1.30.2012

Creamy Tomato Cheese Bread

I think this one little dish contains everything you'd want in a mid-week meal: hot, creamy, crispy, golden brown, tangy, and both hearty and refreshing all in one. We had this along side a nice salad and didn't miss the meat. If you want to up your protein, you can of course serve this as a side dish to chicken or pork chops, or just add some deviled eggs to your meal. My little family cruised through a whole batch--even though we were stuffed when we got done. We just couldn't stop eating!

Creamy Tomato Cheese Bread

*There is a shortcut at the bottom, if you're not up for mixing up your crust from scratch.

Biscuit crust:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Creamy topping:
8 oz cream cheese (1 block)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded monterrey jack cheese
1 tbsp pizza seasoning (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder + 2 tsp Italian Seasoning + 1/4 tsp salt)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1) Grease a 7x11 pan and preheat oven to 425.
2) Mix together dry ingredients for crust: flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar.
3) Using a pastry blender or forks or knives or food processor, cut in shortening until the flour resembles crumbly peas.
4) Add milk all at once and mix with a fork until a dough forms; about 30 seconds. Do not over mix. (in a food processor, just pulse until it comes together.)
5) Press dough into the bottom of the pan.
6) Soften cream cheese in a bowl for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Mix in mayonnaise, shredded monterrey jack cheese, and pizza seasoning. Spread this over the dough.
7) Drain the tomatoes and sprinkle over the cheese filling. Then sprinkle the parmesan cheese all over the top.
8) Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and top is bubbly and melty all over. Enjoy! Makes about 6 entree size servings, or 8 side dish size servings. Or 2 crazy person size servings. yes, I am a crazy person. ;)

*Note to make the crust even easier: Use 1 can biscuit dough and spread them evenly over the bottom of your pan. Top with filling and bake as directed (step 6 and on). I simply adore my homemade biscuit dough, which is why I use it. But if you're not a baker, then this might be a good direction for you.

4 comments:

  1. I love this one, especially in the summer with fresh tomatoes.

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  2. It looked great, smelled great, and tasted great....all except the too salty topping. I don't have pizza seasoning, so I tried the alternative. I think that perhaps garlic POWDER would be a better alternative. Even my husband who adds extra salt to everything said there was too much. Could be I measured wrong, though. I one and one halved the recipe to make it in a 13x9 and it seemed like just the right amounts.

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  3. Thanks for the response, Karen. I will adjust the recipe.

    Garlic Salt isn't regulated across different brands on its ratio of salt to other spices. One brand may be really heavy on the salt while another may have very little salt. I should have been more careful of this when I wrote the recipe. In the future, you can check the label on your sets of seasoning blends and see what is the first ingredient: if it is salt, you can reduce the amount and increase other seasonings. If it is garlic, then you're probably good to put the full amount in.

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  4. Thanks Lisa. My kids are excited for me to try it again. :)

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Tried this recipe? Let me know how it turned out!