Beef Pocket

There is a pizzeria that we use to live by that made fantastic beef pockets. Sadly they don't delivery 45 minutes away.  :(

But the recipe that I threw together could quite possibly be better then the pizzeria.

It's fairly simple, the crust is homemade, thick and tender and a crunchy outer shell.
The beef filling I use is Papa Charlie's Italian beef (that stuff is SOOO good).

If you are an experienced baker, this crust recipe is a classic and you pretty much know what expect. But if you are new to the whole bake it yourself, I'll go step by step. It really is pretty easy, especially if you you have a stand mixer (Kitchen Aid).

Pizza Crust Dough

 

3 to 3 1/4 cups flour

1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup hot water (120 degrees to 130 degrees)

2 tbsp. cooking oil

   

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. 

Add water and oil.

Mix with dough attachment or by hand until it is stiff and smooth and elastic. 

Place in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap to rest for an hour, or until double in size (if just crust for pizza, divide dough in two halves)

Place in a warm area, the counter should be fine, just away form cool or cold drafts. I placed mine in the sun to act as a proofer*.

Once the dough is doubled in size, roll out on a floured surface with a rolling pin to a desired size** (about twice the size of your baking pan).

While you are prepping the dough, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next take a fork and poke holes into it. This is called docking the dough, perforated holes like the ones you see on saltine crackers.

 

Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Now it is ready for the filling.

*A warm and moist area (usually a box) that the dough sits in and helps it to rise quicker. The plastic wrap locks in the moisture so the dough doesn't dry out and get a crust on it while it rises.

**If you want to make just a regular pizza, about 13 inches is ideal for both crusts. Or, you don't have to divide the dough and you can make it a thick crust.

Beef pocket

 

1 1/2 pounds of Italian beef in juice

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

          or an Italian cheese mix, shredded

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. ground basil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 Pizza crust (see above recipe)

I used Papa Charlie's Italian Beef that you buy frozen at the super market. Let it thaw to room temp or thaw in the fridge. Separate the juice in another container (you will use this as the dipping juice).

Add the beef and the cheese to one side of the pocket.

Moisten the edge (on the filling side) with milk at least 1 inch width.

Next, fold the empty half over the filling and pinch and fold the ends to lock in the insides.

 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Brush the top of the crust with milk and sprinkle the cheese mix on top evenly.

Cover the crust with aluminum foil and place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, about 10 minutes prior to being done, remove the foil to get a nice golden brown finish.

The last 5 minutes it's in the oven, place the juice in a medium sauce pan and heat on low until hot.

Portion out the juice into little cups for dipping.

It's best to serve right away, you don't want to miss that gooey cheesiness!

It is one of my favorite comfort foods, all that cheese and beef! YUM!

Easy Sugar Cookies

These are a must for any cookie baker. These you can bake as a ball or roll it out into shaped cookies. This recipe is for regular drop cookies.

The recipe follows the traditional cookie formula, wet mix then dry mix, then blend.

SUGAR COOKIES

 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 cup all purpose flour

1 egg

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Extra sugar for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combined flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Set aside

Then, in a mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.

Add sugar to the butter and mix.

Next, add egg and the vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Now add the oil. It will have a soupy consistency.

Take the dry mix and add it to the wet mix a little at a time, so not to make a mess while the mixer does it's magic.

Drop the cookie ball into the extra sugar to coat the top.

Then take the cookie balls (sugar side up) and place them 1 inch apart on a prepared cookie sheet.

You can use the bottom of a glass to press down slightly on top of the balls to flatten them to a more uniform shape.

Pop in the oven for 10 minutes.
They will be very light in color and soft on the inside.

 But if you want a crisper cookie leave in for a couple more minutes.

I love the fact that a good chunk of sugar cookie recipes that I have made over the years are not overly sweet, like this one.

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

I've had this recipe for a while now and tweaked a little bit over the years to get the best look and taste. It's a fairly simple recipe.

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups peanut butter chips

(optional: your choice of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Use your method of cookie sheet prepping (foil, cooking spray, baking mats, etc.).

Cream the butter until smooth.

Then add the peanut butter, mix until well blended and creamy.

Next, incorporate the sugar and honey, beat well.

Add the egg, then the vanilla extract. Mix until all is smooth.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda and powder.

The add the dry with the moist, adding a little at a time.

 

Then finally add the peanut butter chips for a few seconds.

 

Chill for about a half an hour. The dough is thin and will not take long to firm up a little. 

Use a spoon or cookie scoop and put the dough on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. You can use the traditional fork method of pressing down the dough.  I just wet my fingers and pressed it down.

Next, if you want, sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top.

