Trevi Italian Restaurant "Frosty the Doughman" Pizza

 With Christmas at the end of the month, TREVI Italian Restaurant, located at the heart of The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas, is sharing an easy to make delicious treat.
 
Chef Peter Scaturro has created the perfect pizza for the winter season and has shared his easy step-by-step instructions on how to make "Frosty the Doughman" pizza at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step-by-Step Instructions

1.      Roll out three different-sized pizzas using seven ounces, four ounces and two ounces of dough, respectively

2.      Add mozzarella cheese to all and bake (do not add sauce)

3.      Combine the pizzas once out of the oven and use tomato slices for the buttons, pepperonis for the eyes, a pepper or carrot for the nose and olives for the smile

4.      Use your imagination to create more accessory options (like a hat made from sauced-dough, arms made from breadsticks, a mushroom pipe, etc.)

 

The ‘Frosty the Doughman’ pizza is not available to order at TREVI, but you can make this delicious holiday meal with the family at home.

Catch the Trick or Trevi pizza I reviewed a few months ago.

Want to find out more  about the posh Trevi Italian Restaurant? Check out their website. Don't forget to stop by and try them out next time you are in Vegas!

WEBSITE: http://www.trevi-italian.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TREVILV

Teriyaki Salmon with Siriracha Sauce

I made a yummy, healthy dinner last night of salmon with a cream sauce, rice and roasted asparagus. Haley loves asparagus so much, she eats them like candy and will steal them off our plates if we aren't looking. I have never seen a child enjoy a vegetable that much! (I only have the final masterpiece of dinner, because when I went to photograph the process of cooking I found my battery had died. Bummer.)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons honey

2 salmon filets

 

Cream Sauce Ingredients:

 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons Sriracha

1 1/2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

 

1. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; set aside.

 

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic powder, honey and 1 cup water; bring to a simmer. Stir in cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes; let cool to room temperature.

 

3. In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine teriyaki marinade and salmon filets; marinate for at least 30 minutes.

 

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a baking dish with nonstick spray.

 

5. Place salmon filets along with the marinade onto prepared baking dish and bake until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes.

 

6. While the fish  cooks, whip up the sauce. To make the Sriracha cream sauce, whisk together mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons Sriracha and condensed milk in a small bowl.

 

7. Idea: Serve fish atop rice and spread a spoonful of sauce over all.

Quick Chicken Parmesan

I looove Chicken Parmesan. It's one of my favourite Italian dishes. Here is my quick version.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
salt
pepper
1 tsp. basil
1/4 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Box of spaghetti noodles
Jar of marinara sauce (I love Emerils, its to die for!)

1. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of wax paper and beat with wooden mallet. I don't have one so I used a wine bottle. (While you are messing with the chicken, preheat your oven to 350, and start your water boiling for the noodles)

2. Beat egg in one bowl. Add bread crumbs, spices and parmesan cheese in another. Stir well.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in saucepan over medium/high heat. Make an assembly line like pictured above. Dip breasts in egg, making sure they are completely covered. Dredge in bread crumb mixture, completely coating chicken. Then place in saucepan.

 

 

4. Cook until lightly browned, then flip over and cook other side until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Chicken will not be completely cooked, you are just searing it to hold in the juices.

 

5. Pour marinara sauce into casserole dish. Nestle chicken into the sauce. Cover with mozzarella. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and chicken is cooked through.

 

 



Crockpot Sesame Chicken and Fried Rice

I can make almost any food taste amazing but for some reason I have a problem with Chinese food. It is the bane of my cooking existence. I've tried making crab ragoon, cabbage rolls and egg rolls. They all turned out as flops and my hubby told me to stay away from cooking Chinese food. Buuuut I am not one to back down from a challenge! Here is one of my few successful Chinese meals.

Crockpot Sesame Chicken

Ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
4 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tsp. sesame oil
3tsp. corn starch
1/4 cup water
toasted sesame seeds

1. Start by laying chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Mix all ingredients except for water and corn starch and pour over chicken.

 

3. Cook on low 4-6 hours, turning once or twice to make sure chicken is cooking evenly.
4. Remove chicken and shred in separate bowl. Stir together the corn starch and water then add this mixture to the sauce in the crockpot. Stir well. Return chicken to crockpot and mix evenly with sauce. Add as much sesame seeds as desired.

Fried Rice

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

3 cups cooked rice (leftover, day old rice works best)



 3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tsp. garlic

1 cup peas and carrots (I use the can but you can use frozen thawed also)

Rest of the onion, chopped

2 eggs slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

 

 

1. Start by heating the sesame oil over medium high. Saute onion, garlic, peas and carrots until tender.

 

 

 



2. Add in rice (I used brown rice which is why it looks brown) and cook on medium low until warmed and soft.

 

 

3. Push rice mixture to the side and add the eggs in one side of the pan.

 

 

4. Cook egg then stir everything together.

 

 

CHINESE FOOD SUCESS!

Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

My mom made this recipe growing up, and it was one of my favourite meals as a kid. I came across a similar recipe and decided to make my own version.

Ingredients

5 cups shredded chicken
1 cup plain greek yogurt
3 cups (24 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup melted butter
2 rolls of Ritz crackers; crushed
Rice

1. Preheat oven to 350. If you don't have shredded chicken already, boil several chicken breasts in water with a boullion cube and some chopped onions.

2. Place shredded chicken in a casserole dish.

3. Mix yogurt, cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper, and sauce in a bowl. Pour over chicken.

 

4. Melt the butter and mix with crushed crackers. Sprinkle evenly over chicken mixture.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until top of casserole is browned and sauce is bubbly. Serve over rice. Add some steamed broccoli for a complete meal.

