Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Pizza

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Pizza

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
2 tbsp. butter
6 oz. hot sauce
1 c. bleu cheese dressing (Marie's is best)
10" ready-made pizza crust, or 1 ball of prepared pizza dough
1 1/2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

Boil chicken for about 30 minutes and shred.  In separate pan, melt butter and hot sauce together, then stir in chicken.  Roll out pizza dough, making sure that it isn't too thin.  Flour both sides of the pizza dough.  Transfer dough to preheated grill over low heat.  When dough is done on one side, it will be a brown-ish color.  Flip the dough over and  spread bleu cheese on.  Top with hot sauce/chicken mixture and mozzarella cheese.  Remove pizza from grill when it is a brown color.

WARNING:  In the ingredients picture, there is Frank's Extra Hot Sauce.  DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT get this extra hot sauce unless you like extremely spicy things.  I accidentally picked some up at the store, and it was SPICY!  I think my boyfriend and I each had 2 glasses of water with dinner.  Besides this extra hot sauce, the pizza was delicious!!! :)
The ingredients
Boil and shred chicken.  I used about 1 lb. chicken (4 chicken tenders)
Place chicken and butter in saucepan
When the butter is melted, the sauce will look like this.
Add chicken to the hot sauce/butter mixture
Roll the pizza dough out... make sure it isn't too thin!
I always bring a tray out to the grill with everything I need on it... it makes it so much simpler!  On the right is the Pampered Chef Mega Lifter.  It is the best invention for grilled pizza... if you don't have one of these, a couple of spatulas will work.  If you plan to make a lot of grilled pizza though, I definitely recommend getting one of these!
The pizza on the grill... Grilled pizzas never turn out round!
The pizza will look like this when it is ready to be flipped.
The pizza flipped over... I guess it is a little over-done.  Whoops!!!
As soon as you flip it over, spread the bleu cheese on
Top it with the chicken mixture
Then put the Mozzarella cheese on top of that.  After you put the cheese on top, close the lid of the grill to give the cheese a chance to melt.

Finished pizza, straight off the grill! 

Sunday, August 28, 2011

5 Minute Dinner

My boyfriend has named this meal the '5 Minute Dinner.'  It literally takes 5 minutes of prep time and is easy-peasy!

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits (adapted from joyfulabode.com)

Biscuits: 
2 c. Bisquick
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese (I used Mozzarella and Cheddar)
2/3 c. milk
Topping:
4 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. parsley

Biscuits:  Combine all dry ingredients, then add milk.  Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes, or until slightly brown- make sure not to over-do them!  When finished baking, pour topping over the top.

Topping:  In the last few minutes of baking, melt all ingredients together in a microwave-safe dish.  When biscuits are finished baking, place them in a large bowl and pour the butter mixture over the top.


Easiest-Ever Baked Pasta

1 pkg. pasta, any kind you like (I used shells)
1 jar pasta sauce, any kind you like (I used Barrilla Tomato and Herb)
1 1/2 cups cheese (I used Mozzarella and Parmesan)

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain pasta and combine with entire jar of pasta sauce and 1 cup of cheese.  Spread into 9x13 baking dish and top with remaining cheese.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

Biscuits:
 Ingredients
mix all of the dry ingredients together, then add the milk
the dough will be super sticky, and should look like this
the biscuits don't spread much during baking, so place them about an inch apart
in the last few minutes of baking, put all of the topping ingredients into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about a minute
biscuits!!
Pasta:
the pasta ingredients
I put the pasta in a 9x13 baker after it was drained
and mixed the sauce
and the cheese right in the pan
sprinkle some cheese on top
and the finished pasta!

Final Product:


What is 'Up-Home Cooking?'

I was born and mostly raised in Upstate NY.  'Mostly' because I was lucky enough to grow up in a military family, and military families move around quite a bit.  In my travels, I had opportunities to experience different cultures, lifestyles and cuisines.  If I had always lived in Upstate NY, I probably wouldn't have tried all different types of foods and been exposed to many different types of cooking.  I have always loved good, 'down-home,' southern cooking, but I have learned to put my own spin on it because of all of the different types of food I have grown to love, thus... Up-Home Cooking!