This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #KetchupWithFrenchs #CollectiveBias

Pizza Burgers AKA Mini Cheeseburger Stromboli.  A fun, easy & delicious dinner the whole family will love!  Recipe for pizza dough too ♥

I cook dinner on a nightly basis.  Preparing meals at home is not only the most budget friendly way to feed a family – it’s far more health conscience.  It’s great knowing exactly what’s going into your food and what you’re feeding your family.

It’s important to keep mealtime fun and exciting.  We all get in “dinner time slumps”.  We’re tired, we lose inspiration and end up serving the same old, go-to meals.

Sometimes it’s fun to step back, take your existing menu and switch it up.  Take a look at some of your family’s favorite foods and get creative with them.

Pizza.  Cheeseburgers.  These are all-time favorites in most homes.  How about combining them?  You just know this is gonna be good…!

So what are we doing here?  Layer cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions & a burger patty in the center of the pizza dough.  Carefully wrap & pinch the dough to cover.  Bake till golden brown.  Pretty simple, right?

Now let’s talk ingredients.

Ketchup.  Not all ketchup is created equal.  I insist on serving a ketchup that tastes delicious and is made with REAL ingredients.  That’s why I love French’s Tomato Ketchup.  French’s Ketchup uses high quality tomatoes and real sugar – no high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, or artificial flavors and colors.

French’s is proud to partner with Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks that leads the nation in the fight against hunger.  French’s partnership will provide 10 million meals in 2017.  That’s something we can all feel great about!

Onto pizza dough.  It’s one of my favorite ingredients – it’s such a versatile dough!  Besides pizza, there’s so many other delicious meals you can create.  Garlic knots, pretzel sandwiches, calzones, stromboli and of course these clever Pizza Cheeseburgers.

Now you can go and buy pizza dough.  You’ll find it at your local grocery store or you can usually grab a chunk from your local pizzeria.  This is a judgement free zone, you do what’s best for you.  That being said – it’s unbelievably simple, cheap & quick to make pizza dough yourself.  I made these Pizza Burgers with both store bought & homemade pizza dough in one weeks time.  The homemade dough version was voted favorite from everyone.

As for the burgers – they’re best homemade.  Not only are they tastier & juicier – you can also size the patty to your liking.  I try to make them about 2 1/2″ round so I can get everything easily wrapped up in the dough deliciousness.

So liven up your mealtime menus and get some fun & exciting new foods in your dinner rotation!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Cooking!

-Amanda-

What are your ideas for fun new meals?

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5 from 2 votes

Pizza Burger Cheeseburger Stromboli

Pizza Burgers aka Mini Cheeseburger Stromboli. Combine two family favorite foods for a fun, easy & delicious dinner! Recipe for pizza dough to follow.

Prep Time25 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time40 mins

Servings: 6 burgers

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

• For Burgers:
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon French's Tomato Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried minced onions
• pinch of salt pepper & smoked paprika
• For Pizza Burger:
• 1 pound pizza dough if refrigerated let sit out at room temp for about 20 minutes before using
• 6 cooked burger patties
• 6 slices of your favorite cheese folded into fourths OR approx 1 cup shredded cheese / 2-3 tablespoons each burger
• French's Tomato Ketchup
• Mustard
• pickle chips/slices
• onions optional
• 2 tablespoon butter melted
• a pinch of garlic powder Parmesan cheese & dried parsley
• flour for dusting

Instructions

• For Burgers:
• Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
• Roll beef mixture into 6 even size balls.
• Pat/shape into patties, about 2 1/2" round.
• Cook burgers your preferred method and to just below your preferred temp. I cooked mine on a cast iron skillet to about medium rare - they will continue to cook a bit when in oven.
• Let cool down a little before assembling pizza burger.
• To assemble Pizza Burger:
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Dust a nonstick cookie sheet with a bit of cornmeal or flour.
• On a floured surface, cut pizza dough into 6 even portions. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
• Shape dough into rounds, just about double the size of the burger. Make sure the dough rounds are of even thickness - you don't want the centers too thin. If the dough is springing back too much, let it rest at room temp for a few more minutes. If dough is too sticky, dust hands with flour.
• Place cheese (slices or 2-3 tablespoon shredded) in center of dough. Squirt ketchup & mustard on cheese. Place a few pickle or onion slices on next. Finish with burger.
• Carefully fold, pinch and pull dough to cover burger and sides. Make sure dough is covering all areas.
• Place wrapped burger on cookie sheet, seam side down.
• Repeat with remainder of ingredients.
• Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic powder, parmesan cheese and parsley.
• Bake for 14 - 18 minutes until tops are light golden brown.
• Let burgers rest for a few minutes, serve & enjoy.

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5 from 2 votes

Pizza Dough

This makes about 1 pound of foolproof, delicious pizza dough. You can easily double or triple this recipe and refrigerate or freeze dough for a later time.

Prep Time1 hr 40 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Servings: 1 pound

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water 105°-110°F
• 2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

• I use a stand mixer for this recipe, but you can just as easily do this by hand.
• Dissolve yeast in warm water. I combine the two in my stand mixer and mix with dough hook until dissolved.
• Add in flour, salt and sugar. Using mixer & dough hook knead for about 5 minutes. Dough should be smooth and elastic and not overly sticky. If kneading by hand - knead dough for about 5-8 minutes.
• Place dough in a large greased bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft free spot for about an hour and a half. The dough should almost double in size.
• Use immediately or refrigerate until needed.

I found French’s Tomato Ketchup and everything I needed to create my fun dinnertime deliciousness at my local Walmart store!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MadeWithTheMasters #HeinzBBQ #CollectiveBias

There’s something almost magical about transforming one of the toughest cuts of beef into tender, rich, smokey deliciousness.  Don’t be intimidated – you don’t have to be a pitmaster to smoke a brisket to BBQ perfection! 

It’s finally getting to that time of the year.  Fire up those grills & smokers – it’s time to get outside & do some cooking!

True BBQ is indeed an art and in no way am I master of it.  I love BBQ – I love smoking & grilling – I’ll call myself a “hands on” enthusiast 🙂

I picked up a beautiful beef brisket on sale.  Most people look at the price tag of a big hunk of meat and go into sticker shock.  Really, though, when you calculate how many people will be fed from that 10+ pound hunk of meat you realize how little you are actually spending.

Depending where you live, you might not have much of a brisket selection.  It’s often said to buy grass fed beef or the best grade brisket, but there are not always choices.  I’m sure if you planned ahead, your butcher or grocer would be happy to order you a choice brisket, but plan I did not.  I went with a “USDA Select” brisket and it turned out fantastic.  There are also “corned” briskets.  You’re not going to want that for smoking.  Corned briskets are brined – save the corned briskets for cabbage & potatoes or perhaps a pastrami.  I have found smaller 3-4 pound pieces of “trimmed” brisket at my grocery store.  Sounds great until you look at the price – they were averaging $30 bucks.  Eeeek – no thanks!  Really, I didn’t spend too much more for a whole 10 pound “packer” brisket.

When it comes to smoking, temperature trumps.  Use times as reference, but you’re keeping an eye on the temperatures of your smoker and the meat.  There are a lot of factors that can and will effect timing.  Starting temp of meat, size of meat, your smoker & setup, outside temperature and the amount of times your poking around in your smoker are a few common examples.

That being said, I’ll keep the rest simple.  The biggest rule – start early, start earlier.  If you’re planning on 10-12 hours of cook time add an additional 2 hours of wiggle room.  I’ve heard of many meals being ruined because a brisket ended up taking 12+ hours to cook instead of 10.  It’s easier to get done a little early and keep a brisket warm for a few hours than it is to have no brisket at all.  Also account for the resting time.  I like to let a brisket rest for an hour before cutting it – some people prefer even longer.  Understand that this is an all day event and your best starting at the crack of dawn.  It’ll all be worth it.

I use a simple rub on my brisket – salt, pepper, garlic powder & paprika.  That’s it.  Just salt and pepper will work fine, too.  I let the smoker do it’s job of flavoring and serve the brisket with a good BBQ sauce.

Speaking of good BBQ sauces – man, oh man, I found a new one and I am in love.  Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce.  Heinz?  The ketchup people?  Yup, they make barbecue sauces too and they mean business!

So what does Heinz know about BBQ sauce?  Oh, you can trust they’ve done their homework.  They’ve hunted down some of the biggest & baddest pitmasters to create a sauce that defines Kansas City BBQ.  Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce was crafted with Joe & Mike Pearce of Slap’s BBQ in, where else but, Kansas City.

This thick sauce is loaded with authentic sweet, smoky, tangy spice that we know, love & expect from Kansas City.  Go ahead and slather down everything with this delicious goodness – this sauce will seriously take your BBQ game to a new level!  Even better, Heinz BBQ is 100% Natural.  No high fructose corn syrup, no mystery ingredients – just loaded with simple ingredients that you & I would use at home. 

I swear, when you make a good brisket, it’s almost life changing.  You find it hard to believe that you, little old you, just transformed that big tough piece of meat into this tender, rich, smokey beautiful beef goodness.  The first bite into your BBQ masterpiece is an out of this world experience.  Wow!  They say BBQ is addicting – I totally get it!

Hope you all love this Smoked BBQ Brisket recipe!  Enjoy yourselves, your company and cooking out!  I adore Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce and can’t wait to check out their whole line of regional BBQ sauces!

Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂

-Amanda-

What will you be cooking out this BBQ season?

Visit Heinz BBQ for loads of barbecue inspiration!

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5 from 2 votes

Smoked BBQ Brisket

Low & Slow Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket - Kansas City Style.

Prep Time1 hr

Cook Time14 hrs

Total Time15 hrs

Course: Beef

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 - 12 servings

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

• 10 - 12 pound beef brisket
• 4 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• additional salt & pepper
• Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce approx 2 - 3 tablespoons per slice of brisket
• Additional supplies - charcoal wood chunks or chips, aluminum foil, digital thermometer

Instructions

• The day/night before:
• Dress brisket. Trim fat down to about 1/4". Remove any silverskin.
• Mix together salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder in a bowl.
• Rub meat down with spice mixture.
• Wrap brisket in saran wrap and refrigerate. Do this at least the night before - 24 hours prior.
• The day of:
• About an hour before smoking remove brisket from fridge and let rest at room temp.
• About half an hour before cooking - get smoker going and up to temp. You want to cook at about 225°.
• My smoker has a water pan so i fill that with a 50/50 mix of water & apple juice.
• Sprinkle a bit of kosher salt and pepper on brisket.
• When smoker reaches temp, throw brisket in, fat side down.
• I start with a handful of soaked mesquite chunks and add a chunk every hour of cooking.
• Smoke until brisket temp reaches about 150°-160° (approx 3 - 5 hours) Carefully remove brisket, wrap tightly in a few layers of aluminum foil, and return to smoker.
• Continue to smoke at 225° until brisket reaches 195° - 205° (approx 4 -8 hours)
• Remove brisket from smoker and rest for an hour before cutting.
• Cut meat against the grain (pay attention - there's two different muscles on a packer brisket - so the grain will run different directions on each side) Cut just before before serving.
• Slather cut slices with LOTS of Heinz Kansas City BBQ Sauce, serve and enjoy. It doesn't get much better than this 😉
• *NOTES*
• Cooking times will vary greatly. Monitor smoker temp and meat temp - use a good digital thermometer.
• Estimate about an hour smoking for every pound. Expect to add about 10-15 minutes to cook time every time you remove the lid off the smoker.
• I use mesquite wood chunks for smoking - use whatever you prefer and follow bag instructions (soaking time etc) I added a handful of chunks when starting and added a chunk every hour until I wrapped the brisket in foil. After the brisket is wrapped, there is no need to add any more wood.
• If you're new to smoking you'll find a wealth of information online. Spend a few hours researching & reading - it really makes all the difference!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #YesYouCAN #CollectiveBias

This Tamale Casserole is a quick, simple and delicious dinner you can have on the table in about 45 minutes!  Perfect for the busy holiday season or every other busy night of your life!

Christmas is almost here.  Every single year I declare that I will be ahead of the rush and there will be no last minute madness for me.  I have the best intentions.  Then life carries on and I struggle to find extra time to do any Christmas shopping.  Before you know it, time is up and I’m out running amuck with all the other last minute crazies.

Such is life.  We’re all busy – even more so at this time of the year.  When things get hectic it’s easy to forgo household duties.  Laundry piles up and dinner sadly turns to leftovers, frozen foods and take out.

Stop right there!  Put that frozen pizza back in the freezer.  Keep driving past the fast food junk.  You can make dinner time happen.  You can make a delicious and nutritious meal.  You can do this without a ton of effort or time.  You can make a fun, flavorful and exciting dinner that the family will love.  Yes you can!  You got this!

*As for the piles of laundry, I’m still working on that.*

You can prepare a fabulous meal using a combination of pantry staples, fresh produce and fresh meat in about 45 minutes.

This Tamale Pie doesn’t involve a whole lot of work – the most you’ll be doing is browning the ground beef.  From there you simmer the beef with the taco seasoning, RO*TEL and corn.  Make a simple crust with cornmeal, press it into a greased pie dish, top with the meat mixture and bake.  That’s it.

RO*TEL is one of my favorite canned ingredients – it gives this dish so much of it’s flavor and zest.

I offer a variety of simple toppings with this tamale pie to keep everyone’s tastebuds happy.  Snipped cilantro, green onions, avocado slices, hot sauce, sour cream – top it up with whatever your family likes.  I also served this Tamale Pie with a side of Rosarita refried beans topped with melted cheese and chipotle hot sauce.  Yum – good eats!

Cheers to a flavorful and exciting home cooked meal that doesn’t take hours of fussing.  Cheers to sitting down with the family and eating a meal together.  It’s important to make time for those that matter most!

You got dinner covered.  Now, onto the next task….

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Cooking!

-Amanda-

Need more meal ideas for your busy life?  No worries – we all do!  Visit “Yes You Can” for more recipes, inspiration and tips!

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4.5 from 2 votes

Tamale Pie

This Tamale Casserole is a quick, simple and delicious dinner you can have on the table in about 45 minutes! Perfect for the busy holiday season or every other busy night of your life!

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: dinner

Servings: 6 - 8 servings

Author: Amanda

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cans RO*TEL undrained (10 oz)
• 1 packet taco seasoning 1 oz
• 1 can corn drained (15 oz)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• Pam Cooking Spray
• sliced black olives optional
• optional for topping - lettuce avocado, cilantro, spring onions, sour cream, hot sauce

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Spray a pie dish using Pam Cooking Spray.
• In a large skillet, brown ground beef. Drain grease.
• Add envelope of taco seasoning, both cans of Rotel and can of drained corn. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often. If mixture gets too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water.
• Combine cornmeal, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk and oil.
• Mix together cornmeal mixture and egg mixture.
• Pour mixture into greased pie dish - use a spatula or back of spoon to make an even layer.
• Spoon meat mixture evenly over cornmeal crust.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
• Cool for about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
• Top with black olives, lettuce, avocado slices, cilantro, spring onions, sour cream, hot sauce or anything else you prefer.
• Enjoy 🙂