Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

I was in the mood for homemade pizza last night and had found a few different recipes for cheese steak pizza so I decided to give it a try. (Just google Philly cheese steak pizza and there are a TON of options!)  I pulled a little bit from a bunch of different recipes to create ours and it was fantastic! 

Shopping List:

1 pizza crust (homemade/store bought/etc...)

1/2 cup tomato sauce (we used 6 cheese from a jar)

2 oz. cream cheese

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups Italian cheese (any kind)

1/2 lb. roast beef (from the deli)

1 medium onion

1 green pepper

2 Tbsp. butter

Dash Worcestershire

Parmesan cheese

Oregano

Directions:

-Prepare crust, if needed and heat oven to directed temperature for crust (ours was 450 for a pre-made crust). 

-Saute chopped onion and pepper in a pan with the butter until caramelized, about 10-15 minutes.  Add a dash of Worcestershire at the end.

-In a small saucepan, heat the tomato sauce, cream cheese, and garlic until melted and combined. Spread thinly over crust.

-Top pizza with 1/2 of the cheese, chopped roast beef, peppers/onions, the rest of the cheese, Parmesan, and a sprinkle of oregano.

-Follow directions on crust to determine baking time. Ours was about 10-12 minutes.

The 'sauced' crust

The finished pizza, fresh out of the oven

Ready to eat!

This was a quick and simple pizza that was MUCH cheaper than ordering in!  Now I'm ready to start thinking of new ideas for pizza. Does anyone out there have any 'out of the norm' ideas? Let me know!

Happy Eating!

Pasta Fagioli

Thanks again to Pinterest for allowing me to find this wonderful recipe on Our Blissfully Domestic Life blog!  Pasta Fagioli is an Italian soup/stew and it is oh so tasty!  I know it is summer, but it has been cool this week so I decided to give it a try.  The nice part was that I now have two containers of leftovers in my freezer for the next time I want something in a flash!

Shopping List:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef

1 medium Yellow Onion, chopped

2 medium Carrots, chopped

2 stalks of Celery, chopped

2-3 cloves of Garlic, minced

1- 28 oz can of Tomatoes

1- 8 oz can Tomato Sauce

1- 15 oz can Cannelloni Beans, drained 

4 cups Beef Broth

1 & 1/2 cup Elbow Pasta

2 cups of Fresh Spinach (packed)

1 Beef Bouillon Cube (or the equivalent in Granules)

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tsp. dried Italian Seasoning

4-5 dashed of Hot Sauce (Texas Pete or Tabasco)

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (for topping)

 

Directions:

-Over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until meat is no longer pink and veggies are starting to get tender. Season with salt and pepper.

-Add in the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth(i used bouillon cubes to make my broth), bouillon cube, garlic, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Stir well and turn the heat to low.  Cover.

-Let the soup simmer for as long as you can. (I let mine go for about 2 hours, but this can be as fast a 30 minutes.) Stir occasionally.

-After the tomato sauce has simmered, add the beans and keep on low/covered for 1 more hour (or long enough to heat through if you are in quick mode).

-When you are ready to eat, cook the pasta according to directions in a separate pot.  Add the spinach into the tomato mixture and stir. Add in the hot sauce as well. This does not make it spicy, just a little background flavor!

-When the pasta is finished and drained, you can add it straight to the soup or serve it on the side to be dished into individual soup bowls.  We did ours on the side so the pasta wouldn't get mushy when we froze the leftovers. Top each serving with fresh Parmesan cheese (or the shaker kind if that's all you have on hand) :(

The finished stew



Everything ready to be eaten!



It was a little time consuming, but as I mentioned you can do this in as little as an hour if you choose.  It was a fantastic meal and I can't wait to dig into the leftovers in a few weeks!

Happy Eating!

Meat Loaf

I was never really a fan of meatloaf growing up.  I did, however, find a recipe recently that the husband loves (and I do too)!

Ingredients for the Loaf

Ingredients for the Sauce

 Shopping List:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 can tomato soup
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. dried mustard
2 tsp. Worcestershire
Salt and Pepper to taste

SAUCE:
1/2 can tomato soup
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire

Directions:
-Mix the meat ingredients together and form into loaf in a foil lined roaster (if you want to save on clean-up time).
-Combine remaining ingredients and spread a layer over the loaf. (I usually have extra leftover).
-Bake meatloaf at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Meat Loaf going into the oven:

A finished slice!

