Rosemary Potato Sausage Pizza with Garlic Butter Sauce

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Hillshire Brand Company but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #buy3save3  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Let's face it moms, making a homemade, quick, and healthy dinner for our families every single night can be a lot of work.  It's easy to get stuck in a cooking rut, and make the same old thing every week, which can get boring really quickly.

Today I have a recipe that I created to share with you that I guarantee that you have never tried before, and that has become a new favorite of mine-

Rosemary Potato Sausage Pizza with Garlic Butter Sauce!

Sounds amazing, right?  This delicious pizza is a cinch to make, will impress your family, and is a healthy and quick meal that's perfect for your busy week nights.

It includes one of my son's all-time favorite things- Hillshire Farm's Angus Rope Smoked Sausage.  My 9-year-old foodie son, who loves to cook with me, adores Hillshire Farm's Rope Sausage, so I knew this recipe would be a winner!

I went shopping for the Hillshire Farm Sausage at my local Safeway store, Vons.  You can visit Safeway's Just For U website to sign up to get the Buy 3, Save 3 offer, where you can save $3 when you buy ANY THREE participating Hillshire Farm brand products- mix and match!  You must be signed up for Just For U to get the deal, so be sure to head on over to Safeway's website to sign up!

I've been a member of Just For U for a while now, and I love how I can get personalized coupons and special prices on products that I buy that I can add to my card, without having to actually clip any coupons.  They make it easy to save money!

Now for the easy, delicious recipe!

Rosemary Potato Sausage with Garlic Butter Sauce:

For the Dough:

• 1 cup very warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp. yeast
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt

For the Pizza:

• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• 1 clove minced garlic (or 1 tsp. granulated garlic)
• 2 medium potatoes
• 1/2 package Hillshire Farm Angus Rope Smoked Sausage, sliced
• 2 thin slices red onion, separated
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

1.  To make the dough, add the yeast to the warm water and let sit for about 10 minutes.  I do this in the bowl for my Kitchen Aid.  Stir after 10 minutes, and add the flour, oil, and salt.  Use the dough hook on your machine, and mix on low.  After about a minute, turn the machine up to medium-high, and leave on for about 5 minutes.  This gets the dough nice and elastic.  If you don't have a Kitchen Aid, you can do this by hand.  After it has been mixed, pat the dough into a large ball, and let sit in a covered bowl for about an hour to rise.

2.  Boil the two potatoes whole in a small pot of water for about 20 minutes.  Remove from water, and let cool.  Once cool, cut the potatoes into thin slices.  Once the dough has risen, after about an hour, roll out the dough into a large circle, and place on a pizza stone (or baking sheet if you don't have a stone).  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  

3.  Add the garlic to the melted butter, and stir.  Spread the garlic-butter mixture evenly onto the pizza dough, and arrange half of the sausage and half of the potatoes onto the pizza.  Sprinkle on all of the cheese.  Now arrange the other half of the sausage and potatoes onto the cheese, and add the separated onion slices and chopped fresh rosemary to the top.  Bake for approximately 10 minutes, and allow to cool slightly before serving.

This rosemary potato sausage pizza is sooo hearty and delicious, and yet is very easy to make, even on a busy weekday!  The rich sausage flavor combines perfectly with the flavors of the potatoes, rosemary, onions, butter, and garlic, and creates a taste that you will love!

You can even make the dough earlier in the day, and store it in the fridge after it has risen.  I've even made this dough right before I put it in the oven, without even letting it rise, and it still tastes amazing!  

Give it a try, and make sure you get your Hillshire Farm Sausage at your local Safeway store during the Buy 3, Save 3 promotion, which ends Saturday!  Be sure to shop by then!

You can also check out some other delicious recipes on Hillshire Farm's recipe page on their website, and can also find recipes and more on Hillshire Farm's Facebook and Twitter pages.

So what do you think?  Are you going to give this yummy pizza a try?  I hope you do!

xo, Laura

Linking Up Here: Snap!

Italian Antipasto Salad, Basil Pesto Dipping Sauce, and Italian Cream Sodas

I am a member of the World Market Trendsetter Tribe.  These Italian recipes are sponsored by World Market as part of their Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes.

Get ready to be hungry!  I've got not one, but three amazing Italian recipes to share with you today!!  I love sitting down together with my family to enjoy a homemade dinner together.  It's an important part of my family's day where we can relax and enjoy one another's company.

Last week I made a trip to World Market (okay, a few trips to World Market) to pick up some gourmet Italian ingredients from their gourmet food and drink section to make my family an Italian dinner- a delicious antipasto salad, some rosemary bread with a basil pesto dipping sauce, and then some Italian cream sodas for dessert... yum!  Here's what I bought for the salad...

