sheet.

Grease the baking sheet with a thin coating of olive oil.

Layer pepperoni, leaving an inch or two the whole way around.

Add cheese to the middle of the layer of pepperoni.

Gently pull up sides and meet at the middle.  Make sure you press down on the fold to nothing seeps out.

Gently pull up the ends and press down firmly so nothing seeps out.  

Lift the entire thing and place it in the center of the baking sheet (I do mine seem side up).  If you don't think you can do this part (it takes some practice) you can place your dough on the baking sheet prior to layering the pepperoni and cheese and then fold it up.

Using a pastry brush, brush the entire thing with egg white.  

Cook for about 25 minutes at 375 or until the top gets golden brown.  

Let it set and cool for a few minutes, then slice it gently.   AND ENJOY!   Serve plain or with a side of marinara sauce.  

~Gianna~

Super Bowl Time!!!!

With the Super Bowl in 2 weeks and the GIANTS (YAY) playing in it...... I'm sure we will be invited to a bunch of parties (or have one of our own) since most of our friends and family are GIANTS fans. .....My little family of 4, we are not fans of the "the G-MEN",  we are JETS fans (and I'm a Mark Sanchez fan --swoon)... but I still root for the "home team", when it comes to post season football.   Even more-so when they play the Patriots!   So I'll be posting a lot of my family's favorite football foods (say that 3 times fast...family's favorite football foods) over the next few days!  We are a family who loves dips and appys and I don't know too many people who don't love finger (lickin' good)  foods.... 

Let's start with a dip.......sha'll we??

This is a favorite of mine and it's something that I have been making for years and years....I think the first time I brought it to a party I was actually in High School......sooooo it's OLD!   But it's something that never disappoints..well except this one time when I brought it to a party and some drunk friends decided to put it in the oven and cook it........people still ate it, but boy was it a disappointment!  PLEASE...DO NOT HEAT THIS DIP....TRUST ME!

The nice thing about this dip is that you can make it however you want.....and add or subtract ingredients....or add extra or less of others.....Just make it to your liking.  There really isn't measurements to it!



7 Layer Taco Dip

Can of refried beans
Container of Guacamole (or make your own, which I often do)
Container of Sour Cream
Package of taco seasoning
Tomatoes -- seeds removed and chopped
Olives -- sliced
Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Scallions
Tortilla chips (I like the bite sized ones....they are perfectly sized for dipping and enjoying!)

1.  Spread refried beans over a large circle serving platter.  I try to use one with a small lip.
2.  Spread guacamole on top of beans.
3.  Mix sour cream and taco seasoning in bowl and then spread over guacamole.
4.  Layer chopped tomatoes on top of the sour cream mixture.
5.  Spread sliced olives all around.
6.  Sprinkle cheese on top of the tomatoes and olives.
7.  Sprinkle chopped scallions over the entire dip.
8.  DO NOT COOK  :)
9.  Serve with chips
10.  ENJOY!!!!


Sorry for the picture quality (I warned you)....this was taken on my phone, as we were running out the door to a party!  Promise to eventually get a new one up of this yumminess!  :)

~Gianna~

I'm back for the New Year -- the Chinese New Year! :)

It's been months since I've blogged about anything, and I've missed it so much.  It's not that I stopped cooking or baking, but I've been super busy with my kid's schedules, my own things and life in general.  I had originally hoped to get back to blogging at the start of 2012, but of course that didn't happen, but here I am just a month late!  Better late than never!   The good news...I have tons of new recipes to blog about in the coming weeks!   The bad news....my food pictures still suck!  So I apologize!  

Let's Get Cooking!!!!


In honor of Chinese New Year,  tomorrow....my first post will be filled with a lot of PAO (or POW!)

A while back I had made (and blogged about) Kung Pao Chicken, so I decided to try it with shrimp this time!  It didn't disappoint!   I had originally gotten the chicken recipe from Sing For Your Supper, and I know I've mentioned it before but her recipes are great!  It's worth taking a stroll over there and checking out what she has cooking!

So I did exactly the same recipe, just swapped the chicken with approx. 1 pound of large, deveined shrimp.
As usual I served it with fried rice (my fav!) and my husband and I both enjoyed it very much!    The perfect combo of sweet, nutty and spicy.    This recipe is nice because you can adjust how much spice you want in your life and it's still very good!  My little ones aren't huge fans of spicy foods, so I cut back the red pepper flakes on this one, but it was still pretty POWerful!  Ha Ha Ha!

Kung Pao Shrimp
1lb uncooked, deveined, shell removed large shrimp.

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons sesame oil

3 tablespoons of Vidalia onion chopped


3 garlic cloves (minced)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I used less than she called for b/c 2 of my taste tasters are my kids)

½ teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts

Combine shrimp and cornstarch in a small bowl and toss to coat. Heat sesame oil in wok (or large deep-dish skillet) over medium heat, add shrimp and stir fry approx.  5-7 minutes (or until pink and fully cooked).    Remove shrimp from wok.

Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger to the wok and stir fry for 15 seconds.

Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Mix well and add the sauce to the wok.

Return shrimp to the wok and coat with sauce. Stir in roasted peanuts. Heat thoroughly.  Place over white or fried rice.  


ENJOY!!!  Happy Chinese New Year!

~Gianna~