Involtini Recipe

When Jessie and I tried Peel Wood Fire Pizza on our staycation in September (see blog post here) we fell in love with their spinach artichoke involtini appetizer.  It was yummy pizza dough wrapped around a spinach artichoke dip.  Delicious!  I wanted to recreate it for a Holiday party appetizer and I couldn't find a single recipe online!  I did some further research on "Involtini" and found out that in Italy, Involtini is a type of dish where you wrap a food layer (typically meat) around a filling and then cook/bake it.  Sounds simple enough to me!  I grabbed a tube of my newest obsession, Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough (which I now always keep in my fridge for a last minute pizza dinner) and whipped up a traditional spinach artichoke dip.  Unfortunately I am marrying into a family of picky eaters (we're talking meat and cheese only) so I also made an alternate involtini with pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Involtini out of the oven

First you roll the pizza dough out on a pan and then spread the filling over the entire piece of dough (spinach artichoke dip or pepperoni and cheese).  I didn't heavily fill the edges of the dough because I didn't want to have trouble rolling the dough and having it ooze out all over me.  After the filling is spread out, roll the dough longways into a spiral.  I usually bunch the ends to completely enclose the filling inside the dough.  I then brushed the top with olive oil mixed with Italian seasoning and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on the top (this turns out great once baked!)  Throw it in the oven at 400 degrees for only 10 minutes (or until it turns golden brown).

Pepperoni and Mozzarella Involtini slice

Once baked, I let it cool a big before cutting it into bite sizes slices.  I reheated when I served it later at Ryan's aunt house, and added marinara sauce and a Parmesan cream sauce for dipping.  They were gone instantly!  Super easy, Super Italian, and Super Good!

Last weekend I also tried a similar quick appetizer when I tore up pieces of pizza dough and made individual stuffed dough balls with pepperoni and cheese.  Those went fast too ;-)

Recipe: Pesto Spread

Here is a fun dip/spread that Jessie whipped up for an ugly sweater Christmas party last month.  It was super easy to make and its pretty green color really makes it really stand out.  Serve with a sliced, crispy, french baguette and enjoy!

Pesto Spread

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of parmesan cheese in 1 inch chunks
• 8 ounces of asiago cheese in 1 inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients all together in food processor and VOILA!  Ready to serve!

told you it was easy ;-)

Spinach balls

Want to know a way to trick your kids early on to love spinach?  This recipe for spinach balls is the way my mom did it for my sister and me.  Granted there is butter and cheese involved, which doesn't hurt, but the fact that we got to squish all the ingredients with our hands made it really fun for us!

SPINACH BALLS
Ingredients:
- 2 10 oz. packages of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
- 2 cups pepperidge farms dried stuffing
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 4 eggs
- salt and pepper for taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix ingredients in bowl until complete mixed together
3. Roll mixture into 1-inch balls and placed on baking sheet (put tin foil on baking sheet to avoid clean up)
4. Bake spinach balls for 12-15 minutes

Halloween Party!

Did everyone have a great Halloween?!

Ryan and I went to the big Halloween Party downtown at Union Station, but we threw a pre-party a couple hours before the official party.  Not only were my decorations superb (see jack-o-lanterns below), but I had fun with food as well.  The party was a big hit!

The biggest hit were the mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls.  They are really easy to make and were all gone by the end of the night:

Ingredients:

• package of mini hot dogs
• Tube of crescent rolls
• shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Unravel crescent roll, cut each roll into 4 or 5 triangle shaped pieces.
• Sprinkle some cheese on a cut out of dough
• Place mini hot dog on piece of dough and cheese, wrap dough around mini hot dog, as you would a crescent roll.
• Bake according to crescent roll directions (375 for about 12 minutes)

I also make a fun cheese ball and made it look like a pumpkin by placing a broccoli stalk on top of it.

Ingredients:

• tablespoon of diced onions
• tablespoon of diced green peppers
• 1 package of 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 jar of Kraft pimento spread
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• dice onions and peppers in food processor.
• Add cream cheese and pimento cheese spread to food processor and blend.
• Slowly add shredded cheese to food processor while it continuously blends.
• Place cheese mixture in bowl, cover, put in fridge to chill overnight (at least 8 hours)
• While cheese is chilling, put pecans in food processor and blend into small pieces.
• Roll chilled cheese into a giant ball.
• Place crushed pecans on a plate and roll cheese ball in pecans, coating the entire ball
• Push in broccoli stalk on top to mimic a pumpkin stem.



I also make a simple chicken fingers recipe, with buffalo sauce and honey mustard for dipping.

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breasts
• 2 cups Flour
• teaspoon of Salt
• teaspoon of Pepper
• table spoon of Olive Oil
• table spoon of butter

Directions:

• Slice chicken breasts into bite size strips
• Mix flour, salt and pepper into bowl and mix
• coat pieces of chicken in flour mix
• In frying pan, heat olive oil and butter
• Place flour coated chicken in pan and fry on both sides until fully cooked (light brown on both sides)
• Place fried pieces of chicken on paper towel, pat with paper towel to remove grease

And for dessert I made pumpkin shaped pumpkin bread muffins with cream cheese icing!

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin bread mix (in a box)
• Cream Cheese Icing
• Green food coloring

Directions:

• Make Pumpkin bread mixture according to box's directions
• Place mixture into pumpkin shaped muffin pans
• Bake according to box's directions
• Allow to cool
• Mix green food coloring with cream cheese icing
• Ice halves of pumpkin halves and put halves together to make whole pumpkins
• Decorate top of pumpkins with icing to look like pumpkin leaves

Overall a great pre-party and party!!!  And what a great night to celebrate the Cardinals winning the World Series!!!

Rally Squirrel!!!

Stuffed Sweet Piquante Peppers

This past weekend I was given the task of bringing an appetizer to my soon to be nephew's first birthday party. I am the only Italian in my fiance's family so I have been stuck in a rut of bringing an antipasto platter to the last couple in-law gatherings. Everyone loves Italian cheese, meat and olives so I figured I would be safe when I tried this new Italian appitizer recipe I found here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/hors-doeuvres/afternoon-snack-stuffed-sweet-piquante-peppers-080290

I love this recipe because it involves very few ingredients, the ingredients do not break the bank, my fiance found it fun to actually help me stuff the peppers, it is easily adaptable to other ingredients you might have on hand and most of all they are totally addicting to eat!

Stuffed Sweet Piquante Peppers

• 2 dozen sweet piquante peppers (I found them at the Whole Foods olive bar and also the Schnucks olive bar. You have to pay by the pound but in total I think it ended up being less than $8 for them all. The come already hollowed out, super easy! Note: These have a little bit of a spice kick to them, but nothing crazy.)
• 1/3 pound Grana Padano cheese (This was hard to find. I did find it at Volpi's on the Hill in St. Louis. I only got a 1/4 pound and found it wasn't enough. The 1/4 pound only cost about $3. This is a hard cheese very similar to parmigiano reggiano and is imported directly from Italy.)
• 1/2 pound Volpi Salami (1/2 pound is a little extra but I love salami and it made for a good snack for me and the fiance AKA Joe.)

First get all your prep work done. cut the salami slices in half, width wise. Cut the cheese into small rectangle chunks (like the size of your fingernail). Put all of the peppers on a paper towel to drain.

Next put a piece of cheese near the bottom half of the salami and roll it up. Stuff the pepper with the salami roll, cheese side entering first.

Load up your platter.

As I mentioned, I ran out of Grana Padano so I substituted fresh mozzarella. I used the extra mozzarella and salami to decorate the rest of the platter.

Everyone loved the appetizer and I hope you will try it too!