The Savvy Kitchen's Pizza Bites & Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels for SRC

After a long month off, we're back on schedule for the Secret Recipe Club! And I couldn't be more excited. This month I was assigned The Savvy Kitchen. The Savvy Kitchen is written by Amy and its a great place to find easy and delicious recipes - with a wide array of types of dishes! And since her parents are italian, she's got some great pasta recipes on there that I can't wait to try out when I have time. I loved her blog so much that I decided to make two recipes to share with you today.

First up I made these delicious pepperoni pizza puffs. They're a quick and easy appetizer and even your fussiest guest is sure to dive right into! Sorry for the quality of the pizza puff photos - we were so excited to eat them that these are the only photos I managed to snap before they were devoured.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
Recipe from The Savvy Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup shredded mozza
• 1 cup pepperoni, cut into small pieces
• 1 small can pizza sauce for dipping

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 24 cup mini muffin pan with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Whisk in the milk, eggs and seasonings. Then gently stir in the mozza and the pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the batter, then divide among the prepared mini muffin cups. Fill almost to the top, then bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping and try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!! (good luck with that!!)

Those were such a hit in our house (we eagerly sat around the coffee table, devouring these until they were all gone!!), that I decided to try out another recipe from Amy's blog - this time something sweet.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
Recipe from The Savvy Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 80 mini pretzels
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Line large baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Beat peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Roll peanut butter into 1/2 inch balls and place in the center of 40 of the mini pretzels. Top each one with another mini pretzel, pressing down slightly to sandwich the icing between the pretzels. Once all pretzel bites are formed, place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave on low, stirring often so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove the pretzels from the freezer and dip each one into the melted chocolate. Place each chocolate covered pretzel onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

These were soooo addictive and delicious! We couldn't stop eating them. I'm afraid to make another batch in case I eat all of them too. But make these for a party - they're easy and quick and guests will devour them. :)

I'm so excited about finding Amy's blog! Its wonderful and I can't wait to venture back and try out some more of her recipes. They're so down to earth and low maintenance to make, which is a nice change of pace from some of the stuff I often find myself making. So, if you haven't already checked out The Savvy Kitchen, do it! I'll still be here when you come back.

And lastly, check out the blog hop below - it is a round up of all the other SRC Group C participants this month. Everyone always does a great job choosing and making delicious recipes and then in turn featuring the blog they were assigned.

Happy Baking my Friends!

The Mom Chef's Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Pizza for SRC

I am constantly surprised at how fast a month flies by each and every time I receive my Secret Recipe Club assignment... I know I say this every time I post an SRC post, but honestly, where on earth does the time go?! This month I was pretty excited to receive the blog Taking on Magazines by The Mom Chef (aka Christiane). Her blog is entertaining, real and oh-so-helpful! It was so cool to see her take and her thoughts on some of the recipes I had been eyeing up in my Bon Appetit magazines the last couple of months.

On my recent trip to Portland, I hit the outlets there for some serious shopping. My serious shopping often involves shoes and handbags like "normal" females, but it also involves hitting the kitchen outlet stores... on this last trip I found a smokin' deal on a pizza stone. So, my recipe search on Christiane's blog was fairly biased... I was on the lookout for a yummy sounding pizza recipe and I was in luck... she featured a number of pizza recipes, but the one that stood out to me was the Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Pizza. I adapted the recipe slightly, but it was fantastic! I am hooked on her blog and I love how she provides great feedback on all the recipes she tries... very helpful!

Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Pizza
Recipe adapted from Taking On Magazines

Ingredients:

• 1 lb refrigerated fresh pizza dough (I made my own because I've had a couple very bad experiences with store-bought dough... but feel free to purchase if you don't have time to whip up a batch!)
• 4 oz hot italian sausage
• 1/2 cup carmelized onions\
• 8-oz pre-sliced white mushrooms
• 1 tbsp yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce (store bought is fine, but I made my own in my food procesor)
• 1/2 cup mozza, grated
• 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, shredded

Method:

1. Place pizza stone in cold oven and preheat to 400F.
2. Place dough in a bowl and coat lightly with oil or cooking spray. Let stand covered for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a large non-stick skilled over medium-high heat. Remove casings from sausage and add sausage to pan. Cook 3 minutes stirring to crumble. Add mushrooms and saute 6 minutes.
4. Remove heated pizza stone from oven and sprinkle with cornmeal. Roll dough into a 12 inch cirle and place on prepared pizza stone (careful, it will be super hot). Spread sauce over dough leaving 1/2 inch border. Top with sausage mixture and carmelized onions. Sprinkle with cheeses and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

Pretty easy and delicious!! Thanks Christiane for sharing such a delicious recipe. And thanks to Group C's wonderful hostess - Angie. She puts in a lot of hard work and we all appreciate it.

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!!

I think homemade pizza is one of the most scrumptious and easy things to make! You can whip it up so fast especially when you're strategic about the order you do things in! For example, whip up the dough in your food processor, while the dough rises for about 15 minutes, mix up your pizza sauce (you wouldn't put processed store bought pizza sauce on a perfectly otherwise homemade pizza would you???), preheat your oven and prep your toppings. Bake your prepared pizza til golden and cooked through and voila, you have a home made pizza that tops anything you could order from your local pizza joint! And as a bonus this homemade pizza is way healthier for you because you control the type of flour you put in, the amount of fat, and the toppings (which by the way, there are practically a million and one choices for toppings so you can never get bored of this stuff!!).

Here is a great healthy recipe for pizza crust that will leave you wanting to make this all the time!

Spelt Pizza Crust

Recipe adapted from The Girl Can't Cook by Cinda Chavich

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour


• 1 cup spelt flour


• 2 tsp instant yeast


• 1 tsp salt


• 1 tbsp olive oil (you think Pizza Hut puts that little oil in their dough? think again - try about 2 cups of oil per pizza + toppings!!!)


• 1 cup warm water


• 1 tsp sugar


• cornmeal for dusting


• pizza stone is optional, but not required

Method:

1. Place the flour, yeast and salt in the food processor and whirl briefly. Combine the olive oil, warm water, and sugar. With the machine running, slowly add the liquid, until the dough comes together in a ball. You can add up to 1/4 cup more warm water if you need - the dough should be smooth but soft.


2. Set dough aside in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap while you whip up the sauce and prep the toppings.


3. Preheat the oven to 500F.


4. Divide dough in two and roll out each piece of dough to fit on your baking sheet. Top liberally with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms of the pizzas are golden and crisp and the cheese is melted.


5. Let pizza stand on cutting board for two minutes prior to cutting (if you can bear to wait that long!!!)

*note this amount of dough makes enough for two rectangular thin crust pizzas.

*Topping ideas: I did two pizzas - one had mexican salami, capacolla, mozzarella cheese, and roasted red pepper. The other had sauteed garlic mushrooms, roasted garlic pieces, goat cheese and roasted red pepper.

Happy Cooking my Friends!