Pizza Bread

The next time you need a simple appetizer for an event, let me recommend this one.  There are endless variations and it takes next to no time at all to throw together.  It works for football games, it works for kids, it works for girls' nights... why?  Because it's easy, delicious, and adaptable.

I originally spotted this idea on Pinterest... it's my latest internet obsession and I've pinned about 4,000 things and made about five of them.  In honor of the "Pinterest Challenge" (see the details here, here, here, or here and check out all the other Pinterest projects), I had to get this posted today so I could play along. 

There are several variations of this appetizer floating around, anything from a warm and gooey cinnamon roll version that I figure would be great for a brunch, to the "bloomin' onion" spin-off, to the bacon-loaded "crack bread" version.  I opted to go with a pizza version this time around.  Of course, I modified it a bit, I don't like pepperoni so I used Italian sausage.  It takes about five minutes of hands-on prep time and a little patience while it's in the oven.  You may need to adjust the quantities slightly depending on the size of the bread boule you buy.  (Did you know boule is a fancy way of saying round when referring to bread?)  You can also try several different types of bread but I used an Italian bread for this one.  Depending on the flavors you add to it, you may want to consider sourdough or other types.

Pizza Bread
Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 unsliced Italian bread boule (or whatever type you prefer)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
3 T butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 T Parmesan cheese
Pizza sauce for serving

In a medium skillet, brown sausage and crumble as it cooks.  Drain well and set aside.  Prepare a baking pan by lining it with aluminum foil.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Carefully slice the bread in long slices, taking care not go all the way through.  Turn the bread 90 degrees and cut slices the opposite direction, again leaving the bottom connected.  The second set of cuts will be a little more difficult to make.  If your bread is very soft, you may want to put it in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes before you try to cut it so it is a little easier.  The cuts don't have to be perfect though so don't worry if your lines aren't straight and such.

Next start tucking the crumbled sausage and the shredded cheese into the cuts in the bread, pack it in as much as possible.  In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese.  Pour butter mixture over the top of the bread.  Cover the bread with another piece of foil, molding it down around the bread, and bake about fifteen minutes, uncover and continue baking about ten more minutes until the top is golden and the cheese is all melted.  Serve warm with pizza sauce.

Steelers are going to the Superbowl!

Here we go, Steelers, here we go!

Obviously this is old news but I'm a little behind on starting this Superbowl recipe post.  Since half the fun of the Superbowl is making a bunch of appetizers and snacking all day (at least that's half the fun for me) I've got some great recipes to share with you. 

To start off - here are six recipes from the archives in honor of each of the Steelers past Superbowl victories!

Chicken Fajita Quesadillas

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Cheddar Ranch Cheese Ball

Beer Cheese Fondue

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Roll-Ups

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Since the Steelers are attempting to win their 7th championship game, here's a 7th recipe for spicy sausage pizza roulade. 

This recipe is really easy and essentially a rolled up pizza, so you can change up the filling to whatever your favorite pizza toppings are.  I would recommend staying away from things with a high water content though, like pineapple if it's on the top of your list, so that you don't end up with soggy bread.  You can use any bread dough you want for this - a standard pizza crust from scratch or even roll out a dough like Pillsbury's French bread dough, they even have one that doesn't contain any high fructose corn syrup or trans fats.  That's what I used for this one since I didn't have any pizza dough ready to go and I had a coupon to try their Simply Rustic French bread dough. 

Spicy Sausage Pizza Roulade

12 oz hot ground Italian sausage
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pizza or french bread dough
1 tsp pizza seasoning
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup shredded pizza or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T butter, softened
1 tsp garlic powder
Pizza sauce for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with baking spray or line with parchment paper.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add sausage and crumble as it browns.  After about 2 minutes, add onions, peppers and garlic.  Cook until sausage is just cooked through and vegetables are softened.  Remove from heat and drain any grease off the sausage.  Lightly flour a smooth counter surface and roll out dough into a large rectangle, about 12x18 inches.  Evenly sprinkle pizza seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes over dough.  Spoon sausage mixture onto bottom third to half of the long edge of the dough, leaving an edge of about one inch open at the outside.  Next add cheeses directly next to the sausage mixture on the 2nd third of the dough, a little overlap is fine.  The final third should be open. 

Begin rolling from sausage side, rolling the dough gently into a long tube.  Pinch the seams to seal the dough and place the dough seam side down on prepared pan.  Fold the ends under slightly, pinching to seal the ends.  Bake about 25 minutes and remove from oven.  Add garlic powder to melted butter and brush over the top of the bread dough and return to the oven for about five more minutes until golden brown.  Cool at least 5-10 minutes before slicing into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Serve with warmed pizza sauce.

