Spicy Italian Crescent Ring

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers from a jar, well drained
• 8-10 slices provolone cheese, halved
• 1/3 pound sliced salami
• 1/4 pound sliced black forest ham
• 1/4 pound sliced capocollo
• 1/2 cup banana pepper rings from a jar, well drained

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Unroll both cans of dough; separate into triangles.  Arrange dough in a sunburst pattern, overlapping the dough, points of triangles should point out and inner edge of ring should have a diameter of 5-6 inches
3. Place half of Provolone cheese on the bottom layer
4. Make a layer of roasted red peppers
5. Then layer on the ham, salami, and capocolla
6. Make a layer of banana pepper rings
7. Top with a layer of Provolone cheese.
8. Bring points of dough up and over layers, tucking under the ring on the inside of the ring.
9. Brush or spray crust with a little olive oil and sprinkle with ground pepper.
10. Bake 18 to 22 minutes until golden brown and thoroughly baked.

Crock Pot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened and cubed
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 14 ounces Canned Artichoke Hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 cup frozen Spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to crock pot
2. Cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally

Mac and Cheese in 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pasta
• 1 quart of milk
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 6 Tablespoons flour
• 8 ounces shredded monterey jack cheese
• 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta as directed on box in salted water.  Cook al dente.  Drain
2. While pasta cooks, in a very large skillet or a dutch oven, melt butter and then stir in flour.  Cook for a minute or two.
3. Gradually add milk and cook until it thickens, stirring often
4. Over low heat stir in cheese until it melts.
5. Add in salt, pepper, and hot suace
6. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in cooked pasta and mix well.
8. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs and olive oil and toss together well.
9. Top macaroni and cheese mixture with the bread crumbs and broil for about 2 minutes.
10. Serve

Artisan No-knead Bread

Recipe from SimplySoGood.com

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1/3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.
2. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours.  Overnight works great.
4. Preheat oven to 450.  Once hot place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat for 30 minutes
5. Meanwhile, pour sough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.
6. Move ball to parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap
7. Remove remove hot pot from oven and drop in parchment paper and dough, but not the plastic wrap.
8. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes
9. After 30 minutes remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes
10. Remove bread from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

Easy Shrimp

Attention shrimp lovers!!

Try this quick way to make fabulous shrimp.

1. Melt a stick of butter in the pan. 
2. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. 
3. Layer on fresh or frozen but thawed shrimp. 
4. Sprinkle with one pack of dried Italian seasoning. 
5. Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min. 

Best Shrimp you will EVER taste:)

Champagne Punch

Served at Matt and Liz's engagement party.

Ingredients:

• 1 12 ounce can lemonade frozen concentrate
• 1 12-ounce can orange juice frozen concentrate
• 1 12-ounce can limeade frozen concentrate
• 2 2-liter bottles ginger ale
• Approximately 1 cup mixed berries
• Approximately 2 liters champagne (Used Freixenet Brut 1.5 L bottle)

Instructions:

1. Make an ice ring using 1 bottle ginger ale and mixed berries.
2. Thaw frozen juice concentrates.
3. In a large punch bowl, combine the 3 cans of juice concentrates with ginger ale.  Pour in Champagne.  Add ice ring.

Buffalo Wings in the Slow Cooker

I first made this for Matt and Liz's surprise engagement party!

Ingredients:

• 4-5 pounds frozen wings
• 1 cup Franks Hot Sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 6 tablespoons honey

Instructions:

1. Place frozen wings in slow cooker
2. Mix together the rest of the ingredients; pour over wings.  Stir to coat.
3. Cook on low setting for 6-7 hours or high for 3 hours
4. Remove wings and set aside.
5. Pour sauce into saucepan and reduce over medium heat until thick and reduced by at least half.
6. Meanwhile return wings to slow cooker and keep warm.
7. Pour sauce reduction over wings and toss to coat.
8. Place well coated wings on a cookie sheet (for easy cleanup use foil or parchment paper) and broil for 4 minutes.  Turn and broil an additional 3 minutes.
9. After draining extra sauce, return broiled wings to the slow cooker to keep warm for serving.

Note:

I cook the wings and reduce the sauce one day and refrigerate both overnight.  The next day I warm the wings in the slow cooker, skim fat from the sauce reduction, and pour over the wings. Once wings and sauce are warm and wings are well coated, I broil them.