stephanies slice of life | Stephanie's Slice Of Life

Tag: stephanies slice of life
- Italian Cold Cut Calzone
  
  Posted at 12:07 pm by StephMo
  
  Oct 17th
  
  When you think of calzone you probably think of Italian Cold Cut Calzone. It is one of those classic calzones you always see on a menu where calzones are sold. It is also a calzone that tends to differ depending on who is making it. My version is a very simple combination of Italian meats and cheese. I have tried different variations but in the end this is the way we like it.
  
  Calzone is something people often only think about serving for a party or gathering, but calzone can be a wonderful dinner if you serve it with a side salad. If you can make homemade pizza, you can make homemade calzone.
  
  Ingredients:
  
  Pizza Dough
  
  1/4 lb. Capocolla Ham
  
  1/4 lb. Genoa Salami
  
  1/4 lb. Black Forest Ham
  
  1/4 lb. Provolone cheese
  
  If you would like to make your own pizza dough you can find my recipe here https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/?s=pizza+dough, or you can use store bought dough if you prefer.
  
  Roll out the dough into an oval.
  
  Start layering your ingredients while leaving some space on the edges.
  
  As I mentioned you can use whichever Italian cold cuts and cheeses you like, this is the combination that my family and myself prefer. It’s a really good combination! Trust me!
  
  Gently fold the long sides of the dough inward, then fold the edges in. Press the seams to ensure the dough is sealed. Putting a little water on your fingers will help with sealing the seams.
  
  Flip the calzone over onto a greased cookie sheet. If you like you can brush with an egg wash, which is a slightly beaten egg combined with an equal amount of water. I also like some sesame seeds sprinkled on top.
  
  Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the calzone is brown and hard when tapped. I personally prefer a softer calzone so I don’t cook mine as long as you may want to.
  
  Oh my goodness, so yummy!
  
  Posted in Breads, Dinners, Recipes | Tagged calzone, calzone recipe, food blog, food blogger, homemade calzone, italian calzone, italian calzone recipe, italian cold cut calzone, stephanies slice of life
- Easy Nachos
  
  Posted at 3:30 pm by StephMo
  
  Oct 6th
  
  Who doesn’t love nachos? They are the perfect food to eat while watching a football game right? Well that is what I gathered from my husband’s puppy dog eyes as he mentioned how one of his clients had said he was going to be having nachos for the Patriots game last night. Despite his insincere “oh no you don’t have to make nachos”, I made nachos. I am not complaining because they were a yummy treat!
  
  Let me start by saying I did not make gourmet nachos with all homemade ingredients. I made easy, no frills, but delicious nachos. I know making nachos may seem like a simple thing to do, which it is, but in case you have never made them I thought I would share how I make nachos.
  
  If I were making these for company I might make my own guacamole https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/?s=guacamole, maybe use homemade pulled pork https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/?s=pulled+pork, a combination of fancy cheeses, a better looking presentation, etc. The beauty of nachos is that you can make them however you like!
  
  Last night I decided to use the following ingredients:
  
  Tortilla chips
  
  Shredded cheddar cheese
  
  Queso
  
  Ground turkey (or beef)
  
  Taco seasoning
  
  Lettuce, chopped
  
  Tomatoes, chopped
  
  Black beans
  
  Sliced black olives
  
  Banana peppers, chopped
  
  Jalapenos
  
  Sour Cream
  
  Guacamole
  
  I cooked ground turkey until no longer pink in a frying pan, drained the grease, and added the taco seasoning and water (follow instructions on the package). Cook for about 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. You can also use shredded cooked chicken mixed with the taco seasoning if you’d like.
  
  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread a layer of tortilla chips covering the sheet.
  
  Add shredded cheese on top of the chips. You can use as much or as little as you like.
  
  Spread half of the taco meat on top of the chips.
  
  Add another layer of chips and more shredded cheese. I don’t know about you but I like nachos stacked.
  