La Terrazze Extra Virgin Olive Oil // Domaine de Vignes Aged Red Wine Vinegar // Columbus Italian Dry Salame // Cucina & Amore Grilled Artichoke Hearts // World Market Italian Seasoning 

I also bought a few things from the grocery store: romaine hearts, provolone cheese, black olives, grape tomatoes, garlic cloves, and some fresh basil.  Here are the easy directions to make this delicious salad!

Italian Antipasto Salad

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

• 3 Romaine lettuce hearts, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
• 4 oz. Columbus Italian Dry Salame, cut into thin slices
• 4 oz. provolone cheese, cut into thin slices
• 1 can black olives, sliced
• 1 can Cucina & Amore Grilled Artichoke Hearts, sliced
• 1 package grape tomatoes
• Fresh basil, cut into thin strips, to taste

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup Terrazze Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup Domaine de Vignes Aged Red Wine Vinegar
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. World Market Italian Seasoning

Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.  I used my Coupe Serving Bowl I fell in love with at World Market and had to have.  Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour salad dressing on the salad, and mix well.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, to allow the flavors to combine.

This salad was great!  Although this salad is meant to be an appetizer, you can always serve it as a main dish if you add more salame and cheese, and serve it with other Italian favorites!  We ate our salad off of the white Coupe Salad Plates, which I love because they are simple and classic, and would look great with any food served on them!

I served this salad to my family with some store-bought rosemary bread, and a quick basil pesto dipping sauce I made- this sauce literally took me less than a minute to make!

All I did was combine some Sacla Italia Pesto Alla Genovese Basil Pesto with some La Terrazze Olive Oil to make the dipping sauce- so easy, and yet so delicious!!  I served the sauce on a white Coupe Salad Plate.  My kids and husband and I loved dipping our bread in this amazing sauce!

Now onto my favorite part- the drinks!  Who doesn't love buying a fruity and creamy Italian Creme Soda?  My family LOVES them, but it can get expensive buying one for all six of us in my family.  Did you know that it's so easy to make your own at home?  You can customize this recipe to suit your own taste, and the flavor possibilities are endless! Plus, you'll save yourself a ton of money making these at home instead of buying them, which is always a bonus!

World Market has a GREAT selection of Torani syrups that you'll use in this recipe.  I picked up four bottles for our Italian creme sodas because it's fun to mix and match and combine flavors to make your own custom drink.  Have fun and get creative!

Italian Creme Sodas

For each soda you will need:

• 1 cup club soda
• 4 Tbsp. Torani syrup (any flavor that you would like)
• 1 Tbsp. half and half
• Ice
• Whip cream 
• Soiree Maraschino Cherries

1.  Fill cup with ice.  Add 4 Tbsp. Torani syrup to the ice, and fill glass with club soda.  Stir.

2.  Slowly pour in the half and half.  This is the best part!  When the half and half combines with the ice and cold soda it makes beautiful creamy swirls that look amazing!  If you are careful and don't move the cup around too much, you can keep the swirls in place when serving these drinks to guests.  Add whip cream and a cherry to the top and serve!

Another great thing about this drink is that it's low calorie!  Club soda has zero calories and you can buy Torani Sugar Free syrup with zero calories- the only calories will come from the half and half (you can buy this fat free, too), and the whip cream and cherry (which you could leave off if you like).  Not too bad for an amazing drink!!

Did you know that right now World Market is giving away an amazing prize in their Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes?  You can enter to win a 6 day culinary trip for 2 to Venice, Italy!  Trip includes airfare and accommodations, Cicchetti tour, a hands-on Venetian cooking class, a cheese making demonstration and tasting, and a $1,000 World Market gift card- WOW!  Plus, three first prize winners will receive $500 World Market gift cards.  You can also earn bonus entries for liking World Market on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr for more chances to win!  Check out the video below with Joey Fatone!

World Market has partnered with the Live Well Network and their hit show My Family Recipe Rocks, hosted by Joey Fatone.  My Family Recipe Rocks features amazing hometown cooks across America, and and Joey Fatone and his crew cook up old family recipes, new homegrown dishes, and meeting people behind their great food in their own kitchens.

You can tune in to My Family Recipe Rocks on Sundays at 8:30 p / 7:30 c.  You can check local listings at livewellnetwork.com.

Be sure to enter World Market's Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes!  How great would that be to win a culinary trip to Italy and a $1,000 World Market gift card?  You can't win if you don't enter!

I hope you give these gourmet Italian recipes a try, and be sure to check out World Market's great gourmet food section, as well as the rest of the store.... I promise you won't leave empty-handed!

For more fall fun, you can print off my fall activities bucket list punch card.

And for a fun family Halloween meal, check out this Spooky Spaghetti with Eyeballs!

To decorate your home this fall, you can see how to make this cinnamon-scented nature wreath,

or this fall wreath made out of paper!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Linking up here: Whipperberry, Tidy Mom, 30 Handmade Days, Tatertots and Jello, Ginger Snap Crafts, Snap!

