Zesty Pizza Sauce

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Veronica

I usually don’t follow pizza recipes because to me, pizza is a thing you kind of just throw together with whatever you happen to have on hand. I do, however, follow a recipe for sauce and it’s always, always this one. It’s my idea of a perfect pizza sauce: thick & zesty and easy to prepare. It’s perfect for any classic combination of meat and/or veggie toppings and the prep is so quick that I always do it just before I need it, usually while the pizza dough is resting, because I always forget to make it in advance.

Zesty Old School Style Pizza Sauce
Recipe from The Cooking Photographer

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil*
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir together.

Makes 1½ cups of pizza sauce, which is enough to cover two large pizzas or three medium.

*I’ve made it with the full 2 T of oil, but lately have begun using just 2 teaspoons. I can’t say I prefer one over the other so if you’re looking to save some calories, you might do the same.

4 Comments

Posted in Condiments & ETC., Italian, My Favorites, Pizza and tagged easy, pizza sauce, quick, zesty. Bookmark the permalink.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Veronica

This dressing is really stinkin’ good. That’s all I have to say. Except that after taking this photo, I ate this entire plate of veggies (though I detest cucumbers) and almost all of the dressing. It’s really good. Really.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Recipe by Our Best Bites

*note that all spices/herbs listed below are dried. If substituting fresh, use the rule 1 part dry = 3 parts fresh.

1 C mayo
2/3 C buttermilk
1/4 t white vinegar
1 t parsley
1/8 t dill
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1 1/2 t dried chives
1/8 t black pepper
1/4 t seasoned salt
1/8 t dry mustard

Beat the mayo and buttermilk until smooth, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate at least overnight to allow the flavors to develop.

8 Comments

Posted in Condiments & ETC., My Favorites and tagged buttermilk, dressing, easy, ranch. Bookmark the permalink.

A Healthier (Vegan) McRib Sandwich

Posted on January 10, 2010 by Veronica

Though it tastes almost nothing like the original, this sandwich is healthier and very tasty in it’s own right. And it’s vegan! Always a plus in my book. (I’m not a big fan of meat.)

Morningstar Farms’ Hickory Barbecue Riblets are made from soy & wheat protein, have a meaty texture, and are smothered in yummy hickory barbecue sauce. The wonderful flavor of the sauce combined with the texture of the “riblet” totally tricks my mouth into thinking I’m eating meat while my mind can remain happy that I’m not. I love these things, but I do know people who don’t so go out and buy a package for yourself to see if you will or not. This sandwich is a good excuse to try it!

Sassy Saucy Ribwich
Recipe from Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
1 Morningstar Farms Hickory BBQ Riblet (found in the freezer aisle)
1 Arnold Select/Oroweat Sandwich Thins roll or Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats roll (or alternative below)
3 hamburger dill pickle chips
3 thin slices onion

Directions:
Prepare Riblet according to package directions. Meanwhile, split roll in half and lightly toast.

Stack Riblet, pickles, and onion on the bottom half of the roll. Finish it off with the top half. Now chew!

MAKES 1 SERVING

Serving Size: 1 sandwich
Calories: 335
Fat: 4.5g
Sodium: 1,299mg
Carbs: 60.5g
Fiber: 10.5g
Sugars: 28g
Protein: 22g

POINTS® value 6*

HG Alternative! For a lower-carb swap with less sodium, enjoy this with crispy lettuce leaves in place of a roll, and nix the pickles — that version has 240 calories, 3.5g fat, 815mg sodium, 39.5g carbs, 6.5g fiber, 25.5g sugars, and 19g protein (POINTS® value 4*). Hooray!

3 Comments

Posted in Burgers & Sandwiches, Lighter Fare, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged healthy, mcrib, morningstar farms barbecue riblet, sandwich, vegan. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Mondays: Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Posted on January 10, 2010 by Veronica

As part of my New Year’s Resolution to lose a significant amount of weight by the end of the year, I’ve cut my baking back to just once per week. Not only have I cut down the amount of time I spend baking, but I’m baking for my husband’s co-workers instead of myself and my family. Inspired by my friend, Laura, who sends cookies to work with her husband every Monday, I’ve begun doing the same thing. This keeps me from going through baking withdrawal, and allows me to have a treat once a week before sending the bulk of them out of the house for others to enjoy (thus freeing me from the constant temptation that having them in the kitchen would present).