As always feel free to add your own flavors and ideas. This was adapted from my mothers recipe and added a few touches based on multiple recipes I've found in different books and online.

Happy Eating

Super Simple

One of my favorite simple meals growing up was Goulash. It has now become one of my husband's favorites as well. And when I say simple, I mean simple. Also, sorry for the crazy layout, the blog program seemed to be on the fritz, and I didn't feel like messing with it today.

The Ingredients:

Shopping List: 1 box elbow macaroni 1 lb. ground beef 1 can tomato soup 1 can corn, drained 1 tsp. sugar Salt to taste

Directions: -Cook pasta according to directions on box (we usually use 1/2 - 3/4 of the box and always have way too much left over for the two of us). Drain. -Meanwhile, cook ground beef until no longer pink. Drain off excess grease if needed. -In a large pan (your pasta pan will work well for this) combine all of the ingredients (beef, pasta, corn, soup, sugar, salt). Stir and heat over medium until well combined and piping hot. -Enjoy!

The Goulash

There aren't really mess ups with this dish because I've made it so many times. I guess you could add other things to it if you wanted, but it seems to work perfectly the way it is. Straight, simple, and to the point.

Happy Eating

Who said lasagna was hard to make?

My mom rarely made real lasagna when I was younger. Most of the time is was small pasta noodles and all the fixin's mixed together into a casserole type dish. It was and is still one of my favorites, but I never understood why we didn't get the original layered stuff. I was always told it was difficult and a hassle.

Well, sorry mom. I wanted some traditional lasagna, so I set out to do it.

The Ingredients:

Shopping List:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. ground turkey (or beef, but we love ground turkey)
1 28 oz. jar tomato sauce (we got vodka sauce, which is a little creamier)
1 package lasagna noodles
1 container cottage cheese
1 container Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp. dried basil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups Mozzarella cheese

Directions:
-Saute onion in oil until transparent. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Add tomato sauce and simmer 5-10 minutes.
-Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to directions. We like to under cook them just a bit so they soak up some of the tomato sauce while baking. Maybe about 3/4 of the time the box calls for.
-In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, egg, basil, and Parmesan. Set aside.
-Spread a thin layer of meat sauce in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan. Top with a layer of noodles. Then spread a think layer of cheese mixture on top of the noodles. Lastly, sprinkle a bit of mozzarella cheese. Follow this process of layering until you run out of ingredients. (Usually 3-5 layers). Reserve the bulk of the mozzarella cheese for later.
-Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cover top of lasagna with a decent layer of remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered for another 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let stand 10-15 minutes before cutting.

The Lasagna

A Giant Slice

As you can see, it came out wonderfully. The pictures don't really do it justice. The best part is that it seems to reheat the next day just as well.

Happy Eating

If I had a restaurant, I would name it Soupz... My inspiration would be soups...

Yes, I've been watching America's Next Great Restaurant. Yes, I know it is terrible programming, but I'm obsessed with reality television. As Kidd Kraddick would say: Get Over It! :)


The husband wanted some grilled cheese for dinner the other night, and you can't just have grilled cheese by itself. I decided to give French Onion Soup a go! It was a first attempt, and I must say it was pretty good (considering I don't normally eat French Onion Soup).

Shopping List:
2 Large Red Onions, sliced thin ( I actually used 1 red and 1 sweet)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 cans beef broth
3 cups water
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (i also used some minced garlic)
7 slices french bread (3/4 inch slices)
1 bag mozzarella shredded cheese
1 pkg. provolone cheese slices
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
-In a Dutch Oven (or really big pot), saute onions in butter until tender. The more you caramelize the onions here, the better the soup will be. You want these onions to be melt in your mouth onions. Always remember to stir often.
-Add the broth, water, soup mix, pepper, Worcestershire, garlic powder (or real minced garlic). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
-Meanwhile, place bread slices on a baking sheet ( I lined mine with foil to avoid cheesy messes later). Sprinkle each piece with mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and then top it with a slice of provolone. (feel free to use any type of cheese you like, this recipe originally called for Swiss)
-Broil 4 inches from heat source for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Ladle soup into serving bowls and top each with a toast slice.
-Yield: 7 servings.

Toast Slices... Yum

Finished Soup
If you really want to let your flavors develop, you can cook this soup much longer than 5 minutes. I would say between 30-45 minutes if you have the time.

I also noticed that our bread got super soggy right away. It might be good to toast the bread by itself before adding the cheese to give it a little more crunch.

Happy Eating