Monday Meals

Monday Meals - The Very Best Alfredo Sauce

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We love some Alfredo sauce around these parts. Let me rephrase. We love cheese. All cheese. Any cheese. including cheese sauce. So realizing Alfredo is so easy to make is the bestest news ever and you need to know it!

  • 1/2 c butter

  • 1-1/2 c heavy whipping cream

  • 2 tsps minced Garlic

  • 2 c freshly grated parmesan cheese - not too thick or it doesn’t melt smoothly, and not the shaker cheese because it’s not quite right either.

  • salt & pepper to taste

Italian seasoning if desired

Add butter & cream to a large pan

Simmer for 2 minutes over low heat

Whisk in garlic and seasonings - stir for one minute

Whisk In the cheese until melted

Serve immediately!

Seriously so easy and incredibly flavorful! out of this world! Makes about 2 cups of sauce

Let me know how it turns out for you and if you love it as much as we do - we use on pasta and on pizza!

Monday Meals - Black Magic cake

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The most amazing Chocolate cake that you might ever taste! It’s amazingly moist and you never taste it’s secret ingredient - coffee!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 3/4 c all purpose flour

2 c sugar

3/4 c cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 c strong black coffee, cooled

1 c buttermilk

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 tsp real vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 c margarine, softened

2 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled

3 c powdered sugar

3 T milk

2 tsp real vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.

Beat all ingredients at medium speed for two minutes.

Pour into a 9x13 baking dish that’s been greased and floured, or two 8” round pans.

Bake for 35-40 min, or 30-35 min for rounds.

Let cakes cool.

Combine frosting ingredients with a mixer and frost the cakes.

Trust me. Amazing cake…can’t go wrong!

Monday Meals - Homemade Pizza

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We started a new favorite tradition last summer.

Homemade pizza on Sunday nights.

We didn’t know we were starting something, but it turned out fantastic and we love making our own home made crust, sauce and assembling each pizza as we like them. With a fun woodfire pizza oven that we keep outside, we can prep dinner start to finish in an hour or less. Flavor filled and delicious, I want you to have the crust recipe and sauce recipe to try yourselves. But you might wonder if you have to have your own pizza oven. Good news - You don’t! Cook inside no problem!

Classic Pizza Dough

Flour, salt, water and yeast – what do these simple ingredients have in common? They come together to create the perfect foundation for any good pizza!

Ingredients
Makes 5 x 12in (30cm) pizzas - equivalent to 5 x 5½oz (160g) dough balls
or
Makes 3 x 16in (40cm) pizzas - equivalent to 3 x 9½ oz (270g) dough balls

1¼ cups (300ml) cold water
2 tsp (10g) salt
¼oz (7g) fresh yeast (if unavailable, use ½ tsp (3g) active dried yeast or ⅓ tsp (2g) instant dried yeast)
4½ cups (500g) “00” flour, plus extra for dusting

Method
Place two-thirds of the water in a large bowl. In a saucepan or microwave, bring the other third of water to boil, then add it to the cold water in the bowl. This creates the correct temperature for activating yeast. Whisk the salt and yeast into the warm water.

If mixing by hand:
Place the flour in a large bowl and pour the yeast mixture into it. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form. Continue mixing by hand until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead with both hands for about 10 minutes, until it is firm and stretchy. Return the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

If using a mixer:
Fit the mixer with the dough hook and place the flour in the mixer bowl. Turn the machine on at a low speed and gradually add the yeast mixture to the flour. Once combined, leave the dough to keep mixing to at the same speed for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is firm and stretchy. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

When the dough has roughly doubled in size, divide it into 3 or 5 equal pieces, depending on what size you want your pizzas to be (either 12 inches or 16 inches wide). Place each piece of dough in a separate bowl or tray, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for another 20 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Note:
It’s also possible to cold-prove your dough, a technique that allows the yeast to work on the sugars in the flour for longer, thus helping the dough to develop a deeper flavor. To do this, use half the amount of yeast listed in the ingredients, and leave the dough to rise in the fridge for 24-72 hours – basically, until the day you need it. Divide the dough and cover it as described in the main recipe, then set aside (not in the fridge) for at least 5 hours, until it is up to room temperature.

Kneading and stretching the dough:
Our top tip is always to start with a perfectly rounded ball of dough as this helps to keep the shape of the pizza base circular during the stretching process. Place the ball on a lightly floured surface, flour your hands and use your fingertips to press the dough into a small, flat disc. Working from the center, push the dough outwards while spreading  your fingers, making the disc slightly bigger. Pick up the dough and gently pinch it all around the edge, allowing gravity to pull it downwards into a 12-inch (30cm) circle. Neapolitan-style pizza bases are very thin, so you should be able to see through the base when you hold it up to the light. Take care when doing this – you don’t want it to tear.

Once the dough is fully stretched, lightly flour your pizza peel and lay the base on it. If at this point you see any small holes in the dough, gently pinch them back together.

This recipe originally appeared here - https://ooni.com/blogs/recipes/classic-pizza-dough-how-to-make-it-perfect

Pizza Sauce

Use 1 tsp. of olive oil to soften 3-4 garlic cloves chopped/minced. Be careful not to let them brown to much - keep your temperature low!

Add one can of stewed tomatoes - whole. Now the best part. Squeeze the tomatoes with your hands into the pan. Yep…squeeze them - I know - you can wash your hands when you are done so don’t worry too much!

Let this lumpy mixture simmer for awhile - 10 minutes or so.

Add chopped basil, salt and pepper to taste and 1 T honey.

Continue to let it simmer.

Taste and add seasonings or sweetness until you are satisfied.

Add your favorite toppings and bake your pizzas until the cheese is melted and crust is crisp.

ENJOY - let me know how it turns out for you!

Monday Meals - Roast Beef Sliders

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I can’t wait to share these with you!

These sliders are a big hit around not only my house, but also our small group and a recent church event! These are so good I don’t want anyone else to make them and bring them to events I’m making food for, but I’m going to share it anyway…lol!!

I hope you will enjoy them as much as we have!

Roast Beef Sliders

  • Melt 2 T butter

  • Sweat ½ onion chopped in melted butter until soft and translucent

  • Slice 1 pkg Hawaiian Sweet rolls in half. Don’t break the rolls apart, try to have one complete layer. Place the bottoms in a lightly greased pan.

  • Layer 1/2- 3/4 lb. deli sliced Provolone on top of the bottom layer of rolls.

  • Followed by same amount of Deli sliced Roast Beef

  • Add onions

  • Replace the tops

    Mix together the following for the sauce (I whisk together to try to get the gravy packet completely dissolved)

  • 8 t butter melted

  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 pkg au jus gravy packet

  • ¾ garlic powder

  • ½ tsp onion powder

  • T sesame seeds

    Pour over the top (or brush on for more even distribution) and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese melts

    Slice and serve and ENJOY!

Let me know if you love them as much as we do - and share your pictures - I’d love to see them.