Crescent rolls - a mini-miracle in a can!

My entire family loves the flakey, buttery goodness of crescent rolls. Did you know that the crescent roll is probably one of the most versatile foods you can pick up from the store?  I knew about pigs in blankets, but once I found Pinterest and saw all the yummy, easy, creative things folks were doing with them, I keep some on hand at all times. 
In a nutshell, you fill the little crescent triangle with a combo of the items below, roll up and voila! Even Grandma Emma wasn't opposed to using a canned biscuit dough - even though her biscuits were to die for.  Give this little southern girl some molasses and one of those hamburger bun sized biscuits and I'd be occupied for a good while - but that's another blog entry! :)

Use one can of crescent roll dough and one of the combos below:

• PIZZA CRESCENTS: pizza sauce, cheese and your favorite pizza topping - you can also sprinkle the outside of the rolled pizza crescent with garlic salt. 
• APPLE PIE CRESCENTS: a slice of your favorite apple and roll up - add cinnamon sugar to the outside
• POPTART CRESCENTS: spread your favorite jam or jelly on the unbaked crescent and roll up.  Make a powdered sugar/milk glaze and drizzle on the warm, baked rolls. 
• NUTELLA OMG'S:  spread nutella on the unbaked crescent and just drool while they cook! 

• APPLE/BRIE APPETIZERS: I made these on a whim for an event I was attending and was shocked at how wonderful these were.  Take one chunk of granny smith apple (peeled) and layer with a small slice of brie cheese and two pecans, drizzle with honey, roll and bake.  If you want to impress at a small party, these are what you need! 

• CHEESE BISCUIT CRESCENTS:  put a hunk of your favorite cheese on an unbaked crescent, roll and bake. 
• CINNAMON ROLL CRESCENTS:  mix cinnamon and sugar, sprinkle generously on unrolled crescent, roll up and bake.  While warm, drizzle with powdered sugar glaze. 
• REESE CRESCENT: spread peanut butter on the crescent, sprinkle with chocolate chips, roll and bake! Don't you love the little hands?

• CHICKEN POCKETS:  add shredded chicken, roll and bake.  You can also add any mexican ingredients to make it a little more spicy!

Feel more than free to add your own combinations to this blog!  I'd love to hear from you!  

Lazy day cookies? Oh, heck yes!

I do frozen, homemade cookie dough to save time.  It's really a great feeling to take the frozen, already formed cookies out of the freezer and plop them on the cookie sheet.  Unfortunately, life doesn't always allow time to make more batches, but the mom kids want something sweet.  These lazy day cookies are perfect.  They're even easy enough for the kids to make. 

You need:

• one box of your favorite cake mix (I used a yellow)
• 2 slightly beaten eggs
• 5 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup of chips or candy (I used Easter m&m's.)

Do this:

• mix the cake mix, eggs and butter until well blended (I mixed it by hand.)
• gently mix in the goodies
• pour into a greased baking dish (This is what they look like going in the oven. I didn't take this picture, so I don't take credit for it.  I'm having camera issues!)

• bake for about 20 minutes at 350
• RESIST THE URGE TO CUT THEM UNTIL COOL!!! They'll fall apart if you don't wait. 

Note:
You can use any combo of cake mix and chips that you wish.  Personally, I think chocolate cake mix and peanut butter chips would be wonderful - but I love any kind of chocolate!  Strawberry cake mix and white chips, butterscotch chips and chocolate cake mix are also good possibilities. 

Update… The darling daughter made the chocolate/peanut butter type and they were delicious!

Easy, Peasy, One, Two, Threesy!!!

If you're like me, sometimes you just can't be in the kitchen for a long time, but you want something satisfying and yummy.  Although I can't take credit for these 3 recipes (or any, for that matter) they are both mom and kid approved.

Enjoy!

1. Cinnamon-Sugar Pretzels
 (Crunchy, sweet and salty goodness!)
You'll need...
one 16 ounce bag of your favorite pretzel (I've used the waffle kind and the mini twists)
2/3 cup of oil
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Do this...
preheat the oven to 300 degrees
mix oil, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl
dump pretzels in a baking dish
pour oil mixture over pretzels and mix well to coat

You'll bake the pretzels for 30 minutes and I stir them well every 10.  When they're done, I pour them out onto a cooling rack and keep in a sealed container. 

2. Banana Pops
You'll need...
1/2 of a banana
peanut butter
rice krispies
skewer or popsicle stick

Do this...
spread peanut butter over the banana
roll in rice krispies
insert skewer or stick into the bottom of the banana
Enjoy!  (If you're feeling especially adventurous, I'm sure you can get creative by using nutella or cocoa krispies!)

3. Cookie Dough Yogurt (healthy and delicious)
You'll need...
about a cup of plain Greek yogurt ( I never measure.)
about a teaspoon of sweetener (I use stevia.)
a teaspoon of peanut butter
a dash of vanilla
a teaspoon of mini chocolate chips
Do this...
mix the yogurt and sweeter
add the peanut butter and vanilla
sprinkle chips on top

Washy, washy, washing in the new blue cheer....

In middle school, we made a newscast and videotaped it.  At that time, video was new and everyone had a VCR. Each little group of the class had to make a different portion of our newscast.  I think my group did an aerobics class to Van Halen's "Jump." (Yes, you'll be singing it in your head all day long.)  Another little group did a commercial for "New Blue Cheer". 

