Family favorites
Mr. MCYM also known as my Husband Jim has been making our family pizza for over 30 years. He used to do it so I had a night off from cooking and always included the kids letting them help roll the dough and prep whatever toppings they chose. This pizza has been a long time favorite combination as it’s sweet and creamy from the Balsamic drizzle and Alfredo sauce, a little crunch from the asparagus and some salt from the bacon.
When it comes to the toppings I don’t measure as I just add however much we like so my measurements for the toppings is not exact.
I recently came across a pizza flour at Hannaford and new it was time for pizza night to make a come back. The flour is made by King Arthur and it’s a neopolitan style “00” pizza flour.
Jim has always made the dough in our bread machine but you can make your own dough or simply buy some from your local grocery store or pizza place!
INGREDIENTS
1 ball of pizza dough or pre-made crust
1/2 cup or so of your favorite Alfredo Sauce. I used roasted garlic Alfredo by Rao’s
1/2 cup of diced asparagus
1/2 cup of cooked chopped bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion, I prefer red onion
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
Drizzle of Balsamic reduction
DIRECTIONS
Roll your pizza dough to your desired size. Add the Alfredo sauce covering the pizza dough almost to the edge of the pizza. Add your Topping throughout the pizza. Add your grated cheese covering your toppings. Bake according to your dough instructions. When the pizza is cooked and the cheese is melted remove from oven and drille the balsamic reduction around the pizza. Slice and serve.
Enjoy!
And just like that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner! I am excited and ready for Christmas, our house is decorated, our cards are sent out, gifts for the grandkids have been sent and all
of my shopping is done. Time to sit back and enjoy the Holiday. With that being said I won’t have many posts between now and the new year. I’ll sneak in when I can with some holiday ideas.
Today’s post is all about butter! My Thanksgiving and Christmas menu typically stays the same as they are recipes we absolutely love but every now and then I will change or add a side dish or an appetizer but this year I added this cranberry Honey Butter from Taste of Home. This butter will be added to our Holiday menu every year. It’s sweet, creamy and I love the cranberry in it. This really ads so much flavor to your dinner rolls! I will make it with dried cherries at Christmas.
This would also make a terrific Hostess gift. Package in small decorative containers and give it along with some baked scones or muffins!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of butter, softened
1/3 cup of chopped dried cranberries or cherry’s
1/4 cup of honey
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl beat beat all of the ingredients until blended. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Enjoy!
Remember I told you about our Harvest Dinner at Plymouth Plantation? Well this is the salad dressing recipe that the head chef was kind enough to send me. It’s sweet and tangy all at the same time. Salty from the capers and sweet from the dried currants. Be sure to mix well so the sugar dissolves. I made a simple salad just like we had a the harvest dinner. Romaine lettuce, cucumber and sliced hard boiled eggs.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried currants
1/4 cup non pareil capers
DIRECTIONS
Mix all ingredients together and serve over salad.
store any leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge.
Enjoy!
This was my favorite new recipe that I made through last years Thanksgiving and Christmas! This is so easy and so good warm just out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I was working on the blog and realized it was not posted yet! I have made this using canned cranberry sauce as well as homemade cranberry sauce, either way works great! This is sweet but not too sweet, if you have someone in your family that likes cherry pie they will enjoy this pie too!
This recipe is from Ree Drummond The Pioneer Woman on Food Network.
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups canned cherry pie filling
1 1/2 cups cranberry sauce
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 heaping Tablespoon granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
6 Tablespoons cold salted butter, cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk
Course sugar to sprinkle on top
DIRECTIONS
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together the cherry pie filling and the cranberry sauce in a bowl and transfer to a 9 inch pie plate.
Mix together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter until it resembles tiny pebbles about 1 1/2 minutes. Mix in the buttermilk until it just comes together. It will be lumpy.
Drop 6-8 mounds of roughly 2 1/2 inch dough balls around the outside of the pie plate. Sprinkle the course sugar over the biscuit dough.
Bake until biscuits are golden and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Let cool ten minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
This is another recipe I had in my draft mode but was able to add and correct the photo issues I was having.
Jim came across this recipe and could not wait for me to make it and lucky for him he did not have to wait at all as I had all the ingredients on hand except the candy bars but I had toffee bits so I used those. I do think using the candy bars would be better though and give you a little more of a crunch in the blondies. But depending on what your grocery store has the toffee bits did work. These bars are sweet, salty with a little crunch and something much different from the average brownie.
INGREDIENTS
- 8 Tablespoons on unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 (1.4 ounce ) Heath candy bars
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- flaky salt for sprinkling on the top
INSTRUCTIONS
pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8×8 baking dish with non stick spray and set aside. Cut the stick 0f butter into 1/2 inch cubes and melt in small sauce pan over medium heat. Cook and stir constantly while scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to release any brown bits, until the butter is light brown and smells nutty and no longer foamy. 3-4 minutes. Immediately scrape into a heatproof bowl and let cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile courtly chop the Heath bars into 1/2 inch pieces. About 3/4 cup.
Add the brown sugar, 1 large egg, 2 Tablespoons of water and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla to the browned butter and whisk until smooth and glossy. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until a thick batter forms. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the chopped toffee for the top then fold the rest into the batter.
Transfer the batter to your prepared baking dish and smooth to make an even layer. Scatter the reserved toffee over the top then sprinkle with the Tablespoon of sugar.
Bake until the edges are browned and pulling away from the edges of the pan and the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-23 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with flaky salt. Let cool in the pan at least 20 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.
Enjoy!
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