Personal Pizza

Personal Pizza (Paula Deen's My First Cookbook)

One half of an English Muffin

1 tablespoon pizza sauce

2 tablespoons grated Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese

Optional toppings:

4 slices of peperoni

1 teaspoon chopped green pepper (washed)

1 teaspoon chopped black olives

Turn on oven to 375 degrees.

Put the English Muffins on a cookie sheet cut side up. Spread it with the pizza sauce. Top the sauce with grated cheese. Top that with whatever toppings you would like.

Put the tray in the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly, 6 to 8 minutes.

Cool for one minute so you don't burn the roof of your mouth.

Alyssa was SO proud making this recipe herself. She made it on a church night and made one for each of us. This was a great kid friendly recipe... and tasty too!

This coming month Alyssa and I are going to make more from Paula Deen's My First Cookbook.

Tio Frank's Ham Glaze

Ham Glaze

2 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Coke or Pepsi (NOT DIET!!)

Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together the soda with the dry ingredients until the right consistency.
Cook your spiral ham (it HAS to be spiral, Ibuy the Kirkland Brand at Costco) as instructed. 30 minutes before the ham is done apply glaze and baste or else your ham will turn black.

This is the BEST ham glaze you will ever eat. I feed this to people who hate ham but they like this. Nothing else will compare to this. I guarantee you!!

Bisquick Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Bisquick Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Do you have 15 minutes to spare? Surprise your family by baking a batch of these restaurant-style biscuits!

Prep Time:5 min
Start to Finish:15 min
Makes:9 biscuits

2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder


1. Heat oven to 450ºF.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

Barefoot Contessa's Perfect Roast Chicken

Barefoot Contessa's Perfect Roasted Chicken

1 4-5 pound whole chicken (remove neck and giblets)
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, halved
1 garlic bulb, halved crosswise
1 bunch thyme
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425°F degrees. Rinse out chicken and place in roasting pan. Liberally sprinkle salt and pepper in the cavity of the bird (add more than you think you would). Stuff lemon, garlic and thyme in cavity. Tie together legs to close cavity and tuck wings under. Brush butter on skin and sprinkle on additional salt and pepper. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. When cooked, remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil and let stand for 10 minutes.

Chicken Salad Contessa

Chicken Salad Contessa

Ingredients
2 split (1 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on (1 1/2 pounds)
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup walnuts halves
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves, divided
1 cup green grapes, cut in 1/2
Lettuce leaves, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts, skin side up, on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside until cool.

When the chicken is cool, remove meat from the bones and discard the skin and bones. Cut the chicken into a 3/4-inch dice.

Meanwhile, place the pecans and walnuts on a separate sheet pan and toast in the oven for 7 to 8 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool.

For the dressing, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Fold in half the chopped tarragon leaves.

Place the diced chicken in a bowl, add the pecans, walnuts and grapes. Pour the dressing over the chicken and toss well. Sprinkle the remaining chopped tarragon leaves on top, and serve on a bed of lettuce leaves.

**I made this with leftover Perfect Roasted Chicken instead of baking chicken in the oven just for this recipe.

Light Oat Bread

Light Oat Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Add ingredients to bread machine pan in order recommended by your manufacturer. Use regular light setting.

**This is the best bread I have ever eaten in my life. I don't have a bread machine because every time I used a bread machine I failed miserably. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer and bread hook and made it according to these instructions from a reviewer on AllRecipes:

Loved it! Best bread I have ever made. I didn't use a bread machine. Instead I did the following: mixed dry ingredients in large bowl. Combined yeast, honey (in place of sugar), butter, and warm water in a separate bowl. Mixed until dissolved and left to sit a couple minutes until creamy. Added yeast mixture to dry ingredients. After kneading the dough for a while, 10-15 minutes or so, I left it to rise until it was just over double the size. Punched it down. Put dough into bread pan and left to rise again. Baked in the oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Yum! The crust of this bread is amazing. I will definitely be making this bread again and again.

The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.

Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.

Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

**This is the BEST chocolate cake I have ever eaten. I have made it with and without pecans and it's good either way. I hate that the Pioneer Woman did not figure out how much powdered sugar to put on the cake. I usually measure out 3 cups. I have no idea if that is right or not.