  Now add the rest of the meat, the olives and black beans. My son doesn’t like beans or olives so I had to leave a section without. I then added some queso on top as well. You can never have too much cheese!
  
  Bake at 375 degrees until the shredded cheese melts.
  
  Then top with the remaining ingredients and that’s it!
  
  Since not everyone in my family likes sour cream and guacamole, I served it on the side.
  
  Posted in Comfort Food, Recipes | Tagged easy nachos recipe, food blog, food blogger, game day foods, game day recipes, loaded nachos, nachos, nachos recipe, quick nachos recipe, stacked nachos, stephanies slice of life
- Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
  
  Posted at 10:52 am by StephMo
  
  Aug 4th
  
  I can officially say this is my favorite cake, and not just my favorite cake recipe, but my favorite cake. It is better than a bakery. While it is very time consuming to make, it is completely worth it. Unfortunately the vintage lighting in my Maine cottage was not very good for photos 😦
  
  Carrot cake was my wedding cake and every year on our anniversary we would buy a carrot cake from the same bakery. When they stopped offering to bake the cake without walnuts, instead of looking for another bakery I decided I would just bake a carrot cake for our anniversary. HUGE thank you to that bakery because this cake is so much better! Now every year on our anniversary we have this cake.
  
  Even though I do not use walnuts you can absolutely add them to this recipe if you choose. I also only use 1/2 cup raisins because no one in my family likes raisins except me. If you enjoy a carrot cake with more raisins you can increase that to 1 cup.
  
  Ingredients:
  
  2 cups sugar
  
  3 extra large eggs (room temperature)
  
  1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
  
  1 tsp. vanilla
  
  2 cups flour (plus 1 tbsp)
  
  2 tsp. cinnamon
  
  2 tsp. baking soda
  
  1 1/2 tsp. salt
  
  1 lb. carrots grated
  
  1/2 cup raisins
  
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease two 9″ round cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease and flour the parchment paper.
  
  Peel the carrots and grate them using the fine side of a hand grater, you do not want the carrots shredded. Once grated put them aside. This is my least favorite part of making this cake, and pretty much the only reason I don’t make this cake more often.
  
  In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and oil and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
  
  Stir in the vanilla.
  
  In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
  
  Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture while beating on low speed with the electric mixer. The batter will be thick.
  
  In a third bowl combine 1 tbsp. of flour with the carrots and raisins and mix well. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cakes.
  
  Have you noticed the vintage Pyrex bowls yet? These were my mother’s, I love everything vintage.
  
  Stir the carrot mixture into the cake batter and pour into prepared pans.
  
  Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  
  Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes and then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
  
  Once the cakes are cool it is time to frost these delicious cakes with cream cheese frosting!
  
  Cream Cheese Frosting:
  
  1 stick of butter softened (1/2 cup)
  
  1 8 oz. block of cream cheese softened
  
  1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  
  3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (or more per taste)
  
  Using an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until well mixed and smooth. Add the vanilla and beat just until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar.
  
  You may like the frosting sweeter and if so, just add a little more powdered sugar.
  
  Place one of the cakes upside down on a dish or cake stand and start frosting the middle.
  
  Place the second cake round side up on top of the first cake and finish frosting.
  
  Make sure to keep the cake covered and refrigerated.
  
  Then eat, and repeat! Yum!
  
  Posted in cake, Recipes | Tagged baking from scratch, blog, blogger, cake, cake recipe, carrot cake, carrot cake recipe, cream cheese frosting, cream cheese frosting recipe, food blogger, from scratch, home baked, homemade, stephanies slice of life
- Popovers For Piglet
  
  Posted at 1:31 pm by StephMo
  
  Jul 1st
  
  I have had this Pooh Cookbook since I was a child in the 70’s and the only recipe I ever remember making from it were the Popovers For Piglet. Despite the fact that I can no longer get the popovers to actually pop, I refuse to make any other recipe because every time I make these the memories make me smile. Not to mention it’s Pooh and how can you not smile with Pooh?
  
