If you’ve ever been to Oregano’s you’ve probably had there incredible dessert, called pazookie. It’s basically a pizza cookie, half baked served warm with vanilla ice cream on top. It’s so so good! I made it at home along with our homemade pizza I showed you the other day. It went perfectly and was a hit with our friends.

Chocolate Chip Pazookie

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread dough into a cake pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are lightly toasted. You want this to be ooey gooey so be sure not to over bake. Spoon into bowls and top with vanilla ice cream.

You will have some leftover cookie dough if you only bake 1 pan of pazookie, so I made my extra dough into chocolate chip cookies.

Images: sammyw

Doesn’t this glass measuring cup remind you of science class? It’s so cute, simple & affordable. Brought to you from Ikea…

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked since probably early summer. I love the flavor of pumpkin, but am not really a fan of pumpkin pie, but this looked amazing! Although it’s officially fall & I’ve been ooing and awing at everyone’s soups, roasted squash and cider recipes, it’s still in the upper 90’s where I’m at, so a milkshake is all I’ve got here, at least it’s pumpkin though right?

Pumpkin Shake

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vanilla ice cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• a couple big pinches of cinnamon (depending on your taste, I added quite a bit)

Mix all ingredients in blender & *enjoy*

Images: sammyw

We had an awesome time with friends over for dinner & made this pizza. It was really easy, since most everything was prepped, chopped and ready to go beforehand that way we weren’t stuck in the kitchen for the majority of the night. I’m beginning to get more confident with yeast, after these, baking with yeast is beginning to grow on me (pun intended). I can’t believe how simple & inexpensive it is, see for yourself…

Thin & Crispy Pizza Crust

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 t sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/ t kosher salt
• 2 t yellow cornmeal

Dissolve yeast and sugar into 1/2 cup warm water; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 1 1/4 cup flour and salt into yeast mixture to form soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (5 minutes); add enough remaining flour, 1 T at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to your hands. Place dough in bowl coated with oil, turning dough to coat. Cover, let rise in a warm draft free place for a hour (or until dough has doubled in size). Punch down dough & let stand 5 minutes. Roll dough into a circle & place dough on a pizza stone or baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges of dough to form a crust.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle dough with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place pan on lowest oven rack; bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven top with topping goodness and bake additional 10 minutes on middle oven rack until cheese is golden. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

This dough was good, a little too crispy for my personal taste, I’ll keep searching for a better recipe, so be prepared to see another pizza post in the near future. And I think I’ll take a whack at grilling my pizza dough next time…

Here’s some of our favorite toppings:

• pepperoni
• sliced black olives
• fresh garlic
• roasted tomatoes
  
• red peppers
• mozzarella cheese
• parmesan cheese
• caramelized red onions…

Images: sammyw

This is a long time family recipe of my hubby’s. Isaac has been eating it for as long as he can remember, it’s just so fun, you’ll want to play with it (hence the title, finger jello). Everyone has there special way of eating it, squishing it between your front teeth, resulting in a squirting noise, which I find yucky (hint hint), or breaking it up into little pieces to make little jewels. We’ve got my side of the family now hooked too! A couple weeks ago both my brother and sister had their wisdom teeth removed, there request, ‘tell Sam to bring the jello’. It’s a popular dish around our family to say the least. However it gets to your belly, your belly will be happy to have it, it’s super tasty.

Finger Jello

• 3 (3 oz) boxes any flavor Jello
• 4 packets unflavored gelatin
• 4 cups boiling water

Boil 4 cups water. Mix Jello and unflavored gelatin in a 9×13 pan. Pour boiling water over mixture & stir until dissolved. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. Cut & serve!

*You can cut these any way you like, try cutting cute shapes using cookie cutters*

Images: sammyw

A really simple and healthy meal that takes no time to make. My hubby made is own dipping sauce by mixing soy sauce and Tabasco. Sounds strange, but it goes really well with this recipe. Look how easy it is…

Asian Lettuce Wraps

• 1 head of butter leaf lettuce
• 1 lb ground turkey (or ground chicken works well too)
• 1 T canola oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 T rice wine vinegar
• 1-8oz can water chestnuts, drained & finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 t dark asian sesame oil

Wash and pat dry lettuce leaves, set aside. In medium skillet brown meat in oil. Drain and set aside. Cook onion & garlic in same pan. Next add soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar, water chestnuts, green onions and sesame oil to onion mixture and stir to combine. Add cooked meat and heat through. Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves, dip with yummy sauce!

Images: sammyw