1. Add all ingredients (except) second parmesan cheese to breadmaker in order listed by your manufacturer.
2. (put the garlic down inside the flour so it does not slow the yeast) Set breadmaker on dough setting.
3. When cycle is done, form two crusts on pizza pans, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, cover and let rise again.
4. Bake 5-10 minutes at 450 F until light brown.
5. Add toppings (I used cooked chicken with Nando’s lemon pepper grinder, peppers, mushrooms and onions plus mozzarella cheese) and place back into oven for approximately 8 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

First of all, there are only a few more days to sign up for the "Adopt-a-Blogger" event. Click on the icon above to be directed to that post. We need some more veteran bloggers, so don’t be shy and sign up!

My husband and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary last week. We were married on November 19, 1999 and have been going strong ever since. Nick spoils me rotten, is a fantastic husband in each and every way, and is one of the best father’s I know. He works extremely hard, is very good at what he does, and is a smart, intelligent, caring, thoughtful man. I am very lucky!

As I was reflecting back on the past 8 years, I started thinking about our marriage and the boundaries that have been set.  There are things I have never done in front of my husband. Some things, I just think, are better left not shared between couples. One of those things is using the bathroom. I have never been one to be able to pee with the door wide open while chatting with others. I can’t think of anything more awkward than that! I also do not floss my teeth in front of him and I don’t shave my legs / underarms in front of him. I figure that in some situations, a little modesty never hurt anyone. (I know that modesty went completely out the window after my first baby was born and after a very difficult birth, my hubby had to help me and my big, fat, bloated mess, take a shower….I an only hope that memory isn’t frozen firmly in his mind!)

Modesty when eating is another thing. Monkey bread, for instance, is not something that you can eat without getting a little enthusiastic about. It is hard not to just pull bite after bite after bite off of the bread and shove it into your mouth…the caramel dripping from your chin and covering your fingers.  In an attempt to bring a little civility to our table Thanksgiving morning, I decided to make dainty, little, Monkey Bread Minis. We could all sit around with our individual monkey bread minis, and eat like modest, civilized human beings…

Yeah, right. These monkey bread minis were perfect and as ooey gooey as it comes. Even though the portions were smaller, it did not prevent us all from getting a little crazy with the monkey bread. Everyone, including myself, had little bits of carmel here and there and pulling apart the minis was just as barbaric as reaching in to grab a piece off a big loaf. 

My husband saw me eat monkey bread and he loves me anyway. Sometimes sharing a little more than normal isn’t a bad thing.

Monkey Bread Minis 

1. Cut each biscuit in fourths with scissors.
2. Shake biscuits in bag with sugar and cinnamon.
3. Thoroughly pray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray
4. Fill each muffin cup approximately 1/2 full with the dough pieces
   
5. Melt margarine and brown sugar and boil 1 minute.
6. Pour over the dough.
7. Bake for 10- 15 minutes at 350 degrees. (This may take more or less time. Keep an eye on your monkey bread…you don’t want to over cook it!)
   
8. For extra gooey monkey bread, double the brown sugar and butter and drizzle over the minis after they have been removed from the oven. (highly recommended!)
   
9. Let stand for 2 minutes, then scooping with a spoon, remove from the pan and place on plates or in paper cupcake holders.
   

I have never considered myself to be a soup person. Given the option of soup or salad, salad would always be my choice. Soup seemed like a side item…not something that could be used for the main course. Well, I was not a soup person and now I know why. I was not eating the right soups.

Over the years I have been introduced to various soups that have made my monthly menu more than once. I now have, in my repertoire, a great chicken noodle soup, an even better loaded baked potato soup, a delicious chicken chili, and now…the soup that I made last night and could probably happily eat every day for the rest of my life.

The Zippy Chicken Mushroom soup is another winner from the October/November 2007 issue of Taste of Home magazine. This soup is hearty enough to star as the main course. The hot sauce and white pepper add just enough zip to give the soup a tiny kick, but not so much that the kids will think it is too spicy.

