UCreateFoods Dad Does Dinner Challenge #1-- Mike's Favorite Breakfast Pizza



Mike & his favorite breakfast pizza!

 Have you visited UCreate Foods?  I LoVe, love, LOVE it!  Such an amazing site done so well!  Tyra has such a knack of writing and I enjoy all of her advice, ideas, & insight!  Well, on October 30th, she introduced a "Dad Does Dinner Challenge" on her blog!  Of course, all I could think was "I wonder if he would really do it?" Well, it's pretty obvious that I'm the one that does all most of the cooking in our home.  Bradey {my cute 11 yr old boy} likes to make his own macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles rather often.  Makenzie {my adorable 9 yr old girl} loves to help with everything!  But Mike... ummmm.... well he's not interested in doing anything but eating it!  So, you could probably understand how shocked I was when I timidly brought this challenge up to him and he was totally game for it!  I was so shocked I nearly fell to the floor. . .
Well for those of you who know me, you probably are aware that Mike works 200 miles away from home.  That means he sacrifices his time to drive 400 round-trip miles to support our family!  And I have to say... I am soooo grateful for him!  In these times, it's hard to find a job, and after being laid off at his previous job in August 2008, he took the first job he could get his hands on, no matter the sacrifice.  Anyway.... I guess what I'm getting at is that I feel that one way I can show him my appreciation for him, and also make him feel more at home, so it's easier to be gone from home for 3 days at a time, is to prepare meals for him to take.
Every Thursday I dedicate my day to making Mike's meals.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Of course, this week he gets leftover Thanksgiving for lunch and dinner, but for breakfast he wanted my famous breakfast pizza, his favorite.  So this was the perfect time for me to get him in the kitchen and enter in the Dad Does Dinner Challenge.  This is just a simple recipe that we all enjoy!  Of course you can change it up to your liking!  If you do, let me know what you do and how you liked it!
Make sure you go to UCreateFoods and visit Tyra!  Tell her I sent you!  Put your hubby in the kitchen and let him do dinner! :)

Mike's Favorite Breakfast Pizza
A From Cupboard to Cupboard original
printable recipe

2 tubes refrigerated biscuits
1 lb sausage (your favorite variety)
6 eggs
3 Tbsp water or milk
pinch salt
pinch pepper
1- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I prefer pizza blend)

Lightly grease or spray a 9x13 or brownie sheet pan (1/4 sheet pan).  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown sausage. Whisk eggs with water or milk in small bowl.  Add egg mixture to browned sausage in frying pan and scramble until cooked thru.  Set aside.  Lay out biscuits in prepared pan and press all biscuits together.  Sprinkle sausage/egg mixture over biscuit crust.  Sprinkle {or cover} with shredded cheese.  Bake @ 400 degrees for 13-17 minutes or until top appears golden.  I bake mine 17 minutes because Mike likes his well-done :)... Let cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes.  Cut in squares and serve!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna {and Mike :) }

*Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY.... 'tis the season for giving*

Tis the Season...An Awesome HOLIDAY Giveaway

I am so STINKIN' excited about this giveaway!  The cute and creative girls over at C&C Paperie have offered an AMAZING giveaway for a lucky {lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky} follower of From Cupboard to Cupboard! These girls have created some of the CUTEST holiday greeting cards I've ever seen!  They make it so easy too!  You pick out the layout you just LOVE {um.... I can't choose between the THREE I just LOVE}, send them your cute little picture you want all your family and friends to stick on their walls {or fridges} for the holidays {or year round:)}, then they create the card for you, making sure it is PERFECT.  They then send you a file via email.... you then can order them online or save the file and take it into a place ie walmart, Sam's, Costo, Kinkos, Staples, etc. and have them printed.  If you don't want the hassle of getting them printed, C&C Paperie will even print them for you and mail them directly to you!  I mean, seriously?  Could it get any more convenient than that?  Nope, didn't think so!  But now... for the part that made me so giddy..... C&C Paperie offers a card that you can take one step further and personalize them with your favorite RECIPE on the back!!! Oh My Gosh!  Can you say "Woo Hoo!" loud enough?  I can't wait!  I would love to get an adorable card that had an awesome recipe on the back!  Talk about double double grin grin when you opened that envelope! 

So this is the what you're entering to win:  a favorite design ($12 value) OR 25% off a printed bundle (includes photo or press-printed cards, envelopes and shipping to your door)
 
AND this is what you need to do to enter to win!
You will have 5 chances to win:

1.  Become a follower of From Cupboard to Cupboard.... Once you do or if you already are, leave me a comment and tell me!  :)
2.  Become a "LIKER" of From Cupboard to Cupboard on facebook.... Once you do or if you already are, leave me a separate comment and tell me! :)
3.  Become a "LIKER" of C&C Paperie on facebook.... Once you do or if you already are, leave me another separate comment and tell me!
4.  Go to C&C Paperie and look thru all their designs... Come back here and let me know what you'd get if you are to win in yet another separate comment!
5.  Tell all your friends about this awesome drawing on your facebook, blog, etc.  Come back here and leave another comment that you did!  Come on people... share the love.  Afterall, it's the Holiday Season!
6.  For all you bloggers out there: you get a 6th chance to win!  Simply add C&C's button to your blog and come back here and let me know about it in a comment!  Once again... share the love! :) Don't forget to share your blog address in your comment so we can all visit you too!









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I look forward to reading all your fun comments!  Oh... and I'll be drawing the winner on Friday, December 3rd....

