Air Fryer French Bread Pizza from scratch (small batch)

Name: Air Fryer French Bread Pizza (small batch)
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 7 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1/2 loaf French Bread; 1 TBS garlic butter; 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese; 1/2 cup (120g) pizza sauce; 1 cup (65g) grated Mozzarella cheese; your favorite pizza toppings

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Sometimes our days get away from us and we don't have a lot of time to put in when it comes to getting ourselves a decent meal on the table. That's when recipes such as this Air Fryer French Bread Pizza from scratch come in handy!

Not only is it sized for two people, but you can have it on the table in about 10 minutes give or take, plus it is a bazillion times tastier than any frozen French Bread pizza you can buy.

Why waste good money on food that tastes substandard for the sake of convenience when you have something far tastier on the table in a fraction of the time! This is really no fuss, no muss.

I had picked up a loaf of French bread the other day and of course there is really only me in my home now. I have always loved Pizza. I have an air fryer, so I thought why not!

I was thrilled with the results. With a small salad on the side, it went down a real treat! Quick, easy and yes, delicious!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE AIR FRYER FRENCH BREAD PIZZA FROM SCRATCH

French bread of course, but with a few basic ingredients along with your favorite toppings, you really can have something quite delicious ready in practically no time at all!

The recipe serves two people quite heartily. If you need to serve more you can very easily double all of the ingredients, or if you are looking for a tasty snack or appetizer, cut the two servings into smaller slices crosswise and share!!

As you can see the list is not long at all.

1/2 loaf French Bread
1 TBS garlic butter
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (120g) pizza sauce
1 cup (65g) grated Mozzarella cheese
your favorite pizza toppings

I use the garlic butter to seal the French bread first. This helps to prevent the sauce from making the bread soggy.

You can easily make your own garlic butter by crushing a small clove of garlic and mashing it together with 2 TBS softened butter and a bit of salt and black pepper.

Easy peasy.

You can easily make your own Pizza sauce. To me the perfect pizza is all about the sauce. If the sauce is lacking, so is the pizza.

I have a wonderful recipe that you can find here.

You can also use a good ready-made sauce. There are quite a few good ones available at the shops today. I like my homemade sauce best of all, but sometimes you just want quick, and a ready made fits the bill perfectly.

Here in Canada, my favorite one is the PC brand one. Garlic.

For me a good pizza has to have a combination of cheeses. Usually Parmesan and Mozzarella. You get a healthy kick of Parmesan in the garlic butter here, and then I like to sprinkle a bit more on at the end.

I like a nice melty Mozzarella. You could also use a four cheese Italian combo. Its up to you.

Today I kept my toppings simple, but you can really go as crazy as you like. I used Pepperoni from Pizza Delight on mine today. it is a dry cure and I like it.

I was tempted to add some sausage and bacon, but in the end reigned myself in and had just the pepperoni.

I also like to sprinkle the finished pizza with a bit more parmesan and some crushed red peppers. Tres Italian I think! (Don't burst my fantasy bubble.)

HOW TO MAKE AIR FRYER FRENCH BREAD PIZZA FROM SCRATCH

Nothing could really be easier. You don't even really need to preheat your air fryer. My air fryer is a Kuraidori which is the brand which is sold by Home Hardware here in Canada. It is a good sized air fryer for the small family.

You can cook a whole small chicken in it. It has a rotisserie attachment as well. My sister does her roast pork in hers and it is excellent.

One thing I love about using the air fryer is that there is very little fat involved when it comes to actually cooking things, and it makes short work of most recipes, speeds them up.

They are almost like mini convection ovens. By blowing hot air around the food it heats everything up quickly and crisps things without you needing to use a lot of fat. It also helps to keep the heat out of the kitchen!

I am all for that in the summer months!

To make air fryer French bread pizza from scratch is a very simple thing. You begin by cutting your half loaf of French bread in half lengthwise. You will have two flatter pieces. I cut the rounded end off and nibble on it while I am putting the pizzas together. (cook's treat)

Spread the cut size of each piece of bread with half of the garlic butter and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Set your air fryer to 350*F/180*C. Line your air fryer basket with parchment if you don't want a mess. Lay the pieces of French bread in the basket and bake in the air fryer for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Remove the basket from the air fryer.

Spread each with half of the pizza sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Top with your favorite pizza toppings.

Return the basket to the air fryer and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes until the cheese has melted and everything is golden brown. Serve hot.

I like to serve mine with a salad to round out the meal. That need not be complicated either. A simple bagged salad and some dressing. Everybody's happy!

