Mini Fruit Pizzas / Cups

My daughter was really really into this one.  She saw the picture and kept begging me to make these.  I finally got all the ingredients and we gave it a shot.

The idea and recipe came from the blog Banner Boutique.  The link to the original is here.

These were soooooo good.  I do have to admit that not all the cups turned out well.  We kind of just mushed together the broken ones and after the toppings were on you really couldn't tell. 

Ingredients:

• Pillsbury Sugar Cooke Dough.  (We used one tube)
• 1 container of Cool Whip (we used lite)
• 8oz of cream cheese (we used lite)
• Fruit (we only had blueberries and raspberries so that's what we went with)

Directions:

Take mini muffin pans and grease or spray them so the cookie dough comes out.

Roll the dough into little balls.  Be careful and don't use too much.  We made that mistake on a couple and puffed up too much.  Put a dough ball in each muffin slot.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 6-7 mins.  Ours looked a little doughy but after cooling they were ok.  So after they are out of the oven make sure they cool for awhile.  If not when you take them out then the cup form will fall apart.  We used a butter knife after we were cooled to pry them out.  As I said...some we had to mush back together on the 1st round until we were used ot the process.

Notice that in the picture below...some were better looking than others.  I'm not a professional baker so for a 1st time experiment I thought they turned out ok.

 

 

 

In a bowl .... beat together the cream cheese and cool whip until its blended and smooth.  Put mixture into a plastic ziplock bag.  Cut a small hole in the corner to use as a piping bag.  Squeeze some of the cream cheese/cool whip mixture onto each cup.

 

 

 

Top with fruits.  We did 1 or 2 raspberries and blueberries on each one.  I've also seen these with strawberries and kiwi.

 

Then refridgerate your project for about an hour before serving.  This ensures that its all solid and can be picked up as finger food.

 

 

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Around this time of year I'm always faced with the issues of zucchini burn out.  I've made loaves of zucchini bread.  I've grilled zucchini on the grill.  I've used zucchini for stir fry.  I'm just getting tired of the lame ass options for zucchini prep that I'd always gone to.  So I decided to do an "Ode to Zucchini" and experiment a little.

On the Tasty Kitchen website I found an interesting little recipe for "Zucchini Pizza".  It looked intriguiing and almost like I wouldn't feel guilty for gobbling down an entire tray in one sitting of this yummy creation.  Score!

And it lived up to all the hype and then some!

The link to the original recipe is here.

Ingredients:

• One zucchini (cut into small strips lengthwise)
• olive oil for drizzling
• Salt
• Pepper
• Spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu traditional...why?  because it was on sale)
• Shredded Mozzarella cheese
• Toppings (I used sliced mushrooms and pepperoni)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450ºF. Cut off ends of zucchini and slice lengthwise into several pieces. Place on a baking sheet or glass dish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Lay flat on the pan. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of sauce over each zucchini slice until the entire slice is covered. Sprinkle with approximately 1 to 2 tablespoons of mozzarella. Top with any toppings you like or none at all. Bake for 15 minutes, until brown and bubbly.

Pepperoni Pizza Pull Apart Monkey Bread

This is another recipe from Six Sisters.  The link is here.

I made this on a whim this morning.  I had two cans of biscuits that were going to expire on July 1st and I happened to have all the other ingredients.

The only difference is that I used 2 cans instead of 3.  That's all I had so I made due.

Ingredients:-3 cans refrigerated biscuits (each cans should have 10 biscuits)
-1 (24-26 oz) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (we love Prego Traditional)
-1 (6-8 oz) package of pepperoni
-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
-Other favorite pizza toppings: green peppers, olives, onions, cooked ham, cooked sausage, etc

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Open canned biscuits and cut into quarters and place into a large bowl.

Pour spaghetti sauce on top of biscuit pieces and add Italian seasoning. Mix all together.

Then add about 3/4 of the pepperoni pieces (reserving 1/4 to put on top) and 1 cup of cheese and stir well.

Pour the pizza pieces into a greased 9x13" baking dish (check out my cute helper! She did the stirring and the dumping into the bowl).

Sprinkle remaining cheese, pepperoni, and other toppings on the top of pizza. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are fully cooked. They will be slightly firm when you press down on them.

Hormel Easy Pepperoni Pizza Dip (in the Slow Cooker)

For Father's Day Dinner I wanted to use the Triple Dipper again but I wanted to try some different dips.  I cruised around the recipe websites and found one on hormel.com.  The link to the recipe is here.

This one was good.  Everyone liked it a lot.  I just wish I would have gotten a better picture of it.  Maybe next time.

Main Ingredients:

This recipe is recomended for 16 servings

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (15-ounce) can or bottle pizza sauce
• 1 package Hormel® Pepperoni Minis
• 1 cup shredded pizza cheese blend
• Crackers and breadsticks

Instructions

1. In 2-quart slow cooker, place cream cheese
2. In bowl, combine pizza sauce and pepperoni minis; pour over cream cheese. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. 
3. Cover slow cooker; cook on LOW setting 2 hours or until cheese is melted. Stir before serving. Serve with crackers and breadsticks.