SAE: Sticky Buns and Ham-n-Cheese Spirals

I am sad to say my time as SAE sweetheart is coming to an end. I only have 45 days until I graduate... And less time than that as sweetheart :'(. So I thought I would try some new recipes, as I only have a couple more weeks to make them snacks!

I found both of these recipes when I was watching the food network while I got ready this morning. Sandra Lee made them for a bake sale... And I'm making them for meeting! All the originally recipes, posted below, yield about 12 each, which is usually perfect when cooking/ baking. But since I have a lot more boys to feed. I quadrupled each recipe!

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

Growing up, my dad always made us cinnamon rolls on Sunday. They were always very delicious, so I immediately thought of him when I saw these sticky buns with walnuts (another one of his favorites). And since he was an SAE not too long ago at SMU, I thought I would try them out for meeting. I might make them again for my family this summer one Sunday morning!

Ingredients:

• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 5 Tbl unsalted butter, softened
• 2 (8-count) tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 to 2 tsp water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 12-count muffin tin.

Peel, core and dice the apples into 1/2-inch cubes. In a medium bowl stir together the diced apples with the walnuts and brown sugar.

Divide the apple mixture evenly into the muffin tin. Put 12 cinnamon buns, cinnamon side, on top of the apple mixture. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. 

Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Put a clean baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip to remove the sticky buns.

In a small bowl, combine 1 container of the vanilla frosting with the pumpkin pie spice and 1 to 2 teaspoons of water. Mix until very thick and of pourable consistency. Drizzle over buns and serve.

They taste just like an apple strudel yum!

Ham-n-Cheese Spirals

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbl olive oil
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• Flour, for work surface
• 1 pound refrigerated pizza dough, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
• 1/2 lb deli sliced ham
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbl water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pizza dough into a 12-inch square. Brush the entire surface with the seasoned olive oil. Top with 1 cup of shredded cheese and an even layer of ham. 

Starting from the bottom edge, tightly roll up the dough to form a log (make sure its tight or it will come unraveled). Using a sharp serrated knife, slice the roll at a slight diagonal into 1-inch thick pieces (you should get 12 spirals out of each roll).

Arrange the rolls on their side on a nonstick or lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to proof.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush the tops and sides of the rolls with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven, transfer to a serving platter and serve.

I found that if you put the rolls in the freezer 30 minutes- 1 hour before you start making them, they set a lot easier, otherwise they might fall apart. Enjoy!

Salmon Burgers and Rosemary Fries

This weekend was a lot of fun, but full of driving. We drove to Houston to see the Bears in the Sweet Sixteen! Then we drove to Dallas for Stephanie and David's wedding, and on Sunday we woke up and drove back to Houston to see Baylor play, for the first time ever, in the Elite Eight! It was such a fun weekend!

Since it is Lent, I've been making meat free meals on Friday. This Friday I made delicious Salmon Burgers with Rosemary fries. They were so good, they literally made my mouth water as I was making them! I couldn't find a particular salmon burger recipe I really liked... So I combined all my favorite parts of about 4 different recipes and came up with this recipe! The recipe will make 4 burgers.

Salmon Burgers with Scallion Sour Cream Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 (6-oz) skinless salmon fillets, cut into large chunks
• 1 Tbl grill seasoning (I used Montreal Seasoning by McCormick)
• 1 Tbl poppy seeds
• 1 Tbl sesame seeds
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh dill
• 3/4 cup ranch style or Italian style bread crumbs (thanks for the tip Dr. Tanner!)
• 2 egg yolks (to help everything hold together)
• extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
• Fresh spinach leaves or any kind of green lettuce, for topping
• Sliced tomato, for topping
• Sliced red onion, for topping
• Burger buns, split and toasted

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup softened cream cheese
• 3 scallions, white and greens, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Place salmon in a food processor and pulse to coarse grind meat (or if you are like me and don't own a food processor, I just chopped the salmon up as finely as I could, probably not as efficient as a food processor, but it got the job done).

 Transfer fish to a mixing bowl and season with grill seasoning, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dill, egg yolks, and bread crumbs. Mix and form 4 patties, Drizzle burgers with evoo. If you have time,  store in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to help all the flavors come together.

Cook burgers 4-5 minutes on each side for fully cooked fish.

While burgers cook, combine in a bowl the cream cheese and the scallions and fold in sour cream and lemon juice.

Top the burgers with lettuce, tomato, onion and sauce on crusty, toasted buns. Enjoy!

Rosemary Fries

Ingredients:

• 4 large Idaho potatoes, scrubbed (or 1 potato per person)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 to 5 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, divided (optional)
• 4-5 cloves of garlic

Directions:

Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut 10 wedges from each potato and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle a couple tablespoon of oil over the potatoes to coat them lightly then season with rosemary, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. Throw a couple of cloves of cracked garlic on the sheet with potatoes. 

Roast 25 minutes, turning once. Make sure you don't open the oven except to turn the fries half way through, so the oven will stay hot!

Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

I just got back from Spring Break! I spent the week with Cameron and my roomies in sunny Cozumel. Sooo now that I'm back, I'm back to cooking.

Tonight Ryan is taking the G-MAT so Annie, Lis, and I are going to welcome her home and celebrate her finally finishing! We decorated the house with streamers, balloons, and even a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game. We got her cupcakes and champagne and I'm excited for her to get back so we can celebrate!

I cooked dinner tonight. A really good chicken with a spinach and pine nut pesto... I learned from this recipe that a food processor is key!

Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 cups lightly packed baby spinach leaves (about 2 ounces)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Garlic Salt (optional)
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:

Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Lightly oil the grill pan. Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

For a pan seared chicken, heat a skillet on medium-high and light oil the pan. Sear chicken until there is no pink showing. 

This is where I had my first road block. I decided to cook the thickest chicken breast I've ever seen. I should have butterflied the chicken, because it was so thick and would cook more evenly, but I didn't... So I ended up having to cut the chicken into little pieces so I wouldn't die from salmonella. 

 Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a processor. Lightly pulse. With the machine running, gradually add 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy. Add salt and pulse. Put half of the pesto into ice cube trays and store in the freezer for future use.

Transfer the rest of the spinach mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Season the pesto with salt and pepper, to taste.

Making the pesto was where I hit my second, third, and fourth road blocks. The first was that I did not have a food processor, so I thought I would improvise and everything would be the same. So I pulled out my Magic Bullet and poured all the ingredients for the pesto in...

But only the bottom part was pureed, and as hard as I tried, I could not get the rest to blend together. My second idea was to add it to a blender. Sooo I pulled out our blender with little to no change. After that my last idea was to whip the pesto with my hand mixer. 

This method worked better than all of my other ideas, but most of the pines nuts stayed whole. The next time I make this... I will have a food processor. 

Even though The pesto wasn't pureed, it was still delicious!

Spread the pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.