What are your favorite things to enjoy on your pizzas? I love pepperoni and usually olives, onions, bacon and peppers. I am very predictable when it comes to pizza!

Air Fryer French Bread Pizza (small batch)

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 3 MinCook time: 7 MinTotal time: 10 Min

This tastes a hundred percent better than anything that comes frozen in a box. Quick and easy to make as well. You can adapt the toppings to whatever your favorite toppings are!

Ingredients

1/2 loaf French Bread
1 TBS garlic butter
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (120g) pizza sauce
1 cup (65g) grated Mozzarella cheese
your favorite pizza toppings

Instructions

Cut your half loaf of French bread in half lengthwise. You will have two flatter pieces. I cut the rounded end off and nibble on it while I am putting the pizzas together. (cook's treat)
Spread the cut size of each piece of bread with half of the garlic butter and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Set your air fryer to 350*F/180*C. Line your air fryer basket with parchment if you don't want a mess. Lay the pieces of French bread in the basket and bake in the air fryer for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Remove the basket from the air fryer.
Spread each with half of the pizza sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Top with your favorite pizza toppings.
Return the basket to the air fryer and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes until the cheese has melted and everything is golden brown.
Serve hot.

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Keep Your Cool Summer Desserts

Wednesday, 6 July 2022

When I think of summer desserts, I automatically think of something that is cool and refreshing. Designed to get me in and out of the kitchen quickly.

Bright, fruity and light! After all this is the season when fresh local produce is less expensive and more available. I also am a great believer in eating seasonally and locally.

Today I am sharing 10 of my favorite keep your cool summer dessert recipes. Not all of them are fruity. There are a few exceptions.

All of them are delicious and perfect for these hotter, dog days of summer. Light and refreshing. Not super filling. Quite easy. Family favorites.

Some have been standards in my summer kitchen for a very long time. Old reliable friends. I hope that they will become standards in your kitchen as well!

REFRIGERATOR TOFFEE BARS - An oldie but a goodie. Layers of crisp buttery crackers, sweet toffee and chocolate. Something to satisfy the children's sweet tooth's when the temperature goes up and you don't want to turn on the oven!

FRESH BERRY CROSTINI - Crisp sour dough toasts, spread with creamy cheese, fresh berries and a drizzle of honey. Deliciously simple!

MABEL'S STRAWBERRY PIE - A fresh no bake strawberry pie that is deliciously simple to make. An old recipe I got from my friend Mabel when both of our families were very young! A summer time right of passage.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE - The filling for this is super easy to make. Melted white chocolate beaten together with cream cheese, vanilla and sugar, poured over the base and allowed to set up in the refrigerator. If you can stop at one piece of this tasty dessert, you are a better person than I am!

CREAM TEA TRIFLE POTS - Fresh scones, crumbled, with a drizzle of sherry and honey, fresh berries, jam and custard. There is also some clotted cream, which I know is very difficult to find outside of the UK, but I give you a more than adequate substitute to use! Fabulously tasty!

GRANDMOTHER'S STRAWBERRY PIE - You will have to heat up the oven for this, but trust me when I say this fabulously delicious pie is worth every bit of extra heat! Deliciously old fashioned. Serve warm with scoops of cold vanilla ice cream on top for the perfect early summer dessert!

BLACKBERRY & LEMON ETON MESS - A riff on the traditional raspberry version with layers of lemon curd, yogurt cream, a fresh blackberry sauce and broken meringues. Easy and delicious.

LEMON SANDWICHES WITH BLUEBERRIES & CREAM - Thick slices of a moist and delicious lemon cake are topped with a rich yogurt cream and a sweet fresh blueberry sauce. Its very similar to a strawberry shortcake in a way I suppose.

Except this isn't made with baking powder biscuits. Its made with lemon cake. A moist and delicious lemon cake. A very yummy cake.

MACEDONIAN FRUIT SALAD - This is a fabulous recipe that really goes together quickly and that your family will love. You can serve this either for breakfast spooned over some yogurt or cereal, or even pancakes. Or on it's own with a dollop of yogurt on top or a muffin on the side. Light and refreshing. Healthy even!

REFRIGERATOR FUDGE CAKE - A rich vanilla cake, with pockets of rich chocolate pudding, topped with whipped cream. All from scratch and a real favorite family dessert. You can make it even less fussy if you use a boxed cake mix and a pudding mix. Either way its fabulously tasty!

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Ten Delicious Chicken Salad Recipes

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

Think Chicken Salads are boring? Think again! I have never made or eaten a chicken salad at home that was ever boring. My moto is "Never a Boring Salad."

But don't take my word for it. The proof is in the eating!

