Apple Bluecheese Bites

Apple Bluecheese Bites

Ingredients:
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4 oz)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
2 medium apples, peeled
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

Directions:
1. Mix blue cheese, pecans, cream cheese and rosemary. Cut each apple into 16 wedges; set aside.
2. Separate dough into 8 triangles. Cut each triangle in half lengthwise, forming 2 triangles. Spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture over each triangle; place 2 apple wedges along wide end of each triangle. Roll up each triangle from wide end and place point side down 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 375°F 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Recipe and picture from Pillsbury.com
Enjoy,
Mommy of 6 <3

Easy Crescent Danish Rolls

Easy Crescent Danish Rolls


Ingredients:
1 (8 0z) pkg of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 (8 oz) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
4 tsp. preserves or jam

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 to 3 tsp milk

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice. Beat until smooth. Separate dough into 8 rectangles, firmly pressing perforations to seal. (or use the crescent creations dough and cut into 8 triangles. This is what I do now. No pressing the perforations needed!)
2. Spread each triangle with about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture. Leave 1/2 inch around 1 long sides and two short sides clean and free of cream cheese.
3. Roll up jelly roll style starting on long side, rolling to long side with 1/2 inch free of cream cheese. Firmly pinch edge and ends to seam. Gently stretch each roll to around 10-12 inches.
4. On an ungreased cookie sheet, coil each roll into a spiral with the seam side on the inside, tucking end under. Make a deep indentation in the center of each roll and fill with 1/2 tsp. jam or preserves.
5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown.
6. In a small bowl blend glaze ingredients, adding enough milk to make drizzling consistency. Put glaze in a small plastic zipper bag. Snip a small amount off the corner of the bag, creating a small hole. Drizzle glaze from bag using hole over warm rolls.

Enjoy and have fun,
Mommy of 6 <3

Bacon Cheddar Pinwheels

Ingredients:

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet

2 tablespoons ranch dressing

¼ cup cooked real bacon pieces or 4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled

½ cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)

¼ cup chopped green onions (4 medium



Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate into 2 long rectangles. Press each into 12x4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut lengthwise into 2 long rectangles. Press each into 12x4-inch rectangle.

3. Spread dressing over each rectangle to edges. Sprinkle each with bacon, Cheddar cheese and onions.

4. Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices; place cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm

Enjoy,
Mommy of 6 <3

Cresents anyone???

I have been exploring... Uh OH!!!  I wanted new things to do with cresent dough, and not just cresents!  LOL!  So I want to know what is your favorite thing to do with cresents?  You know the ones in the refrigerated section in the grocery store all rolled up in a tube?  Do you have any unique recipes to use them for?  I want to know, so post or email us some neat recipes!!!

Have fun and can't wait to see your comments,
Mommy of 6 <3

Caramel Apples Anyone?

What fun things will you do with your apples?  Me I am trying to conquer the caramel apple thing...  So I have been researching , and finding things on the web about it....  Here is what I have discovered.....

One of the fellow bloggers over at "Splendid things" blog posted these pretty babies:

 And here is a closer look:  The one with white chocolate is Vanilla bean Apple Pie...  YUMMY!

I found some more flavors over at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory that I want to try to make as well...

Here is the tutorial that I found along with a recipe and tips to make perfect caramel apples...  Even a skilled kitchen artist like this one needs help, so I have to thank these ladies and thier blogging efforts!

So here are my Top Tips for Making Caramel Apples:

Step One: Rough up the apples with a fine grade of sandpaper, wash and insert stick (I used Popsicle sticks). Place on a cookie sheet. I lined mine with wax paper but did have a bit of a problem with the wax paper sticking – wax paper is edible, right?! Next time I would just place them directly on the cookie sheet.

Step Two: Make caramel. (recipe below) This time I tried a recipe for caramel shared by another blogging friend, Rachel. It was great! It uses brown sugar instead of white sugar. It made a nice smooth caramel. You must have a candy thermometer to make caramel from scratch and stir the pot constantly to prevent it from burning on the bottom. I also use a nice heavy pan – an older pressure cooker of my mothers works great!  We call caramel “patience candy” because you have to have patience stirring it and waiting for it to hit exactly the right temperature. But it’s worth it!

Step Three: Dip apples into caramel and allow to cool. (I placed mine in the refrigerator) I noticed as I was dipping and the caramel cooled that it stuck better to the apple so you may want to let the pot sit for a few minutes before you start dipping. Any left over caramel can be poured into a buttered pan and eaten as candy!

Step Four: Melt chocolate and/or almond bark and dip or drizzle on apples. I used milk chocolate and white chocolate. Quickly, after applying chocolate, sprinkle on the desired toppings. I used mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, rainbow sprinkles, crushed Oreo and chopped up Snickers. Nuts would also be great!

Step Five: Return to the refrigerator to set up

Step Six: Eat and enjoy!
And here is the recipe:

Caramel Apples

I was able to dip 10 medium size granny smith apples and had enough caramel left over to fill an 8 x 8 greased pan.

2 C brown sugar

1 C corn syrup

1/2 C butter

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
1. Combine the first 3 ingredients. After butter is melted stir in the milk.
2. Cook to soft ball (230degrees). Stir constantly.
3. Stir in vanilla.
4. Remove from heat. Dip apples into the caramel, then roll in nuts if desired.
5. Let set up on a cookie sheet. Place in refrigerator if needed. After completely cooled you can drizzle with chocolate and cover with toppings.

Suggested toppings: sprinkles, crushed Oreos, mini M & M’s, mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, crushed candy bars.


Pictures and recipe from "Your Home Based Mom" Blog

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup pumpkin purée*

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup  chopped walnuts

* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.
Makes one loaf. Can easily double the recipe.

PUMPKIN WAFFLES

Ingredients:

4 eggs separated

1 ½ cups milk

1 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup margarine

1 T Vanilla

2 cups flour

2 T baking powder

1 T cinnamon

1 T sugar

½ tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Beat egg yolks then add milk, pumpkin, margarine, and vanilla.
2. Mix together dry ingredients and then add flour mixture.
3. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into mixture.
4. Cool in fridge several hours or overnight.
5. Serve with hot buttermilk syrup.



BUTTERMILK SYRUP
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp. karo syrup
Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Stir in 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. vanilla.

Tips: I made these earlier this week for dinner on the fly when we were running low on groceries. I usually always chill them overnight but was really craving these (and had leftover pumpkin in the fridge) and so I made them and let them chill for about an hour. The result--they still came out perfect. So I think I won't stress so much about having them always chill overnight. They may have been slightly flatter--but very slightly.