 

Lasagna Formaggio

This is an excellent recipe if you are craving Italian food! It's also cheap at about $1.50 a serving, which is great for big family on a tight budget.

Ingredients

9 lasagna noodles
1 32oz. container of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 jar marinara or pasta sauce

1. Start by preheating oven to 350. Start boiling noodles. I like to add a dash of olive oil and a few shakes of salt to the water.

 

Boil until noodles are cooked but still a tad firm. Drain.

2. While noodles are boiling mix together ricotta cheese, eggs, 1 cup of the mozzarella and spices.

 

3. Next layer a few spoonfuls of pasta sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.

 

4. Top the sauce with 3 noodles.

 

5. Spread a spoonful of cheese mixture lengthwise down each noodle.

 

6. Layer sauce on top and repeat with the noodles, cheese and sauce layers. Top off with remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Teriyaki Chicken Freezer Meal

This is a great meal you can prepare and cook the same day or freeze and cook later. I've listed the smaller version that feeds 2-3 people but its an easy recipe to double.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 onion cut into chunks
1 large can pinapple rings or chunks
2 large handfuls of baby carrots (or long carrots cut up)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1 large clove of garlic, chopped

1. If you are preparing to freeze add all ingredients to gallon ziplock bag. Seal, lay flat and freeze. Don't forget to write the date prepared on the bag. When you are ready to cook this meal take out of the freezer and simply dump in the crockpot. Add a little less than 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce, salt and pepper to taste and cook for 5-7 hours on low. Most teriyaki sauces are already pretty salty so don't overdo it with the salt. Serve hot over rice. (If you are preparing to cook same day just layer all ingredients in crockpot and cook)

 

 

Yummy Trout or Salmon Packets

I know a lot of people who avoid fish, simply because they aren't sure how to cook it. This recipe is a cheap, super easy and yummy way to cook a filet. I prefer trout or salmon filets, they taste the least "fishy" in my opinion.

 

 

Place the filet on a sheet of aluminum foil. Each filet should have a seperate "pouch".

 

Next, cover with sliced lemons and a few pats of butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap up and place on cookie sheet (just in case any of the juices leak out). Bake at 375 for 20 min. You may need to take out sooner depending on the thickness of your filet.

 

Mmm so flaky and yummy!

The Marine Corps Ball 2012

This past weekend the hubby and I attended the Ball celebrating the 237th anniversary of the Marine Corp. We had a fantastic time!

 

All dressed up! I got this dress on ebay from a store called Patty's Boutique. It's a store based in China and while I try to buy American as much as I can, I just couldn't pass up the price for this one. $30! Insane. I was suprised at the quality, it was really decent for the price I paid. Really love this dress! I wore it last year as well, but I doubt anyone noticed lol.

 

The back of the dress. I did my hair myself. It was very simple, just curled it and then pulled the top section back into a little clip.

 

My shoes I also got off Ebay. The brand is Pleaser. I love Pleaser they make some killer heels and have great prices. I've had these for several years now, so I'm not sure exactly what I paid for them.

 

My bracelet I also got off Ebay for $2. It was a new without tags item so not sure on the brand. Can you tell I love Ebay?

I spent hours on my nails...haha just kidding! I used an awesome product I was testing out.
They are actually stickers. You put them on the nail and simply cut off the excess. Here is a Link for more info on them.

 

Finally got Steven to smile..well sort of. So proud of my handsome Marine!

 

We drove down to the Hyatt in Savannah where the ball was being held. I love Savannah but absolutely hate driving downtown. There is always construction, too much traffic and weird one-way roads. We got to the Hyatt and hung out with some friends for a bit in thier room.

 



 

Then we hit Cocktail hour and mingled and chatted a while before finding our table.

 

Our meal started off with a light salad and ranch dressing.

 

 

Next we had a chicken dish with roast beef, asparagus and risotto topped with roasted red pepper and caramelized onions. The roast beef was delicious and so tender.

 

Dessert was cheesecake with some giant blackberries. It was delicious and creamy!

After dinner there was dancing, dancing and more dancing! My feet still hurt! I kinda wish they would have some ballroom dancing like a waltz or something. Even though I don't know how, it would be fun to learn. Its so elegant. Overall we had a fabulous time!

Lasagna Rollups

We have spaghetti and lasagna a lot because its cheap and filling. I have to be honest though sometimes it gets old and I get bored making the same thing frequently. If you are bored with regular lasagna here is a fun way to switch it up.

Ingredients
Filling
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 15oz container ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg (beaten)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Sauce
1 jar or can pasta sauce
1/2 lb ground beef or sausage

Lasagna Noodles
Mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. Heat water in a pot to a boil. Start browning ground beef or sausage.

2. While the above is taking place, mix filling ingredients and stick in fridge while you prepare the rest.

3. Add lasagna noodles to the boiling water. Don't break, just push down into the water as they get softer. Drizzle some olive oil in there as well to prevent sticking. When ground beef is browned, drain and add pasta sauce. Cook sauce on low, stirring occasionally. Cook noodles until tender but still slightly firm. (Dont overcook as they will continue to cook when you put them in the oven and you don't want them to get soggy.)

4. When noodles are done cooking, drain and lay out on tinfoil or wax paper. Layer 1/3 of the meat sauce on the bottom of a glass baking dish. Take a spoonful of filling and spread down the length of the noodle. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish.

 

5. Continue until baking dish is full. Pour rest of sauce over the noodles. Top with mozzarella. Bake for 30 min or until hot and bubbly.