My Favorites: Pita Pizzas

Corey & I both work full time during the week, and neither of us are very good at eating a real lunch while we're at work. Usually by the time we get home we're both starving. Since we try not to eat out too often, we like to have a few good quick and easy recipes in our arsenal for those nights when we're too hungry to wait for dinner. This is one of our all-time favorites. The possibilities are endless, it takes only minutes to prepare, and is on the table quicker than we could go through a drive-thru. Did I mention that it's delicious? What's not to like!

Pita Pizzas
(ingredients needed per pizza/person)

1 pita
2-3 Tb. sauce
1/4 cup cheese
toppings of your choice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil.
2. Spread sauce evenly on each pita. Top with cheese and choice of toppings.
3. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until edges begin to brown and cheese is melted.

Topping Ideas:

Barbecue chicken: barbecue sauce (I recommend Bullseye), mozzarella, smoked gouda, or cheddar cheese (or a combination), fully cooked diced chicken, thinly sliced onions, cooked and crumbled bacon, and cilantro.

Combo: pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, green peppers, onions.

Alfredo Tomato Ham: alfredo sauce, mozzarella and romano or parmesan cheese, thinly sliced ham, fresh sliced tomatoes, crushed red peppers.

Pesto Chicken: pesto, mozzarella cheese, fully cooked diced chicken, fresh sliced tomatoes.

Hawaiian: pizza or alfredo sauce, mozzarella and cheddar cheese, canadian bacon or thinly sliced ham, pineapple tidbits.

My Favorites: Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker. I owe at least half (probably more) of my cooking skills to good old Betty. She was there for me when I was just a tiny kid, learning how to cook. She taught me about cookies, pancakes, cobbler, sweet and sour sauce, and meatballs. Her big red classic cookbook was always a staple in my household growing up, so when I happened upon a copy of it while at a swap meet 8 years ago, I had to snatch it up. $2 for Betty? That's definitely an offer I couldn't refuse. Since then, I've consulted her often, and she's never let me down. Since then I've also aquired other Betty Crocker cookbooks, such as the Quick and Easy cookbook, and the recipes keep getting better. If you don't have one of her cookbooks, you're crazy, but you can check her out online at http://www.bettycrocker.com/ And if you don't like to cook from scratch, you can also buy her baking mixes at the store. I definitely recommend the chocolate walnut chunk brownies, lemon poppyseed muffins, and devil's food cake mix. They're virtually fail-proof and ready in minutes. Oh Betty, where would I be without you?

***As a side note, it turns out that Betty Crocker was never an actual person, just a name created by the Washburn Crosby Company to give cooking advice and market their products. The day I learned that a little piece inside of me died.

My Favorites: Chipotle Chili Powder

I love Mexican food. Corey and I probably eat Mexican food 3 out of the 7 days a week. I guess that might be a little excessive, but there are so many different kinds of Mexican food so we don't really get sick of it. I really like spicy food, and one thing that I like to add to almost any Mexican dish I make is chipotle chili powder. It adds a smoky, spicy flavor that really makes food spectacular!

Some ideas to incorporate chipotle chili powder in your food:
*Mix chipotle chili powder with a little cumin, salt, and black pepper and sprinkle on chicken while grilling
*Add a half teaspoon chipotle chili powder with taco seasoning mix to ground beef for tacos
*Add a dash chipotle chili powder to refried beans
*Mix several dashes chipotle chili powder into baked beans
*Sprinkle chipotle chili powder on salsa for an added zip
*Mix with salt and chipotle chili powder and sprinkle on buttered corn on the cob
*Substitute chipotle chili powder for half of the regular chili powder in any recipe

My Favorites: KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing

KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing is my very favorite salad dressing. It is packed with lots of flavor and goes with almost any type of salad and packs a big punch. It's also good on chicken, pasta salad, or even in pasta sauces. As an added bonus it's also low calorie and low fat--only 40 calories and 2 grams of fat per 2 Tbsp serving. That's at least 1/3 the calories and 1/7 the fat of regular ranch dressing. Here's one of my favorite recipes using the dressing--it's actually the reason that I bought the dressing in the first place, and I've been buying it ever since. Check it out on the kraft foods website. Enjoy!

Bruschetta 'n Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1-1/4 cups KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
8 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2 lb.)
1/3 cup KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Combine tomatoes, 1/2 cup of the cheese, the basil and dry stuffing mix; stir just until moistened.
2. PLACE 2 chicken breast halves in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Pound chicken with meat mallet or side of heavy can until chicken is 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding two at a time to bag. Place chicken, top-sides down, on cutting board; spread evenly with stuffing mixture. Starting at one of the narrow ends, tightly roll up chicken. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish. Drizzle evenly with dressing.
3. BAKE 40 min. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake an additional 5 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165°F) and cheese is melted.

My Favorites: Brownie Mix

Matt has "The Essentials," so I thought I would start my own recurring topic called "My Favorites" where I can talk about my favorite ingredients, techniques, kitchen items, cookbooks, etc. One thing that I always have on hand is brownie mixes. I am always making treats for friends, neighbors, family, work, church gatherings, games nights, etc. Sometimes I just don't feel like spending a lot of time baking, so I like to have brownie mixes on hand. There are a million way to dress them up and make them taste extra good, or they are just great on their own too. I like to have a box of plain (chocolate fudge) brownies on hand, and I always have a box of my favorite Chocolate Chunk brownies from Pillsbury. They're pretty much heaven in a box. I recommend picking one up so you can try them out! Watch out, though. They are ridiculously addicting.

Here is my favorite variation from a basic brownies mix to make it extra delicious.

Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Brownies:
Prepare brownie mix according to directions on the back of the box. Fold in 1 cup frozen raspberries and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chocolate chips to the batter. Bake according to directions on the box.

Note: When you bake them, make sure you add the eggs. One time I forgot and the brownies boiled in the oil in the oven. Pretty disgusting.