Homemade Mexican Chicken Pizza

Mmm!  This is a recipe that will definitely be used again and again.  We loved it!  For those of you who saw my photo on instagram or facebook of my pizza, you'll notice we made it with a whole wheat crust.  No I didn't actually take the time to make that myself.  I bought the dough from Trader Joe's.  Don't buy the Pillsbury pizza dough.  Either make your own or find a dough that is like it's made at home.  I would definitely recommend Trader Joe's if you have one close by!  Hope ya'll enjoy this as much as we did! 

Mexican Chicken Pizza

Makes 2 pizzas

Recipe and Photo taken from We Like Two Cook

Ingredients

For the chicken:

3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons cilantro
1/2 lb. chicken breasts

For the black beans:

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

For the queso sauce:

6 ounces white American cheese, shredded
7 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon canola oil
Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped tomato
1/3 cup milk, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons cilantro

For the pizza:

1/4 cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
Cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
Pizza dough for 2 pizzas (someday we’ll get around to sharing our favorite recipe…)

Directions

For the chicken:
In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade. Place chicken breasts in a large ziploc bag, pour in the marinade, seal, and shake the coat the chicken. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add the chicken (you can also use your grill). Cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then cut into small pieces. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the black beans:

Combine the beans, red onion, and jalapeno in a bowl. Set aside until ready to use.

For the queso:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the jalapeno and onion. Cook for five minutes or so until softened. Stir in the cheese and milk until smooth, adding more milk as needed to make it thick but pourable/spreadable. Stir in the tomatoes and cilantro. You shouldn’t use pre-shredded cheese for this sauce. Keep the queso cooking on your stove’s lowest setting so it stays fluid while you are assembling your pizza.

For the pizza:

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees with the pizza stone on the center rack. Press one ball of pizza dough out on a piece of parchment paper into a circle. Top with nice layer of queso (somewhere between a half and 2/3 cup) and then add the chicken, black beans, tomatoes, and cheddar. Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes, until the crust is starting to brown and the cheese is bubbly. Arrange half of the avocado slices on pizza in a circle. Cut into slices and serve. Repeat. Enjoy!

Note: If your queso seizes up at all, just re-melt it over low heat. You’ll have some extra queso sauce- either dip the crust or corn chips in it!

Banana Bars with Browned Butter Glaze

Banana Bars with Browned Butter Glaze

Banana Bars or Monkey Bars with Browned Butter Glaze
Photo & Recipe from : Pine Cones & Acorns

Ingredients:

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Directions:

 Heat oven to 375F.  Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts(optional). Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Frosting:

Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Mix until smooth. Immediately spread over the cake while warm, it spreads much easier. 

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
{From RecipeSwagger}


2 whole large Cloves Of Garlic Minced
2 Tbl Olive Oil
2 10 3/4 oz Cans of Condensed Tomato Soup
1/4 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped or 2 Tbl Of Sun Dried Tomato Paste
2 cups Half-and-half
2 cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 Tbl Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 whole 9 Oz Package Of Cheese Filled Tortellini
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese, for garnish 


Saute garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown.
Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get too brown or burnt.
When the garlic is done, add tomato soup, tomatoes, half and half, chicken stock and spices.
Bring to a simmer.
Once simmering, drop tortellini into the soup. Cook according to the package directions.
After tortellini are cooked, ladle soup into bowls and top with parmesan cheese.

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes w/ Maple Buttercream

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

yourcupofcake

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes:

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cup sugar

3 eggs

2 egg whites

3 1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Maple Buttercream:

½ cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese

2 teaspoons Mapleine  (maple flavoring)

4 cups powdered sugar

Milk, as needed

Cinnamon sugar and fresh blueberries to decorate

Note: If you really want to treat yourself, put a warm cupcake in a bowl and pipe some of this maple buttercream over it and let in melt into the cake.  It is absolutely divine.

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners (yields 24)

2.    Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.    On low speed, add eggs and egg whites one at a time until each in fully incorporated.

4.    In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together.

5.    Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the wet (milk, vanilla extract and sour cream).  Let each ingredient fully mix in before adding another, still be careful not to over mix.

6.   Fold in blueberries.    Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for about 18 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.   Maple Buttercream: Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add maple flavoring and powdered sugar and let beat again.  If needed, add 1 tablespoon of milk to loosen.

7. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with cinnamon sugar and berries.

- See more at: http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2011/08/blueberry-pancake-cupcakes.html#more/

Creamy White Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups

Creamy White Chicken Lasagna Roll Ups

Cooking Classy
Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded*
• 8 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided (2 cups)
• 1 oz. finely shredded Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)
• 1 oz. finely shredded Romano cheese (1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare lasagna noodles according to the directions listed on package, drain pasta and align noodles in a single layer on a large sheet of wax paper.
• In a mixing bowl toss together shredded chicken, 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese and 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, set aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer set on low speed, blend cream cheese until smooth, then mix in milk, dried basil, garlic powder, onion powder and season with salt and pepper to taste (I hardly used any salt and 1/2 tsp pepper). Pour half of the cream cheese mixture into the chicken mixture and toss to evenly coat, reserve remaining cream cheese mixture.
• Spread 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture into an even layer along the length of each cooked lasagna noodle then roll noodles to opposite end. Spread 1/4 cup of the remaining cream cheese mixture along the bottom of a 9 x 9-inch dish or along 2/3 of a 13 x 9-inch dish (I tried fitting it into an 8 x 8 and it just wasn't going to happen so a 9 x 9 should work. I don't own a 9 x 9 so I had to compromise and use a 13 x 9 and just use 2/3 of the dish). Align pasta snugly and side by side in baking dish - 3 rows of 3. Cover each lasagna roll evenly with remaining cream cheese mixture, being sure to cover tops of pasta entirely so they don't dry while baking. Sprinkle tops evenly with remaining 1 cup Mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven 25 - 30 minutes until heated through and cheese has melted. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley. Serve warm.
• *I like to slow cook the chicken, it seems like the easiest method and always yields tender results. To cook, I poured 1 can low-sodium chicken broth over 2 medium chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cooked 6 hours, then removed and shredded into very small pieces.