Mizzas (or Puffins) - You decide what to call 'em!

Snackers, beware! You'll be making these every time you have a craving for pizza...or muffins...or both!

Easy, cute and incredibly tasty little bites...and you won't have to fight your children for the pepperonis off the pizza slices!

Other combos that everyone wanted to try the next time(s) I make these would be our favorite pizza combos, such as Supreme (with a little bit of everything), Hawaiian (ham and pineapple), Four Cheese, Anchovy and Sausage, and my personal favorite pizza toppings - bacon, mushroom and onion!!

Dice some pepperoni (don't eat them all...) and shred some mozzarella (or cheat and buy pre-shredded like me!)

Combine flour, baking powder, egg and milk

Stir in the magic pepperoni and mozzarella

Place batter into mini muffin tin...and pop 'em in the oven!

Serve these little babies with warmed pizza or marinara sauce...mmmm!

Puffins

3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup pepperoni, diced
1 small jar pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 375. 

Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Whisk in the milk and egg.  Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni. Let the mixture stand for 10-15 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups.  Bake until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.

Warm the pizza sauce in the microwave or small saucepan.  Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Norwegian Epic - Food, Fantasy and Frustration - Day Six

Day six of our adventure on the Norwegian Epic was another day at sea. By this time, we had already explored all of the ship and knew our way around pretty well.  Today would just be a day of hanging out and chillin'.  We did have some things planned in advance because we knew we would be at sea all day again.

Drama Queen and I had some quiet time together at the Atrium Bar with an iced mocha for her and an espresso for me. You'll understand the need for 'quiet time' in just a moment...

Yesterday, while in St. Thomas, we happened across a music store.  There were several ukuleles in the window. Drama Queen had received a guitar for Christmas last year and loved to sit and strum away, learning how to play little by little.  She then developed a fascination for the tiny ukulele and a month or two prior to our trip and told me she wanted one.  I had replied with the condition that she learn to play guitar basics before I would entertain the idea of getting her a ukulele.  She got so excited when she saw them in the store window that I couldn't resist taking a look when we passed by them again on the way back to the ship.  Because they were way less expensive than I had imagined ($40 bucks!) and because she's so damned cute when she's excited about something, I caved and got her one. Yeah, I'm a pushover... She has been plucking away it since it landed in her hands non-stop...hence the need for 'Quiet Time'.

My life is now a Don Ho soundtrack...

Our lunch today was at noon in the Spiegel Tent for a murder mystery lunch called 'Presumed Murdered' performed by the Second City Troop. Again, no photography was allowed, but I did manage to snap a few before the show and just of the salad part of lunch.  It was a simple fixed menu with salad, chicken and dessert. The show was pretty good too. I like audience participation shows like this, just as long as I am not picked as one of the participants!!

Everyone got to do their own thing after lunch until dinner. The girls played games on my laptop and  got some ice cream at the buffet, Granma headed for the casino, Crazy Artist was doing her thing on her laptop, and Papa Bear and I headed for our favorite bar to get a drink and went around to the other parts of the ship we wanted to get more pictures of.

Espresso Martini

We all had dinner at Taste and got to sit directly under the chandelier. Dinner was really tasty tonight!

Yeah...this chandelier.

I love the panorama feature on my camera...

Wild Mushroom Quesadilla

Kids Pepperoni Pizza

Miso Glazed Tilapia, Bok Choy, Shiitake Mushrooms and Singapore Noodles

Chicken and Shrimp Curry, Basmati Rice and Mango Chutney

Linguine and Sun Dried Tomatoes with Basil Cream

Braised Lamb Shank, Garlic Leek Mashed Potatoes, Five Bean Stew

After stuffing ourselves beyond capacity, we headed to Headliners to see the Second City comedy show. It was great, too!  Little Lawyer even got to suggest something during one of the improv sketches.

Our foray into the Ice Bar was reserved for 10:30pm that night. This was one of the things I was really looking forward to doing.  The cover charge was $20 a head and for that they provided gloves and parkas for you to wear and two drinks to have during your 45 minute stay in the bar.

The parkas were one-size-fits-all (and I still have yet to meet this person called ALL...) and very itchy. But I could survive that with 45 glorious minutes of icy cold comfort! I am a cold temperature lover. But I live in Florida...and (personally) I hate it. Cold weather makes me feel great, alive and almost like I was twenty-something. My bones don't ache, my sinuses are clear and I love it. This would be 45 minutes of sheer joy for me...

There were about 15 or 20 of us in the bar at the beginning, and it quickly (like within 15 minutes) was whittled down to about 10. When the drinks were gone, so were half the people apparently! Wimps!!! Before I knew it, the six of us were the only people left! As the minutes ticked by, I'm sure you can guess who was the last one to leave the bar...I couldn't find anyone available to ask if I could sleep in there for the duration of the cruise, so I used the time to take more pictures.

The benches and end tables were solid ice

The bar was made of ice bricks

The glasses were constructed of a solid ice "cone" insert inside a plastic cup

The top of the bar was smooth, solid ice

The were 2 big ice sculptures (a bear and Indian)

The Ice Bar was great! I could have seriously stayed longer. The funny thing was how cold the kids kept saying they were while we were in the bar, and then wanted to go get ice cream when they got out...

Day six ended with a trip up to the buffet for ice cream and goofiness...

