Inside out pizza

I know. You are looking at this recipe thinking, "Shannon can you get any more ghetto?" The answer is HELL YES! Anyway I saw this recipe here and thought, that looks like the perfect quick meal for a week when I don't have much time. You will notice two things. I used ground beef not sausage. That is because I totally thought I still had sausage at home and didn't. I also used diced tomatoes not pizza sauce because my stupid pizza sauce was expired. (Side note: This recipe tasted just as good, hubs said it was like inside out burgers.) Anyway the recipe is super easy but it make enough to feed about 8. If you want a smaller portion only get one can of dough and cut it in half. Then half the rest of the ingredients.


2 cans Pilsbury pizza dough
1 pound italian sausage
1/2 cup pepperoni
1/2 cup chopped red onion
5 cloves garlic chopped
10 pizza sauce
8 oz fresh mozzarella sliced
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
2 tbsp garlic powder
salt & pepper
Pam cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 13x9 deep baking dish with Pam. Place first pizza dough in bottom of pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until the top is brown. While dough is baking heat a nonstick pan to about medium and add in onions. Cook about 2 minutes and add in garlic. Cook one minute and add in sausage. Cook until just under done. Add in 1 tbsp garlic powder, salt and pepper. When dough is golden brown remove it from oven and line it with the fresh mozzarella. Add sausage mixture over the top and spread evenly. Layer pepperoni on top of sausage mixture and cover with 1 cup shredded mozzarella. Place second pizza dough on top and bake for 12 minutes. Pull pan out and spray top of pizza dough with Pam. Sprinkle remaining garlic powder over dough and cover with shredded Parmesan. Bake for 5 more minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Caramel apple upside down cake

I was browsing Pioneer Woman's site the other day when I came across her skillet apple cake (which is a way better title then what I called it to my husband). I have an overflow of apples growing on my property and until that moment I wanted nothing to do with them. I knew I had everything to make this since it might be the most basic recipe ever so walking home last night I grabbed 6 apples and set to work. First you will notice two things....one: my apples aren't peeled (they should be) my peeler was in the dishwasher and I don't have a paring knife due to an unfortunate incident between the knife and a can. I decided to wing it and see if I could make the recipe with out fucking up before I spent the time peeling apples. The second thing you will notice is my picture order down there isn't quite right. This is because once I got halfway through making the batter I realized I did not in fact have all of the ingredients, I was missing eggs. So, while my husband went and got eggs I skipped around and did what other stuff I could do. Either way it came out gooey and caramelly and artery clogging good! You really really have to make this!

Below is her recipe. I had to make a few edits because she forgot to list a few steps since she lists it all in her picture section.

Caramel topping

4 to 5 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into six equal slices
1 3/4 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Batter

1 stick butter
2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped finely

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a 9 to 10-inch skillet, melt butter over low heat. Add 3/4 cup sugar to the pan and stir around, then place apple slices, wedge side down, in the pan. Don’t pack them too tightly, but try not to leave overly large gaps. Allow this to cook over low/medium-low heat while you make the cake batter.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat 1 stick of butter and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and eggs. Add sour cream and mix well. In second bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Gradually add flour mixture until just combined. Gently stir in 1 chopped apple.

Remove skillet from heat. Spoon batter over the top, then spread gently so batter is evenly distributed. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and bubbly. Allow cake to sit in skillet for five minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Don’t worry if some of the topping isn’t perfect—it’ll taste perfect!

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

I don't have a fancy apple corer thing. So I quarter the apples, turn them on a flat side and cut the core out diagonally.

See, you barely lose any apple.

Since I had everything ready to go and then figured out I was missing eggs, I put my apples in some water so they wouldn't oxidize.

The insane thing is, since I used half brown sugar half white, it got extra caramelly but it also created these little chewy caramel pockets, almost like one of those little caramel squares you buy at the store. I had just enough manners to avoid digging through the cake to find all these pieces.

PS My spell check is trying to say caramelly isn't a word. Sometimes spell checks need a reality check.

Mini Sticky Monkey Brains

INGREDIENTS
3 (7.5 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the white sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Use scissors or a knife to cut each of the biscuits into various sizes. Each one can be cut into anywhere from 2 to 5 pieces.
3. Roll pieces of biscuit in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place them into the muffin cups, distributing evenly. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar over the dough balls.
4. Mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Stir in the pecans. Distribute evenly over the muffin cups of dough balls.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the biscuits are toasted and cooked through. Remove from the oven. Serve while still hot.

Cinnamon peach topping

My house is surrounded by fresh fruit. Right now we have peaches that are as big as a softball. I had vanilla ice cream and felt like making peaches to put on top. I forgot to take a picture of them in the boiling water but seriously, you put them in boiling water and pull them out, use your imagination. I don't have a picture of the peaches on the ice cream because I was so damn excited to eat it I just plain forgot. But just picture a bowl of heavenly goodness and you will get the point!

About six peaches
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place a large bowl of ice water next to it. Working two at a time put the peaches in the water for 30-40 seconds. Pull them out and put them into the ice water. Wait about 10 seconds and pull the peaches out. Using your fingers peel the skin off. it should slide right off. If not put them back in the boiling water for another ten seconds and repeat with the ice water. Slice peaches in half and remove pits. In a large non stick pan slice peaches into 8 pieces (more for larger peaches). Cover peaches with lemon juice. Place butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in pan and turn heat to low. Walk away. I let them simmer on low for about 20 minutes, came back and stirred and let them go another 10 minutes. While stirring check for seasoning, you might want to add more cinnamon depending on the flavor at that point. The end result will look like peaches in a syrup. While it is still hot pour peaches and syrup over vanilla ice cream. Eat, enjoy, gain 5 pounds.

(Side note, this is an awful picture of me peeling. I had already peeled all of the peaches before I remembered to take a picture of this step so I was attempting to peel a half eaten peach for you, but the next picture shows how the skin should come off.