Countdown to Christmas- Reindeer on Rye

 Several years ago, my son had a cooking series on my blog called Cooking with Kyle. He was very interested in cooking, and developing his own recipes.  While he only did it for a few years, he has lots of good recipes on this blog.  (which you can see below)  

One of those recipes was this fun Christmas appetizer Reindeer on Rye. (you can seen the original post here.)

I'm thinking this might have been one of his last cooking posts.  He was 15 in this photo. Its so nice to see his face without a lot of facial hair. He has had a beard for several years now, so I have not seen his clean shaven face in a long time. 

Kyle was hungry, and since it was just a few days before Christmas he decided to make something Christmas themed. 

The first thing he did was sandwiches on rye bread. The size of the loaf is much smaller than regular bread, and perfect for an appetizer.   He chose to use turkey, swiss, miracle whip and Dijon mustard.  

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He cut out circles from mozzerella slices with the center part of an apple slicer - corer.  The noses are cherry tomatoes sliced in half. 

He has some trouble figuring out the what to use for the pupil.  He originally thought pepperoni, but it did not work right.  Even though he was not a fan of black olives, we both agreed they looked the best.

The last step was to add the antlers.  We only had mini pretzels on hand so the antlers were a little small, but they still were cute. 

Would you like to see some of Kyle's other Cooking with Kyle posts. He has some great family recipes, that you can make with your kids.   You can see the posts below. 

Chicken Salad Surprise

Breakfast Burrito

Grilled Turkey with Cheese

Burritos

Ham and Cheese Bundles

Cheesy Chicken Legs

Marinated Pork Chops

Shredded Pork Tacos/Burritos

Cheese Fries

Chicken Marsala

Pizza Bites

Chocolate Strawberry Muffins

Cheese BBQ Sliders

Homemade Egg Potato Salad

Homemade Pizza with a Twist

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Countdown to Thanksgiving - Leftover Turkey Pizza

 

In today's Countdown to Thanksgiving post I am going to share one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and that is 

Leftover Thanksgiving Pizza.   I think I look forward to making this pizza more than the actual dinner.   

Last year I made three pizzas for my bonus kids, and I am not kidding when I say all three of them disappeared in minutes. 

It seems that every time I make this pizza it's in the evening without good light, because all of my photos are darker than I would like.  I will have to try and take some lighter pictures when I make it this year. 

Anyway back to the recipe.  The crust is made from crescent roll dough.  You only need one package per pizza.  Other types of pizza dough will work too, I just find premade dough the easiest and quickest.   Back the dough for 8 minutes in a 425 degree oven. 

There are a couple of things you can use for the sauce.  I like to use the cranberry sauce with berries as mine.  I buy it from Aldi, but I have seen it in regular grocery stores as well.  A few years when I did not have cranberry sauce, I used black cherry topping which was a great alternative.

One top of the sauce I put a layer of leftover stuffing.  If you house is like my house though there is not usually enough leftover.  I like to keep a box of stuffing on hand to add it to the pizza. 

After the stuffing, I added a layer of turkey pieces that I pulled into smaller pieces.  

My family loves cheese, so I add a generous amount on top. 

What is nice about this pizza is you can change it up based on your family's leftovers. You could easily add mashed potatoes, or switch out the cranberry sauce for gravy, it's up to you. 

Once the cheese is added, put the pizza back in the over for 6 more minutes. 

When it is done, it is a yummy mix of Thanksgiving flavors.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.   So while you are stocking up on your holiday groceries, make to pick up a few extra items so you have them on hand for this pizza.  

Savings Tip of the Day 

If you love Subway, through today you can get a Buy one, get one free footlong in the app or online with the code  FLBOGO, also if you like to give gift cards as gifts they will give you a few 6 inch sub with a gift card purchase of $25. 

Another thing that you might find helpful when planning your holiday meal shopping, Meijer and probably other stores as well often have a preview of the next weeks ad, so you can see what will be on sale the following week.  This may be helpful if you are on a tight budget this year.  

