Mid march madness

I thought with March break being here we would finally have a relaxing vacation from our busy schedules and get the time to try out some of those fun pins I've been saving for a day with more time. Instead we got a little blind-sided by life and Mommy is stuck on the couch recovering. (I might get to that in a few months when it isn't quite so fresh and raw.) Super thankful for all the friends and family that have showered us with meals and time and love! And for my two beautiful babes and hubby who are so glad to have their chief cook and homemaker back at home, even when she's not doing a whole lot of either.

I thought I'd do a quick post to cover some recipes that were overlooked in my previous months.  On then to crescent rolls. There are so many recipes out there with this as a starting base.

I've always been a fan of crescent rolls. Growing up with homemade everything any kind of store brought bread made the meal. And those light buttery triangles....mmmm childhood memories.

A few staples my Mom used growing up, were crescent cream cheese bars and pigs in a blanket. Now, of course you can buy premade and perfectly sized dough to wrap your sausages in their blankies, but back when I was growing up....

Crescent cream cheese bars are a layer of unrolled crescents (1package), 2 packages cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla creamed as a middle layer, and topped with a second package of unrolled crescent. This is followed by an egg white brushed over the final layer and cinnamon-sugar to get that nice crunchy goodness. Soo good...(I was literally starving when I wrote this part of the post).

My staples as a busy mom are certainly those I grew up with, but we often dress up plain crescents with cheese stuffed in the inside for a quick side to soup. Tasty when fresh and warm from the oven and good if cold for lunches too.

With a couple of crazy weeks at the end of last month I hadn't been able to bake with the M&M and Moose in awhile so we decided to do a batch of cookies together on the first of the month. (Unfortunately our spree also ended there, but sometimes that's the way you have to roll)  I thought these cream cheese chocolate chip cookies would be a normal dough cookie with the extra cream cheese ingredient.  Instead the recipe calls for a layer of crescent rolls, sweet cream cheese mixture, followed by a layer of chocolate chips. Then the dough was rolled and cut pinwheel fashion. Super quick, fun for the kids to help with and definitely yummy!

Another recipe I used from Pinterest was a sausage gravy casserole. Sausage biscuits and gravy are one of the southern US staples that us northerners have latched on to. I'm not so sure the wave ever hit Canada, because I've had to introduce and explain them to A LOT of Canadians. So basically the recipe is flaky biscuits topped with a gravy (strictly milk thinkended with flour and salt/pepper to taste) loaded with breakfast sausage. Ideally a hearty breakfast dish, but also something quick that can be thrown together. When I saw the crescent dough take, I thought, "great way to prepare ahead of time and heat and serve later."

With the crescent dough version, you layer crescents on the bottom, sausage gravy and more unrolled crescents. My only issue was the bottom layer was a little gooey whereas the top was quite crispy. Next time I plan on throwing the bottom layer of crescents in for five minutes before I add the gravy and last layer of crescents.  The pin I used called for cream cheese which I tried, but wasn't sure I like the addition and a few different ways to do the casserole top.

Sausage Gravy Casserole via Rebekah's Pinterest via For the Love of Food

I know there are a lot of other recipes using crescent dough out there. My mother-in-law has an apple dumpling recipe that is raved about. Something to do with sprite, cinnamon, sugar, and crescents wrapped around the individual apples. A friend has a take on this that includes cream cheese somewhere in that mix. Lots of yum! Won't speak to the health aspect, but when one is short on time crescent roll dough is awesome for everything from a quick side to a main dish to dessert!


Still can't believe it is mid-March already!  Excited to get up and moving and finish the planning for my sister-in-law's fantastic baby shower (okay maybe it will only be fantastic in my head, but I've had some dreaming time lately).  I had my mother make us up some of these crock pot freezer meals before she headed south yesterday and I have to say the chicken cacciatore that is bubbling away in the crock pot is smelling great! Check out that pin below. This sight was especially good because it had a grocery list included with the recipes, which was especially helpful as it was also my mother I had to send off to do the shopping. I was amazed by how much less she spent than I usually do. I guess that's a lesson in sticking strictly to the list and not buying any extras!

Slow Cooker Freezer Meals via Rebekah's Pinterest via Six Sister's Stuff




Aren't my leprechauns cute?

The shortest month of the year! Pinterest in Feb. part 2.

Thought I'd get the rest of our Pinterest content for February updated while we are all taking it easy for a couple of days.

We started off the month by making this bathtub paint for the kiddos. They enjoyed using it for the one night it lasted but the consistency is definitely different than the stuff I've bought before. That being said, this project was a whole lot cheaper too!

Bathtub paint via Rebekah's Pinterest via Team Dischinger


I love that you can pin your own photos to Pinterest too. So rather than searching through the 600 odd photos my phone will hold I can keep ideas and recipes that I'd like to try later in their own labeled folders. (Can't tell I love to organize much?). So my first Pinterest recipe I tried in February was actually a recipe I found in a magazine at the library.

Johnny cakes are described as an old fashioned, cornmeal version of a pancake. Very similar in texture and taste to cornbread, but fried over the stove in butter, not baked. It was a good recipe to try, but doubt I will make them again as cornbread is quicker.  I wasn't enjoying that yout have to stand over the stove flipping cakes as the fry when the oven accomplishes it all for you. We ate these with syrup, butter, and bacon, but they also accompanied chili quite well the following day.

Johnny cakes via Rebekah's Pinterest (but I deleted the pin because I won't be trying them again) via Canadian living.




You can find the table tent project here.







All our Valentine celebrations and projects are here!










Don't these roasted tomatoes took delicious? I used them in this recipe for a quick dish to share when we were invited to some friends house for dinner. I didn't have all the right cheeses so I used some monetary jack, and cheddar in place of the provolone. I also used mozzarella cheese sticks rather than grated mozzarella and it gave the dip a nice gooey texture because the cheese sticks don't completely melt. We accompanied the duo with taco chips and Club's butter crackers I brought back especially from the states. I voted for the crackers.

White Pizza via Rebekahs Pinterest via How Sweet it is










My sister-in-laws shower is approaching at the end of next month. Didn't the invitations turn out nice? I'd have liked a nice popping pregnant lady graphic but lacking the necessary design tools I went with a simple balloon instead. And the saying on the back was found on the Internet... But book lover that I am I just loved this idea that was brought forward by the expecting Mommy! Emma lived helping out the cards in the envelopes and I didn't have to do any of the sealing!

Our last recipe for the month was this delicious strawberry layer cake. Definitely check out this website. I love her picture of the inside of the cake. All those layers of strawberries and cheesecake frosting. Would be an awesome summer picnic dessert! I halved this recipe and divided my cake into three layers and it was more than enough for the eight we had at Sunday dinner. Brad and Emma took it all week in their lunches, too. My little mess maker cracked half the eggs on the counter but she loves to help so I have to try to be encouraging, which sometimes feels like a feat in itself.

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting via Rebekah's Pinterest via Perry's Plate

We all survived another long, but short dark month and the sun only climbs from here so on to March we go! Or on to march we march!?