Pizza Panini

Super FAST and EASY recipe coming at you today....and of course, TOTALLY TASTY!
In case you didn't know...panini is just fancy-talk for a grilled-cheese like sandwich.  I do not have a panini press, so I put these on my grill pan and topped it with a cookie sheet, weighted with a big-ol butcher block cutting board on top of that.  Cause I'ma fancy that way, lol!
Everyone loved these...like I was the "coolest Mom EVER" loved them. I threw a salad on the plate and I was done-daddy-done.


Pizza Panini
Recipe Source:  Life as a Lofthouse via Cassie Craves

• 1 box frozen Texas Toast Garlic bread
• Pizza Sauce (jarred or homemade)
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Pepperoni and/or other favorite pizza toppings

Place the frozen garlic bread on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil, and bake according to package directions, making sure they don't get too crispy.
Meanwhile, heat your panini press, grill pan, or skillet to medium-high heat.
Take one piece of cooked garlic bread and top with favorite pizza toppings. (Sauce, Cheese, etc)
Top with another piece of garlic bread and place on panini press. Close lid and cook until cheese melts and sandwich is hot. About 2-3 minutes.
Repeat with remaining pieces of garlic bread and pizza toppings. You can serve extra dipping sauce on the side if you would like.  Serve immediately!

This recipe has been linked up at:
This Chick Cooks

Chicken Suiza Melts

I don't know about you, but I am still recovering from Christmas and New Years...in fact, my tree and decor is still up (((gasp!)))  It doesn't help that I tweaked my lower back this week and ended up on a heating pad for the first part of the week.  Whatever the reason, my house is still thrashed and I still feel like I ran a 2 week race.   It is times like this (as well as many other times our crazy schedule has us running, running, running), I love a super quick and easy meal that is super tasty for the entire family and makes minimal mess.  This recipe definitely fits that bill.  I made the kiddos little sliders using Hawaiian Sweet Rolls and made ours using store bought Kaiser Rolls.  This delicious 15-minute ditty is a definite repeat for sure!

Chicken Suiza Melts
Recipe Source:  Cassie Craves via Everyday with Rachael Ray

• 1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 1/2 cups store-bought tomatillo salsa or salsa verde
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded
• 4 crusty sandwich rolls, split
• 4 slices Monterey jack cheese

Preheat the broiler. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and honey, then stir in the salsa and heat through. Mix in the sour cream. Stir in the chicken to coat.
Pile the chicken mixture on the roll bottoms. Top with the cheese and broil to melt.

This recipe has been linked up at:
The Country Cook
Tidy Mom
Simply Sweet Home
This Chick Cooks

Loaded Chicken Philly Sammies

Chicken Philly Sammies PLUS Homemade Hoagie Rolls (or hamburger buns, or french rolls, or whatever shape you want to make them into roll)  PLUS a pretty please :)
First, the Loaded Chicken Philly Sammies. 

I adapted this fabulous recipe from my dear bloggy friend Jill Pickle, who adapted it from The Country Cook.  So, here is my version, loaded with EVERYTHING!

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of thick sliced bacon, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 2 TBSP butter
• 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper (your choice, green, yellow, or red....or a combo), sliced
• 6 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 TBSP lemon pepper seasoning
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 slices of provolone cheese
• 4 hoagie rolls, recipe below.  Feel free to substitute whatever bun you or your bakery may have
• REAL, good quality mayo.  I like Hellman's or Duke's best, but for gracious sake, do NOT use Miracle Whip!

Chunk up your chicken, toss into a bowl and season with lemon pepper and salt. Stir to coat all the pieces well.  Add the diced onion, sliced pepper and mushrooms to the chicken bowl.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, add your chopped bacon and cook for a few minutes until done. Scoop out and drain on a paper towel. Set aside. Leave the bacon grease in the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the bacon grease. Turn heat down to medium.
Toss in the chicken/veggies into the bacon/melted butter and cook for 8 minutes or so, stirring often to break up the pieces and evenly cook on all sides. Add in the bacon and stir. (taste now for additional salt or pepper if you need)
In the skillet, divide up the chicken mix into 4 portions and separate. Add a piece of provolone cheese to each portion and allow to melt over top. While cheese is melting, put mayo on both sides of your bun. Scoop your portion onto your buns and serve.

Now, onto these A-MAZING Hoagie Rolls!

