The Great Menu Exchange: Monday's Recipe

I am participating in the Great Menu Exchange, and online collaboration of tried and true recipes! I will be submitting a full week's worth of my yummy recipes and in return will receive an online cookbook of all our the collaborators recipes! (I hope this will help my great cooking dilemma of trying to come up with ideas of what to cook. I am sure I lost a few brain cells delivering my twins!!)

My Menu:

Monday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Tuesday: Orange Wine Pork Chops- Crock Pot Style

Wednesday: Southern Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Thursday: Grandma's Triple Meat Spaghetti Sauce

Friday: Spicy Veggie Beef Soup

Saturday: Pulled Pork Sandwiches a la Crock Pot

Sunday: Spicy Mexican Chicken Tacos

**All of these recipes will be added to the "recipe" tab on my blog! Enjoy!!

Monday's recipe: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Shopping List:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 large red onion

Pizza Crust mix (I buy the prepackaged Betty Crocker mix, or you can be Martha and make your own)

1 cup of your favorite BBQ Sauce (I like original)

2 cups (at least) of grated mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. of garlic paste (or if you can chop your own)

3 tblsp. of olive oil

Sprinkling of parmesan cheese

**a few sprigs of cilantro (optional)

Make it:

1. Prepare pizza crust as directed on box. Heat oven to 450 degrees.

2. In a small bowl mix the 2 tblsp. of olive oil with 1 tsp. of garlic paste and a sprinkle of oregano.

3. Roll out the pizza crust and brush with the garlic/oregano/olive oil mixture. Put in the oven and bake until golden brown. 

4. Chop up the raw chicken into bite sized pieces and cook in a skillet with 1/4 cup of chopped red onion and 1 tbslp. of olive oil.  When the chicken is golden brown add 1/4 cup of the BBQ sauce to coat the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Remove the pizza crust and spread the remaining 3/4 cup of BBQ Sauce on the crust. Add the cooked chicken. Cut up the remaining raw onion into thin slices and add that to the pizza. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and top with as much mozzarella cheese as you like! (For me, the higher the mountain of cheese the better!)

6. Cook pizza in the oven until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.

7. Remove the pizza and add a few chopped up sprigs of cilantro to the top of your pizza.

8. Cut and enjoy!

Yummy Blueberry Cake!

As a new mama of twin girls, maximizing my time is key to getting anything done!

Besides feeding 2 babies 5 times throughout the day, changing 20 diapers (I am not kidding.), sterilizing bottles, making bottles, and pumping every three hours. (This is a really bad sentence... I actually don't even think it qualifies as a sentence. oh well.)

Enter the crock-pot.

Lots of people have asked me what items have been super helpful with two babies and soon I will be giving my top must-haves! Near the top of that list is the crock-pot. It is magic! Not only can you make dinner, but you can make dessert as well in this nifty little invention!

I have been craving sweets post-partum... it's crazy! Like, I need sugar after every meal. I need to get a grip.

Anyway, this Lemon Blueberry Cake is a cinch to make in the crock!

Lemon-Blueberry-Goodness-Crock-pot-Cake!

Photo courtesy of me! (Again, not so much into taking pics of the process. I am all about the results, which I might add were fantastic!!)

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray (any kind will really do)

1 can of blueberry pie filling

1 box of lemon cake mix (Yes, I use a box... sorry mom) & all the ingredients required on the back of the box to make cake mix (water, oil, eggs)

1 1/4 cup of boiling water

1/4 cup sugar

Make it:

1. Coat your crock-pot with the cooking spray

2. Spoon pie filling into the crock-pot and set aside

3. In a big bowl mix the cake mix and ingredients to make cake. I use a good old fashioned whisk because I am too lazy to bust out a hand mixer and it's so much easier to just wash the whisk! Anyway, use whichever you prefer and beat the tar out of the cake mix until there are no lumps (about 2 minutes)

4. Pour cake batter over the pie filling in the crock-pot

5. In another bowl combine the boiling water and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Slowly pour this over the top of the cake mixture in the CP

6. Take 8 paper towels and stack on top of the CP without touching the cake mix and secure with the lid on top (this will absorb the moisture)

7. Cook on high heat for 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours or until whatever you choose to stick in the middle to test comes out clean. (They always recommend a wooden skewer... I use a steak knife.)

8. Turn off CP and let stand uncovered for about 45 minutes (if you live in the DR you know that's quite impossible so just let it chill on your counter top with the lid on for a couple of hours while it cools down, or you can serve it hot, but be careful- the fruit will be extremely hot)

9. Scoop cake onto plates and top with blueberry mixture at the bottom of CP... Or if you have a cake pan, place that on top of the CP and invert and your beautiful cake and blueberry topping should plop right out and onto your plate!!

10. Enjoy!! 

This cake is so springy and delicious! It would also be wonderful if you did an angel food cake with strawberry pie filling or a streudel (sp?) cake with apple filling... combinations are limitless!!

Recipe courtesy of Sandra Lee Semi-homemade Slow Cooker Recipes

Up next week- my very very best friend's Key Lime Pie