Italian Sausage and Red Pepper Risotto

I wasn't so sure what I would think about this dish when I first saw the recipe. I've only ever made risotto once before and last time I made it as a side dish rather than including meat. But once I saw the recipe, I couldn't get it out of my head. I figured it might be a little too much work for a weeknight dinner since risotto pretty much requires thirty minutes next to the stove and I generally like to multitask during weeknight cooking. Friday I was going to make it but then my husband suggested going out for Mexican food and I don't really ever turn down chips and salsa. Saturday we already had dinner plans too. By Sunday, I was still thinking about this risotto so I picked up what I needed when I did my grocery shopping and got to work.

So the verdict - turns out, risotto works great as a main dish. This was absolutely delicious. I halved the original recipe because it was just the two of us eating and I didn't want leftover risotto all week (there was enough leftover for a lunch the next day). I also increased the amount of sausage in the recipe, mostly because I'm bad at halving recipes because I sometimes forget to halve all the ingredients but I would make it the same way again. I think I would cut it back if I was serving it as a side dish but for a main course, its perfect. I used ground turkey sausage in this dish to cut down on the fat and it worked perfectly, but you could also use sausage links (remove the casings) or traditional pork sausage. The other changes I made were to cut out the mushrooms (I don't like them), add a clove of garlic and decrease the salt (even with low sodium chicken broth, I don't think it needed any extra).

Italian Sausage and Red Pepper Risotto
Recipe adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker, who adapted it from Giada DeLaurentiis

8 oz Italian sausage
3 cups low sodium chicken stock
3/4 cup arborio rice
1 T butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 T white wine
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Simmer chicken stock in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add butter to a large skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add sausage and break up with a wooden spatula as it browns, cook about five minutes. Add garlic, red pepper and onion and cook about eight minutes until softened, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as it cooks. Add black pepper and rice, stir to coat. Add wine and cook until liquid is almost all evaporated, about one minute.

Add chicken stock, one ladle at a time, to the rice mixture. Stir almost constantly. When the liquid is almost completely absorbed, add another ladle full. Repeat this process until you have added all the stock to the rice mixture. This process will take about twenty to thirty minutes. The rice mixture should be thick and creamy. The rice should still be al dente but not hard. Add 3/4 of the cheese and stir to combine. Transfer to serving dish and top with chopped parsley and remaining cheese. Serve immediately.

Smoky Mountain Chili and Cornbread

We spent this past weekend with a lot of friends in the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. While I'm definitely a beach person, the mountains were beautiful too.

We rented a huge cabin and had a great time! I volunteered to bring chili and decided some cornbread muffins would be a good accompaniment.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the chili when I made it or on Saturday so scenery and muffins will have to do this time. The chili turned out really well and for future reference if you ever have to transport a large amount of chili (I made about 12 quarts) or you just want to make it ahead of time and freeze it; transfer the cooked chili to gallon size freezer bags and freeze it flat. Then just reheat in a crockpot or on the stove. The recipe below is cut in half to make a "normal" amount of chili but this would still serve about 10 people and fill a 6 qt crock pot.

Smoky Mountain Chili

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 lb chorizo
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz dark beer
1 green pepper, diced
3 jalapenos, finely diced
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn kernels (frozen)
1 T ancho chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground cumin

Brown meat in a large dutch oven or skillet over medium high heat, crumbling with a wooden spatula. Drain off grease and transfer meat to a bowl. Return pan to heat and add onions and garlic. Cook about 2 minutes and add beer to deglaze the pan, scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the pan and let the majority of the beer cook off. Transfer to a crockpot if desired. Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beans and stir to combine. Add corn, peppers and spices and cook for at least 60 minutes covered on the stove, stirring occasionally or 3-4 hours on low in the crockpot. Stir in tomato paste as necessary to thicken to desired consistency.

Top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, Fritos, etc. as desired.


Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins
Recipe slightly adapted from Elly Says Opa originally from Cooks Illustrated
Makes 18 muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal (I used Martha White)
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese (Monterrey jack, colby, and cheddar)
1-2 jalapeno peppers, finely diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray muffin tins with baking spray. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk together. Make a well in the center.

In a food processor, combine, corn, sugar and buttermilk and pulse several times. Add eggs and blend until well mixed, the batter will be lumpy from the corn. Pour wet ingredients into well in dry ingredients and begin to gently combine. Add melted butter and continue mixing just until dry ingredients are all mixed in. Stir in cheese and jalapenos.

Spoon into muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 of the way full and bake about 20-25 minutes until the tops spring back when touched. Cool in pans for about 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Serve warm with chili and butter or store in an airtight container.