It should be no surprise that Mel, from My Kitchen Cafe, is a favorite of mine.  This recipe for her French Bread Rolls morphs by shape into whatever I need it to be.  It truly is a fabulous sandwich roll.  I have used it as hamburger buns, hoagie rolls, and just as a sandwich roll.  You won't be disappointed....and I have to say, adding a freshly made roll to any sandwich really ups the flavor!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls....or shape into whatever shape you need it to be.  Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth (or greased saran wrap), and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.  If you want the top crusty, spray some water into the oven a couple times in the first 5 minutes of baking.



photo courtesy of Muir Woods



And now, for the pretty please.
Pretty please E-MAIL me your favorite Thanksgiving recipes by this Saturday. 
This is a great way for all of us to share recipes....especially those without a blog!
Just send your recipe to:  siggyspice(at)gmail(dot)com and if you have anything you would like to promote, i.e., Etsy Shop, Blog, Website, Business, etc.  give me that information as well and I will publish it along side your recipe.

These recipes are linked up at:
Nikki's Nifty Knacks
Tidy Mom
Simply Sweet Home
Frou Frou Decor
Eat at Home

Super Simple Sliders

I have had the most exhausting weekend.....shopping, shopping, and more shopping.  Not the fun kind of shopping that you can leisurely do with an iced coffee in between stores.  It was doing the big grocery shopping WITH school supplies, WITH curriculum shopping, and finally (and most exhausting) WITH school clothes shopping.  Ok, maybe it is silly that we do school clothes shopping since we homeschool, but we did.  You just seem to have a better day when you get ready for the day and wear cute clothes.  Ok, so maybe it is more of a goal of mine that I am dragging the kids along for the ride.  I know many mom's can shout out the "amen!" on that one....it is one of the hardest transitions to make.  Going from having your hair and makeup done by 7:30am to barely being able to squeeze in a shower let alone do anything aside from a pony tail and transition from jammies to sweats.  This has absolutely nothing to do with the recipe I am sharing today...just something that my now-"babies-sucked-my-brain-cells" mind fixates on.   I am not sure there is any kind of bridge I can make at this point that would take us from shopping, exhaustion, and jammies to these Super Simple Sliders.  Other than the fact, they are SIMPLE!  Total bonus, they taste awesome!  The original recipe from Mommy's Kitchen has them titled as "White Castle Sliders" but since I have never had a White Castle burger, I couldn't tell you how similar they are.  Aside from being yummy, the kiddos love them because they are miniature and I love them because they are EASY!  No forming or flipping here!

Ingredients:

• Scant (not full) 1/4 cup dried minced onion
• 2 pounds ground beef.  It is recommended that you use 80/20.  I used 85/15 and they didn't shrink up to completely fit the sheet of dinner rolls, but I was ok with that.
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt.  I used Lawry's, but how I longed for my long-lost Johnnies......
• 6 slices of your cheese of choice
• 12 count package of dinner rolls.  I used the King's Hawaiian Dinner Rolls just like I did in these yummy nibbles

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
In a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle the dried minced onions evenly over bottom.  Gently and evenly, press the ground beef into a large rectangle on top of the dried minced onion, patting the top to make level and smooth.  Sprinkle the seasoned salt on top of the meat and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, remove from oven and pat top of meat with paper towels to remove the excess grease.  Place cheese slices on top and return to oven for another minute or so, until the cheese is melted.  At this point, I made a little bed of brown paper bag and paper towels on a cutting board and removed the meat, keeping it in one piece, with a GIANT BBQ spatula.  I allowed the excess grease to soak up on it's special little resting place while I sliced the package of rolls in half horizontally.  Then, using the GIANT BBQ spatula again, I placed the meat on the bottom of the rolls, and topped with the top half of rolls.  Cut into individual little servings and viola....sliders!!
The possibilities are endless here....I am already thinking of doing a Mushroom Swiss version, maybe even add in some bacon.  Create and enjoy!

This recipe has been linked up to:
Simply Sweet Home:  Friday Favorites

Ham and Swiss Party Rolls

I hope you all had a great weekend! 
Today's recipe is one of those scrumptious, why-haven't-I-tried-you-before foods that is perfectly versatile!You can make it as an appetizer, snack,. lunch, or dinner.   I have had people tell me they take it to Bunco parties, people who make it as a change of pace to normal ham and cheese sandwiches, people that make it to sit and much on while they drink an adult beverage watching True Blood getting lost in all the vampire hotness....or maybe that one was just me, haha!  Whatever the reason for making them, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

• ½ pounds Sliced Ham
• 5 slices Swiss Cheese
• 1 package King's Hawaiian Rolls
• ½ cups Melted Butter
• ½ teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ teaspoons Dry Mustard
• 1-½ teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds

The rolls will look like a large solid piece of bread. Leave the rolls intact and slice the loaf in half with a long knife to form a top layer and a bottom layer.
Place ham and cheese on bottom layer of rolls, then place top layer of rolls over ham and cheese and place in a 9×13 pan. Mix together melted butter, Worcestershire, dry mustard, and onion powder. Pour mixture over top of rolls and sprinkle poppy seeds over top.
Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.


Recipe Source:  Tasty Kitchen member Tidy Mom

This recipe has been linked up at:
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck