More Grub to Please your Palate

We don't eat out a lot at restaurants these days, but we still crave restaurant food! So we created a few rip-off recipes for some of our favorite dine-out dishes, including Wingers sticky fingers with Amazing Sauce, Chile's Quesadilla Explosion Salad, Chinese cream cheese wontons and sweet and sour chicken, plus two of my favorites shown below.

Flathead Pizza from MacKenzie River Pizza Company

Ingredients
For the dough, I just got the recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook, but you can use any of your favorite dough recipes. I like this recipe because you don't have to let the dough rise. Just knead and roll out!

1 package active dry yeast or approx. 1 Tblsp.
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tblsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients and knead for about 5-8 minutes. Divide dough into halves. Roll out each half on lightly floured surface to about 11 inch rounds. Place on pizza pan or baking stone.

Add toppings. Alfredo sauce or Parmesan cream sauce, cheese (mozerella & feta, or any combo you like,) grilled chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, spinach (we didn't put on the one pictured above) and fresh garlic. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.


Spicy Romano Chicken Pasta from Johnny Carino's

For this recipe, using authentic Romano cheese is the best. You can find it from specialty shops or in a the gourmet cheese section of your grocery store (depending on the store.) The best Romano cheese is made from sheep's milk. Make sure the Parmesan cheese is of high quality and shredded, not finely grated. It seems to turn out better that way. Although, I have made this using all Romano cheese and leaving out the Parmesan and it tasted fine.

Ingredients for sauce:
1 pint heavy cream
4 Tblsp. butter
1/4 cup Romano cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (or more depending on how hot you like it)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
(The salt and pepper can be more or less if desired. I like freshly grated sea salt and fresh ground pepper.)

Other ingredients:
1 pound (16 oz. box) bowtie pasta, cooked al dente and drained
1 1/2 Tblsp. butter
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (I like more mushrooms in mine)
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
Precooked grilled chicken, sliced (I don't know the ounces, but I usually cut up 2 chicken breasts for this.)
1 oz. heavy cream

Directions:

1. To prepare sauce, melt butter in sauce pan. Add cream, salt and pepper and heat to a boil. Remove from heat and fold in cheese and Cayenne pepper. Set aside.

2. For other ingredients, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and green onions. Stir for 1 minute. Add artichokes and already grilled chicken. Stir. Add 1 oz. heavy cream and 1/2 of sauce to pan. Stir. Add pasta and rest of sauce. Coat pasta completely and serve. I like to serve it with a light salad and garlic bread. It is delicious! You can adjust most of the ingredients to suit your tastes. I like more vegetables and less salt in mine. The cheese is pretty salty anyway. This recipe is just what I made up to give y'all an idea.

Trust me, it tastes better than it looks!