MIni Pizza Bites

Oh such a yummy treat that we had at our Saturday night dinner. I seem to love to try little concoctions with dough. Tonight I made mini pizza bites to go along with my loved pepperoni pasta bake. Very simple but pretty damn yummy! 

Just three main ingredients. Dough, this time I used basic biscuit dough, mozzarella cheese & pepperoni.  

Have your foodie child spread the dough.

Once flattened, add cheese & pepperoni. 

Then simply fold the dough over the ingredients & pinch to close. 

Once all the bites are assembled, brush a butter & garlic wash over each one. As you may see, my foodie decided to make one a little different ;) 

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes & enjoy! 

Bacon Wrapped Mini Meatloaves

Bacon seems to be a huge staple in my recipes as of late and I believe this one may be the best ever.  I stumbled upon a recipe on Kraft.com but as with most of their recipes I changed it up.  My first attempt was a HUGE success! Even my pickiest eaters LOVED it & came back for seconds! 

* About 2-3 pounds of ground beef or chuck 

* Crushed stuffing cubes, about a half a cup

* Italian style bread crumbs, about a quarter cup

* Garlic, salt & pepper

* Mixture of ketchup & Worcestershire sauce

* Two eggs

* Package of bacon 

Mix the meat with all of the above ingredients except for the bacon. Form into a ball, ever so slightly flattening it a bit. Wrap a slice of raw bacon around each mini meatloaf. I placed mine on a rack on a cookie sheet to keep the grease away from the masterpiece. 

I then brushed more of the sauce on each loaf and baked at 375 for about 40 minutes. Simply amazing! 

Weekly Menu

This week I am trying two new recipes, Italian wedding soup and feta and spinach stuffed chicken. I'll absolutely post some photos and the recipes later in the week when I attempt these two new dishes.


 *Mini Thanksgiving dinner

 This was made last night. I love Thanksgiving so much and we always go to my husbands family's for the big day so I don't get to cook or have leftovers, so most years I will make a mini Thanksgiving meal that weekend. I was hoping the grocery stores would have some turkeys on sale Friday, but nope! Those birds were still nearly $30 so I bought a large whole chicken instead. I followed my no fail succulent chicken recipe that is found in this blog along with a large pot of al dente mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and of course those famous Thanksgiving rolls! All that was missing was the pies!

*Chili

I love some chili in the fall! Of course topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream. There's always a day or two of leftovers for lunch too!

 *Feta and spinach stuffed chicken breasts

 I simply cannot wait to try this! I love feta and any dish that includes it, I will try!!

 *Italian wedding soup

I first had this soup when I was working at an Italian bistro. I loved it!! Come to think of it, there are quite a few of my favorite dishes that come from my experience there. If you're ever in Romulus Michigan, you MUST go to Leonardo's!

 *Spaghetti

 Made with my homemade sauce, worth the time!

 *Baked BBQ chicken legs A family favorite, most likely served with some vegetables and potatoes.

Turkey cupcakes Gobble Gobble!!

In the spirit of the awesomeness of Thanksgiving the kids and I made Turkey cupcakes. Easy, cute and oh so much fun to make!

Fried Deliciousness!

What's better on a Saturday morning than fried pastries? Fried pastries wrapped in bacon! I came across the recipe on this amazing food blog ohbiteit.com that has become my go to blog! We tried it this morning & the blog was correct, super easy to make and perfect! 1 tube Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (and the included frosting) 1/2 pound bacon 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar (3 1/2 tbsps sugar + 1/2 tbsp cinnamon) oil for frying toothpicks Un-roll each cinnamon roll and cut them in half. Roll them each back up, making 2 small rolls.

Cut the bacon strips in half and wrap each small Cinnamon Roll with one 1/2 strip, securing it with a toothpick In a small bowl mix the enclosed frosting with the maple syrup until it’s well combined.

In a medium pot heat up approx. 3″ of oil.

Fry the rolls up in batches of 3 until they’re golden, puffed and firm. Sprinkle them with some cinnamon sugar while they’re warm and add a nice drizzle of the maple frosting.

Perfection!! They were all gobbled up quicker than I could fry them!

Autumn Bliss

As the weather has finally decided to cool down, even here in the Sunshine state, it puts me in the mood to create. Autumn is by far my most favorite time of year. I don't know if it's the sweater weather, the cool breeze through an open window, or the promise of turkey dinner that gets me, but I love it! Autumn tends to make me do two things, cook more and photograph. Call me crazy, but I enjoy taking photos of my subjects in the cooler weather with sweaters and scarfs versus on the beach. I got some practice in a few weeks ago with those beautiful subjects of mine.

Weekly Menu- Week of March 3rd

I try to make a menu every week before heading out to the market, it reduces those opps moments as dinnertime arrives. I've found that you spend less money when you prepare weekly menus because as we all know, every time to go to the market you ALWAYS buy more than you came in for. Less trips, less money. I typically create seven meals & a few lunch dishes to take to the office and weekend family lunches. This week's menu is full of my quick and tasty recipes.

Mexican night
Tostadas with beef, beans, veggies, guacamole, salsa and sour cream served with nachos and Spanish rice.

Wings and fries
My special baked, crisp, fall of the bone hot wings served with french fries & veggies. The recipe for these amazing wings is in this blog. Once I discovered this method I can't enjoy take out wings!

Baked sausage ziti
Baked ziti with ground sausage, my pasta sauce and freshly grated cheese served with garlic cheese bread and salad.

Sweet and spicy chili
My favorite chili recipe, what makes it really amazing is the sweet white corn and green chilies, perfect mix of sweet & spicy. Since I have younger ones that don't care for spice I always make macaroni and cheese with the chili plus the hubs like chili mac so everyone's happy.

Chicken Tacos
Topped with a spicy ranchero sauce and served with veggies & rice.

Polish kielbasa and pierogios
A family fave, both sauteed in butter. It goes quick!

Chicken and broccoli fettuccine Alfredo
Topped with freshly grated cheese and served with garlic bread, it's my eldest child's favorite meal.


I am hard pressed this week for lunch ideas. I have recently discovered the most amazing Greek vinaigrette dressing with feta cheese and garlic so I've decided to get some more and make some Greek chicken pitas for lunch. If you have any ideas for quick office lunch that do not involve frozen lunches I would love to hear!