Shrimp Pizza

I pulled this out of the September 2009 issue of Parents magazine from an article about making things that your kids will eat. (I couldn't find the recipe on their website.)  Kids, husbands, same thing right??? :)  I kid, Jason is a really good eater, but he loves shrimp so I thought that this recipe would be perfect for him and I like shrimp so good for me!  I made this on Monday night and it was fantastic!  It's more like an authentic pizza that you would get in Italy as opposed to something from a pizza delivery chain.  It was really good and I felt pretty healthy eating it since the recipe says that each slice only has 175 calories.  It was really easy to make and only took about 35-40 minutes from start of prep time until sitting at the table so that was great also.

Shrimp Pizza

1 14 oz can refrigerated pizza crust
2 T olive oil, divided
2 tsp minced garlic
1 lb Shrimp, peeled
5 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
1/4 c fresh basil, slivered
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepper to taste


1. Preheat oven to 425.  Roll out crust to fit a jelly roll pan or your pizza stone.  Brush crust with 1 T olive oil and sprinkle with garlic.  Top with shrimp and tomatoes; bake for 12 minutes.
2. Remove the pizza from the oven. Sprinkle it with basil and cheese.  Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.  Return to the oven just until cheese is melted, about 7 minutes (only took 5 in my oven).  Season with pepper and allow the pizza to cool slightly before serving.

PW's Chocolate Sheet Cake

I'm not going to feature a PW recipe every week but this one is too good to not feature so that I can try and twist your arm to make this cake because you definitely won't regret it!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 24

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and 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 the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the 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.

Hawaiian Sandwiches

This is not so much a recipe as an idea. Since we were gone all week last week, I'm playing catch up with the Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's cookbook this week and am pretty much only cooking staple recipes that I've already posted or Pioneer Woman recipes. So I thought I would give you the details about one of my favorite warmed sandwiches since this time of year is the perfect time to enjoy a warm sandwich.
The key ingredient is Hawaiian bread/rolls. I buy King's because that's the only kind of Hawaiin bread that they sell at our grocery stores. So buy either a package of small square rolls or a large round pan of the bread. The sweetness of the bread is what makes it so good. Then you can add whatever you want on the sandwich and then you heat it in the oven until the cheese is all melty. My Mom used to make it with onions but I don't have that exact recipe so we just make a sandwich now. We usually put two kinds of meat (ham and turkey usually), cheese (usually something really yummy from the deli like smoked guyere or smoked cheddar), mayo, and mustard (something tangy works best). These are super easy and are really good. And if you're making them for, say, a football game or an event their easy to make ahead of time and just pop them in the oven about 20 - 30 minutes (on 350) before you want to serve them. So in summary...
Hawaiian Sandwiches
One large package of Hawaiian Bread
Mayo
Tangy Mustard
Ham
Turkey
Cheese

Cut sandwich bread in half. Spread mayo on bread. Add mustard to bread. Add meats and cheese(s). Toast in the oven on 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese melts.

The Pioneer Woman's Monkey Muffins

Monkey Bread is perhaps one of my favorite breakfast foods. It's so yummy and sweet and gooey that I just eat it up! So the Christmas after we got married I decided I wanted a bundt cake pan so that I could make Monkey Bread. Being the good Santa that Santa at our house is, he brought not only the pan but a mix for Monkey Bread from Williams-Sonoma. So later in the winter I set out to make the Monkey Bread and I kid you not, I think it took me one entire Saturday to make it. So time consuming! Of course, super delicious when it was actually finished but that was a lot of work!

That experience is what made me giddy when The Pioneer Woman put up a recipe for Monkey Muffins. Basically, it's a shortcut for Monkey Bread! I planned to make them for the day after Christmas morning but I was sick so I finally made them New Years morning. I made them after feeding Charlotte when she got up and they were ready right when we were ready to eat breakfast! Super easy and so, so, so good. We ate the leftovers the next morning and they might have been even better because they had more time to soak up the sweetened, condensed goodness! If you're a Monkey Bread fan you have to try Ree's adaptation!
PW Monkey Muffins
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Leftover Bread Dough (or Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds)
Butter
Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.
Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.
Allow dough to rise, if applicable, or just go ahead and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of sweetened condensed milk over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.
Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.
My Notes:
- I used one can of flaky biscuit dough. I ended up putting probably 4 or 5 smaller balls in each muffin place instead of just three.
- Once these have baked they come out of the muffin tins and stay together beautifully so if you wanted to serve them they would be easy to serve.