If you are not a soup person, take it from me… you are not eating the right soups. Give this soup a try and I promise you will be a soup convert.

Recipe modified from the Oct/Nov 2007 issue of Taste of Home magazine.

Zippy Chicken Mushroom Soup 

• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 cup each chopped onion, celery and carrot
• 1 can of whole kernel sweet corn, drained
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 5-1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Pinch dried tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 3 cups half-and-half cream
• 2-1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, saute the mushrooms, onion, celery, carrot and corn in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Add the broth and seasonings; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Stir in the cream, chicken, parsley, lemon juice and salt; heat through (do not boil). Yield: 11 servings (2-3/4 quarts).

I am so confused. Let me start this story, and then you will understand why…

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and even though it was just my immediate family (hubby and kids…and I STILL felt the need for a Snickers martini at the end of the day) I wanted to do up a big traditional Thanksgiving feast. It seemed only fitting, especially since my five year old kept asking when Thanksgiving was because he “couldn’t wait to eat turkey, pumpkin pie and banana cream pie”. I could not disappoint him, and frankly, turkey, pumpkin pie and banana pie sounded good to me too!

I set out making our feast, first by making the pies. The first thing I did was to make the pie crust for the banana pie. I could not find my pie weights anywhere, so I called my mom to ask her for an alternative. She was on the phone with my sister, but took enough time to tell me I could use tin foil and rice as pie weights and that would work fine. The problem is…I didn’t ask her how much rice to use. Instead of what I later found out should have been a cup of rice, I used about two tablespoons. The result was a very shrunken, mis-shaped pie crust, not capable of containing a banana cream pie.

As I surveyed the mess of my kitchen after only making one thing, and thought about the feast preparing ahead of me, I decided I just did not have it in me to make another pie crust. Tempted to just run up to the store to buy one, my brain flashed back to a blog post I recently read. It was about a deconstructed coconut pie…the pudding and coconut were served in a bowl with a cookie garnish added on top for the crust. Then, I thought…that deconstruced coconut pie was from the great blog “Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.” I decided, with Peabody’s inspiration, to make my banana cream pie the same way. I used the recipe for banana cream pie to make the pie filling, spooned it into parfait bowls, added some whipped cream and then a slice of my shrunken pie crust as garnish. My family loved it and I avoided going through the process of making yet another pie crust.

This morning as I sat down to write my post, I also remembered that Peabody was having a housewarming party. Since she was my inspiration for the “Banana Cream Pudding with Pie Crust Cookie Garnish” I decided that it was only appropriate to bring this dish to her housewarming party. I cruised on over to her blog to find the deconstructed coconut pie post so I could link back to it and much to my dismay, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I searched high and low and it was gone. Had I mistaken the blog that I had read that post on? Apparently so! Good old Google to the rescue. I typed in “Coconut Pie Deconstructed” and was proven wrong. The lovely deconstructed dessert had been posted by none other than Tartelette. As soon as I saw the post, the story behind her deconstructed coconut cream pie came flowing back to me. How could I have mistaken the two?

Either way, thank you ladies for the inspiration and idea. Peabody…welcome to your new home. May your house always be filled with friendship, good food, and loving memories. Cheers! 

Don’t forget to adopt a food blogger! 

First of all, if you haven’t already, make sure you head over to my "Adopt a Food Blogger" post and put your self up for adoption or adopt a fellow foodie! Lots of people have signed up, but we are in need of some more veteran bloggers to join us.

Thanksgiving is upon us. This means glorious food, extreme gratitude, and the abundance of family surrounding us. Family that you are thankful for, but by the end of the long Thanksgiving day, you may find to be grating on your nerves.