I have here a collection of ten of my favorite all time chicken salads. You won't find a boring member in the bunch! All are different. All are exciting. All are delicious!

This bunch of chicken salad recipes are beautiful main dish salads, with a huge variety of flavors, dressings, ingredients, and ways to prepare the chicken! I guarantee none of these will have your family going ho hum!

Some might even be destined to become firm family favorites!

CHICKEN TACO SALAD - This is the low fat version of a popular salad, but I can promise you, you will never miss the fat! With plenty of chicken pieces, low fat cheese, and baked tortilla chips, lots of veggies, and a very tasty low fat dressing, this always goes down a real treat! Its just spicy enough without being over the top. You can adjust that as you will.

BUFFALO CHICKEN SALAD - A delicious chicken salad with crisp vegetables, spicy chicken tenders and a fabulous low fat blue cheese dressing! Adapted from Ellie Kreiger's Book, the food you crave. You just know its healthy.

GRILLED CHICKEN & WHEATBERRY SALAD - A colorful plate of salad greens with a delicious wheatberry salad, chock full of crunch and sweetness. Crunchy toasted walnuts and chopped celery . . . sweet dried cranberries . . . spicy spring onions, and a tangy lemon and olive oil dressing. Topped again with a breast of chicken that has been rubbed with a delicious mixture of spices and grilled until perfectly cooked, and still juicy and tender.

GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD -I think Caesar Salad is one of my absolute favourite salads, next to the Cobb Salad and when you add some grilled chicken it becomes even more so! I rub the chicken before cooking with my own homemade Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Its very easy to make and tastes delicious.

HONEY & SESAME CHICKEN NOODLE SALAD - With this you get a cold sesame noodle salad adorned with perfectly cooked chicken, and plenty of green crunchy tender stem broccoli. It makes for a perfect make ahead family supper for those days when you are really busy and know you won't have a lot of time on your hands. This is absolutely delicious! If you are fond of Asian flavors, you will love this.

ALMOST FRIED CHICKEN CHOPPED SALAD - Quite simply delicious. A chopped salad using crispy home breaded chicken tenders and whatever vegetables you have on hand. Its fabulously tasty, boasting a rich, creamy and flavor filled dressing.

CHICKEN, AVOCADO & TOMATO SALAD - Tender, perfectly cooked pieces of chicken sit atop a salad composed of mixed salad leaves, creamy avocado, and rehydrated sun dried tomatoes. Crisp pepitas or sunflower pumpkin seeds as you may know them, make for a tasty and crispy garnish. Not only is this low in carbs and keto friendly, but it is also totally gluten free for those who cannot tolerate gluten. If you rein in the dressing, it is also low in fat and I think totally Diabetic friendly.

CASHEW CHICKEN SALAD - Tender chicken breast slices, coated with cashew nuts and fried in olive oil until golden brown on both sides . . . Served hot atop crisp baby gem leaves. Baby Gem are like tiny romaine lettuces, but a bit more bitter in flavour. You could use baby romaine or romaine hearts. A lush Maple Mustard Dressing completes the picture.

CRISPY CHICKEN SALAD - What you have here is a delicious mix of salad greens, topped with a mix of fruit and vegetables. Spring and red onion. Cucumber, carrot. Radishes and sliced apple. Add to that cubes of sharp cheddar cheese and sweet and tangy dried cranberries. Now top it all off with scrumptious little bits of shredded chicken breast that have been coated in a spice mixture and fried until crispy golden brown. Fabulously tasty!

BLT CHICKEN SALAD - I adore chicken salads of any kinds. I also adore BLT sandwiches. This delicious salad is a way of enjoying both of those loves at the same time. Everything in the salad is perfectly cooked without going over the top. You have perfectly crisp and salty pieces of streaky bacon, not too crisp, not limp. Perfectly cooked, juicy tender boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Perfectly cooked hard boiled egg. Grated Cheese and a punchy Honey Mustard Dressing complete the picture.

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Peachy Lemon Whip

Monday, 4 July 2022

One of my absolute favorite subjects in high school was Home Economics. I loved every aspect of it. The year was broken into three sections. One was sewing, one was home keeping and the third was cooking.

Try to guess what my favorite section was! You probably got that right in one guess! The Cooking!

In all truth I loved all of the sections. In retrospect I probably should have gone on to study Home Economics when I left school. Hind sight is 20/20 they say!

My mother wasn't one to tolerate anyone "helping" her out in the kitchen. We could watch, but we had to stay out of the way. My mother went out to work when I was 11 and once I learned how to cook, I was given the responsibility to reheat things for supper and get them started each day.

