Two for Tuesdays: Pizza-dillas! and Caramel Cashew Blondies

What, you might ask, is a pizzadilla?

Behold...

The Birth of the Pizza-dilla

Here is the riveting story of how the pizzadilla came about. First, the circumstances must be desperate. As in, I have 5 adolescent girls coming to my house for a summer sleepover. The plan was to make homemade pizzas BUT this requires the use of the oven, the temperature outside is in the triple digits, and our twenty year old AC is limping along and not quite able to keep up. (Disclaimer: our AC unit isn't really 20 years old. I pulled that number out of my butt. Literary license and all.)

What to do?

Option A: order a pizza. Simple, but I lose an ice breaker activity which I feel is important since a few of the girls don't know each other.

Option B: The Jedi very graciously offered to go outside and grill the pizzas for us. This was a special sacrifice of love, because the Jedi hates summer heat just as much as I hate the winter cold. I, in some extra rare twinge of conscience, declined. 

Option C: Invent something totally new with the pizza ingredients that allows each girl to construct her own dinner but doesn't use the oven.

TA DA!!!!!

Pizza-dillas

Ingredients

• flour or corn tortillas, one or two per person
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• pepperoni and/or ham
• diced peppers and onions
• spaghetti/pizza sauce, warmed and served on the side

Directions

1. Layer cheese and other desired toppings on one half of a tortilla. Fold tortilla in half to sandwich pizza fillings inside the two halves of the tortilla. 
2. Place stuffed tortilla in a frying pan. Cover to help melt cheese and fry for a brief time (half a minute?)  to lightly brown and crisp the tortilla. Flip and fry on other side. (Recover while crisping other side to continue to melt the cheese).
3. Remove from pan. Serve with warm sauce for dipping.

How easy is that? Super-easy!

 Recipe number two that I give to you! (That rhymed and everything. I'm so spiffy.)

Caramel Cashew Blondies

I did not serve these for Sweetling's sleepover. I set out a sundae bar for the girls with bananas and homemade hot fudge as featured ingredients. But, I made these the following weekend, using my toaster oven to bake them in instead of turning on the regular oven. They were delicious. I've been looking for a substitute snack in lieu of store-bought granola bars and I think these might be an option. Yes, I know topping them with nuts doesn't make them healthy....but it does make them delicious!

   Ingredients

• 18 whole caramels
•  1/3 cup butter or margarine
•  2 tbsp milk
•  3/4 cup sugar
•  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup all-purpose flour
•  1/2 tsp baking powder
•  1/4 tsp salt
•  1 cup chopped salted cashews
•  2 eggs
  

Directions

1. In a saucepan, cook and stir caramels, butter and milk over low heat until the caramels are melted and mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat; stir in sugar.
3. Combine eggs and vanilla; stir into caramel mixture.
4. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into caramel mixture until blended.
5. Transfer to a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 24-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
6. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.