Olive Caprese Skewers

On a whim, I made these up using ingredients from my fridge, and they ended up being a hit! The best thing about these skewers is they are really cute and colorful. This can really be altered to fit whatever ingredients are on hand.

Ingredients

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-pitted olives (green or black)

-mozzarella string cheese cut up into 4 pieces (cubed cheese of any flavor will also work great)

-grape or cherry tomatoes

-cute skewers

Assembly

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-thread an olive, cube of mozzarella cheese and a grape tomato on each skewer

-make as many as you like :)

**Suggestions**

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-green olive/cheddar/tomato

-kalamata olive/fresh basil leaf/mozzarella/tomato

Orange Banana Cake

With the help of cake mix, this takes no more than 5 minutes to prepare! It is light and very moist, and tastes wonderful with the added fruit.

Ingredients

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-yellow cake mix, prepared as directed, but using orange juice instead of water

-2 chopped or mashed bananas

-1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

-1 tub fat free cool whip

-caramel sauce

-2 cut up bananas

Assembly

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-prepare cake mix as directed on the box, but substitute orange juice instead of water. Use the same quantity of juice as what is called for in water

-stir in 2 chopped bananas and coconut

-bake for the minimum time as directed on cake mix box

-once cake is baked and has cooled, frost with cool whip

-arrange bananas around the cake and drizzle with caramel sauce

Not Your Typical Vegetable Pizza

I learned this unique pizza from a friend a few years ago. I'm kind of hesitant to call it a pizza because it is not layered the way traditional pizza is. It doesn't have much of a sauce, but more of a paste to bind together the veggies.

Whenever I make it, we really enjoy it. I'm sure some of the vegetables can be substituted with other types, but I always stick with these.

Ingredients

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-1 large zucchini, cut into chunks

-1 head broccoli, cut up

-2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

-2-4 tablespoons mayonnaise (depending on how saucy you want it)

-2 cloves fresh crushed garlic

-1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

-2 cups shredded cheese (I use either the Mexican blend or mozzarella

-pizza dough (you can use my recipe or use pre-purchased dough)

Assembly

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-cut up all ingredients and mix together

-spread on top of pizza dough

-bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees (you will know the pizza is done when the vegetables have gotten soft but still have a slight crisp

Pizza Dough

This is a VERY versatille dough recipe...and like all other things I make, veeeeeeery easy!

Ingredients

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-3 cups flour

-1 cup warm milk (this can be made with water instead, but milk is a little better)

-1/4 cup oil

-1 tablespoon yeast

-dash of salt

-be creative with seasoning: you can leave it plain, or add italian seasoning, fresh rosemarey, fresh garlic...the possibilities are endless!

Assembly

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-Mix all ingredients until well blended. This can be done by hand (that is how I do it) or in a bread machine.

-This recipe works best when it is given time to rise. After I mix the ingredients, I leave it for an hour or two, then I roll it out on my pizza pan and leave it to rise for a couple more hours.

-Bake (with whatever toppings, different pizza recipes will follow soon) in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 18-23 minutes.

Why I Love Trader Joes

This is not a recipe :)

It's more of a 'be a smart shopper' story.

I went to buy pumpkin spice, and I found the tiny jar (on the right) at WalMart for about $4. It is REALLY tiny for $4, but I figured I was at WalMart, so it probably doesn't go for less than this. I bought it and was really annoyed.

A few days later, I was walking by the spice aisle at Trader Joe's, and I found a jar double the size (on the left)! To my utter surprise, the price was...guess how much...

....

......

........

$1.99!

Yup, DOUBLE the size, and HALF the price. Check my math, but I think that means the WalMart jar costs 4 times as much as the Trader Joe's one! Trader Joes...WalMart...which has better quality stuff...hmmm...

Moral of the story? Be a smart shopper. WalMart is not always the cheapest, and Trader Joe's is definitely NOT overpriced!