Recipe: Waffle Pizza

Today I saw a great idea for dinner: Waffle Pizza

It's a pizza, made in your waffle maker!

How fantastic is that?

I'm always looking for different ways to use the tools and appliances that I already have on hand, so this was perfect.

Let me give you a sneak peak at what I'm talking about:

That's right Friends, that is a Pizza, not a waffle.

Pizza fillings inside of a double layer of pizza dough -super yum.

Let's get started.

First, I made some home made bread / pizza dough in my bread machine.

I found one recipe that works great in my bread machine posted on Frugal Upstate's blog. Click HERE for her recipe (Also posted below)

I put the ingredients in my machine in the order they are listed below (it correlates with my bread machine's instructions - be sure to check yours), set it to the dough setting and went back to playing with my kids.

Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough - For Bread Machine

Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough*

1 1/3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp cornmeal
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine, according to manufacturer’s settings, and run dough setting. After the machine beeps, roll out the dough.

Now, lets make some WAFFLES.  

Errr... I mean Pizza. 

Okay, Waffle Pizza's!

My inpsiration for tonight's dinner can be found HERE.

Emily shared her fantastic idea for Waffle Pizza on the SITS website.

*Be sure to check out her blog post, she gives great ideas for variations on this recipe for other meals and desert combinations! *

1. While the dough is in the final stages, go ahead and heat up your Waffle Maker.

Here is my Dough, cut into 3 pieces for three "waffles"

2.  Roll out your dough as thin as possible.

3.  Get your toppings ready (Canadian bacon, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms and pineapple (not shown).

4. Spray the waffle maker with Pam.

5. Place the bottom layer of your "sandwich" on the waffle maker and stack with toppings.

6. Then fold over to make a sandwich and lock it down

7.  Trim around the edges with a knife while it's baking up.  I cooked ours for anywhere between 3-5 minutes depending on how many toppings we used.

The Feedback:  10 out of 10

A direct quote from KidMo, 

" The flavor and seasoning is better than I thought"

(WHO is this kid? He cracks me up)

Give Waffle Pizza a try at your house!  

I'd love to hear how your family likes this meal.

This recipe and blog post was featured on:

Linking up to these Great Sites:

Craft Junkie Too, Making The World Cuter, Craft O Maniac, Keeping it Simple, Polish the Stars, Paisley Passions, 

Dinner: French Bread Pizza

For dinner this week we had French Bread Pizza!

I was inspired by THIS post by the wonderful gals at
How Does She.

The How Does She team posted their recipe on Monday and on Wednesday the MoMomma Family was enjoying this fab dinner!

Let me just tell you HOW easy this was to make!
And so incredibly yummy!

Ok... Here's the recipe according to MoMomma

1. Preheat your oven to 400
2. Cut one French Bread loaf in half both width wise and length wise.  You will end up with four equal sized pieces
3. I lightly brushed each piece with butter and put them into the oven until light golden brown. This took about 8 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and apply your favorite toppings.  I used canned pizza sauce and applied lightly so the bread didn't get soggy.  We then topped with mozzarella cheese and our favorite toppings: (KidMo- Turkey Pepperoni & Cheese, MoMomma- Turkey Pepperoni and Canadian Bacon, MoDaddy- Canadian Bacon and Mushrooms)
5. Top with a little more grated cheese
6. 6 Bake in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted

Everyone had their favorite toppings and it was delicious!

Feedback: 10 out of 10!

Total Cost: $8.50
French Bread $1.50
Turkey Pepperoni $2.00
Cheese $1.50
Canadian Bacon $2.00
Sauce $1.50
 ( LOTS of extra ingredients for future recipes this week
- average cost likely about $2.50 total! NICE! )

Linking up to these bloggy friends:
WhipperBerry,
Tidy Mom
Funky Junk 
This Chick Cooks

Dinner: Cream of Wild Rice Soup

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset

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Last Sunday on Mother's day I made a yummy Cream of Wild Rice Soup.

Ever since then I've been craving this soup.

So, I made it again tonight.

In fact, I made a DOUBLE batch.

Here's whatcha need:

1 box Uncle Ben's Wild Rice

1 Chopped Onion

4 1/2 tablespoons butter

4 1/2 tablespoons flour

 2 cups of half and half

3 cans of chicken broth

The original recipe can be found in this cookbook, I've altered it a bit:  

 First, cook the rice according to the box directions.

 In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.

Stir in the flour until blended. 

(the original recipe also calls for Mace and white pepper)

Gradually stir in the broth, cream and cooked rice.

Bring to a boil while stirring continually.

I served mine with some yummy french bread.  

SOOO good!

 Enjoy!

The Feedback: 10 out of 10.

