Pao de Queijo

We’ve been in love with these little balls of cheesy bread since we had them at a Brazilian steakhouse. I’ve made them many times but never saved the recipe. Jeff declared this batch to be the best, so I am saving it this time. 

What I had:

1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup grated cheese (I used a mix of Parmigiano Reggiano & Fontina)

What I did:

• Heated milk, salt, and oil on stove till bubbling.
• Poured this liquid into the tapioca flour and mixed till a sticky dough was formed.
• Mixed in the egg; felt hard at the beginning but took a minute and it was easier done than I thought.
• Mixed in the grated cheese.
• Baked at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, turned the oven off, and let them sit for another 5 to get the exterior crispy.

Ate way too many of them right out of the oven - they are bite sized and delicious and very easy to keep eating till you feel sick. So beware!

Layered pasta bake

 

What I had:

• 8-10 ounces (roughly half the container) of cooked angel hair pasta
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 lb hot sausage, cooked
• 1 lb butternut squash, sauteed and mashed a little
• 1 large white onion, sauteed
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Honestly, once you have the base, you can use whatever meats and veggies you want!

What I did:

• Mixed the cooked pasta, eggs, and parmesan cheese
• Spread it evenly in a 9X13 pan
• Baked at 350 for 10 minutes
• Spread the cream cheese over it (some recipe I saw said to use wax paper to roll the cream cheese, didn't work for me. I think it would be better to heat it up and pipe it over the base)
• Layered the squash, onions, and sausage
• Sprinkled the mozzarella cheese evenly on top
• Tented aluminum foil over the pan
• Baked for an hour at 350
• Moved pan up to top shelf, removed foil, broiled on low for 5 minutes

Hey, the kid and husband loved it, so I can it a winning experiment!

Naan pizza take 2

So, we decided to do a make your own naan pizza night and Oli had so much fun.I only had a few things to use as toppings but we did ok.

What we had:

• Trader Joe's naan
• Wegman's chunky tomato sauce
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• basil
• Wegman's shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• Hormel pepperoni minis
• Kirkland real crumbled bacon
• Red onion thinly sliced

What we did:

• Turn oven on to 350 degrees
•  Mix tomato sauce with garlic powder, onion powder and basil to your taste
• Spread some sauce on your naan, add toppings, cover with cheese
• Baked for 25-30 minutes
• Burned our tongues eating it :)

Oli loved the whole thing! Watch it unfold in photos:

All ingredients ready to go

Ready for the oven

Mmmmm

First bite

Smile of approval

Cheesy bacon potatoes

What you need:

• Some number of red potatoes, sliced about a quarter inch thick
• Your favorite cheese, shredded, enough to cover all the potato slices
• Crumbled bacon, as much as you want
• Your favorite butter or butter like product

What to do:

• Brush the butter on both sides of the potato slices, I used Country Crock.
• Lay them on an untreated pan, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn them over, bake for another 10 minutes.
• Cover each slice with shredded cheese and then some bacon.
• Bake for another 10 minutes.
• Let cool or burn your mouth and enjoy.

Pardon my dirty baking sheet but they were going way to fast to wait for a plate. And they were a perfect accompaniment to our steak tonight.