Pita Pizza

I am often looking for new and tasty lunch ideas. I get sick of the same turkey sandwich everyday. This healthy alternative is a nice change up and got rid of some of the left overs in my fridge!

This hodge-podge pizza is quick, easy and delicious. You can use the ingredients you have handy and easily flavor to your taste.

What I used:

• 1 whole wheat pita
• pizza sauce (I used the grocery store brand but you can use whatever your favorite is)
• butternut squash (previously cooked)
• lean ground turkey (previously cooked)
• mushrooms
• fresh tomato
• small pieces of mozarella
• sprinkle of parmesan

Bake at 425F for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and crust is crispy.

Christmas Cake Pops

I have seen cake pops, eaten cake pops, and now I can finally say I have made cake pops! You may not be as excited as I am, but wait until you try them! These little balls of cake and frosting are not only delicious but they are surprisingly simple to make.

All you need is:

• your favorite cake recipe
• your favorite frosting recipe
• candy melts or wafers (I used red and green)
• decorative sprinkles
• lollipop sticks
• styrofoam (you can also find cake pop stands too)

For my cake pops, I used red velvet cake and cut the recipe down to a quarter of the recipe so it fit nicely into an 8x8 cake pan. The cake should only be about 1/2 an inch thick. This made 15 pretty large cake pops. If you want to make more, you do not have to cut down your recipe.

Bake the cake and let it cool completely.

Next whip up your frosting. The more simple the better on this. I used a simple butter cream frosting consisting of powder sugar, soft butter, vanilla and a dash of milk. I used about a quarter cup of frosting.

You want your cake pops to be mostly cake, and just enough frosting to hold them together.

Break up your cake into crumbles and mix in the frosting until you can tell it will stay together easily and you do not see any white frosting peaking out anywhere.

Roll the cake mix into 1 inch balls and freeze for about 30 minutes. I froze mine overnight and I didn't have to refreeze them at all, but 30 minutes is sufficient if you want to make them in one go.

When your cake balls are frozen, melt your colored candy melts. Stir every 30 seconds. If you overheat them you can stir in a dash of vegetable oil to loosen the melts back up.

Insert a lollipop stick into the cake ball about halfway through or more, but don't let it poke out the other side (unless you are making snowmen cake pops, which would be adorable!). Holding the stick, coat the entire ball in melted color and tap the stick on the edge of the bowl to let excess drip off. QUICKLY add sprinkles and decorations while the coating is wet.

Then stick the cake pop into the styrofoam and gaze at the beauty you just created.

Make as many as you want and easily freeze the cake balls if you want to save them for later use.

Lastly, enjoy your delicious treats!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cowboy Caviar

After getting my favorite salsa from the grocery store deli today I read the ingredients and laughed at myself for spending the money on it when it has such simple ingredients! Now I have a fridge full of it and I will never buy it again!

This is how I made it:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 whole green bell pepper chopped fine
1 whole yellow bell pepper chopped fine
1 whole red bell pepper chopped fine
2 jalapeno peppers chopped fine
1 vidalia onion chopped very fine
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans

Mix all together in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours to let all the flavors mix together.

Then enjoy with some crackers or chips! I cannot believe how easy it is and how amazing it tastes!

ENJOY!