Friday Favorite Finds

Happy Friday! I'm linking up with SnoWhite for her weekly "Friday Favorite Finds" where we share the recipes we've been spying this week. Hop on over to her blog and check out the great recipes!

Here are mine:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Monkey Bread

from: Picky Palate

Chicago Style Pot Pizza-Take 3

from: Eat at Home Cooks

Chicken Florentine Bow Tie Pasta Bake

from: Picky Palate

Just a few this week as it's been busy around here!

Enjoy!

Pizza Sauce-My Quest for the perfect one!

French bread pizza-another favorite in our house!

The past few years I've experimented with so many different dough recipes until I found my favorite one. You can find the recipe here. I love it and so does Hubby. It makes a great whole wheat thin crust just the way we like it. I've been dabbling in homemade pizza's for about 4 years now and love the taste so much better than frozen, though I don't turn my nose up at frozen. If we're in the mood for one we certainly go get one but we try and make our own as much as possible.

Lately, I've been looking for our perfect pizza sauce and have yet to come up with one. I have one (recipe here) but I haven't liked it very much lately. I found another one from What Meghan's Making and tried it this past Friday but it's just okay to me. I feel like it could be our recipe but it's missing something, I'm just not sure what it is. And don't get me started on store bought. Yuck! I just don't like it; it tastes really fake to me and weird too. I can't explain it, it just does.

So, I need your help! I need a great pizza sauce recipe and I want to know your recipes. Please help!!!

Menu Plan Monday-August 8

Week of: August 8-August 14

Monday:

Bbq chicken with sauteed peppers over brown rice

(My homemade bbq sauce recipe)

Tuesday:

Lasagna

(Unfortunately this is a store-bought version since I haven't found a great homemade version. Do you have one you'd like to share with me?)

Wednesday:

Lean Cuisine Meal

(We got it in our Angel Food box last month)

Thursday-Sunday:

Nyla, my mom and I are headed to Kansas City, Kansas to see my little sister. We were supposed to go in March but Ny got very sick and we had to call the ambulance; hoping that doesn't happen again and we're all healthy enough to go! So Hubby is on his own, but I have stocked the freezers with good meals so he won't starve!!! :)

Sunday:

Fettucini Alfredo

(We got this in our Angel Food box last month)

What are you cooking this week?

This post is linked to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Friday Favorite Finds

Welcome Friday! I'm ready for the weekend and I know y'all are too!!

I'm linking up with SnoWhite at Joy in my Kitchen for her weekly addition of Friday Favorite Finds where we share recipes we've been eyeing all week long and can't wait to try. Come link up and join the fun!

Here are the recipes I've been looking at:

Crock pot spaghetti sauce

from: A Season for All Things

Crock pot spaghetti sauce 2

from: Joy in my Kitchen

I'm going to combine these 2 recipes to come up with my own, at least that's the plan!

Sourdough Starter/Bread

from: Annie's Eats

I've been looking for a starter for awhile and might finally take the plunge into the process, we'll see!

That's all I've got this week since we've been busy around here. Have a great weekend!

BBQ Cheddar Chicken Roll-Ups

Last week I used some fresh vegetables (bell pepper and jalapenos) from my garden to help with this delicious chicken dish. I had leftover homemade tortillas in the freezer that I defrosted and was able to make this chicken dish in about 15 minutes. I like that kind of dinner night!

Because of the jalapenos the dish was a little spicier than we like, but the flavor was spot on.

Happy Cooking!

BBQ Cheddar Chicken Roll-Ups

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:

1 each-large green and red pepper, cut into strips

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into strips*

1/3 cup bbq sauce (my homemade version)

4 whole wheat tortillas, warmed (homemade tortilla's recipe)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook veggies about 3 minutes, add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add in bbq sauce and heat through.

2. Spoon chicken mixture down center of tortillas, top with cheese. Roll up and cut in half.

3. Serve and enjoy!

*You could always use pre-cooked chicken if you're in a hurry. OR try my whole chicken in the crock pot, shred when done and somewhat cooled and freeze for later use. I do that all the time!

See wasn't that easy?? :)

Homemade Wheat Tortillas

Have I mentioned how much I love SnoWhite's recipes over at Joy in my Kitchen? Okay, I thought so, but I wanted to tell you again! :)

Quite a few months ago I ran across her wheat tortilla recipe. I saved it on my "recipes to try" list for awhile, then printed it out and it sat in my recipe binder for quite some time, months in fact. About 6 weeks ago I finally tried them. Yes, it seemed overwhelming looking at the recipe, I mean they're homemade tortillas for goodness sakes. I can easily buy them right? Well not anymore! This recipe is too good to go out and buy some now. And they're surprisingly easy to put together. Don't be daunted because they're homemade. They're actually quite fun to roll out! And they freeze great to be used later. I actually pulled some out of the freezer just last week to use and they tasted just as good as if they were hot off the griddle. So that's win-win.

Homemade Wheat Tortillas-from SnoWhite

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Yield: about 10-12 tortillas

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup warm water

1/4 oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

In a bowl, stir together oil, water, salt and baking powder. Slowly stir in 3 cups flour.

When mixed, knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes.

Form into a ball and set aside for 10 minutes to rest.

Cut dough in half and divide each half into 5-6 balls. Form them into balls and set aside for another 10 minutes (resting makes them easier to work with).

Using your rolling pin roll out on a floured surface, in an 8-10 inch circle. It won't be a perfect circle, don't fret!

Preheat griddle to 350 F and place tortillas in a single layer on hot griddle. Cook on there 3-5 minutes, per side, until a little brown and bubbly.

Then use in any recipe you like. They're worth it, try them!

Strawberry Fruit Pizza

Fruit pizza, who doesn't love it? I had someone tell me the other day, "There for a while everyone was making fruit pizza at get-togethers, then suddenly they stopped. It's not like it wasn't good anymore!" And I couldn't agree more!

The past few weeks I've been spending a decent amount of time getting my recipes organized through Google Docs and have really enjoyed it. It's given me a chance to look through some of the recipes that I've collected but never made or haven't made in quite awhile. This is one of those recipes. It's actually a combination of recipes that I have. This recipe is for strawberry pizza and a fruit pizza I made a few years ago.

The variations I did were, no cool whip in the topping (b/c I didn't have any); 4 oz cream cheese instead of 8 oz and I added half a stick of room temperature butter. I also added more than just strawberries on the top. And for the glaze the container was only about 13 oz, not 16 and that was more than enough.

It was my first time to make this actual crust, I usually use my sugar cookie recipe, but this one was great and much easier to put together.

Strawberry Fruit Pizza

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Strawberry Pizza

From: Julie Richardson

Yields: 1 pizza

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups flour

½ cup powdered sugar

2 sticks butter, softened

Mix until like dough and spread over ungreased pizza pan.

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until light tan.

Cool completely.

Topping:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 (8 oz) cool whip

Cream sugar and cheese together.

Add cool whip and mix together.

Spread over cooled crust.

Clean 2 quarts strawberries, sliced and mix with 1 (16 oz) jar of continental strawberry glaze.

Spread over pizza.

Refrigerate before serving, 2+ hours.

Store leftovers in fridge.

This post is linked to Blessed With Grace for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.