Even KidMo ate it!  And, he never eats soup.  YES!

PS- I highly recommend the Taste of Home cookbooks! 

I have FOUR of them. 

They are awesome and easy to follow.

Linking up:
Todays Creative Blog
Whipper Berry
TidyMom

Dinner: Chicken Packets as seen on Kevin & Amanda

Tonight's dinner adventure was inspired by the blog Kevin & Amanda.

If you haven't visited their blog, please head over there right away!  

Amanda posts on everything from photography, travel, dogs and recipes.  

What else could a girl ask for?

Follow this button to their website...

Tonight I was starting to get worried about dinner.  I had worked all day and by the time I got home, got the kids settled in and MoDaddy made it home it was nearly 7pm.  

And... I still had no idea what was for dinner.  Nice job Mom.

Luckily, BabyMo decided to be awesome and took this fantastic nap on the couch so I could make dinner.  He's such a good baby.

KidMo was entertained by an episode of Blues Clues. 

Ok... I had 5 minutes to decide what was for dinner.
I had remembered a recipe that I'd seen online.
I was off and running.
Here is a photo of the ingredients for tonight's dinner.

 

 Click HERE to view the original recipe this was based off of on Kevin & Amanda.

Step 1.  Create seasoned bread crumbs from 1/4 bag of croutons.

You could pour these in a ziploc bag and smash them. 

Or, pop em in a quick food processor for a couple spins. 

Instant bread crumbs.

 Step 2: Saute mushrooms.

I felt a little like Paula Deen here.... too much butter!

While the mushrooms are sauteing shred your mozzarella cheese
(I used about 3/4 of a block)

Step 3:  Get your ingredients together.
Combine your shredded cheese with about a 1/4 block of cream cheese.
You can use more, but our family likes to go light on the cream cheese.

For my chicken packets we had chopped ham (left), sliced mushrooms (center) and shredded chicken (right).
The chicken was leftover from the other night's meal.  If you'd like to make some "bulk" shredded chicken, just pop some chicken breasts in your crock pot on low for 8 hours. Combine with some chicken broth, or as I did, put 1 package taco seasoning and 1 can rotel tomatoes and chillies).

Combine your meat and veggies with your cream cheese mixture.

 Step 4. Roll out your crescent rolls.  (Use just 1 tube of crescent rolls)

Keep 2 crescent roll triangles together in a rectangle shape and press together where the seams are.

Place toppings on top.

 Step 5: Open your second tube of crescent rolls.

Place another rectangle on top, again pressing where the seams are.

 Step 6: Microwave your 2 tbs of butter.

Brush butter on top of sealed chicken packages and then lightly dust with seasoned bread crumbs.

 Step 7: Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 until toasty brown on top.

 Enjoy!

The FEEDBACK:  8 out of 10!  woohoo

Even KidMo really enjoyed this dinner.  I made his "custom" without mushrooms because I knew he wouldn't appreciate the musrhooms.

I think next time we'll make some that are "pizza" style with a little pizza sauce, pepperoni, ham and black olives.
Now, that sounds delicious!

Thanks to Kevin & Amanda for inspiring our yummy dinner!

linking up to:

Whipper Berry

Katie's Nesting Spot
Its A Hodgepodge Life
KoJo Designs
Paisley Passions
Design It chic

Dinner: Shrimp Scampi

Tonight for dinner I made Shrimp Scampi

It was DELICIOUS.

The best part is.... it took 2 minutes in the Pressure Cooker!

If you have a Pressure Cooker, you really MUST purchase this cookbook. 

The recipes are delicious and very easy to make.

Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10

Even Kid-Mo ate it....yes, shrimp and all!  

(Okay.. I told him they were Bubble Guppies from NickJr...lol)

Improvements: I think next time I would add some heavy cream at the end to make the sauce a little thicker and creamier

Dinner: Ground Beef Stroganoff - Pressure Cooker

We have found another NEW favorite dish for our Pressure Cooker!

Ground Beef Stroganoff!



This recipe comes from the cookbook: Slow Food Fast, by Bob Warden.

You can purchase it online here:

Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast


I can't say enough good things about this cookbook! It's amazing and the recipes are easy too!


Ingredients Needed:

1 tablespoon butter

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

2 celery stalks chopped

4 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon beef base mixed into 1/2 cup water (or 1/2 cup beef broth)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 1/2 cups sour cream

salt & pepper to taste

egg noodles, cooked separately



1. Heat butter in the pressure cooker on the brown setting until it sizzles. Add ground beef. (If your pressure cooker doesn't have this setting, just Brown the meat on the stove top)





2. Once beef is browned, try to drain the fat from the pot. Then add onion and celery. (Note- I substituted onion powder in this step so my 4 year old would eat it since he doesn't like onion)

3. Stir for 2 minutes until onion and celery soften



4. Add remaining ingredients except for sour cream and egg noodles.



5. Lock pressure cooker, set to high and cook for 6 minutes. (During this step, boil water and cook egg noodles on stove top)



6. Let the pressure cooker release naturally for 10 minutes and then quick release for any remaining pressure. Stir in Sour Cream, salt and pepper and serve immediately over egg noodles.