Place them in the oven for 9 minutes. Ovens temperatures  do very, so if you know your oven well, adjust accordingly. 

ENJOY!

 With and without the chocolate chips.

Easy Fruit Salad

This fruit salad I make on a weekly basis and I take it in my lunch for work. This is where I get most of my fruit servings for the week.

It is very simple to make, just remember to rinse off your fruit first (if you are eating the skin).

 

Fruit Salad

 

All you need is:

cantaloupe

 red delicious  apples

granny smith apples

red or green grapes

oranges

Quarter the cantaloupe and cut off the skin.

Peel the oranges.

Core the apples.

Then, all you have to do it slice, cut, chop and cube your way through these yummy guys.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

A good tip for your apples to not turn brown is to cut them up first and soak them in a bowl of water and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Let it soak until you cut up the rest of your fruit. Ten drain and add to the rest of the fruit.

And I suggest that you drain the orange juice from the cut up oranges (if they are super juicy) so the juice won't completely kill the cantaloupe flavor.

I like to use two different kinds of apples for the contract in sweet and tart.

I usually use a whole cantaloupe to two apples and two oranges with a load of grapes to even out the cantaloupe to rest of fruit ratio.

Granola

Have you ever looked at the ingredients of a store bought granola bar? There is a lot of good stuff but almost all (only a small few don't) have high fructose corn syrup.

Personally, I'm very tried of high fructose corn syrup in everything. 

I'm watching the sugar (sweetener) content of what I eat. As a whole we don't need all this refined sugar in our diets. A little is ok, but not a lot.

Ok, I'm sorry, I'll stop lecturing about healthy eating (for now) and get on to the yumminess!! Or rather healthy yumminess.

I got this from Shape Magazine and altered it to make it a little tastier.
And yes, another post with oatmeal in it. :)

GRANOLA

  preheat 325 degrees

2 tablespoons all natural peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup reduced sugar craisins

-You can add other nuts and other fruit or nothing at all. Just the oats.

Add peanut butter and honey in a large mixing bowl. Then place in microwave for 20 seconds (just enough to heat up the two to mix well).

Add vanilla and mix until combined.

Then add your oats, and other add ins. Use a spatula to mix together, scraping sides often. Make sure that everything is evenly coated.

Next place on a baking sheet covered with foil, sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Or use whatever method you prefer. (I use silcone baking mats. o.m.g. I LOVE them)

Flatten and spread out the granola thin enough for even baking but not too thin. You want it to bake together in one large sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Let cool for at least a couple of hours so it's nice and hard, then carefully brake it up into large clumps.

Now it's really to eat. You can eat it by itself or add to yogurt or a topping for ice cream.

 All the ingredients

 A mixture of cashews and raw almonds

 Dried banana chips

 Raisins and craisins

I make one batch for me with the raisins and craisins. And another batch for my hubby, he doesn't like the same thing so I leave out those.

Homemade Oatmeal (inaugural post)

Thank you for joining me on my first post to this soon to be super awesome rad food blog!
I have my craft blog, but I wanted to start posting all of the awesome recipes (most are my creations) that I come across all the time.  Now I have to start taking loads pictures when I am baking/cooking!

Let me tell ya, my readers are going to love me at Christmas time.

I won't blab on too much now, but I can't promise that I won't in the future. :)

This recipe is on the healthier side. Some of my recipes are health, but a lot aren't. So I hope I won't scare off all the bakers and foodies.

Homemade Oatmeal

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

You can add ingredients:  Fresh fruit like a banana (like I did), nuts of your choice or dried fruit. The combinations are virtually endless. (with the fresh fruit, I suggest you add after the oatmeal is cooked, especially the banana)

-Add all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, stir it enough to incorporate everything together.

-cook in microwave for 1 minute and 20 seconds. (it may vary depending on microwave models).

-stir and enjoy, if it's not too hot!

You can't see them in the photo, but trust me, there are raisins in there.

I suggest old fashioned oats for a couple of reasons.

First of all old fashion oats (or rolled oats) don't turn to mush right away. they tend to hold their shape and texture longer. And the oatmeal, depending on how much water you add to it, will have the consistency of a really thick soup rather then glue.

Second, they are not as processed are quick oats. Quick oats cook up a lot faster, but that's about it.

There are steel cut oats but those are a different texture and take the longest to cook. They kind of remind me of loose gun powder tea. They look like little pellets, almost like pet food for cute little furry animals.

Overall, I like the texture (and look) of the old fashioned oats.

If you like to keep track of your calories, or watching what you are eating, I tallied up the calories of this recipe. 

Calories:

 285

 (without added ingredients) 

Thank you for sticking with my on my new adventure. Please stop on by any time!