Homemade Garlic Herb Pizza Crust

Pizza! My ultimate guilty pleasure! I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life and be completely happy. However, delivery can get really expensive. With this simple recipe, you can make your own pizza and cheesy bread right at home! Yummy!

Garlic Herb Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 packet (2 1/4 tsp.) dry active yeast

1 tbsp. honey

1 tsp. fancy garlic salt

2 tbsp. garlic herb infused olive oil

3 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. In large mixing bowl, combine water, yeast, and honey. Stir until well combined. Let set 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form. 

2. Add salt, oil and half of the flour. Stir until well combined. Continue to stir in additional flour gradually until the dough reaches ideal consistency: slightly tacky, but not sticky. 

3. Knead dough for 5 minutes to form glutens. (This makes a soft, chewy crust.) 

4. Lightly grease the bowl and dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature 1-2 hours. 

5. For best results, let chill in refrigerator for at least 30 min before rolling crust out. 

6. Put pizza stone in cold oven and turn oven on to 500 degrees. Let oven and stone fully heat up. 

7. Roll out crust on wax paper (makes transferring to stone easier). Add desired toppings. 

8. Transfer pizza to stone. Bake at 500 for 9-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. 

Coconut Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Coconut Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins 

Tis' the season for an abundance of zucchini! Summer means zucchini overload, which is fine by me! My grandma gave me some zucchini from her garden this past weekend. I just happened to have all the ingredients to whip up some zucchini bread, and decided to put a little twist on it. If you follow my blog you know about my coconut obsession, so I opted to go in a sweet direction, adding coconut oil, shredded coconut, and some chocolate chips! At about 250 calories per muffin, this recipe is perfect for breakfast or a low-guilt dessert! 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 medium zucchini, shredded squeezed and drained

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan and set aside. 

2. In large bowl whisk together both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

3. In another bowl, mix together zucchini, sugars, oil, egg, and extracts. 

4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Finally, mix in shredded coconut and chocolate chips. 

5. Spoon mixture evenly in to muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from tin. Enjoy!

Easy Weeknight Chicken Teriyaki

Easy Weeknight Chicken Teriyaki

Cooking a healthy dinner every night might be difficult for those of us who are super busy. Don't resort to greasy, fatty, high-calorie and low nutrition options at fast food restaurants! This recipe is perfect for a quick and healthy week night meal. This recipe is also a great dish for meal prepping. Just cook up a big pan and portion out for the rest of the week! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil or coconut oil

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped in to bite-sized pieces

1 bag fresh or frozen stir-fry vegetable mix

1 small can water chestnuts

1 small can baby corn

1/2 bottle Teriyaki sauce

Sriracha chili sauce to taste

Directions:

1. In large fry pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add chicken breasts. Sautée until cook thoroughly, stirring every few minutes. 

2. Add vegetable mix, water chestnuts, and baby corn to pan. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce and mix well. Cover pan and let simmer about 7-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring every few minutes. 

3. Add sriracha sauce and additional teriyaki sauce if desired. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.

4. If you're feeling fancy, garnish with sriracha drizzles and chopped green onion.

Crockpot Snack Mix

Summer time means party time! And party time means yummy snack foods. This recipe is the perfect snack to bring to all your summer events. It's super easy to make, and easy to customize to your liking! Yum!

Crockpot Snack Mix

Ingredients:

1 box Crispix Cereal

1/2 box Cheez-it's 

1/2 bag butter crisp pretzels

1/2 container party peanuts 

(Feel free to change up dry ingredients to your liking)

1/2 cup salted butter

4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

3 tsp seasoned salt

Directions:

1. Combine cereal, crackers, pretzels, and peanuts in large bowl. Toss until well combined. Set aside. 

2. In microwave safe container, microwave butter 1 minute. Stir until melted. Microwave in 15 second intervals if needed. Add Worcestershire sauce and stir unit well combined. Add spices and stir until smooth. 

3. Spoon seasoning mixture over cereal mixture slowly, mixing after every two spoonfuls. Mix until everything is fully coated. 

4. Transfer mixture in to crock pot and turn on low. Cook for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove lid and cook an additional 30 minutes. Allow to cool fully before serving. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week (if it lasts that long!)

Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

I've said it a million times, breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day, hands down. However, finding the motivation to cook breakfast every day is hard. This recipe is great because you get all the delicious layers of breakfast-y goodness and you can prepare it the night before! My recipe makes enough for 2-4, but double it and make enough for company too! My recipe below gives low-cal substitutions for those of you watching your weight! Yum!

Ingredients:

4 uncooked Johnsonville original breakfast sausage patties (or 1/2 log Jennie-O turkey breakfast sausage or 1 cup Morning Star Farms breakfast sausage crumbles)

1 tsp oregano, divided 

4 large eggs (or 6 egg whites)

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup Mexican Four Cheese Shredded Cheese (or light/reduced fat shredded cheese blend), divided

20 frozen Ore-Ida Crispy Crowns tater tots (or sweet potato tots)

1 tbsp chives, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. In fry pan, cook and crumble sausage until fully cooked, stirring frequently. Drain excess grease and add 1/2 tsp oregano. Spread evenly across bottom of small casserole dish. 

3. In cereal bowl, whip together eggs with fork. Season with salt, pepper and remaining oregano. Pour over sausage in casserole dish. 

4. Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese over egg mixture. Place tater tots evenly across top of egg mixture. 

5. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes. 

6. Allow casserole to cool 5-10 minutes. Garnish with chives and enjoy! 

Peaches 'n Cream Smoothie

Peaches 'n Cream Smoothie

Ahhh, summertime! The best time of the year! One thing that is great about summer is the amazing quality of local fruit! This summertime smoothie is super light and tasty for the perfect breakfast or snack!

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen peaches

1 container Light & Fit vanilla Greek yogurt 

1/2 cup Tropicana Trop 50 orange juice

1/2 cup Silk light vanilla almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp honey (optional)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. 

(If more sweetness desired, add honey. If thinner consistency is desired, add more orange juice or almond milk.) Enjoy!

Spicy Avocado Tuna Salad

Spicy Avocado Tuna Salad

Now that it's beginning to get warm out (finally), this has become my new lunch go-to! This recipe is super quick and easy, not to mention tasty. At only 200 calories per serving this makes a perfect lunch or snack on the go. I like to enjoy my tuna salad on a 100 calorie sandwich thin or with pepper jack flavored nut thin crackers. 

Spicy Avocado Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

1 2.7 oz. to-go can chunk white tuna in water, drained

1 container wholly guacamole mini 100 calorie packs

1 tsp Siracha hot sauce

1/8 cup green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Mix tuna and guacamole together until well combined. 

2. Drizzle with Siracha and top with green onions. Enjoy!