Family Traditions - Birthdays

We have had a tradition in our family of the birthday person choosing what they want for their birthday dinner for years.  My Mom has done this for me since I was old enough to speak, and I have continued this tradition with my girls. It's fun to see what they come up with. There are NO rules when making the choice, so it's basically a free-for-all buffet.

As far back as I can remember, I have always requested that my Mom make pirogi for my birthday dinner. My Grandmother (my dad's mom) used to make them and showed my Mom how to make them them. I love them. They are so simple and straightforward, but have the ability to be versatile as well. These packages of joy can be filled with yumminess beyond imagination.  Mom makes two different kinds - ones with cabbage and ones with sauerkraut. I love the sauerkraut perogi floating in a pool of butter, sprinkled with minced scallion, salt, pepper and a dollop of sour cream on the side. Don't get me wrong! I like the cabbage, but refuse to eat them until I have demolished the sauerkraut.

They take Mom about ten to twelve hours to make, as she makes upwards of 150 to 200 of each variety (not counting making the dough the night before) and we (well, I do more than anybody else) eat them for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack for the three or four days after my birthday (can we say pan-fried pirogi in butter? Oh yes...yes we can!).  Mom probably hates my birthday and is fervently grateful that it is only a once per year occurrence...but when we all sit around the table to eat? Let's just call that a George Bailey moment because we're all glad I was born to request this as my birthday dinner choice after that first heavenly bite.

March is a double birthday month in our world. The Drama Queen turned 15 and the Crazy Artist turned 17.  I'm slowly learning how, from a parental perspective, birthdays evolve.  We started with Winnie the Pooh, Strawberry Shortcake, Pirates and Butterflies and now we have mall trips, more expensive tastes and no parties. Thank goodness my Little Lawyer doesn't have her birthday until September. I still feel like the poor girl gets 'gypped' on the birthday front sometimes. When Drama Queen and Crazy Artist were little, we had money to spare, so they got the royal treatment. Spoiled, they were. Even now, the older kids get in on the tax refund benefit. Little Lawyer gets to go through her childhood with poor parents who don't have enough energy to walk around the block, much less put together an extravagant kids birthday party...but we try to make it with whatever money and energy we can muster!

Drama Queen's birthday was a blast. I love her version of a good time! Alice In Wonderland opened on her birthday (Karma or coincidence? Hmmm...) so we drove an hour to one of her favorite restaurants, Bahama Breeze, and had dinner, and then saw the movie in 3D on an IMAX screen. She got to bring a friend along for the festivities that night and a trip to the mall the next day.  For her birthday dinner, she chose Thai Chicken Pizza and requested a Mad Hatter Hat cake (which we neglected to take a photo of because to us it looked nothing like Johnny Depp's hat in the movie...it resembled more of a Mardi Gras/Saint Patrick's Day Leprechaun-looking hat...thing. Cake decorating is so not my forte.). 

Crazy Artist is a potato freak. Really.  The last 3 years, the child has requested nothing but a potato smorgasbord for her birthday dinner. This year, she added one non-potato dish request to her request. And she did not want a traditional birthday cake. She requested a coffee cake from Troyer's. Did I mention that she is crazy? Yeah...but we love her.  We had her favorite potato dishes - Loaded Potato Casserole and TGIF Potato Skins, along with a new favorite I make that she loves - Strawberry Soup. Granma picked up a coffee cake and cinnamon rolls from Troyer's. We surprised her with tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof at our community theater - she's the only kid I know that could recite the movie word for word.

Little Lawyer is already dreaming of a Totally Chocolate dinner.....and who knows what else!

Here's to birthday dinners!!

Thai Chicken Pizza

1 large pizza shell (like Boboli)

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp water

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp oil

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 scallions, thinly sliced

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Whisk together the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger and garlic in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring, until cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add bell pepper, scallions and 1 tablespoon of the peanut sauce to the chicken; toss to combine.

Remove the crust from the package; spread evenly with the remaining peanut sauce. Top with the chicken mixture, then sprinkle with cheese. Bake on the middle rack until the crust is crispy and golden and the cheese is melted, 11 to 13 minutes.

Loaded Potato Casserole

 

4 cups mashed potatoes

7 oz tub of garlic and cheese spread

1/2 cup milk

1 pkg real bacon bits/pieces

1 tsp pepper

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar

Fresh chives. chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine potatoes, cheese spread, milk bacon bits, pepper and three quarters of the cheddar in a 11x7 casserole/baking dish. Sprinkle top with remaining cheddar.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Garnish with Chives.

TGI Friday's Potato Skins* (with my calorie-laden Sour Cream Dill Sauce)

*I just use a family-sized box of TGI Friday's potato skins (in the freezer section of your grocery store), but any brand will do. Just make as package directs.

The sauce I make consists of sour cream, ranch dressing, dill and 4 or 5 chopped scallions. I never measure this recipe, so when I do throw it together, it all depends on whether I am more in the mood for a sour cream taste or a ranch taste (usually the sour cream wins out in that competition..and it gets a 2:1 ratio). For a kick, I will sometimes add a splash or two of hot sauce and/or sprinkle with crushed wasabi peas after the mixture is dolloped onto the skins.

Strawberry Soup

1 pound fresh or frozen strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

Garnish with:

Sliced Strawberries

Whipped Cream

Wash and cut the strawberries and place in a blender or food processor.  Process until the strawberries are pureed.  Add the sugar, yogurt, milk, and lemon juice and process until combined. 

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with whipped cream and sliced berries.