Ooey Gooey Grilled Mozzarella Sandwich

I seem to have a love for mozzarella cheese. It can be a bit expensive to buy the fresh mozzarella that melts deliciously, but I think it is worth every penny. I could probably buy stock in mozzarella because I love it so much. It is just so delicious!

Today I have taken mozzarella to a place that not all people use mozzarella. Yes, mozzarella makes a great pizza topping, but it has many other uses. The great thing about using mozzarella in your grilled cheese is that it melts to make the stringy and cheesy sandwich that you normally only obtain with super thin slices of cheese or processed cheese slices. Nom nom. 

Hopefully by now I have convinced you of the deliciousness of mozzarella and that you want to try this recipe! This sandwich is just as easy as the normal grilled cheese.

Ooey Gooey Grilled Mozzarella Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread, a pita pocket, or gluten-free bread
• Butter (to spread on the bread/pita pocket)
• Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Spread a thin layer of butter on 1 side of each slice of bread.
2. Place one slice (butter side down) into the pan.
3. Add your mozzarella on the bread and top with the other slice.
4. Cook in your pan until the bread is somewhat browned and the cheese is melting. You will need to flip the sandwich once so that both sides are cooked. 
5. Serve and enjoy!

I served my sandwich with a side of tomatoes. If you like tomatoes, this is a delicious combination! I hope you try this!

Have you ever made a grilled cheese sandwich with mozzarella?

Love it? Hate it? Want to make it? Let me know what you think with a comment below!

As always...

Bon appétit!

Hootenanny (Oven Pancake): Simple Breakfast

*** If you are reading this blog for the first time, then welcome! Please feel free to subscribe to the posts via email or on your blogger ID. I always welcome new readers! :) ***

We started volunteering at a local, mostly-no-kill shelter. Yesterday we had the chance to play with kitties and kittens after we cleaned up their kennels and rooms. It smelled at the start, but it could've been much worse. Since we can't have a cat at home, this is the next best thing. We did have one escapee who just wanted someone to hold her and snuggle. So cute! ^.^ We get trained how to work with the dogs today! It should be a fun experience. :)

I looked at how long it has been since I blogged and well, it seems about the usual sort of deal. Life gets in the way sometimes. I give a lot of kudos to people who blog every day. It can be almost like a job sometimes, because you really don't feel like writing some days. Maybe that is just my problem, but I hope others have experienced that as well. No matter how much I love food, I cannot always bring myself to type up a post and fix the photos. Maybe it is me being lazy, but perhaps it is one of those strange "Writer's Block" moments...

Anywho... I have noticed a trend in my last three posts... they all involve muffin tins! Don't believe me? Go ahead and look! I didn't really notice till I scrolled through and that similarity appeared. You will be happy to note that today's recipe doesn't involve a muffin tin. In case you thought you'd get ahead and prep your muffin tin, I am sorry, because you now need to put it away.

Today's recipe is best described as a mesh between a pancake and french toast. It is awesome with syrup, powdered sugar, or cinnamon on top of it. This recipe was a meh in our family, but I absolutely loved it. I didn't have to stand at a pan and flip a bunch of pancakes! Yea! Instead, I mixed the ingredients, dumped it in a pan, and baked it! My only complaint was that the amount of butter made this oven pancake a bit too greasy for me. I will try this again with half the butter and see what happens. I encourage you all to try it out and see if this simple recipe will pass the family taste test for you!

Hootenanny aka Oven Pancake (Food.com)

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup all purpose flour (plain flour)
• 1 cup milk
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter (I will cut this in half next time)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon, optional
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, optional
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla, optional

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C).
2. Place the 1/2 cup of butter into a 9 x 13 pan. Pop the pan into the heating-up oven. 
3. Beat the eggs, milk, and salt together until frothy. 
4. Add your flour to the egg/milk/salt mixture and beat until well mixed. 
5. Take your pan out of the oven and pour the mix over the melted butter. 
6. Put the pan back into the oven and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.
7. Serve with maple syrup, powdered sugar, berries, or any other topping of choice. Enjoy!

We served this with scrambled eggs, sausage links, and lots of oranges. We had mandarin oranges (from a can), fresh Ugli Fruit, and fresh Blood Oranges. It made a delicious breakfast! 

Have you heard of Hootenanny before? I sure hadn't! 

Love it? Hate it? Want to make it? Let me know what you think with a comment below!

As always...

Bon appétit!

An Easy Dinner: Pizza Balls

Life's been busy lately. Relay for Life went well and I am still waiting on the verdict of my volunteer program. I am still hoping and still have my fingers crossed for good news! We planned out the Memorial Day grilling feast and will attend a concert in the park later in the evening. It should be a good time. Otherwise just the same ol' same ol' around here!