  I feel like they used to pop, maybe? I have tried them in two different ovens and they don’t pop. They are delicious regardless, but not going to win any awards for tallest popover lol. One thing that seems to be a little different than other Popover recipes I have seen is that these contain honey. Of course they do, because Pooh loves honey!
  
  Ingredients:
  
  1 cup flour
  
  1/2 tsp. salt
  
  3/4 cup milk
  
  2 tbsp. honey
  
  1 tbsp. melted butter
  
  2 large eggs
  
  Sift together the flour and salt.
  
  Stir in the milk, honey, and melted butter.
  
  Beat in the eggs.
  
  Fill greased muffin tins just under half full.
  
  Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes until the sides are rigid and tops are brown. Do not open the oven before they cook for 25 minutes or they will fall. However, mine never really popped. Hmmm.
  
  While they may not be the most perfectly popped popovers, they are delicious!
  
  Posted in Breads, Recipes | Tagged food blog, food blogger, pooh bear cookbook, popover recipe, popovers, popovers for piglet, popovers for piglet recipe, Recipes, stephanies slice of life, the pooh cook book
- Baked Rice Pudding
  
  Posted at 1:02 pm by StephMo
  
  Jul 1st
  
  Rice pudding is a dessert I have loved since I was a child and I always got so excited every time my mother would get ready to make it and take out her Betty Crocker cookbook. This is one of those childhood desserts that regardless of whether another recipe make look or taste better, I am sticking to this recipe because I want my rice pudding just the way it was. It may not look as creamy or appetizing as some others I have seen, but it is delicious and to me there is no better. My mother and I loved rice pudding, and now my daughter and I are the pudding fans in my family. My husband and son do not like it which just means more for us girls!
  
  I needed a little pick me up with this gloomy weather and rice pudding was just the thing to do it!
  
  There have been a number of different variations of this recipe over the years, but this is the Betty Crocker recipe my mother made when I was a child.
  
  Ingredients:
  
  2/3 cup uncooked white rice
  
  1 1/3 cup water
  
  2 eggs
  
  1/2 cup sugar
  
  1/4 tsp. salt
  
  2 cups milk
  
  1/2 tsp. vanilla
  
  1/2 cup raisins
  
  Cinnamon (or Nutmeg)
  
  Combine the rice and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered until all the water is absorbed. Around 20 minutes.
  
  While the rice is cooking start preparing the rest of the pudding.
  
  Whisk two eggs in an ungreased small casserole.
  
  Add the sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla and whisk together until combined.
  
  Add the rice and the raisins and stir well. Sadly I can never put in the full 1/2 cup raisins because I am the only one in my family that likes them.
  
  Sprinkle the top with cinnamon (the original recipe calls for Nutmeg, but I like Cinnamon better).
  
  Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until a knife comes out clean.
  
  I prefer the pudding cold so I chill before eating. I also prefer it with whipped cream on top. Yum!
  
  I hope my childhood memories bring back some of yours as well 😊
  
  Posted in Comfort Food, Recipes | Tagged baked rice pudding, betty crocker rice pudding, food blog, food blogger, old fashioned rice pudding, rice pudding, rice pudding recipe, stephanies slice of life
- Homemade Pizza
  
  Posted at 5:10 pm by StephMo
  
  Apr 1st
  
  In my opinion pizza is one of the best comfort foods, I absolutely love it and could eat it all the time. The first thing I made when I finally got around to getting a new food processor was pizza dough! I have been craving homemade pizza like crazy, and I decided to go all out and make many different kinds. If you have never made dough, it was super easy to make.
  
  Here are the ingredients you need:
  
  1 tbsp. active dry yeast
  
  1 tsp. sugar
  
  1 cup of warm water
  
  3 cups flour
  
  1 tsp. salt
  
  Olive Oil
  
  Dissolve the sugar and yeast in a small bowl with the warm water for about 5 minutes.
  
  Add the flour and salt to your food processor and pulse a few times to mix together.
  