This photo does not do it justice - it was really good!


Served over egg noodles:

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10!

This is for SURE a new family favorite. KID-Mo gobbled it up as well. We added some pre-made red marinara sauce to his and he really loved that.

SUGGESTIONS: You could easily make this recipe on a stove top if you don't have a pressure cooker! Give it a try!

Kid's Dinner: Corn Dogs

The Mo-Momma family is not always fancy for dinner.
I thought I'd share with you a new Kid-Friendly dinner that we had this week.



Break out your favorite sandwich maker.
Then, mix up a package of cornbread mix. Our favorite is Marie Calendar's.
Pour the cornbread mix into the sandwich maker, drop half of a hot dog inside, and bake for 10 minutes.

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10

Kid-Mo was especially pleased with this meal. He devoured it - leaving tiny cornbread crumbs everywhere on the table and floor. This meant that Dog-Mo also had a yummy snack later that night as she helped clean up his mess.

Enjoy!

Dinner: Chicken, Cheese & Leek Jalousie

This week for dinner I made a Chicken, Cheese and Leek Jalousie.

If you are like me I had never heard of a Jalousie before. But ... it sure looked good in my recipe book!

This recipe is from: The Every Day CHICKEN Cookbook.

Here's a photo of the end product! Yummy

Okay, first thing's first. Get out the puff pastry (start defrosting), recipe book and your leeks.


Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 chicken roasted and chopped (or 2-3 chicken breasts)
2 large leeks, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves crushed
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups button mushrooms
1 cup cream cheese
1 rind of lemon
3 tbs parsley
1 package puff pastry (2 blocks)
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper

Step 1: Saute' leeks and garlic in butter for 10 minutes

-For a great "how to" video on how to clean and chop leeks go HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm6XGDwjJQA

I had never cooked with leeks before and I was surprised at how easy it was to clean and prepare them!

Step 2: Stack the unrolled blocks of pastry on top of each other and roll out on a floured work surface. They should roll out to approximately 14x10 inches.

TIP- Try to roll out the right size! I could have rolled mine out a little more than they are pictured below.

Step 3: Combine a cooled leek, garlic and mushroom mixture to the chicken. Add cream cheese, lemon rind, parsley and salt and pepper

Step 4: Spoon the filling onto the pastry, leaving a generous 3-4 inches on each side as well as the top and bottom.



Step 5: Cut the pastry diagonally upwards at 3/4 inch intervals at the sides of the filling like this.




Step 6: Brush the edges of pastry with the beaten egg. Pull pastry strips across the chicken mixture and braid the pastry by alternating sides. Seal the top and bottom edges.


Step 7: Glaze the top with beaten egg. Allow to rest a few minutes while the oven heats to 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce temperature to 375 and bake for another 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.



Allow pastry to sit for about 10 minutes and then slice and serve!


THE FEEDBACK: 8 out of 10!


Tips: We really enjoyed this but would tweak the ingredients a bit next time.

First, the recipe called for mushrooms which I did not have on hand. I would include mushrooms next time for sure.
Second, I would go easy on both the leeks and the cream cheese next time. The cream cheese flavor seemed to overpower the other ingredients so I would probably use only 1/4 block or none at all. The leeks could also be cut down significantly.
Third, I think we would experiment with a number of "pizza" types of ingredients and cheese!

Linking up:
I Heart Naptime

Dinner: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Tonight for dinner we made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese in our pressure cooker!

If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cook the noodles and add the cheese at the end. I'm sure it will end up tasting the same.

The recipe is found in the Bob Warden's Slow Food Fast Cookbook. You can purchase it online at QVC (http://www.qvc.com/)


MACARONI
2 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
2 teaspoons chicken base mixed into 2 cups water
(I just used 2 cups chicken broth that I had on hand)
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

CHEESE
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 ounces cream cheese (1/4 of a regular sized block)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1. Add all macaroni ingredients to pressure cooker, securely lock on lid and set the cooker to high and cook for 6 minutes

2. Perform a quick release to release the pressure. Safely remove lid and slowly stir in cheese ingredients until melted and serve immediately.

THE FEEDBACK: 10 out of 10!

We all thought this recipe tasted really good - 100% times better than packaged Mac n' Cheese!

Give it a try and let me know what you think.