Grilled Breakfast Pizza

Yep......I do make non-dessert-y food too!  The results are just usually not nearly as exciting as dessert for me :)  I get lots of healthy inspiration from my friend Susan over at Cooking Out of the Box.  She was inspired by the CSA box of produce she gets every week.....well inspired and had to figure out a way to make use of all of the fruit and veggies that she gets every week.  Now that I've decided to take the plunge and get back into the weekly CSA delivery, I'm going to be needing more and more of her recipes!  She's got a ton of great ideas and recipes for both fruits and veggies......check her out at Cooking Out of the Box!

You know you like eating breakfast for dinner, right?  And who doesn't love pizza (well.....my hubby has some issues with being a lactose-intolerant kind of guy).  What about combing the two, and because it's crazy hot out and you don't want to turn on your oven.....grilling up the whole sucker on your BBQ??  Sounds awesome, right?

I still have a bunch of bacon left over in the freezer from the  Bacon-of-the-Month Club membership that I got the hubby for Christmas (oh man, was that ever a great gift!), so I'm always on the lookout for new recipes that use one of our favorite things.  This pizza from Tasty Kitchen has bacon, eggs, mozzarella, parmesan, chives, parsley, and green onions.  It seriously is breakfast on a pizza!!

I had never actually tried grilling a pizza before, although I had seen it done, and it does look fantastic.  Well, let me tell you.......the crust comes out fantastic!  Seriously, it tastes so much like a wood-fired pizza.....so delicious!  I even made it easier for me and bought the pre-made Trader Joe's pizza dough.  Now I'm planning on trying all sorts of different kinds of pizzas on the grill......so glad I tried this.

Head on over to Tasty Kitchen for the recipe.....you can also check out How Sweet It Is for a beautiful photo tutorial.....and Enjoy!!

This post is linked to:
These Chicks Cooked
Cast Party Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday
Turning the Table Thursday
Fresh Food Friday
Friday Food

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I know that this is a blog repeat.....but seriously, you need to try these cupcakes!  The first time I made these cupcakes, they disappeared so fast that I didn't get to try one.  So I decided to make these bad boys again for our 4th of July party.  You've got to know what's in these by now......chocolate chip cookie cupcake, filled with chocolate chip cookie dough......all topped by cookie dough frosting.  Are you drooling yet?

Check out Tidy Mom for the recipe....and Enjoy!  Oh, and don't count up the number of sticks of butter you're going to need to make this......seriously.

This post is linked to:

Fresh Food Friday

Friday Food

Sweets for a Saturday

Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Everyday Sisters Sharing Sundays

Cupcake Link Party

Muffin and Cupcake Monday

Monday, Mmm....Dessert

These Chicks Cooked

Cast Party Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Turning the Table Thursday

Sweet Treats Thursday

As American as Apple Pie

Here's another dessert I brought to our 4th of July party this year.  These apple hand pies were a hit....especially with the hubby and my brother-in-law.  The inspiration for these came from the same post at Our Best Bites that I used for the strawberry pies-on-a-stick that I made for the last day of school.

This time around I went with the all-American apple pie......using the apple pie filling recipe on Our Best Bites.  Since these pies are small and don't take long to finish baking, their recipe calls for grating the apple so that it gets baked in the short amount of time that it takes the crust to bake.  I also used the simple glaze recipe that they included.....to be put on the pies after you have taken them out of the oven.  I used a small squeeze bottle to drizzle the glaze over the hand pies......pretty isn't it?  Although I do have to admit that it made them look more like star-shaped Danishes than star-shaped pies.....but who cares when they're delicious?!

I was planning on making a second batch of them with a peach pie filling.....but I got distracted by the Oreo dessert in the previous post.  Oh well......I'll save that for another summer party.

Check out Our Best Bites for the recipes.....and Enjoy!

This post is linked to:

These Chicks Cooked

Cast Party Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Fresh Food Friday

Sweets for a Saturday

Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Monday, Mmm.......Dessert

Turning the Table Thursday

Oreos Love Company!

Look at these bad boys!!  Are these insane??  Oreos just seem to love to get together with other delicious things to create an even more amazingly scrumptious concoction!  And I do have to say that these things are ridonkulous!! That's right.....I just said ridonkulous!

What are they?  Well.....start with a base layer of chocolate chip cookie dough......top that with a layer of Oreo cookies layed out side to side....you still with me?  Then you're going to top all of that off with a layer of brownie mix (box mix or from scratch...your call).  And then you're going to stuff your face when they come out of the oven and not worry one little bit about how many calories could possibly be crammed into one little piece of these.  I made these for 4th of July.....and calories don't count on a holiday, right?

I mean, just look at the pan when it's getting put together....you just know that it's going to be nothing less than a little bite of heaven!

I had been seeing a picture of this going around on Pinterest for the last couple of months....you do look at Pinterest right?  It's totally addictive.....ok, so maybe if you're not on it yet, you should stay away.....because it's really totally time sucking!  In case you were curious though.....here's my boards :)

Anyways, I kept seeing this Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n' Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar.....and I was waiting for a chance to make it when there would be enough people to share in the amount of calories it would take to consume a pan of these...and Bang!  4th of July at my sister-in-law's house....perfect!!