  Once your yeast and sugar have dissolved, turn on the food processor and add a little bit of the liquid at a time through the top until it is mixed, then continue with a little more, etc.
  
  Once the dough is formed and is no longer sticking to the sides, mix for another minute or so.
  
  Coat a large mixing bowl with olive oil and add the dough to the bowl.
  
  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel for an hour and a half and then once it has risen it looks like this.
  
  You are now ready to make pizza! Flour a cutting board and rolling pin and roll out the dough into pizzas. Spray your pans before topping with the dough.
  
  For the pizzas I made I topped the dough with a little tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, my toppings, a little more mozzarella, a sprinkle of Italian Seasoning and pepper, then a drizzle of olive oil. Delicious!
  
  Bake at 450 degrees until the bottom turns slightly brown.
  
  The pizza shown in the blog header is topped with homemade turkey meatballs.
  
  This pizza has slices of fresh tomato, ricotta (mixed with parmesan, garlic powder, pepper, and parsley), and homemade turkey meatballs on half.
  
  This pizza is half cheese, and half mushroom and onion.
  
  Yum, yum, yum!
  
  Posted in Dinners, Recipes | Tagged food blog, food blogger, food processor pizza dough, homemade pizza, homemade pizza dough, homemade pizza dough recipe, pizza, pizza dough, pizza dough recipe, stephanies slice of life
- DIY Sea Shell Shadow Boxes
  
  Posted at 12:27 pm by StephMo
  
  Apr 1st
  
  Searching for shells and sea glass is one of my absolute favorite things to do, and I could not be more thankful that my daughter feels the same way. We are often bundled up in the winter combing our favorite spots for treasures from the sea. Any time we are at the beach you will always see the two of us walking slowly and looking down, and I often have to remind myself to look up and enjoy the ocean.
  
  We recently visited a beach down the Cape and found so many scallop shells and while I normally fill antique mason jars with my favorite finds, scallop shells are hard to really appreciate in a jar. While I’m sure this idea isn’t new by any means, the thought came to me while rinsing the shells and thinking that I wished they could stay the color they are when they are wet. There may be a product specifically for shells, but without doing any research the first product that came to mind was polyurethane.
  
  Since I am not typically a crafty person per se and we are on a stay home order because of the virus, I just ordered what I assumed would work from Amazon. I ordered the gloss finish because I wanted the shells to look as glossy as they did when they were fresh out of the ocean.
  
  I just used a small paintbrush and brushed a thin coat on to the shells and let them dry for a few hours.
  
  You can see what a huge difference it made. Whether or not this was the correct product for this craft, I am thrilled with the outcome.
  
  These are what the shells looked like before,
  
  and these are what they looked like after. The colors are just so beautiful!
  
  All I needed now was to order a few shadow box frames with linen backs and a bottle of Gorilla Glue.
  
  Then it was time to create some wall art!
  
  Once I had the shells lined up I used a little bit of Gorilla Glue on the back edges of the shells and held them in place for a few seconds. That glue is very strong so make sure you place it where you want it because it is not going to move. You should also wear some sort of gloves when using this glue which we learned the hard way. I’m pretty sure my daughter no longer has fingerprints on a few of her fingers lol.
  
  Just a quick side note, yes that is my childhood ruler 🥰
  
  This was one of the pieces I created, and the one shown in the blog header is one my daughter created.
  
  Now we have these beautiful frames filled with our favorite shells to forever make us happy! Our next project is going to be with sand dollars!
  
  Posted in Blog Posts | Tagged craft, diy craft, diy wall art, lifestyle blogger, scallop shells, sea shell crafts, sea shell shadow box, sea shells, shadow boxes, shells, stephanies slice of life, wall art
- Search for:
- Recent Posts
- Categories
  - Recipes (92)
    - Dinners (31)
    - cookies (12)
    - Breads (11)
    - Comfort Food (10)
    - cake (9)
    - brunch (8)
    - holiday treats (7)
  - Blog Posts (13)
  - Cocktails (9)