Tomato Basil Pesto Pizza

Turn oven to broil.

5 ingredients

Pesto sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Ricotta cheese
Tomatoes
Basil

Boboli thin crust pizza dough
Spread on pesto
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese
Dollops of ricotta cheese

Place in oven, broil for 5 min. We wished we cooked it a little longer. So add a few minutes depending on how hot your oven is. When cheese is melted take out of oven.

Add sliced tomatoes on top
Place small basil leaves on tomatoes
Top with ground black pepper and red pepper flakes

Eat up!

This recipe was from Cooking Light magazine.

Pepper Steak Sandwich

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 medium onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into long strips
• 1 yellow pepper sliced into long strips
• 1 red pepper sliced into long strips
  
• 2-3 tri-tip steak
  
• 1 teaspoon Hot pepper sauce
• 1 c mozzarella cheese
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 French baguette, cut in half lengthwise
  

Directions

1. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion; cook and stir until tender. Push onion to the side of the pan, then add the bell pepper and cook just until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, and set aside.
2. Add the remaining butter to the skillet. No need to clean the pan, just let it heat up a little bit. Place the steak in the skillet along with the pickled peppers. Season with salt and pepper. The steak cooks really fast, just a couple of minutes. Once the steak is mostly browned, return the onion and pepper to the pan. Cook until heated through. Adam cooked the steak on the george foreman grill.
   
3. Turn off the heat, and place the slices of cheese over the top of the pile so they can melt. Scoop the whole pile into the awaiting bread, making sure to pour some of the juices onto that wonderful sandwich.

This is Adam's famous sandwich he learned to make when he lived in Chicago. He could open up his own sandwich shack, because it's that good!

Pumpkin Bars

INGREDIENTS

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

3. Spread the batter into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

4. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Makes a 9x13 pan of bars.

Note: Eat these with a glass of milk. :)

Recipe found here

Mini Cheesecake

Ingredients

3/4 c crumbled chocolate-wafer cookies (about 18 cookies)

1/2 c sugar plus 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

1 pound cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c sour cream

pinch of salt

1/2 c apricot jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Mix cookies and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar in a bowl. Stir in butter. Press 1 tablespoon of mixture in bottom of each cup. Bake until set, about 7 min. Cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add 1/2 c sugar, then vanilla. While mixer is running add eggs slowly. Add sour cream and salt. Pour batter into muffin tins.

Bake until centers are wobbly about 20 min. Cool. Wrap tins tightly. Refrigerate 4 hrs.

Warm jam in saucepan until it forms a liquid. Strain though a sieve. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam on each cake. Then eat up!

I made these for a baby shower. I used vanilla wafers instead of chocolate wafers. The paper liners were of animals, because the shower was safari themed.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Mini Cheesecakes with Apricot Jam - Martha Stewart Recipes

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Dough
6 c flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 c room temp. butter
2 c white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt

Frosting
3/4 c warm water
5 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
2.25 lbs powder sugar (usually a full bag)



Directions

Dough
Mix sugar and butter for four min. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. Mix small amounts of dry ingredients at a time. I usually add 1/3 c at a time. After completely mixed, chill for one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough to desired thickness after it has been chilled. Use your cute cookie cutters. This is the fun part of making cookies! I gave the pumpkins and ghosts faces. Cook 8-10 min. on an ungreased cookie sheet. My sunbeams loved the ghosts!



I found the dough recipe here.




Directions


Frosting
Whisk warm water and meringue powder in a bowl by hand. Stop whisking when it becomes frothy and thickened (around 30 sec.). Add the cream of tarter and mix 30 sec. Pour in all powdered sugar and mix with kitchen aid on lowest speed for 10 min. The icing will become creamy. Add food coloring and decorate. I found the frosting recipe at Sweetopia. If you are feeling ambitious around Christmastime, you could make these cute polar bears.




Or these Christmas trees. I love the little bunny.

Blackberry Jam

Blackberry cooked jam

Ingredients

4 cups crushed berries
7 cups sugar
1 pouch CERTO pectin
1/2 tsp butter


Directions

1. Bring boiling-water pot, half-full with water, place jars mini 8 or large 4 in boiling water with lids.
2. Crush berries.
3. Sieve 1/2 of the berries to remove some seeds place together with unsieved berries in a pot.
4. Add 7 cups of sugar and stir
5. Add 1/2 tsp butter stir
6. Place pot on stove bring to a rolling boil on high heat. (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred)
7. Stir in pectin quickly. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 min. stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Remove any foam from top.
8. Remove hot boiling jars and lids with a metal tongs.
9. Funnel quickly into hot jars place lids on top.
10. Flip upside down for 10 min. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.) Unopened jam can be stored in a cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year. Refrigerate opened jams and jellies up to 3 weeks.


potato masher works great to crush berries

The sugar is what makes the jam taste so good!


Don't forget to flip the jars upside down.

The final product. Now we can enjoy pb and j's, rolls, toast, and maybe saltine crackers with this jam. I would have to say that I'm so happy to be done with the no sugar diet. It was too hard to resist sweets at this holiday. Sugar cookies will be next. :)

Razz

Razzmataz smoothie

2-3 cups frozen raspberries

1 vanilla light yoplait

around 3 cups 1% milk

1 tbsp honey

Mix all ingredients in blender. Pour in cup and spoon away or sip away whatever you prefer. This smoothie has a lot of raspberries which gives it a great flavor without sugar. I am on a no sugar spell for a month, half way there. This smoothie fills any sugar craving.

I got half way done and realized granola would be good in it. I would rather have the smoothie without. It is always fun to experiment. This granola is vanilla almond granola from whole foods. Its on sale for 2.99 lb.

*note: adjust raspberries and milk to consistency you like.