Surf and Turf Dinner Party + Rosemary Potato & Yogurt Dipping Sauce Recipe

One of my favorite things to do during the summertime is to entertain family and friends.  I love to play hostess and put together dinner parties and get togethers.  I have so much fun picking out the perfect dishes and dinnerware, decorations, and food for the party.

Recently I made a delicious surf and turf meal for my family and parents.  I used lots of fresh, natural ingredients, many of them freshly picked from the garden.  I knew I wanted the dinner to have a nautical theme, so I went to World Market and found the perfect dinnerware and entertaining pieces to use!  

I fell in love with so many items from their outdoor entertaining and outdoor dining collections, and found a way to incorporate many of them into my nautical surf and turf meal.  Be sure to check out their fun outdoor entertainment and outdoor dining items to find just the right products for your summer entertaining!

You might already know I have a slight obsession with anchors (and anything nautical, really), so World Market was THE place for me to shop for my dinner!

The anchor and crab Seascape Plates (pictured above) screamed out my name, so I bought a set of 8, as well as three of the matching anchor and crab Seascape Platters.

One of my favorite little nautical details was this Seahorse Spreader.  So cute!  And of course I had to have the matching Seahorse Servers, too, to serve with the Caesar salad.  You might also recognize the Lagoon dinnerware from my Coconut Macadamia Mango Crusted Mahi Mahi recipe.  I used the large Lagoon Platter for serving the garlic bread, and I used the large Lagoon Serving Bowl to serve the Caesar Salad in. I love the light aqua color, and the way that it almost looks like sea glass... beautiful!

Since no party is complete without World Market's delicious Italian Sodas, I picked up five different flavors for our dinner.  So refreshing!  I served them in the Galvanized Party Tub, which was the perfect size to hold all of our drinks.  I also picked up the Black Metal Party Tub Stand, which held the party tub really well so that I didn't have to use up my valuable table space for the drinks.

I've been looking for a few years (literally) now for the perfect drink dispenser for my parties, and I finally found this beautiful glass drink dispenser at World Market for only $19.99!  I bought two, and am absolutely in love with them. They have a few different styles of dispensers there, so be sure to check them out!  The hardest part will be deciding which one to buy!

To add to the nautical theme of my surf and turf dinner party, I included a net onto the table and used it as a runner.  On top of that, I used my DIY American Flag Garland that I made out of burlap and some spray paint. 

I love the color that it added to the table, and it matched perfectly with another favorite World Market find- the American Flag Pillow, perfect for the Fourth of July!  I picked up two of these adorable pillows. 

For our surf and turf dinner, I decided to go with shrimp and lobster tail and top sirloin steak. Yummmm!! We grilled the shrimp and steak, and boiled the lobster tail.

The meat and seafood tasted absolutely perfect! To go with main dishes, my mom and I made some delicious salads.

I made a Caesar salad, and my mom went out to the garden and picked fresh tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, and dill to make a tomato basil salad and a cucumber onion salad.  The salads tasted so fresh since the ingredients came straight from the garden!

One of my favorite side dishes I created for this meal were the Rosemary Potatoes with a Creamy Caper and Dill Dipping Sauce.  I love that I can smother my potatoes in a tangy, creamy dipping sauce without feeling guilty, since this sauce is made with a Greek yogurt base (instead of heavy mayonnaise) and various herbs and spices.  No guilt at all!

The many different flavors in the sauce all fuse into one, and are amazing with the potatoes, but could also easily be used as a sauce for the shrimp, lobster, or steak.  Here's the recipe so you can try making your own!

Rosemary Potatoes with a Creamy Caper & Dill Dipping Sauce:

For the potatoes:

• Red potatoes
• Olive oil
• Fresh rosemary, chopped 
• Sea salt
• Pepper
• Diced onions (optional)

For the dipping sauce:

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used Fage)
• 1 Tbsp. capers, chopped (I used canned)
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
• 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2-3 Tbsp. red onion, chopped
• Sea salt, to taste

Mix up the dipping sauce first so that the flavors can meld together while the potatoes are cooking. 

If you aren't familiar with capers, they are a small round edible flower bud used in pickling and flavoring fish, seafood, salads, etc.  I bought a small jar of capers, as well as my white pepper, at World Market.  Their white pepper tastes great and is very strong, and is the perfect color to blend right into the creamy caper and dill yogurt dipping sauce.

Add all of the ingredients to the Greek yogurt, and stir well to mix in all of the ingredients thoroughly. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Now on to the potatoes!  Wash and slice each potato to about a 1/4" thickness.  Place in baking pan and drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil.  Add the chopped rosemary, sea salt, pepper, and diced onions (if using), and stir to mix.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Halfway through cooking, carefully add another 1/4 cup of olive oil to the potatoes. 

