Hot Caprese Dip

The best part about making a hot Caprese dip is that it's so easy, and it combines everything you like about a Caprese salad in a nice, warm dip.

The problem?  Tomatoes are so juicy and it's just not a terribly pretty dish.  Also?  It's so cheesy (not necessarily always a bad thing) that it's difficult to serve without making a mess.

It is still super flavorful, though, and it's a nice change.  I might still prefer doing the skewers, though, just because it serves up more neatly.

Ingredients:
10 oz fresh mozzarella, chopped into cubes
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and juiced
3 T freshly chopped basil, plus more for garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat over tne 375
2. Combine all ingredients into your dish
3. Bake for 14 minutes, then broil for 3 to make a nice bubbly golden top.
4. Serve immediately with crostini or toast

Buffalo Chicken Bites

If you were a biblical type person, you might understand the allusion to a Doubting Thomas.

No, I'm not referring to my husband, but to myself in this case.

When I originally found this recipe, I was all gung-ho, all steam ahead, I can't wait to try it!  There aren't a lot of ingredients, the premise sounded easy enough, and I was on it like a bonnet.    It's when I got halfway through the recipe that I started having doubts...

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken (I bought pre-cooked)
1 pizza dough (I bought pre-made)
1 onion, chopped
2 T butter
1/2 C Buffalo sauce
2 C fresh mozzarella

Directions (original):
1. Saute onions in butter, add chicken and continue until fully cooked (this was quick for me since mine was already prepared).
2. Add Buffalo sauce, heat through.
3. Divide pizza dough in half and roll out.
4. Spread out half the chicken and top with half the mozzarella.
5. Roll (like a cinnamon roll), slice into 2" rolls, and place in a greased muffin tin.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, at 400, until cheese is bubbly and dough is lightly browned.

Okay, so this part of the plan went off really well, but I started to doubt what this would look like when I took it out of the oven.  Plus, I had only made 12 'cupcakes', and I was expecting a party of 50.  I decided to revamp the recipe to make 24+ mini muffin/bite sized treats instead.

That being said, here's my revamped directions...

Directions (revamped):
1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
2. Cut dough into 24 even pieces (I just made squares).
3. Place in the bottom of a greased mini muffin tin
4. Add 1 tsp of the Buffalo chicken mix to each tin
5. Top with pinch of mozzarella
6. Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes, or until dough is lightly browned and cheese is bubbly.

I LOVED the large size, and split that tin with my assistants, but everyone loved the bite sized ones, and since we doubled the recipe, we had a ton of them! (48+ per recipe).

The dark around the edges is the cheese that overflowed/overcooked on the tin itself.  Still delicious!

Caprese Salad Skewers

 There's not much to a Caprese salad, but I wasn't in the mood for finding forks.  Luckily, I found this idea at Terri's Table!

All you need is fresh mozzarella, grape (or cherry) tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves for the skewers.

If your basil leaves are large enough, you can skewers them on either side of your tomato and mozzarella cube.  If not, make due the best you can.  If you've grown your own basil, it's easy to pick the right size, but when shopping at the market, you need to just go with the flow.  No biggie.  Make it the best you can.

When you're done, just lightly drizzle the skewers with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar.  Instant hit and easy to eat.

Pizza Balls...

Yes, sigh, more pizza.  Same ingredients, different format...

What's also nice is that I made these up the day before, put some cling wrap on top, and then baked them up the next day.

So simple.

I also found some Classico Pizza Sauce at Target.
Winning sauce, hands down.

Baked Pasta

You know how I feel about pasta, and consequently how Thomas feels....  However, I'm going to keep plugging away until I can find something we can compromise on.  I think I'm getting closer with this week's Crusty Tomato-Basil Rigatoni.  Okay, time out.  Crusty?  I think there's too much of a negative connotation to call something crusty, but I get it, there's a crust.  How about Basil Crusted Tomato Rigatoni?  Doesn't that sound more posh?  Posh?!  Just kidding...

Here's where I tweaked the recipe.  #1 - I added meat to my pasta sauce.  When I told Thomas that, he said, "Tweaked it?  I'd call that "fixed" it!"  True story.  We'd make sucky vegetarians.

Basically, I made my pasta and sauce the way I normally would.  I used a jar of Prego Chunky Garden sauce, a pound of ground beef (have I pushed the Mix n Chop yet?  Still love it!), my
whole wheat blend pasta, some garlic, Italian seasoning, etc, etc...

Here's where the recipe actually started working for me.  I tossed the sauce and pasta together (something I NEVER DO), and then put it in a Pyrex dish.  I figured this would give me the depth I needed to bake the pasta, and my stoneware really shouldn't be placed under the broiler, so better safe than sorry!  I bought an 8 ounce ball of "fresh" mozzarella and chopped it up.  (Hello to my 5" utility knife - super love it!)  I then spread that over the pasta as evenly as possible.  In retrospect, I probably should have tossed some shredded cheese in the pasta as well, but the point is like a cow's opinion: it's moo.  (Is it bad that I still quote Joey?)

Here's my favorite part - making the pasta crusty!  I used some Parmesan sourdough bread, about two cups, coated in butter, and spread it out before throwing the Pyrex into the oven.  This is more bread than the recipe calls for, but I adore a good crust.  (Hmm.  I'm very love-ing this blog today.  Sorry for all the love, but it is a really good recipe!)  Pop that puppy in the broiler for about 5 minutes to toast the crust and melt the butter.  I turned the broiler off and left the dish in the oven for just another minute or two to make sure everything was completely melted without burning the bread.

Finally, top it off with some freshly cut basil.  Is it just me, or does fresh basil smell like being a child in the summer, playing outside?  I don't really connect the smell of basil with herbs, more with weeds, but it's always such a lovely addition!

Ahhhhhhmazing!  Bon Appetit!