Super Easy Pizza Dough - Win!

We had some visitors a few weeks ago and got an amazing housewarming present - a pizza stone!
Now I remember when I was a kid, you used to be able to buy uncooked pizza dough. We loved making pizzas, and the taste never compares to frozen or delivered. Sorry, Panago.
I've told myself for years "I have to make pizza dough" but I've never actually done it. Well, with our new fancy pizza stone, I finally have run out of excuses. PLUS it can go on the BBQ! Seriously, this thing is amazing.

The recipe from Mom's Need to Know was super easy to put together (hence the name) and makes four decent sized thin crust pizzas. If you want thicker crust or larger, split the dough in half instead of in four. Right off the bat I made 3 different pizzas using my stone on the BBQ, and froze the fourth bit of dough. I was cooking for 6 people so there are no pics. Sorry!
My second time was whipping up a pizza in the oven (it was raining) before soccer using the extra dough I had frozen before.

Yes, apparently there is still soccer games when you sink ankle deep into the field because it's so wet.
Good thing tomorrow is laundry day.

The dough comes together easily and is really tasty. It makes a perfect crust, not doughy or chewy, or over cooked. It's a really solid recipe. The recipe suggests flour on the pizza stone / pan which is highly recommended so it doesn't stick. Next time I may get cornmeal which may be a nice touch. I've even doubled this batch and it still worked great. It will be more work if you don't have a stand up mixer, and it'll need more time in the mixer if you do. It was also stickier then the first batch, but it worked out perfectly.

 

Making a well, as seen above, is the method used to mix the wet ingredients and the yeast. There are other methods around, but this worked fine for me.

Before and after rising of the double batch

Homemade pizza is awesome since you can pick and choose and make what ever you want. This is easily a recipe you can make, then bake a pizza for one or two people. We really enjoy it on the pizza stone, but any baking pan would do! Try and make your own pizza dough, you'll never go back to take out again!

Enjoy!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta - Win!

Yet another winner from Damn Delicious! Seriously, this girl has a lot of solid recipes.

As the move-in-chaos settles down I'm slowly getting back into cooking. But I'm also very quickly getting uninspired and bored of my recipes. Maybe it's because I have a really bad desire to reno my kitchen, I'm not sure. So once again Pinterest came to save the dinner!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta.

Seriously some of my favourite words in this recipe, one pot, garlic, and pasta. Can't go wrong here! And when I asked my hubby after a few bites what he thought, and the response was "Can't talk - Devouring", I figured this is a good one. The recipe is super easy and involves your every day ingredients. And as advertised, it's an under 30 minute dinner.

I personally had a few hiccups, but that could be because I'm still working out the kinks in my new stove (medium heat is hot, and high heat is 'better call the pizza guy, Mommy just burnt dinner'). Mainly my pot ran out of liquid and I ended up adding about one additional cup of milk while cooking. This could be because a) too much heat or b) too much pasta. SO next time I'll start with a bit more liquid and go from there.

Also, when it says stir...STIR! I had to whip out my wooden spatula and scrape the bottom a few times to keep the pasta from sticking.

I used 1% milk, spaghetti instead of fettuccine, and added a pinch of thyme, and the recipe was amazing. 

Now the pasta alone is obviously vegetarian. It can be served as a side, or you could amp it up with some meat and or veggies and make it a full meal. This time I used grilled chicken and broccoli and it was perfect. Even my son, who has been refusing any dinner that isn't PB&J for about a week, devoured it. The possibilities are endless! Broccoli, asparagus, peas, bean, or even wilt some spinach in there and it would be a lovely addition. And chicken, shrimp, salmon, or lobster if you want to go decadent, for proteins. This can easily go from one pot side to a full balanced meal with a couple additions and still remain an easy week night meal. 

My hubby wanted to lick the bowl. Really. Not kidding. 

This recipe will definitely be in our regular rotation. Check it out for something a little different!

Enjoy!

Honey Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken - Fail

I haven't had a food fail in a while! 
Now I admit part of this was my fault. I've never (knowingly) tried Hoisen sauce before. And I also tend to research my recipes by reading comments, etc before trying them. Actually, the comments was one of the things that drove me to start this blog. I mean how many times do you read "Oh that looks tasty" but no one has actually TRIED it!? Yah, so that was a motivator for this, because I actually try it and write about it.

Moving on...

So I'm continuing my love affair with my slow cooker but looking for new recipes to try. We like our Asian style foods, so the recipe for Honey Garlic chicken from InspiredDreamer sounded perfect. A bit more complex then normal since I had to go purchase Hoisen sauce, something I never had on hand but I figured I'd give it a whirl. The recipe sounded solid enough. Results? Not so much.



The chicken was SUPER salty. Like, you can't taste anything but salt. I even went over the recipe again after we at it to make sure I followed it correctly, which I did. I only eliminated the pepper flakes since my boys don't like spicy foods and added a small dash of chilli powder instead. The hoisin sauce plus the soy sauce make a super salty combination. No honey or garlic taste at all, and thats after 5 (large) garlic cloves!

I may try this recipe again, either seriously reducing the hoisin or soy sauce, or both, or eliminating one completely. But if that doesn't work this recipe will definitely not be returning to this house. And it has sadly been labeled a fail. 

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken - Win

Another Slowcooker win!
This recipe is perfect, with the right amount of sweet and heat. Very very simple to make with only a few ingredients, and can easily be made with frozen chicken if you adjust your cooking time. 

This winner is another via Family Fresh Meals. 
Now the BBQ sauce clearly affects the outcome of this dinner. I moved away from our usual sauce to try the recommended Sweet Baby Ray's, and I think we have a new favourite sauce! Feel free to use your favourite sauce, as long as it's a thicker sauce since you always end up with more liquid at the end of a Slowcooker meal. 

 

I definitely recommend following the suggestion of fresh kaiser buns and coleslaw for this dinner. The coleslaw adds a bit of a tart crunch that works very well. There is just a bit of heat to this chicken, I'm sure you could add in chili or even chipotle powder if you like an extra kick. Corn on the cob and a cold beer round this meal out perfectly. 
I plan to try this again with beef or pork, I think it'll be amazing!

UPDATE
I have tried this with pork and it was amazing. Make sure you use a shoulder cut of pork, since a smaller cut will dry out. Pork won't be our go-to for this recipe due to price, but it's a very lovely treat!
Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken - win!

I'm slowly falling in love with my slow cooker. The whole "set it and forget it" dinner prep is very appealing. And this recipe is a fantastic addition to my slow cooker recipe book!

The Sesame Chicken recipe literally takes 10 minutes to prep. The sauce turns out lovely and thick, but a bit on the sweet side for our tastes. Next time I may add a bit more spice and cut down the sweetness, but that's just our preference. 
I made a few alterations to the recipe 

1) I replaced 1 tbsp of olive oil for sesame oil. I love the flavour it gives Asian style foods
2) I only added 1/4 cup honey because that is all I had. I added 1.5 Tbsp of brown sugar to make it up, but I may cut it down next time
3) Onion was replaced with onion powder (I forgot I had one)
4) Chili instead of flakes

This was a quick and easy recipe. Four chicken breasts made a huge amount, we had decent dinner portions and enough for left overs. Round out your meal with some quick brown rice and steamed veggies and it's the perfect weeknight dinner with minimal effort

UPDATE
I've made this recipe a few times now. It really tastes better and cuts on the sweetness if you can use real onion, so do so if you can. I'm not an onion fan, so I still reduced the amount and had good results. And 1/4 cup honey and 1-2 tbsp brown sugar was plenty sweet enough for us, so you can adjust this recipe to your own tastes. 

Enjoy!