After 20 minutes, pull out a potato slice with a fork, and test for doneness.  If the potato is cooked, then you may either:

1. Remove the potatoes from the oven (and keep warm until ready to serve)  or 

2. Place them in a grilling basket for about 10 minutes away from direct heat on your grill.  This will allow the potatoes to have a slightly smoky, grilled flavor.  If you do the grilling option, make sure that the potatoes are away from direct heat, and be sure to check them regularly!  We also added a few large sprigs of rosemary and some large slices of red onion for extra flavor and color. 

To serve the dipping sauce, I used these lovely large natural baking shells that I bought from World Market.  They come all clean and ready for food to be placed, or even baked, inside of them.  The shells were the perfect size for individual portions of the sauce, and fit in perfectly with my nautical theme!

Good food, a loving family, great weather, and World Market!! The perfect combination for an amazing summer dinner party!

Oh, and a few books and someone to read them to you is crucial, too.  Just ask my daughter ;)

I hope you enjoyed all the fun details of our delicious summer dinner!  If you are doing any entertaining this summer, be sure to visit World Market (in store or on-line) and see all of the amazing entertaining items they sell.  

Cost Plus World Market has partnered up with Southwest Airlines to offer four Great Summer Getaways!  Enter for a chance to win a trip for 4 anywhere Southwest Airlines flies!

There are 4 weekly Grand Prize Packages that include airfare for 4 on Southwest Airlines, hotel accommodations, AND a $500 World Market Gift Card!  You can also earn bonus entries for liking their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr brand pages for more chances to win.

Be sure to enter the sweepstakes here!  And good luck!!  Wouldn't that be so cool if one of my readers won?  Fingers crossed for you!

Are you doing any entertaining this summer?  Any fun vacations planned?  I'd love to hear about it!

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

I am a member of the World Market Trendsetter Tribe, and I was compensated for this post.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Linking Up Here:  Sugar Bee Crafts, Lolly Jane, SNAP!, Lil' Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Somewhat Simple, The 36th Avenue, House of Hepworths

Delicious Crock Pot Carnitas Recipe

I've been experimenting lately in the kitchen, trying out different techniques and ingredients to make the perfect carnitas (seasoned and fried shreds of pork found in Mexican cuisine).

My husband is a huge carnitas fan, and loves a version of this dish found in one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  I love trying to recreate some of our favorite restaurant meals, and I think I hit a home run with this meal!

And did I mention that most of the cooking is done in the crock pot?!  I say "most" because there is a little bit of cooking on the stove and in the oven, but it's really easy, and it makes it so that the carnitas are a bit crispy, instead of wet.

With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner (May 5th), this would be an easy and delicious meal to serve to your family, with very little prep work.  Serve it with this yummy homemade salsa, and you've got a great meal!

Ingredients: 

• 4 lbs. pork shoulder, cut into big pieces (you could also just use two lbs., but I have a big family and like to have some for leftovers as well)
• 1 tsp. salt (I used kosher)
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• Olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice of one orange
• Can of chicken broth (2 cups)

Directions:

1.  Mix together the salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, and chili powder.  Sprinkle (or rub, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty) the dry ingredients onto the pork chunks.  

Heat a couple Tbsp. of olive oil in a   pan on high heat (I used a tall pot because I don't like oil splatter messes), and add the pork to the hot oil.  Sear each side of the meat, and place the pork inside the crock pot.  Depending on how much meat you use, you might need to sear the meat in several batches so that the meat is in a single layer in the pan.

2.  Once all the seared pork is inside the crock pot, add the 4 cloves of minced garlic, the fresh orange juice, and the can of chicken broth.  Put on the lid, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  If you need the pork sooner you can also cook it on high in the crock pot for about 6 hours.  It will still taste delicious, but the meat is more tender and falls apart easier if it cooks on low all day.  Trust me on this.

3.  Once the pork is done in the crock pot, carefully remove it, and shred the large chunks into smaller bite-sized pieces.  Heat your oven to 400 degrees, and place the pork in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with tin foil for easy clean up.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the meat is slightly crispy.  

In the past, I have strained the seasoned liquid from the crock pot, and placed it on the pork before placing it in the oven.  I have also strained the liquid, and then boiled it on high heat on the stove while the pork was in the oven, which makes a thicker liquid that can be poured on the finished meat.  

Either method tastes delicious and adds more moisture and flavor to the pork, but I think my favorite method was the boiling method.  Try them both and see which you prefer!

We ate our carnitas in small corn tortillas with some guacamole and salsa, but you can use the carnitas to make tacos, burritos, and wraps.  You could even eat it by itself if you're watching your carbs.  

And it tastes even better if you pair it with this homemade salsa.  Just sayin'...

Enjoy!!

xo, Laura

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

Linking Up Here: Lil' Luna, Someday Crafts, Ginger Snap Crafts