For “Cookie Monday” this week, I whipped up some absolutely delicious peanut butter sandwich cookies. And then proceeded to eat 13 of them (that’s over 1,000 calories, in case you were wondering) in under five minutes. And then I squirted the leftover peanut butter filling from the pastry bag directly into my mouth. So much for keeping to my calorie limit for the day!

These cookies are too addictive to eat just one…or twelve. Well, they are for me, anyway. They are a Girl Scout’s “Do-Si-Dos” knock-off and while I don’t love the Girl Scout’s version, I could practically live off these cookies if I had no concern for my health or waistline. They are wonderful.

Next week I will work on my self-control and see if I can keep it to just 1 or 2 cookies. Considering how many sweets I was consuming before the new year, however, I have to admit that even 13 cookies in a week is an improvement. So at least I’m moving in the right direction.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Recipe modified from All Recipes

Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick cooking oats

Filling
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat until combined, then add the oatmeal and continue beating until incorporated.

Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on prepared baking sheet. Press each mound down with your fingers or a fork, depending on the appearance you’d like, to form 1/4 inch-thick cookies. Bake 5 minutes, or until cookies have just begun to set around the edges. (My cookies were exactly 1 tsp each, so if yours are larger, they will obviously require more baking time.) Remove and allow to cool 3 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

To Make Filling: Cream the filling ingredients until well blended. Spread or pipe filling on to half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches. Don’t be stingy with the filling like I was at first–there is quite enough for all the cookies. Of course, the benefit of being stingy with it is that you’ll have some left to squirt into your mouth when you have finished. Heaven.

Makes 60 sandwich cookies, if you can keep from eating a single speck of dough, scrape every last speck of it from the bowl to form the cookie balls, and you measure each ball of dough to be exactly 1 teaspoon. I actually managed to do this and then went wild once the beautiful completed cookies were in front of me. Oh yeah, and in case you’re counting your calories, each cookie clocks in at 80 calories. Not too bad if you can keep from eating more than one or two! :)

I used my fingers to press these cookies down, so they weren't quite as flat and made a smaller, chubbier cookie. I had no preference as to which I liked better because they both tasted equally delicious!

My husband modeling the latest cookie fashion in the Miller household.

I had used Dennis for the former picture after taking this one b/c I realized how disgusting my nail polish was. But now I'm posting it anyway b/c I remembered seeing Lindsay Lohan with similar-looking nails. I'm not lazy, I'm just impersonating the stars! OK, fine. I'm just lazy. And apparently I need some lotion, too.

13 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged do-si-dos, girl scouts, oatmeal, peanut butter, sandwich cookies. Bookmark the permalink.

Easy Lemon Cookies

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Veronica

5 reasons why you need to make these cookies ASAP:

5. They’re insanely easy to make.
4.They’re bright and pretty!
3. They have superb texture–firm on the outside, chewy on the inside.
2. They taste like sunshine.
1. You can have two whole cookies for just 102 calories!

What, you need more reasons? What are you waiting for?!

I like to really douse the cookies with powdered sugar so they take on the "crinkle" look.

Easy Lemon Cookies

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
powdered sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, lemon juice & lemon zest until well blended. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, and up to overnight to make the dough easier to handle. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and then drop into a small bowl of powdered sugar. Roll around until lightly or heavily covered, depending on how much you want. Once sugared, place on an ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Makes 60 cookies
Per cookie: 51 calories, 2 g fat, 7.8 g carbohydrate

This recipe is linked with GirliChef for BSI: Lemons!

14 Comments

Posted in Cookies, Lighter Fare and tagged cake mix, Cookies, diet-friendly, easy, lemon, low calorie, summer, sunshine. Bookmark the permalink.

