Funday Sunday - Pizza Casserole

Pizza's great and wonderful and all, but sometimes it can get a little old. So here's a nice little recipe for something that is like pizza...only not. I have no memory of where I picked up this recipe, but I've been making it since I was still living at home with my parents. It's pretty tasty. So tasty, in fact, that the hubby asks for it fairly often. It's called Pizza Casserole. It's another one of those recipes that you can add or subtract with any ingredients you feel you want. Enjoy!

Pizza Casserole**

12 oz. Fettuccine or egg noodles
1 Package of pepperoni (3 1/2 oz pkg.)
1 1/2 jars of pizza sauce (14 oz jars)
12 oz. Mozzarella cheese or soy cheese substitute; shredded*
1 Can of mushrooms (4 oz)
1 Can of sliced black olives (2.25 oz)

Cook the noodles and drain. Cut the pepperoni in halves. Add sauce to the noodles. Add as much as you prefer, but I like my saucy. Add the pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms and mix well. Then add half of the cheese and mix into the casserole. Put it in a 9X13 pan and top with the remaining cheese. Cook in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes or until the cheese on top is melted and slightly browned. Serve with some garlic toast and green beans or a nice salad for a tasty meal.

*This recipe is great without the cheese as well for the kids. Naturally, due to milk allergy, I don't add the cheese for the kids. I put some in a separate dish for the kiddos and set it aside. Sometimes I add a soy cheese substitute, but they seem to like it better without it.
**You can get more creative with this recipe. Think about a pizza you like and put those ingredients in. Example: Peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, & black olives= Supreme pizza. Canadian bacon & Pineapple= Hawaiian pizza. Be creative and enjoy!

Funday Sunday - Doughnuts

I love doughnuts. You love doughnuts too. And you can deny it while you sit there dieting, but I've yet to meet a person that doesn't like a good doughnut from time to time. Unfortunately, doughnuts are practically impossible to find that don't have milk in them. So...I make them myself. I think I've actually forgotten what the bakery doughnuts taste like, but I do think the ones I make are super tasty. And all you need is a few ingredients if you don't mind frying things. Without further ado, I give you the perfect indulging Saturday morning breakfast: Doughnuts.

Doughnuts

1 Can of canned biscuits
1-2 C. Vegetable oil (enough for about 2" in a small sauce pan)

Frosting:

1-2 C. powdered Sugar
1 t. Vanilla
Soy milk
Sprinkles (opt.)

First, you need to get the oil going on the stove. Keep it on a medium heat to prevent burning of the doughnuts. While the oil is heating, you will need to put a hole in every biscuit. Use the lid from a pop bottle. Dip the lid in flour to make a stick-free cut.

Test the oil by taking a tiny pea-sized amount of dough pinched off of a biscuit. When you drop the dough in and it rises to the top and the oil is bubbling around it, the oil is ready. DO NOT get the oil too hot or you will burn the dough in mere seconds. It should look something like this.


Flip the doughnuts and doughnut holes once to make sure both sides fry evenly. It won't take long. It takes just a minute or two for them to fry all the way through and they will be a crispy golden brown. Use a fork to get them out of the grease and let them drain on a paper towel covered plate.

When they are done, for an extra fun 'doughnut' and not to waste the grease, I make Banana Fritters.

Banana Fritters

1 Banana sliced in 1/4" coins
Pancake batter

Dip the banana coins in the pancake batter and drop them into the oil with a spoon. These take just about 20-30 seconds per side. The batter cooks fast so watch them close. Remove and drain on paper towel with the doughnuts.

Mix up some frosting/glaze in a bowl using the powdered sugar, vanilla, and soy-milk. Just use a teaspoon of milk at a time until it makes a nice thick glaze. Dip each doughnut and fritter in the glaze and place on wax paper. Put some sprinkles on for a super tasty looking treat. Enjoy!

*Tip: For a chocolate glaze, add some cocoa to the glaze. Just add a teaspoon at a time until it is as chocolaty as you want. You can also top these bad boys with coconut or anything else that you think would be yummy and that the kids would enjoy.

Dawn of the Hot Dogs

According to my mom, I went through this as did my brothers after me. Alex went through it and now it is Abby's turn. It is the dawn of the hot dogs. I vividly remember eating hot dogs like they were going out of style when I was a kid. I have another vivid memory of my brother Aaron grabbing them cold out of the package when mom wasn't moving fast enough and eating them on the go. Alex went through a phase where hot dogs were the most divine food in the world. Now Abby has just recently discovered how much she truly loves them. She wants them for dinner every night. And lunch every day. And yes...for breakfast every morning. She wakes up every morning and promptly asks me for her morning banana and then when I ask the kids what they want for breakfast, Abby will ask for hot dogs. It's so cute. I holler out, "What do you kids want for breakfast?" and from somewhere in the house I will hear a small voice answer me, "Hot dogs, mom!" I giggle every time she says it. Granted, I have yet to actually give her hot dogs for breakfast. I just can't bring myself to smell hot dogs in the early morning hours. Yuck. But she gets them for lunch at least once a week and for dinner perhaps every other week. Alex is more than fine with it, but he can't even keep up with her in the slightest. She downs about one and a half to two hot dogs at a meal. When snack time came in the afternoon the other day, we walked up to the cabinet where the graham crackers and raisins are and I said, "Okay Abby. What do you want for a snack." She put her little finger up to her chin and thought, "Ummmm.... ummmm...no crackers mom. I want hot dogs!" Adorable, yes. But she still ended up getting a graham cracker.