Stromboli

I don't really know if you'd classify this as a Stromboli, probably not, but its what I set out to make at least. I've never made one before so I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to a pass if it doesn't exactly look as it should.  It did however, taste pretty fantastic. Yay me!

I love using Pillsbury doughs in my cooking - they are such quick go to's that you can use to make a number of things. Of course, I'm sure it would make me beam if I were to make my own dough and then get to say Look at the dough I made! Fancy!  But I'm also quite content with the easy route of not having to go thru all the steps of making the dough. Plus I'm also still trying to conquer my fear of the  pop the dough can makes when I open it. One of these days it won't make me flinch anymore....

So Stromboli.  First off, I looked at a bunch of recipes online to gather up an idea of what I was to do.  I only bought pepperoni and sausage and figured I could fill the rest with whatever I had in the fridge.
Here's what I came up with, which made two fairly large loafs - this fed 4 and we still had leftovers.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Ground sausage (I used a 1lb tube of Jimmy Dean)
• 2 cans refrigerated pizza crust dough (I used Pillsbury 13.8oz Pizza Crust Classic)
• Sliced pepperoni (I bought a bagful and added liberally - how much is up to you)
• Spinach (I used fresh and added by the handful - again, how much is up to you)
• 1 bell pepper, diced (I used orange but you can use any color)
• 1 medium onion, diced (I used a red onion)
• Mushrooms, diced (I used 10 Baby Bella mushrooms)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 
• 1tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• Italian seasoning 
• Cooking spray or olive oil
• Spagetti sauce for dipping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 and spray some oil on a baking sheet. If you don't have cooking spray, you can just pour a teaspoons worth of olive oil on the pan and wipe it to coat with a paper towel.

2. In one skillet, cook the ground sausage.
Meanwhile, in another, sauté the onions until they are clear through.  Once this happens, add the garlic and bell pepper and cook until the peppers are soft.  Last, add the mushrooms.  Once thoroughly cooked, add to the cooked sausage and mix mix mix. Add some italian seasoning in as you'd like and set the whole thing aside (off of the heat).

3. Next, roll out one of the two pizza doughs. You may need to roll it out a little extra with a rolling pin. I did.  But not too thin, or the filling will push through the dough.

4. First, layer down the spinach.  I had bought a bag of spinach and ended up using most of it between the two strombolis.  Don't forget that spinach shrinks once cooked, so what may look like a lot piled on won't be that fluffy once cooked.

5. Next, add the sausage mix, pepperoni, and then the cheese - one layer after another.

6. Now you will want to take one end and slowly roll it all the way to the other and seal it with your fingers. Be careful when you roll as the filling will try to fall out.  Seal the sides too.

 

              BEFORE BAKING                                       AFTER BAKING (oooh ahhh!)

7. Your last step before baking is to coat the surface of the loaf with oil - spray or pour a little on your fingers. The idea is to cover the surface lightly and then you'll want to sprinkle the parmesan cheese all over it.

8.  Follow the steps above for the 2nd loaf.

9. Place in the oven for about 30 minutes. Let it cool on a rack for a bit so everything sets in its final resting spot and then slice into goodness.  Serve with the spaghetti sauce and enjoy!!

                   

                                                                                                                                  Burp*

Worms and Witch Fingers

Spaghetti and breadsticks Halloween style, served up in a couple of bell pepper pumpkins.  I had fun making this dinner as much as everyone enjoyed eating it.  There's not much more to it, so lets get to the recipe (aka its late and I'm too tired to babble on about it).

WHAT YOU"LL NEED:

• Spaghetti noodles  (however much you want to make)
• Spaghetti sauce
• Ground beef (optional if you want a meat sauce)
• Bell Peppers (orange and yellow are best. Use however many you would like to serve up)
• Bread stick dough (I used Pillsbury)
• Almonds
• Red gel dye
• Italian seasoning and/or garlic salt
• Large black olives
• 1/4 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

Pumpkin/Worms ~

Make your spaghetti as you normally would.
Hollow out the peppers and carve pumpkin faces in them.
While the spaghetti noodles are boiling, make your witch finger breadsticks - see directions below.
When noodles are done, add your sauce and loosely fill the peppers.  
Before its too full, slice the olives in half and place them inside the pepper behind the cuts for the eyes.

Witch Fingers ~
Shape the breadstick dough into knobby fingers.
You can use a knife to mark up the knuckles.
Dab some red gel dye on the tips of each finger and press an almond into it.
Brush the tops of the finger with the melted butter and sprinkle with the seasoning.
Bake per directions on the packaging.

Spooky Pizza

If your household is like mine, pizza is a quick and easy go to meal for those days you don't feel like doing much. In keeping up with the Halloween theme, I stumbled upon this great homemade pizza recipe thats loaded with spinach, cheese, ghosts and pumpkins.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 1 tube of pizza dough (I used Pillsbury or you can make your own from scratch)
• 1 cup pizza sauce (I just used some Prego spaghetti sauce)
• Spinach
• Shredded cheese
• Slices of pre-sliced mozzarella and cheddar cheese
• Pepperoni slices
• Cookie cutters - ghost, pumpkin (or whatever you want)

WHAT TO DO:

Roll out your pizza dough and add your toppings. 

Bake according to directions on the can of dough.

Using the cookie cutters on the pre-sliced cheese, cut your shapes out.

Once you pull the pizza out of the oven, place the shapes on it and add eyes - I used pepperoni but you can use anything, olives, etc.  

Place back into the oven for about 30 seconds.

Remove, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before serving it up.

(Adapted from Within The Kitchen)

Meat Demons

 

(adapted from Taste of Home)

Meat Demons are the greatest little evil meat pies ever!! These things started out as pumpkins but once carved and cooked they took on a totally different feel and thanks to a fellow meat demon lover (I don't even know if that sounded right), they have officially been dubbed: Meat Demon -  instead of Pumpkin Turnovers.. or something equally lame like that.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1tbs chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tubes (16.3 ounces each) large refrigerated flaky biscuits (Pillsbury Grands is perfect).
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Nonstick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

So ideally, you need a couple tubes of Pillsbury biscuit dough. I didn't have any and I wasn't about to run out to the store,  so I resorted to using Pillsbury Crescent dough because I had at least four tubes of that. The outcome is pretty much similar, its just much more of a pain to have to roll it into a ball and flatten it out. The major plus of using the biscuit dough is that its already round and you just have to cut it in half (two flat pieces).  The point here is that it can be substituted with what you have available. 

What a pain!! Make sure you buy the biscuit dough instead and save yourself the time! There are 8 perfect biscuits in each tube. Carefully slice each one in half so you have 2 disks (this will be the top and bottom of the turnover).  If you use other dough like I did, just roll it into a ball and flatten into 3-4 inch disks.

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Cook your ground beef in a skillet with the chopped onions. You can add salt, pepper, or whatever hamburger seasoning you'd like.  Once cooked, add the shredded cheese and mix it in, followed by the ketchup and mustard.  Blend completely.

Spray a baking sheet with the nonstick spray. 

Place one disk down and scoop about a tablespoon worth of the meat mixture into it. More if there is room.

Carve out your pumpkin, ghost, demon face in the 2nd (top) disk, and place it on top of the meat mixture.  

Pinch all around the sides to seal the pocket.

Lightly brush the surface with the egg and bake for 10-15 minutes or according to the dough package.  You basically want the outside to be a nice golden brown. 

 

                   

DINNER IS SERVED!