Crispy Kale Chips

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Veronica

It may be hard to believe, but kale is super easy to turn into a shatteringly-crisp, salty treat that satisfies potato chip cravings. OK, if you REALLY need potato chips, then this won’t give you the same flavor, but they are delicious and the crisp & salty combo along with the distinct flavor is addictive! And if you’re going to be addicted to something, it may as well be something this healthy, right?

Crispy Kale Recipe
The biggest secret to getting the kale super-crisp is to dry them in a salad spinner. If there is moisture on the leaves, the kale will steam, not crisp. Also, do not salt the kale until after they have come out of the oven. If you salt beforehand, the salt will just cause the kale to release moisture…thus steaming instead of crisping. I’ve also found that the convection setting on my oven works really well too – I set the convection on 325F and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Have fun with this recipe, I sometimes mix the salt with Cajun or Creole seasoning.

4 giant handfuls of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces and tough stems removed (about 1/3 pound)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (you can lightly mist with oil for less calories)
sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the kale leaves into a salad spinner and spin all of the water out of the kale. Dump the water and repeat one or two times more just to make sure that the kale is extra dizzy and dry. Use a towel to blot any extra water on the leaves. Place the kale on the baking sheet.

3. Drizzle olive oil over the kale leaves and use your hands to toss and coat the leaves. Bake in the oven for 12-20 minutes until leaves are crisp. Take a peek at the 12 minute mark – the timing all depends on how much olive oil you use. Just use a spatula or tongs to touch the leaves, if they are paper-thin crackly, the kale is done. If the leaves are still a bit soft, leave them in for another 2 minutes. Do not let the leaves turn brown (they’ll be burnt and bitter) Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and serve.

Recipe from Steamy Kitchen

Veronica’s Note: I should add that these should be eaten as soon as they’re cooled and not stored. If you put them in an airtight container or baggie, they will lose their crispness. OK, I actually don’t have first-hand knowledge of this since we eat the whole batch as soon as it’s out of the oven, no matter how big it is, but I’ve read it somewhere and it makes sense to me. Just thought I’d give you a heads-up!

9 Comments

Posted in Lighter Fare, Snacks & Appetizers, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged baked, chips, crisp, crispy, kale, salty. Bookmark the permalink.

Italian Green Beans

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Veronica

I’m often prone to exaggeration, but I’m telling you the honest-to-goodness truth when I say I eat these green beans a minimum of five times a week. The green beans and olive oil are so healthy and adding in the seasonings just makes them wonderful. I love them so much and they’re so easy to make, I bring them with me every day for lunch! In fact, my green bean infatuation has become a long-standing joke with my co-workers. They used to make bets on whether or not I’d brought the green beans but now they don’t bother. They know that no matter what else I’ve brought, the green beans will accompany it. They watch me heating my food with knowing smiles and slowly shake their heads as I take my seat.

I smile back and eat them in blissful reverence. They wouldn’t mock if they knew what they were missing.

Italian Green Beans

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 lb. green beans (fresh, frozen or canned all work)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 packet Italian dressing mix

Cook/heat the green beans, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the dressing mix over the top. Toss together and serve hot. To make an individual serving, I heat a can of green beans (yes, a serving to me is an entire can!), drizzle with a little EVOO and then sprinkle as much dressing mix as I want.

Recipe by Veronica Miller

18 Comments

Posted in Italian, Lighter Fare, My Favorites, Side Dishes, Vegetarian & Vegan and tagged easy, fast, green beans, Italian, recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Dill, Cheddar & Green Onion Cheese Ball

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Veronica

By omitting the sour cream and adding some cheddar cheese to my favorite dip, I invented quite a delicious cheese ball! Finely grated cheddar is ideal for a more uniform texture & appealing appearance, but making it with the thicker shreds didn’t make it any less tasty.

I’ll post the Creamy Dill & Green Onion Dip recipe next time I make it because I keep eating it so fast that I haven’t had a chance to take a photograph yet!

Dill, Cheddar & Green Onion Cheese Ball

Makes 1 small cheese ball (slightly larger than those sold in the supermarket). Double the recipe for a larger cheese ball.

