Pizza Pinwheels-Week 4

pizza pinwheels

Ingredients:

1 cup Gold Medal ***Self-Rising Flour
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
pinch of salt
2/3 cup 2% Greek Fage Yogurt (see tips below)
3 tablespoons prepared pesto
3/4 cup chopped pepperoni
3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (or mixed mozzarella & Parmesan), divided
pizza or smooth marinara sauce, warmed

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat (or spray with nonstick spray).

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Mix in the yogurt and continue to stir and mix until the ingredients are well-combined and forming a dough. Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface. Knead a bit until the dough comes together well, sprinkling in more flour if needed. Roll the dough into a rectangle (about 9x14-inches).

3. Spoon the pesto onto the rolled out dough, using the bottom of a spoon to spread it out evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped pepperoni. Top with 1/2 cup cheese.

4. Carefully roll up the dough into a log. It will be a little soft and precarious. Use a sharp knife to cut about 1/2-inch slices. Hold the sliced roll together with your fingers while you transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining slices.

5. Bake 20 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned. Serve warm with sauce.

tips:

*I used Fage brand 2% Greek yogurt. If you use a different brand or a different fat content, you may need to use either more or less yogurt because the moisture content may vary. I'd measure out 2/3 cup, then mix about 1/2 cup into the flour. Then add more as needed until a nice, non-sticky dough is formed.

"Sweet" Bird's Nests- Week 3

Bird's Nests

3 cups mini marshmallows
3 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 cups dry chow mein noodles
small candies, jelly beans, m & m's, etc.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Over low heat, melt the marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan.

Once melted, stir in the vanilla, then add the chow mein noodles.

Coat your hands liberally with shortening, or spray your hands with cooking spray (butter doesn't work as well) and have some nearby for re-coating.

Grab a clump of noodles smaller than a tennis ball but larger than a golf ball. Form into a ball while pressed your thumbs into the middle, forming a nest. Allow the nests to cool, then fill with with the candy of your choice. Perfect, simple kid friendly Easter dessert.

Chicks-in-a-NEST 

Ingredients:

1 20 ounce package of pre-shredded hash brown-style potatoes

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

4TBS flour

1 small sweet onion, coarsely grated 

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

-------------------------------------

1 dozen eggs, scrambled or egg beaters

1 package of Soy-Chorizo or your choice of breakfast sausage, bacon, or ham

*Garnish~Greek sour cream, salsa or cheese for garnish. You could also add, basil or spinach to your scrambled eggs.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly spray a 12-cup tin with non-stick cooking spray.

Staring with the first 8 ingredients, this includes 2 eggs, flour etc. to help make the potato crust firm. Mix all 8 ingredients together in a bowl. 

Spoon potato mixture into each prepared muffin cup until about 1/3 full. Gently press the potato mixture down in the middle and up the sides of each cup.

Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. If the nests have puffed up to much in the center, scoop out a little with a teaspoon. 

Meanwhile, cook the Soyrizo in a pan and add your dozen scrambled eggs to the meat mixture. Cook and stir the meat/Soyrizo and eggs until curds form and eggs are firm.

Spoon a few tablespoons of scramble eggs into each nest and top with sour cream, salsa, chives or cheese.

Lesson #10 S'mores

Thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to teach your kids baking and cooking skills. Hope they enjoyed the class as much as I enjoyed teaching and helping them.

We ended the trimester with a tasty treat. S'mores! So next time it's raining or to cold to make a campfire for s'mores, bake them in your oven. :)

S'mores without the campfire!

S'mores Cups


7 whole graham crackers finely crushed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
4 milk chocolate candy bars (see note)
12 large marshmallows

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and melted butter together until crumbly and evenly mixed. Put a small scoop of these crumbs in each cup of a mini-muffin tin and press down and up the sides to form a little "cup".  Bake at 350° for 4 or 5 minutes or until the edges are bubbling.

While the cups are baking, break apart the candy bar into sections (Hershey's are already scored into sections) and cut the marshmallows in half (scissors dipped in cold water works well for this).

Remove the cups from the oven and put a square of chocolate in each crumb cup, then top with a marshmallow half. Return to the oven for 1 or 2 minutes or until the marshmallow is just slightly puffed.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing them, then cool them completely.  

Melt the remaining chocolate (microwave works well) and dip the top of the completely cooled S'more Cups into the melted chocolate. Let them sit for about an hour to "set" the chocolate.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week. "Reheating" these in the microwave for a FEW seconds, is beyond delicious.

NOTE: Any (ALL chocolate) candy bar will work, whatever is your favorite....dark? white? milk chocolate?

Week 9 Banana Bread with NO sugar or oil

Clean Banana Bread with no sugar or oil

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour or the flour of your choice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar free applesauce

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs, beaten

3 mashed overripe bananas

1 cup of walnuts *optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce and honey. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, before removing from pan and onto a wire rack.

Lesson #8

We worked hard making homemade cheese-it's. They were wonderful! The kids were over the moon and loved not only the taste but also making them. They each had a turn rolling out the dough and using a pastry cutter to make the crackers. We used the tip of a chopstick to make the hole in the center of the cracker. 

We had staff members asking for a sample of these amazing little snacks. 

The kids were able to use the Roulpat to roll their dough out. This is a nonstick silicone rolling mat. 

Looking forward to our last two weeks with the kids. So excited to create amazing recipes for the kids to make and share with their friends and family.

Lesson #7 Monkey Bread

Another fun week has come and gone.

I taught the kids the necessary items needed to make this fun and fast dessert. I explained to the kids that most people like to make this once a year during the Holidays and share it with friends and family.

We used biscuit dough instead of making our own bread dough. We also made cupcakes using a cupcake pan instead of using a bundt pan. We cut the biscuit into 6 pieces and rolled them all before dipping them in the butter and cinnamon sugar mix.