Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Recipe and photo taken from: http://lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/2010/07/annoying-habits.html

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• pinch of salt (my addition, optional)
• pinch of red pepper flakes (my addition, optional)
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cubed pepperoni
• 1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes (if using) ; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

NOTE: All my batter did not fit into the 24-mini muffin pan. So I made a full size muffin with the leftover batter. Some pans are larger than others so you may not have have an issue.

Caprese On A Stick

Caprese on a stick

Makes: 40 pieces

Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1 bunch basil leaves (need a leaf for every piece)
• 8 oz tub of bocconcini (aka mozzarella in brine/water)
• 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• toothpicks to assemble the caprese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes. Pierce the tomatoes with the toothpicks and lay them out on a plate.

2. Fold the basil leaf and push it next over the toothpick.

3. Now comes a piece of mozzarella. Bocconcini sometimes comes as small marinated mozzarella balls and at times in plain brine. I picked out the plain ones. Also the ones I got were large so I had to slice them into smaller pieces. I cut them approximately the same size as the tomatoes.

4. For the dressing, I whisked together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, italian seasoning, pepper and salt and then drizzled it over the caprese. I made sure that I drizzled the mozzarella pieces generously. If you leave the salad out for a bit before serving it, the cheese gets marinated quite well. Also I just put these out on one plate, but you could get creative and lay them out in a line, or on a couple of different plates to spread it out in your party! Also when you start eating it, as you pick up each piece you can coat it nicely with the dressing that has dripped onto the plate. Enjoy!