The funny thing about this post is that it was delayed because of the pictures. Of all things, the pictures. Just let that sink in for a few moments. I didn't feel like adding the text into the photos so I put it off... and thus... a later post then I wanted. Oops. Hopefully the minor delay has you craving some delicious food!


 From the title of this post, you might be thinking "Pizza balls? What are those?" Well my friends, they are delicious pockets of pizza goodness. I have seen multiple versions of pizza balls floating around on Pinterest and I wanted to see what the hype was all about. Oddly enough, I tried the recipe that isn't pinned as often. *shrug* I really don't know why it isn't pinned more. This recipe is delicious and simple! I like to use this recipe when I am out of ideas or when I just don't feel like doing anything extravagant. I made one batch with cheese and another batch with cheese and sausage. I definitely liked the second batch better, but the cheesy ones oozed cheesy deliciousness!

The best part about these pizza balls? They are totally customizable! If you want pineapple, then add some! Ham? Throw that in too! Onions? Just use them! You get my point. If you don't want meat, then by all means feel free to exclude it. If you don't want to use meat, then definitely add other toppings of your choice to make these super delicious.

Pizza Balls (Pinterest)

Ingredients:

• Canned biscuits
• Garlic powder
• Mozzarella or Italian blend shredded cheese
• Other toppings (onions, pineapple, peppers, sausage crumbles, bacon, etc.) 
• Marinara sauce (for dipping), optional

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to the temperature stated on the biscuits.
2. Put each topping into a bowl.
3. Take out each biscuit and stretch it out some to make a thinner circle. 
4. Take out one biscuit and sprinkle some garlic powder on it. Remember, you want enough to make it taste pizza-like, but you don't want it to explode with garlic powder either.
5. Add your toppings and cheese into the middle of the biscuit and then seal the edges together. Roll it back into a ball shape if necessary.
6. Roll the outside of your pizza balls in cheese or toppings, if desired. 
7. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned. 
8. Serve with marinara sauce, if desired, and enjoy! 

Have you ever made a recipe that you found on Pinterest? How did it go? Let me know with a comment below! 

Love it? Hate it? Want to make it? Let me know what you think with a comment below!

As always...

Bon appétit!

Stuffed Mushrooms: A delicious appetizer

Yikes! April just seemed to fly by! For Cinco de Mayo I made turkey tacos and chicken taquitos. It was delicious and a great mini-celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Really, any excuse to eat Mexican food is good in my book! Life's been about the same. I got taco seasoning for free the other day because of a coupon and a good sale. Woohoo!

We didn't do much for Mother's day, but we did get mom a card and a hammock. She was happy. We had homemade burgers, baked beans, pasta salad, veggies, and fruit for dinner. It was so yummy!

The recipe for today doesn't take as long as you might expect (especially after seeing how many steps this recipe includes). As usual, I tweaked the recipe a bit... mostly because I didn't have cayenne pepper the first time I made them. Mom actually preferred the tweaked recipe instead of the normal recipe. She decided that the cayenne pepper gave them a bit too much kick for her tastes. As usual, use what you believe you can handle and you can have the spicy level you want. :) The best part about Allrecipes is that you can tweak the recipe according to how much of one ingredient you have (example: It will tweak the recipe for you so you don't have to calculate how much of everything you will need for only 6 mushrooms).

Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 12 whole, fresh mushrooms (I used white mushrooms and baby bella mushrooms) 
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil or any neutral oil
• 1 TBSP minced garlic (approximately 3 cloves of garlic)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 TBSP bread crumbs, optional
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder (I used dried and chopped onion)
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (I used red pepper flakes for a little less heat)

Instructions:

1. Clean your mushrooms. Dampen a paper towel and wipe off any dirt. I don't suggest rinsing the mushrooms directly under the faucet because they are supposed to turn out less tender. 
2. Carefully break off the stews of your mushrooms and put to the side. 
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Lightly spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or use some vegetable oil to oil the muffin cups.
5. Place your mushroom caps into the muffin tin.
6. Finely chop the mushrooms stems.
7. Heat tablespoon of oil in a pan and then add the garlic and chopped mushrooms stems. Cook until garlic and mushrooms are fragrant and the mushrooms have shrunk some. Be careful not to brown the garlic! Set aside to cool.
8. In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, Parmesan, pepper, onion powder, bread crumbs (if you are using them), and ground cayenne pepper. Add the garlic and mushroom stems once it has cooled. 
9. Spoon a generous amount of filling into each mushroom cap.
10. Bake for 20 minutes or until mushrooms are hot and liquid is forming under the caps.  

If you need to tweak this recipe, feel free to do so. I took the other recipe and tweaked it to make delicious mushrooms! 

Did you do anything special for Mother's day? Let me know with a comment below! 

Love it? Hate it? Want to make it? Let me know what you think with a comment below!

As always...

Bon appétit!