I actually decided at the last minute to throw this together and it really couldn't be easier.  I followed their recipe and did the chocolate chip cookie dough they had listed....but if you were really in a crunch (or you're my sister-in-law who doesn't bake things from scratch) you could even substitute a refrigerated cookie dough.....with so much going on in the bar, I don't think it would be detected!  Since I was in a hurry, I threw in a box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies.....my go-to brownies when I need that old school brownie fix (since that's all we had at home growing up....my mom almost never made stuff from scratch).  Bake this heavenly pan of chocolate-y goodness for about 50 minutes.....and then you'll have to wait to let it cool off enough to not completely fall apart when you cut into it.    I'm not joking when I say this pan felt as heavy as taking a turkey out of the oven!!

I'm starting to think that maybe those chefs who bust out the Turducken at Thanksgiving are onto something......sometimes more IS better!!

So check out the blog Kevin and Amanda for the recipe.....and don't say I didn't warn you......and Enjoy!!




This post is linked to:
Tuesday Time Out
These Chicks Cooked
Cast Party Wednesday
Picnic and Finger Foods Party
Full Plate Thursday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Turning the Table Thursday
Friday Food
Sweets for a Saturday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
Everyday Sisters Sharing Sundays

4th of July Cookies

Last night I was busy decorating some sugar cookies that we'll be taking to my sister-in-law's house for 4th of July.  I couldn't decide what design I wanted to try.....so I ended up doing two kinds.   I also should say that I actually baked the cookies about 3 weeks ago, and then stuck them in the freezer when they were cooled.  I took them out of the freezer a couple of hours before I wanted to decorate them......and you wouldn't know that they were fresh out of the oven!  It made it so much easier to not have to bake the cookies and then decorate them in the same day!

First, I tried doing the tie-dyed design that I saw on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.  Her's were so cool looking in a rainbow design, but I altered mine to use more patriotic colors (I've got to do the rainbow ones one day.....they're so cool looking!).  For a great tutorial on how do to the tie-dye effect, check out The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.

The other design I ended up trying was inspired by the cover of Martha Stewart.....the one with the fireworks cookies.  Since I had already piped a red border on all of my cookies, I decided to do a red background on mine, instead of the white that Martha used.

For a great tutorial on how to make the fireworks cookies, check out Bake at 350.  She did a great job explaining them, and hers came out beautifully!

The mistake I made with these guys was not looking at the cover of the magazine again before doing them.  I didn't even realize that I had done these wrong until after they had starting setting up. Basically, instead of making fireworks cookies, I ended up making spiderweb cookies in patriotic colors.....oops!!  I should have been alternating toothpick drags from the center out, and from the outside to the center.  Instead, I just did toothpick drags from the center out.......so I guess when Halloween rolls around I'll know how to do spiderweb cookies :)

Well, off to go make the rest of the desserts I've got planned for the 4th......it should be great having the oven on in this 100 degree weather!!

This post is linked to:
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
A Themed Baker's Sunday
These Chicks Cooked
Sweets for a Saturday

Chewy Graham Cookies

Are you a crispy/crunchy or soft/chewy cookie kind of person?  In our house, we generally prefer the chewy variety (especially the hubby).  These cookies from My Kitchen Addiction are like soft and chewy snickerdoodles.....but with an addition of honey in the dough, makes them taste like a soft graham cracker.  You're going to want to grab a nice tall glass of milk to have with these bad boys.....unless you're the hubby and are lactose intolerant.

As I was typing up this blog update, I noticed that she took these cookies a step further and made S'mores cookie sandwiches out of them......ummm.....yummmmmmmy!!  I'll have to remember that the next time I make these, so that I don't hand out all of the cookies and have none left to use.

Check out My Kitchen Addiction for the recipe.....and Enjoy!!

This post is linked to:
Sweets for a Saturday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
These Chicks Cooked
Cast Party Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday

My New Favorite Cookie

While I normally favor chocolate desserts over fruity ones (not that I don't like them, it's just that if I was forced to choose, I would have to choose chocolate).....however, I have found a cookie that has absolutely moved to the top of my favorite cookies list!!

This recipe is another from the geniuses at Momofuku's Milk Bar in NYC (as was the Crack Pie recipe from earlier this week) that I saw in the latest issue of Bon Appetit.  These are their Blueberry and Cream Cookies, and I'm not kidding that you really, really need to try these!

Unlike the Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars from yesterday which use a ton of fresh blueberries, these cookies use dried blueberries (I used dried wild blueberries from Trader Joe's....they're so cute and little). These cookies also use what seems to be the secret weapon in most of Milk Bar's desserts....nonfat milk powder.  In this recipe you make what they call "Milk Crumbs" prior to mixing the cookies together.  These come together in no time, but you'll need to let the milk crumbs cool before using them in the cookie recipe.

There's a couple of things in this recipe you'll want to note (aside from it using the Milk Crumbs):
1 - The recipe uses corn syrup along with granulated and brown sugar.
2 - You'll want to beat the batter for about 10 minutes after the eggs have been put in.  This allows the sugar to dissolve and you'll end up with the fabulously smooth batter.
3 - The recipe calls for the cookies to be scooped out onto a cookie sheet, and then left to sit overnight in the refrigerator.  This allowed them to firm up beautifully, and they really looked like bakery cookies when they came out of the oven.

Thanks for another fabulous recipe Milk Bar!  Go to Epicurious to get the recipe....and Enjoy!!

This post is linked to:
Sweets for a Saturday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
These Chicks Cooked
Cast Party Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday
Turning the Table Thursday
Friday Food
Sharing Sunday
This Week's Cravings