Good Luck!

Happy Holidays & Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Pie Crust Tutorial & F.C.t.C. Pear Pie

F.C.t.C. Pear Pie made with Classic  Pie Crust.... crust tutorial below

Yesterday my family went to dinner at Village Inn after church... it was yummy as always but there was one thing that totally shocked me right to tears!  I seriously couldn't believe how many pink "pie reservation" slips were in their glass case. I thought to myself, "seriously, people don't make their own pies for Thanksgiving? Really?  It's not hard... geez I wish I was making all those pies {and all that extra money}!"  So, I decided to throw together a quick tutorial on how to make a simple pie crust.  This pie was finished in 1 hr from start to finish... You have an hour, don't you?  And of course, if you're making cream pies, it can take sooooo much less time.  I hope this helps you all get over your "pie making phobia"....

Classic Pie Crust

original recipe from Crisco

printable recipe

8-9- or 10-inch Single Crust

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter flavored crisco

3 Tbsp cold water

8- or 9-inch Double Crust

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter flavored crisco

5 Tbsp cold water

10-inch Double Crust

2 2/3 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter flavored crisco

7-8 Tbsp cold water

For Pie Dough: spoon flour into measuring cup and level.  Combine flour and salt in medium bowl.  Cut in shortening using pastry blender or 2 knives until all flour is blended to form pea-sized chunks.  Sprinkle with water, 1 Tbsp at a time.  Toss lightly with your hands until dough will form a ball. 

For single crust:  Press dough between hands to form 5- to 6-inch pancake.  Roll out dough on lightly floured surface until desired size.  Place in pan, fold edges, and flute. For recipes using a baked pie crust, heat oven to 425 degrees.  Prick bottom and sides thoroughly with fork (50 times) to prevent shrinkage.  Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  For recipes using an unbaked pie crust, follow baking directions given in that recipe!

For Double Crust:  divide dough in half.  Roll each half separately as described above.  Transfer bottom crust to pie plate. Add desired filling and place top crust over filling.  Cut a 1/2-inch margin around pan and roll your crust and flute the edges.  Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.  Bake according to specific recipe directions.

F.C.t.C. Pear Pie

A From Cupboard to Cupboard Original

2 large cans of pears, sliced

1/2-3/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp Tapioca

pinch of salt

2 tsp cinnamon

Slice your pears and place in a medium sized bowl... add remaining ingredients and stir well.  Place in prepared (with bottom crust) pie pan... top with crust. Flute edges.  Cut decorations in top for steam to escape.  Lightly dust with sugar.  Bake @ 425 for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

to use up all those little extra scraps of dough:

make a ball with all the scraps of dough and knead them in your hand to combine them.  Roll them out on a lightly floured surface to about the same thickness as you did for your pies... sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on the dough then using a knife or pizza cutter, cut into strips.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 until lightly browned.  These are my kids' favorite! We call them lady fingers....

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, my friends!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year in the fall, I always try to find a good excuse to make these cookies.  They are like fluffy pumpkin pillows accented by mini semi sweet chocolate chips.  They are so soft and tender and are the perfect treat with a glass of milk on rainy fall days.  I use my medium sized cookie scoop and got 5 dozen. These cookies don't spread much so they will pretty much remain the same size as what you put on the cookie sheet.  You could certainly make smaller cookies with a smaller cookie scoop (or of course the old spoon method works just fine also:) )  If you don't enjoy chocolate chips {uh! huge gasp}... then you could make a thin icing glaze and drizzle over these cookies.  They are excellent that way also!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted by From Cupboard to Cupboard
from Cheryl
printable recipe

1/2 cup butter
3 cups sugar
15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1 pkg mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with SILPATS or parchment paper. A greased cookie sheet works fine.  Cream butter and sugar until mixed well.  Add pumpkin and beat until ingredients are combined.  Add eggs and beat until combined.  Then add milk.  Mix in.  In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients with a whisk.  Add to wet ingredients.  Mix until all ingredients are combined.  Add chocolate chips.  Mix in. Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets.  I used the medium cookie scoop and baked them for 14 minutes.  They will brown nicely and they are fluffy.  If using a smaller cookie scoop, I would bake them between 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Teauna

Pumpkin Pie Dip

When fall rolls around every year, I think it's just natural to start craving Pumpkin goodies.  Of course, there is pumpkin sheetcake {one of my favorites}, pumpkin pie {oh yummy!},pumpkin shortbread dessert {a yearly Thanksgiving request} pumpkin bread {on the to-do list},pumpkin cupcakes {my favorite!} pumpkin scones {amazing!}, pumpkin cookies {with chocolate chips}, & one of the quickest and most crowd-pleasing  recipes is this one... Pumpkin Pie Dip.  It is a real quick fix and you can serve it will Nilla Wafers and Gingersnaps from the grocery store.  Of course, if you have more time, you can always whip up a batch of homemade Sparkling Ginger Snaps to serve with this amazing dessert dip! 

Pumpkin Pie Dip
Recipe adapted by From Cupboard to Cupboard
printable recipe

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.  Gradually add pumpkin, sour cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and ginger; beat until smooth.  Serve with gingersnaps or vanilla wafers.  Refrigerate leftovers!  Yield: 4 cups

IMPORTANT NEWS!!!

Hey Everyone!  Sorry I missed you today, but I was cooking up an awesome dish over here!  I'll be back tomorrow with a real easy dessert recipe... I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. 

Happy Cooking!!
Teauna