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Quick and Easy Pepperoni Pizza Spaghetti Squash

 I love this time of year when you can often find squash on sale at the grocery store.  One of our favorites to eat is spaghetti squash. I recently wanted to try something new when making squash for my family.  I had spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, and a few kinds of cheese on hand, so I I decided to try my own version of Pepperoni Pizza Spaghetti Squash. 

I don't know about you, but I think the worse part of making squash is cutting it. It always takes a lot of effort.  In the end though, once it is finally done, I am glad that powered through it.  When the squash was cut in half lengthwise, I cleaned out the seeds.  

There are a couple of different ways you can bake squash. You can cook it in the oven, but I find it works just as well in the microwave.  When I cook it in the microwave, I only do one half at a time.  First I rubbed  a little bit of butter on the squash, and turned it face down in a microwave safe pan. I then set the microwave for 8 minutes.  It's okay it if sits a minute or two when done, because it will be very HOT. 

Using two forks, I shred the squash until it looked like spaghetti.  I then added the other ingredients.  I don't have exact measurements of what I used, I just added what looked good to me.  I sprinkled in a decent amount of Parmesan cheese, and some garlic salt.  I then mixed it all together, and added a little bit more Parm.  

On top of the squash and cheese mixture, I poured a layer of spaghetti sauce.  The cheese on top can be any type of cheese you prefer.  On the day I made this, I used cheddar, because it is one of our favorite cheeses, and what I had in the refrigerator.  

Before putting it back in the microwave, I added slices of pepperoni on top.  I then put the squash back in for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to heat up the sauce and melt the cheese.  When it was done, I sprinkled a little bit more Parmesan. (We love our cheese!) 

This was a pretty big squash so it was big enough to feed 2 to 3 people.  It was a tasty meal, and one we will eat again!  

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Lunch Box Pizza Roll Ups - Dare to Share Feature

It is getting to be that time of year, that I really do not look forward to.. Back to School.  Don't get my wrong, when they were younger it was a lot more exciting.  Now my youngest two are in high school.  My son is going to  graduate at the end of this school year.  Now I like to really enjoy the slower pace of summer while we still can, and wish that time would slow down. My kids do not really want to pack lunches anymore, but when they did these Lunch Box Pizza Roll Ups by Frugal Foodie Mama would have been a huge hit.  I think they might still be a huge hit for after school snacks for when the kids have their friends over to visit. Be sure to stop over to Frugal Foodie Mama for the recipe.  

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Super Simple Pizza Bite Appetizers

While making pizza is not a new thing, I am going to share a quick and easy trick we use when make pizza bread that can be used when you need food quickly for a crowd of easy weeknight dinner. Instead of taking the time to roll a crust, there is something much easier.. garlic bread or Texas toast.  What I like about using garlic bread as a pizza crust is that it is already preseasoned with garlic and very often cheese. 

Add a little sauce, pepperoni, and cheese, and in literally a few minutes,  yummy pizza bread.  If serving to a crowd set up an ingredient station for each person to customize their own.  

I got a little impatient with this batch.  I should have waited a couple of minutes for the oven to preheat.  Instead of threw it in a cold oven, so the cheese was almost melted but not 100%. It still tasted great though.   Cut into bit size pieces for a super simple appetizer.   

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4 Pizza & Quesadilla Recipes Perfect for Dinner - Features of the Day

This week at the Dare to Share Party, I noticed a trend. There were several quesadilla and pizza recipes shared that all looked super delicious. I could not pick just one, so I am featuring four that I think you would love to serve for dinner tonight.  

This Cauliflower Crust BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe by The Bewitchen Kitchen caught my eye.  At my house we love BBQ chicken pizza, but have never thought to make a crust from cauliflower.   Randa shares how you can turn a favorite healthy vegetable into a healthy pizza option. Be sure to stop over to The Bewitchen Kitchen to see how.  

Another BBQ chicken recipe that would love to serve my family are these BBQ Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas by Simply Stacie. These sweet and spicy quesadillas would make a great meal or appetizer. You can see the full recipe on Simply Stacie. 