If your family is at all like mine, we have a lot of personality and with that comes strong personalities that can sometime conflict. With five of us kids total, and each of us living completely different lives, we tend to put the "dys" in dysfunction. I love my family dearly, and would not trade any of my family members for anything, however it is sometimes hard to get through a holiday without a little help. That help, this year, comes in the form of a Snickers martini. When a glass of merlot just will not do, and you need to really relax at the end of a long holiday, follow this recipe for a concoction that will surely put you at ease. Go ahead and give it a try. You can thank me later.

Snickers Martini..WARNING: makes 2 strong martinis

4 parts Absolut Vodka

1 part Cream Liqueur

2 parts Hazelnut Liqueur

2 parts White Cacao Liqueur

I’ll admit… I am not a risk taker. Sky diving sounds terrifying to me. Swimming with sharks? No thank you! Stock market day trading? I would probably have a heart attack with all the stress that would cause me. Nope…risk taking is not my thing. My kind of risk and about as adventurous as I get is with recipes. I often risk trying something new in hopes that it will be great.

We were all really hungry tonight. We had a late breakfast and just snacked for lunch. By the time dinner was here, our tummy’s were rumbling and everyone was ready to eat something good for dinner. The deal is, I had a new recipe on the menu for tonight. I thought by the ingredients in it that we would like the recipe, but I just wasn’t sure. When my family is hungry, putting a yucky meal on the table will get me nothing but scowls and requests for PB&J. Still, being the "risk taker" that I am, I decided to take the chance.

I am so glad I took the plunge and tried this new recipe because this meal received rave reviews. I am sure that it will be on the monthly menu rotation from now on.  If you are feeling risky, try this recipe from the Oct/Nov 2007 issue of Taste of Home magazine. No safety waivers to sign and your lawyer will not have to be present. This is one risk worth taking, and I promise that it will pay off!

Romano Chicken Supreme

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 cup soft bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
• (I mixed in a cup of cooked peas when it was done baking)

In a large skillet coated with cooking spray, brown chicken on both sides over medium heat. Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt.
In the same skillet, saute the mushrooms, lemon juice, garlic and basil in butter. Stir in the broth and orange juice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Spoon over chicken; sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and chicken juices run clear. Yield: 6 servings.

You know how there are certain foods that just go together? You could not even fathom having the meal with out it’s perfect counterpart? Pizza and a coke is one example. Pizza just does not taste the same with a glass of milk or water accompanying it. Chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes. They just go together, right? If you ask my kids, they would say macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. That is a perfect combination for them. My perfect combo food is a big bowl of hot steaming chili with homemade bread. I cannot have one without the other.

As I have ranted about over the past few months, our life has been incredibly out of control lately. Between my work/family/life schedule and my husbands work/travel schedule we just cannot seem to get our feet planted firmly on the ground and stay in one place long enough to complete a thought. I had chili on the menu for dinner last night. Well, like I said before, the perfect accompaniment to a delicious bowl of chili is homemade bread. The chili just doesn’t taste the same without it. At around 4:30pm, I got the ingredients out for the chili and realized…I never made the bread. Things had been hectic, and making bread simply got put on the back burner. Knowing that it was too late in the afternoon to get homemade bread started, I picked up the phone to call my husband to stop somewhere to get a loaf of bakery bread. A thought then crossed my mind. I had visited the Kitchen Parade blog earlier this month and remembered reading a post about dinner rolls that could be on the table in 40 minutes, start to finish.  Skeptical? I was too. In my mind, it couldn’t be possible to have homemade yeast rolls that tasted good on the table that quickly, could it?

I set out to try the recipe, which was easy enough. The directions were very straightforward and took absolutely no time to put together. The result of this experience? Fresh, soft, and fluffy yeast rolls that went perfect with my chili! These really were delicious rolls and even the most beginning of bakers could whip these up in no time flat.

Next time you need homemade bread to accompany your perfect dish, give Allana’s Weeknight-Easy Rolls a try. You can find the recipe by clicking here.  Enjoy!