But very little actually "cooking" or experimenting went on. I used to love to go to my friend Virginia's house. She was actually allowed to cook. In fact she was the chief cook and bottle washer in that house.

I loved food and cooking and recipes, which is probably why I loved Home Economics so much! This recipe I am sharing today for an easy refrigerator dessert is a recipe that I learned how to make in Grade 9 Home Economics.

We were always given copies of all the recipes to put into our class folders. This is one of the few that remain in mine. It was declared good enough to put into my Big Blue Binder.

Not only is it a very easy dessert to make, but it is a very delicious dessert to make. It uses a few convenience foods such as lemon pie filling, canned milk and tinned peaches. Don't let that put you off. This dessert spells "WINNER" every time I make it!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE PEACHY LEMON WHIP

Like I said there are a few convenience items, but they go very well together. I suppose in peach season you could use real peaches.

1 1/2 cups (135g) graham cracker crumbs (in the UK, use digestive biscuit crumbs)
1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
3 1/2 ounces (4 serving size) lemon pie filling mix
2/3 of a can of carnation evaporated milk, well chilled (I put mine in the freezer until ice crystals form. Save the rest of the can for another use.)
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 cups (450g) well drained sliced peaches

Graham crackers are not readily available in the UK, although you can, or could, get them at some speciality shops. You can use the equivalent amount of Digestive biscuit crumbs.

Jut pop them into a food processor and process them until they are finely ground. They work and tast pretty much the same.

If you really wanted to shake things up you could use shortbread biscuit crumbs, but the graham cracker crumbs are the original.

Lets talk evaporated milk here. When I say evaporated milk I mean the milk that comes in the can that is simply milk which has been heat processed to remove a goodly portion of the water.

I am not talking about sweetened condensed milk, which also comes in a can, but which is thick and sweet with sugar.

I am talking about the milk. No sugar added. The most popular brand is carnation and it comes in several different fat contents. I use the full fat one.

You want the milk to be really well chilled. I put it in the refrigerator the night before when I go to bed and then in the morning I pop the chilled can into the freezer and leave it for a couple of hours until ice crystals form.

This whips up just like whipped cream, but with only a fraction of the calories. In a pinch you could use whipping cream I suppose, but I never have done.

The lemon pie filling is the filling mix that you would buy to make a lemon meringue pie. It is usually in the baking section of the stores. You will need a four serving sized package.

If you can get peaches preserved in juice, use them rather than the ones in syrup. In every case, drain well and pat dry with some paper towels.

HOW TO MAKE PEACHY LEMON WHIP

This is so easy a simple school girl can make it! 😉

Mix the crumbs an butter together until well combined. Press 2 TBS of the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of 8 dessert glasses, reserving a few TBS to sprinkle on top of the finished desserts. Place into the refrigerator to chill.

Prepare the pudding mix as for a pie. Cool completely, stirring often.

Place the canned milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk, beat until the milk doubles in volume and stiffens. (You can use a hand mixer but it will take a lot longer.) Whip in the lemon juice.

Beat the cooled pudding until light and fluffy. Fold the beaten pudding and the whipped milk together until evenly combined.

Spoon into the dessert dishes, top with the drained sliced peaches and sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture.

Chill for several hours until serving time.

Today, as I was transporting this delicious dessert to my sisters for after supper, I assembled the majority of it in a large glass bowl with a lid, and that is completely okay. But for a prettier presentation do it in individual dessert dishes.

These dishes were my mom's. My sister lent them to me for this. I am guarding them with my life because if anything happens to them, she will never forgive me!

I sure hope everyone enjoys this tiny bit of nostalgia I am bring over to share tonight. I predict that they will!

Some other delicious desserts here in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:

EASY LEMON & BLACKBERRY DESSERT - All you need for these are a few simple things. Berries, water, sugar, Greek Yogurt, cream, lemon curd and some crisp meringues. Easy peasy.

BERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE PUDDING - A delicious baked cake type of pudding, chock full of lovely berries and yummy white chocolate. Fabulous served warm spooned out into dishes with some cream for pouring.

BANOFFEE MESS - This recipe today is a play on a traditional British indulgence known as Eton Mess, which is a dessert composed of red berries, whipped cream and crushed meringues, all folded together into a splodgy mess which is oh so delicious! Instead here you have sliced bananas, toffee sauce, meringues, cream and toasted pecans!

Peachy Lemon Whip

Yield: 8

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 35 MinCook time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 35 M

This is an old, old recipe that I learned to make in one of my high school Home Economics classes. It has remained a favorite dessert in my own family for over 50 years. Yes, I am that old.