If you like chicken but BBQ is not your thing, Simply Stacie also shared this Chicken & Bacon Pizza Quesadilla.  I know my family would love this recipe as well, because there is bacon on it! Yum!  This would make a quick and easy meal on those busy school nights. Check out Simply Stacie for the full recipe.  

If you do not eat meat, or not a fan of chicken there was a pizza recipe for your shared this week as well.  Kristin from Dizzy, Busy and Hungry shared her Curried Veggie Pizza. It is topped with broccoli, cauliflower, cheese and of course curry powers.  Be sure to stop over to Dizzy, Busy and Hungry for her recipe.  

Are you hungry yet?  

Thank you to Randa, Stacie, and Kristin for linking up this great recipes to this week's Dare to Share!

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Homemade Pizza Rolls- Feature of the Day

We had our first snow day today, and I  just found out we are having another one tomorrow. I may not be able to get out to the store for a few days, but I will still need to feed my kids. All three of them love pizza rolls.  They can make an entire bag of 40 disappear usually within a day or two.   I really like these Homemade Pizza Rolls by Growing Up Gabel, because you only need a few ingredients and I could easily whip up a batch for my kids.  They are simple enough, that they could even make them on their own.  We pretty much have these ingredients on hand most of the time.  Stop on over to Growing up Gabel, to get this yummy recipe.  Thank you so much Camille for linking up to Dare to Share!

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Pepperoni Pizza Frittata- Feature of the Day

Now that school has started, and dance, scouts and robotics have too.  My family have quite a few busy nights during the week where we do not have a lot of time to plan out big meals. This Pepperoni Pizza Frittata byAdrian of  Life with Garnish would make a great meal for those busy nights or rushed mornings.  The meal can be ready and on the table in only 30 minutes! Be sure to stop over to Life with Garnish to get this recipe the whole family will love.  Thanks so much Adrian for linking up to Dare to Share.!

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Cooking with Kyle- Homemade Pizza

Kyle made us another meal  for dinner tonight. He decided to make a homemade pizza. Technically what he made was semi homemade, but for a teenage boy it is about as homemade as we are going to get.  

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Pizza Cups - Feature of the Day

Today's Feature of the Day are Pizza Cups by Life with Garnish.  They would make a great appetizer for any party, or a fun dinner with the family.  I know my kids would love them.  Be sure to stop over to Life with Garnish to see how to make them. Thank you so much Adrian for linking up to this week's Dare to Share.

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Homemade Pizza Buns

I took one look at the Pizza Buns posted by Jenn's Random Scraps, and knew that this was a recipe my family would love.   I bet my soon to be 15 year old son would want to eat several at one sitting.   I may just have to give him the recipe to get him back in the kitchen.  You can see more of her post, including a recipe for Jenn's homemade pizza sauce on her blog Jenn's Random Scraps here.    Thanks so much for linking up to Dare to Share Jenn!  

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Thanksgiving Leftover Pizza

Tonight we had a favorite meal that we look forward to all year long . I think it is just as anticipated as Thanksgiving dinner itself,  we ate Thankgiving Leftover Pizza.

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Pepperoni Pizza Bundles

My kids LOVE pizza roll type of  snacks.  We had all the fixings on hand, so we decided to make our own, but bigger.  

Pizza bundles are a great after school  or evening snack, that are easy enough to be made by your child. 

One tube of crescent rolls will make 4 bundles.   Open the crescents, and divide into 4 rectangle.  Pinch the seam as much as possible. 

Spread a little bit of spaghetti or pizza sauce on each bundle. 

Kara placed the pepperoni on each piece. 

We added some mozzarella and some cheddar.  

We rolled up the bundles.  And then I sprinkled on some parmesan cheese. 

We baked them for 10-12 minutes  in a 375 degree oven.    Once they cooled a bit, they were gone almost instantly. One thing great about this recipe, is the filling can easily be changed for personal prefences. 

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