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 finely chopped green onions
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 t fresh parsley, chopped fine (optional)
½ t dill weed
¼ t garlic powder
½ t salt
1 cup chopped pecans

Mush everything but the nuts together with your hands until it is well combined, shape it into a ball and roll it in the chopped nuts. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least two hours or overnight and leave out of the fridge a few hours before serving.

Recipe by Veronica Miller

11 Comments

Posted in Snacks & Appetizers and tagged cheddar, cheese ball, dill, green onion. Bookmark the permalink.

Incredible Dinner Rolls (bread machine)

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Veronica

It took countless batches of dinner roll failures over the course of two years to finally perfect a recipe to my tastes. This one has everything I love in a dinner roll: soft, light, slightly sweet, and simple to make. They are just incredible, especially when warm and served with butter.

Incredible Dinner Rolls
Printable recipe

1 egg
3 Tablespoon butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon (1 package) bread machine yeast*

Crack the egg into a Ziploc bag and place it in a bowl of hot tap water, so that it will come quickly to room temperature.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the milk and heat the mixture until it reaches 110-115 degrees, or until it feels very warm to the touch.

Squish the egg while it’s inside the bag until it looks lightly beaten. Empty it into the bread machine pan; add the milk mixture, and then top with the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Set the machine to the dough cycle.

When the machine starts to mix the dough faster, check on it and, if necessary, use a spatula to help incorporate the flour. I always have to do this, but that may be because my machine is old and sub-par.

Once the cycle is complete, remove pan and punch down dough. If you’re making 12 large rolls, spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. If you’re making 20 standard-size rolls, spray two 9-inch round cake pans.

Divide the dough in half, and then divide each half into 6-10 pieces, depending on the amount you want to make. Shape each piece into a ball as you pull off the dough, and place in pan(s), spacing evenly.

Cover with clean cloth(s) and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes, or until rolls are doubled in size.** Preheat oven to 375 while your dough is rising.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown. When done, remove from oven and rub the end of a cold stick of butter over the tops of the rolls. Serve warm & with lots of butter. :) If making in advance, store them in an airtight container (I always use a gallon-size Ziploc bag) and reheat them in the oven when you’re ready to serve them (be sure to remove them from the bag first!)

*Also marketed as “rapid-rise” and “instant” yeast.
**I most often use my oven for rising bread. I preheat it to its lowest setting (170 degrees) once the dough begins its first rise in the bread machine and turning it off when it’s done preheating, that way it’s warm but not too hot once I place the pans in to rise. That works the best. (If you use this method, you’ll have to remove them after they’re done rising, preheat the oven, and let the rolls rest on the counter until it reaches 375.) If the top of your oven gets warm when you preheat it, you could also set your pans up there. The last trick I use is to place the pan on a heating pad set to low.
***You could also make these by hand or using your stand mixer with dough hooks, letting the dough rise in an oiled bowl for one hour or until doubled after kneading. I don’t know how long you’d have to knead it, though. I’d estimate 10 minutes.

19 Comments

Posted in Bread, My Favorites and tagged bread machine, dinner rolls, incredible, light, soft, sweet. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Nut Crunch

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Veronica

My friend, Teri, is one of the best cooks I know and, lucky for me (and you!) she’s always willing to share her fabulous recipes.

This sweet & nutty Chex mix is a delightful change from the usual party mix that abounds during the holidays and not only makes great party food, but wonderful gifts as well.

Caramel Nut Crunch

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup (light will work if you don’t have dark)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 cup Chex cereals (I used 2 cups of each kind)
1 cup pecan halves,walnut halves or peanuts (I used mixed nuts)
1 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Butter a jelly roll pan, 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch. Put cereal and nuts into a large bowl and set aside. Heat brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, pour over cereal and nuts and stir, stir, stir until well coated. Spread in prepared pan & bake 15 min. Cool until slightly firm, 5-7 min; loosen w/metal spatula. Let stand until firm, about 1 hr.and break apart. Store in covered container. Makes about 8 c snack.

Recipe source Teri B.