Stuffed Shells

Until I was about 25, I had never ever had stuffed shells. Or stuffed pasta of any kind really. No shells, no manicotti, I probably had some Chef Boyardee ravioli at some point but that doesnt really count. We didnt eat a lot of Italian food as kids but I love it now. Pretty much any kind of pasta is good in my book.

When I first tried stuffed shells, I had a plain vanilla version, pasta shell stuffed with basic ricotta cheese. Boring, nothing inspiring, nothing to get excited about.

About a year ago I decided to try making stuffed shells again myself. But I figured I should add something more interesting than just ricotta cheese. Mozzerella, Italian sausage, onions, wine, spinach... the possibilities are endless. And any of these will make your stuffed shells a lot more interesting.

Stuffed Shells with Spinach and Italian Sausage

1/2 pound Italian sausage

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 cup dry red wine

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 T fresh basil, finely chopped

1 T fresh oregano, finely chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

Approximately 1 cup marinara sauce

Approximately 16 large pasta shells

Heat a large pot of water to boiling, add salt and pasta. Cook until just al dente. Do not overcook since the shells will continue cooking in the oven. Drain shells and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium high heat. When browned, add garlic, onions, and wine. Cook about 3 minutes until wine condenses and reduce heat to low. Add spinach, cook until softened, stirring to incorporate. Add ricotta cheese and stir until melted and well combined. Add herbs and crushed red pepper flakes and stir into mixture. Turn off heat.

In a baking dish, spread 1/4 cup marinara sauce over the bottom of the dish. Spoon a heaping tablespoon or so of filling into each shell until filled. Lay the shells, open side up, in the baking dish. Position them close together to keep shells from rolling. Cover with remaining marinara sauce and sprinkle with mozzerella cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

French Bread Pizza

In need of a simple, fast weeknight dinner? This is super easy and (slightly) healthier than ordering pizza, but its definitely cheaper, you can definitely make this meal for about $5 total. These also make a great simple appetizer at a football party or last minute gathering, just use a pizza wheel to slice into 1" strips.

French Bread Pizza

1/2 lb. Italian Sausage

1 clove garlic

1 cup marinara or pizza sauce (I actually use a combination of the 2)

1 cup shredded mozzerella or pizza cheese blend

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1 loaf of french bread

Preheat broiler on low. Brown sausage in a skillet, drain any excess fat and leave over low heat. Meanwhile, cut bread in half and hollow out the middle of the bread by cutting in a "V" shape. Make sure to leave bread about a 1/2" thick on all sides. You can use the top and bottom to make pizzas or just use the bottom and use the top for garlic bread. It just depends on how much bread I have (since when I do this, I'm usually using leftovers) and how hungry we are. Peel garlic clove and rub whole clove all over the inside of the bread. Mince garlic clove and add to sausage. Put bread on a baking sheet and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes, just until it starts to crisp up. You don't want to over cook the bread at this point or you will end up with burnt pizza.

Mix marinara/pizza sauce in with cooked sausage. Remove bread from the oven and add meat sauce mixture to the cavity in the bread. Add cheese to the top, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes and return to the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown.

Make-ahead tip: I usually cook a full pound of Italian sausage and add more sauce to a make a meat sauce for pasta or in the case of this week, lasagna roll-ups later in the week.

Cheesy Garlic Bread with Marinara Sauce

Tops of French bread

1/4 cup mozzerella cheese

1 T butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup marinara sauce

1 T parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Melt butter in a small bowl with minced garlic. Spread the tops of the French bread from your pizza with butter. Top with cheese and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes. Place on a baking sheet under a broiler on low for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted and bread is golden brown. Meanwhile mix together marinara sauce, parmesan cheese and garlic powder in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave for about 30 seconds until warm. Serve as dipping sauce.

Zinfandel Marinara Pasta with Italian Sausage

Completely delicious... if you don't already cook with wine, try it now. This is a really easy recipe but it tastes like you worked really hard. The wine adds so much flavor.

Zinfandel Marinara Pasta with Italian Sausage

1/2 pound Italian sausage (I used turkey)

1 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 red pepper, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

1 cup chopped baby spinach

1/4 cup zinfandel or other red wine

3/4 cup traditional marinara sauce (I use Prego Traditional HeartSmart)

2 cups rotini or other short cut pasta (I use Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt

Heat water for pasta to boiling, add salt and pasta and cook until al dente. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add Italian Sausage and brown. When cooked through remove from pan. Add olive oil, garlic, onions, and red pepper. Cook until softened and add wine. Simmer until reduced by about half and add marinara. Return sausage to pan. Drain pasta and add to sauce, stir well to thoroughly coat the pasta. Add cheese and herbs and stir.