Strawberry Pizza & Crack Stix

The menu for yesterday's Mother's Day BBQ at our house:

Grilled Chicken Breasts

Corn on the Cob

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Vegetable Kabobs

Crack Stix  (Recipe to follow)

Strawberry Pizza (Recipe to follow)

Chocolate Cream Pie

Ice Water, Strawberry Punch, Coca Cola

Photo credit: http://fashionablyfoodie.com/2012/02/01/keshias-kakes-on-super-bowl-desserts/
(Ours got ate so quickly I didn't get a picture of them!)

Crack Stix

You'll need:

1 loaf thin-sliced bakery white bread, crusts cut off

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

Flatten bread with a rolling-pin. In a bowl, combine cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar. In another bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Spread about 1 tablespoon of cheese mixture on each slice of bread. Roll up, jelly roll style. Dip in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 16 roll-ups.  Delicious warm, cold or at room temperature.

Yes, as crazy as it sounds... flattered bakery white bread is THAT good!!

But I did manage to snap one of the pizza!  Yay me!!

Strawberry Pizza

You'll need:

Sugar cookie dough (Pillsbury roll, home-made, from a mix -- your choice)

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup (appx) confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sliced fresh strawberries (I used a little less than a 1 quart package)

Red fruit glaze (little plastic tub, Danish Dessert, home-made -- your choice)

Press the sugar cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan.  Bake as directed until set much the same texture as you'd like a cookie to be.  Remove from oven to cool completely.  In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese, confectioners sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Spread evenly over cookie pizza crust.  Arrange sliced strawberries over the top.  Using a pastry brush, lightly and evenly coat with fruit glaze (I had the kind in the plastic tub and used about 1/2 of it).  Chill until ready to cut then slice into pizza wedges for serving.

(Note:  I used the Pillsbury roll of sugar cookie dough this time... and I'm not sure if I over cooked it just a little or if it's not quite the perfect product for this use but it was difficult to cut.  Next time I will be using a soft sugar cookie dough.)

Menu for Tonight

My roommate, Tami, is having a little BBQ Bash to celebrate a friend's birthday... and lucky me, I get to hang out with them.  And have dinner!

On the menu is steak.  It's marinating in the kitchen now and the whole house smells somewhere beyond incredible.  She started with Famous Dave's rub and then mixed Lawry's Signature Steakhouse and Tuscan Sun-dried Tomato Marinade together and poured it over the top of the meat for a couple of hours.

To go over the steak, once it's grilled, there's a Cucumber Raita.  Totally new to me, but oh so tasty!!

Cucumber Raita

8 oz plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 - 1/2 cup coarsely shredded unpeeled cucumber
2 T finely chopped red onion
1 Tbl snipped dill
1/4 tsp sugar
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Minced garlic and horseradish to taste

Combine and let chill for 2 hours.  Spoon over grilled and sliced steak to serve.

In addition we have corn on the cob and a couple of pretty amazing salads.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Toss together:
Fresh baby spinach
Sliced (or quartered or halved depending on size) fresh strawberries
Sliced (or slivered) almonds
Crumbled feta cheese
Dried cranberries

Dress with mayonnaise blended with a fat-free Raspberry Vinegarette just before serving.

Broccoli and Mango Salad

Toss together:
Fresh broccoli flowerettes broken into small pieces
Sliced red onion
Coarsely chopped mango
Mandarin oranges
Cashews

Dress with a mixture of bottled ranch dressing, horseradish and orange juice.

Oh yes, we're eating good tonight!!


Update:  I've been holding this post back for almost a month now thinking we might make it again because I failed to take pictures.  And it was beautiful, picture worthy food!!  But we haven't and the recipes are too good not to publish and urge you to try.