Pizza Monkey Bread.

i've made this Pizza Monkey Bread recipe a few times now and there is always someone is also asking for more! 

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp butter
2 lbs pizza dough (homemade or store bought) 
6 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes or ball shredded  
48 slices of pepperoni
7 pieces of cooked bacon 
2-3 cups marinara sauce, warmed for dipping

My family LOVES homemade pizza, we have it at least twice a month, so i know my way around pizza dough.

It's important to make sure your dough has had time to rise so it will be light yet sturdy enough to hold your pizza.

Melt butter and mix in garlic. Once your dough is prepared, homemade or store bought, pinch of a piece of dough about the size of a large marble. Flatten it out on a floured surface and place cheese, shredded or cubed, in the center along with your bacon or pepperoni. Fold and crimp the sides and roll in garlic butter then place in bunt pan. Repeat until all dough is used.

i sprinkled the remaining bacon and garlic butter over my monkey bread.

Cover and rest for 30 min. while oven is preheating to 400. Bake for 35 minutes the top should be nice and golden. Let it rest for a 6-7 minutes and then flip it out onto a plate or cutting board.

The crust was so crisp and tender, the cheese was gooey and stringy!  

Good stuff!

Salted Carmelita Bars Meets Homemade Ice-Cream!

i saw this recipe for these bars on another blog a few days ago and they looked so good. The combinations of salty, sweet, crunchy, and smooth compliment each other so well!

i started the salted caramel and while it cooked i started on the crumb crust/topping.

Salted Caramel
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons flour

Combine the sugar and water in a pot over medium. And as mush as you may want to don't stir it. If ice crystals develop on the side of the pot set the lid on and let the heat melt them down. Bring to a boil until the mixture turns a nice amber color and then take off the heat. Add the cream carefully. Combine the remaining ingredients and whisk.

Crumb Crust/Topping
Preheat your oven to 350
2 cups plus 
1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients except the chocolate chips with a pastry blender. i used my washed hands after a while because it was too much for my pastry blender to handle. Combine the mixture until it resembles gravel. 

Press 2/3 of the mixture into your oiled 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes.   

As soon as you take the crust out of the oven sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot crust. 

  
Pour your caramel over the chocolate and crust and sprinkle the remaining third of the crust over the caramel. Now bake for 15-20 minutes!

Cut and enjoy!! Before i enjoyed mine, with a cup of milk, i let it set out for about 2 minutes so the caramel could become soft and gooey! 

The day after i made the bars i made some homemade ice-cream! It's good stuff, near the end of the churning i diced about 6 or 7 bars and tossed the bits into the soft ice-cream.

  

Purple Chops?!

When being creative in the kitchen the blending of flavors is incredibly important weather you are baking or cooking. Lucky for me i've done well with my blending of flavors and sauces (so far, at least).

 As i said in an earlier post, Tuesday is my day for cooking dinner. One Monday evening my Mom reminded me of the fact that the following day was Tuesday so i searched the freezers to see what meat i wanted to use. "...Ground beef..chicken..pork chops..beef roa..pork chops! Lets go with pork chops"! So i set them in the fridge to thaw overnight. As i laid in bed, that evening, i was searching my memory of what i had seen in the freezers/fridge. The usual..milk, butter, lunch meat, cheese, leftovers, condiments/sauces..fruit juice..etc. In my head "..well there are blueberries in the freezer, Ha"! Then it hit me! Pork blends really well with fruits. 

Reader, may i introduce you to The Purple Pork (Chops).

i've made this twice so far and my family really seems to like it.

Purple Pork Chops

Marinade and Dipping Sauce

1. 3/4 Cup of your favorite BBQ sauce. (i prefer Sonny's BBQ)
2. 1/3 Cup of Blueberries.
3. 1/3 Cup of Mango Nectar. 
4. Puree the mixture for about 10 seconds, pulsing every now and then.

Prep and Cooking

1. Use enough of the sauce so that the pork chops have the marinade on each side. You should still have plenty of uncontaminated sauce for dipping later.

Marinate for at least 2 hours.

1. Go turn your grill on!
2. Depending on the thickness of the chops your cooking time will vary, i grilled mine for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side i believe.
3. Let your chops have time to rest off of the grill, by doing this the juices of the meat will settle. If you were to cut right into the meat after pulling it off the grill the juices would run out, leaving your meat more dry rather than the nice succulent bite it should be!
4. Enjoy! i used 6-7 Pork Chops and about a tablespoon of sauce per chop. 

We All Sit For Pancit

Every Tuesday is my designated day to make dinner, but of course i help my Mom in the kitchen throughout the week.

Today for dinner i made a Filipino dish called Pancit. 

Normally when i make a dish for the first time i fallow the recipe to the letter. When/If i make it again i'll follow only the main ratios and meld the original recipe with my own creativity.

For the past 4 years, during the summer months, i had the privileged of working at a Bible Camp named Camp Grace. One of the full-time staff members is a women from the Philippines. On the weekends some of us summer staff members would hang out with her sons and play games/watch movies and such. And as the aroma of garlic and other veggies sauteing in a pan met our senses...."Mrs. Chita is making Pancit!!!"

The first time i made Pancit was a couple weeks ago and it turned out well, i used this recipe form Food.com 

• 1 (8 ounce) package rice noodles
• 1 lb chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup carrot, sliced
• 1 cup onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1/8 cup cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup green onion (optional)
  
  Directions-
   

1) In a zip lock bag, marinade the cubed chicken with the teriyaki sauce and 2 cloves of minced garlic overnight. [i didn't marinade as long and also i didn't have a lot of teriyaki so i used what i had along with:

Soy Sauce 

Worcestershire Sauce 

Liquid Smoke 

Lime Juice]

2) In a large bowl, soak the rice noodles in warm water for 15-30 minutes, drain completely.

3) Drain the marinade off the chicken and discard the marinade.

4) In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil on medium high heat and brown the chicken, drain and set aside. [i started with the veggies first so when i cooked the chicken it took on the flavor of the veggies] 

5) In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil on medium high heat and saute 3 cloves of minced garlic and accent for 30 seconds.

6) Add the carrots and stir fry for about 5 minutes. [When i sauteed the carrots i used butter and after about 2 minutes i drizzled about 2 teaspoons of honey over them and added about a 1/2 teaspoon of chipotle powder to give them a very slight heat] 

7) Add the onions, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and stir fry until the vegetables are tender.  

After the veggies were done i moved them to a different pot so i could use their original pan for cooking chicken.

8) Add the chicken to the vegetables and continue stir frying.

9) Now add the noodles to the pot with 1/8 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of soy sauce and mix very well. 

10) Keep cooking and mixing until the noodles are tender and cooked thoroughly.

Here is the original recipe from Food.com

Now go be creative!

Hello! i am David Davison. i am currently 21 years old and interested in camp ministry and i have a passion and skill for cooking/baking that i am truly thankful for. Here is a place where i will keep a running collection for my family, friends, and fellow foodies to see my own creations and my recreations of others. i have some older recipes that i'll pepper throughout the newer ones. Feel free to create these at home, let me know how or if they work for you! But what whatever you do "be creative, especially, with your mac n cheese". Food soon to follow!