Pizza

Pizza sounded really good tonight, so I set out to find a good and quick pizza recipe. I hit the jackpot. Allrecipes came through for me again with this pizza dough recipe. I added rosemary, basil and dill to the dough as well as the white sauce I put on it. I topped it with chicken, sauteed spinach, musrooms, olives, onion, garlic, and cheddar cheese (unfortunately our mozzarella had seen better days and found a new home in the trash). I baked it the full 25 minutes and it came out fully cooked but not dark. When I rolled out the dough, I left a 1" border slightly raised for the crust, and it was the perfect pan crust. I think I'll try making this dough into bread sticks like one of the comments suggested. It would be wonderful brushed with some garlic butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Snickerdoodles

I get my snickerdoodle recipe here, and really love the way they turn out. It's the only snickerdoodle recipe I've tried, and I don't feel the need to test another one out. I of course add ginger, nutmeg and cloves wherever it calls for just cinnamon, and I've had several requests for the recipe because it tastes just a little bit different from the traditional cookie.

Chicken & Dumpling Soup

Ken loves chicken and dumplings, so I decided to make it for him last week. Unfortunately he ate it late, since we had a freak snow storm and the main road into town was closed down for a few hours because the hill was too dangerous to pass. I really enjoyed it, even though I'm not the biggest dumpling fan. I like that this dumpling recipe makes smaller dumplings, instead of the big yeasty ones.

Boil 4 chicken breasts in large pot, dice, reserve water for stock (8 cups)
After pot is emptied, add a little butter or oil and saute 1/3 C. chopped onions, 2 cloves chopped garlic, and 2 chopped carrots. Add water back in, and add bullion cubes to season the water. I used 4-5 for 8 cups water. Add dumplings in and cook as directed by recipe, but don't worry about the broth it calls for. WATCH your pot... it needs to be pretty deep so they don't boil over. I had to keep lifting the lid every 30-60 seconds because my pot wasn't very deep. Add chicken and let simmer for a few minutes.

I didn't serve it with anything since the soup is great alone. It's perfect for a cold day, and even better when you're snowed in. :)

Tina Markham's Cinnamon Rolls

This was my contribution to the Cook family post-Christmas breakfast. The cinnamon rolls are unique because they aren't rolled at all. You simply break off dough, stretch it, dip it in butter, coat in in cinnamon sugar, and tie it in a knot. They're also topped with a caramel glaze instead of icing. I think they taste better than your average cinnamon roll, and I won't be posting the recipe because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to. I think you could probably make a pretty close match if you just made the roll modification on a regular dough recipe.

Quick oven chicken with scalloped potatoes

Ok, so the title is a bit of a misnomer. I needed a quick dinner one night, so I layered in a quart baking dish a thawed chicken breast, potatoes, and broccoli and topped it all with a homemade white sauce and some cheese. I covered the top with tin foil and baked it for 30-45 minutes, poured it onto a plate, and had dinner!