Picture a middle school student dressed as an old lady with a washboard.  She picks up a dirty shirt and washes it on the washboard and says,  "Washy, washy, washy in the New Blue Cheer.  Rinsy, rinsy, rinsy in the water so clear."  Then she smells the clean laundry, "Oh.... smells like a rose..."

She continues this several time with more laundry  until she picks up a dirty sock.  "Washy, washy, washy in the New Blue Cheer.  Rinsy, rinsy, rinsy in the water so clear." and smells the sock. Immediately she starts all over and says ,"Washy, washy, washy in the New Blue Cheer.  Rinsy, rinsy, rinsy in the water so clear."  Guess even New Blue Cheer couldn't take care of smelly socks. 

It was really funny and must have made an impression on me from back then.  Not sure when New Blue Cheer came out, but my Miss Emma ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS used Tide.  Personally, I used whatever I have a coupon for - until I found homemade laundry detergent.  You can laugh, but I have converted several folks at work.  It's easy to make, it's cheaper, it's better for the environment, you don't run out of it and you don't break your back lugging the Sam's econosize into the house. 

I have been using this for about 9 months and haven't bought store detergent since the first time I used it.  It smells fresh and it cleans well.  Let me know if you try it!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1. Arm and Hammer WASHING SODA - this isn't baking soda.  Just look in the aisle with the  detergent. It's in a box. 
2. Mule Team BORAX - also in the detergent aisle in a box. 
3.  Fels Naptha bar soap - in the detergent aisle.  Mine was .97 a bar. 

Steps: 
1.  Grate your soap like a block of cheese.
2.  Measure one cup each of borax and washing soda. 
3.  Put soap, borax and soda into a container with a lid.  I bought a plastic jar at Dollar Tree and shake mine vigorously. 
4.  Use 2 teaspoons per load. 

Side Note:  I sometimes throw in a handful of Downy Pearls softener.  You can add it, or leave it out.  It's really up to you.  Some folks make their own fabric softener - it's up to you.  I also printed the recipe and taped it to the front of the container.  You will have enough borax and washing soda to make quite a few batches, so you many want to go ahead and get several bars of soap.  I normally make 2 at a time. 

Too much chocolate? You're kidding, right???

Even my 11 year old considers chocolate a food group and knows that it's good for your mental health.  I can honestly say I know ONE person that doesn't like chocolate and I don't understand.  Dark, white, milk - I don't care - I love them all. 

If you're a chocoholic too, try the Too Much Chocolate cake from AllRecipes.com. This cake, which I made for the first time yesterday, will definitely give you your chocolate fix.  Not only that, it would make a great dessert to take to an event, like a church homecoming or a pig pickin.  It's EASY and uses a boxed cake mix - so for those of you who don't cook, remember that if you can read, you can do ANYTHING.  I put both kids in charge of this one and it came out great.  We ate this in huge slices, warm, with milk.  The chocolate chips inside were still a little melted.  It was Heaven on a plate.

Enjoy! And share with us if you tried it. I'm sure you'll have a huge, chocolately grin like my kids did!

Click on the link below to be forwarded to chocolate paradise....

All Recipes Too Chocolate Cake

Human Chews???

Part of the address for the blog is "human chews."  During my 2nd or 3rd year teaching, there was a group of teachers that always ate lunch together. We frequently shared foods - and lots of laughter.  One of the recipes I had tried came from "Miss Emma."  These were nameless icebox cookies and had apparently just been one of those recipes that my grandma had been making all of her life. 

Being a novice cook, I apparently added too much flour and the cookies, although gorgeous, were a little - well.... hard. They were so tough to eat, the band teacher nicknamed them "human chews".  I am ashamed to say I can't remember his name,  but I do remember his comment.  I wasn't offended in the least because it was true that they were like human dog treats.  Needless to say, I have always been heavy-handed with flour. More about that adventure when we talk about biscuits.  :)

The human chews, as they are always called now are simple, rolled icebox cookies.  The dough freezes well, so you can make them ahead. 

Let me know if you try them.  Miss Emma would surely smile at you. 

Human Chews
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten slightly
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
chopped nuts (she used pecans, but they're optional)

cream the shortening and sugar
add eggs and extract
combine all dry ingredients and nuts and add to shortening/sugar mixture
roll into 2 rolls (it'll be a little sticky) and wrap in waxed paper
refrigerate at least 2 hours
slice thin, place on sprayed cookie sheet

bake at 375 until slightly brown on the bottom

Channeling Miss Emma

It's a true blessing to grow up with a grandma that not only loves to cook, but can really cook ANYTHING.  Looking back, so many memories I have of my grandma are centered around the kitchen and food - good food.  Of all the people who have touched my life, she is the rock.  Even though she's been gone a while, I say "is" because she still is.  I take her soft spoken lessons with me every day and when I ignore them, I always look up at her and wish I had listened.  When she died, I got her tupperware tea pitcher and cast iron frying pan.  That really says more than any other words ever could. 

So - when I cook, I feel like I'm channeling my inner Miss Emma - paying hommage to her, honoring her love of cooking and giving to her family - and trying to create those same experiences for my family.  There truely isn't anything like that moment when one of my children tastes something and says, "oh, mama."

Welcome to my blog! My beautiful disasters and my awesome accidents - both food, family and crafts.  I hope you'll channel your own Miss Emma, too!