Star Wars Party: Princess Leia Pizza Roll Buns

When I think of Star Wars food perhaps the most iconic image is Princess Leia's "cinnamon roll" hair buns. I definitely wanted to incorporate them into the menu for my daughter's Star Wars birthday party. However, since we were already having birthday cake and brownies, I needed a lunch option. Instead of a sweet cinnamon roll, we decided to make pizza roll hair buns.

I kept the recipe simple by using a refrigerated Pillsbury Pizza Crust and jarred pizza sauce.

I started by spreading the crust out on a cookie sheet.

I then added sauce and my toppings. When adding the sauce leave 1/4-1/2" sauce-free section at one of the narrow ends to allow you to secure the end of the roll. For our toppings, we chose onions, peppers, and diced pepperoni. You can add whatever toppings you prefer. Diced toppings do work better than strips or large chunks.

Add your cheese and then start at the narrow end and roll your pizza up. Wrap the roll in plastic wrap and place in the freezer.

When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 375F. If the rolls are frozen solid, allow them to warm up for 10-15 minutes before trying to cut them. Slice them in 1/2" thick sections and place on a non-stick mat (I used a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat) or parchment paper. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the dough is golden and the cheese is melted.

The pictures above are from the test round that I made. For her actual birthday party, we made 4 varieties:

• Cheese
• Cheese & Pepperoni
• Cheese, Pepperoni, Onions, & Peppers
• BBQ Chicken (using BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce) with onions and peppers

I was really happy with how they turned out. They were a nice way to incorporate the idea of Princess Leia's hair buns into an entree. Beyond the party, my daughter loved them, so I think we will make pizza rolls again even for a non-Star Wars theme party.

Candy Corn Fruit - A Healthy Halloween Treat

I was tasked with bringing a healthy Halloween Treat to the party my daughter's Brownie Troop was having for Halloween and Juliette Gordon Low's Birthday (Juliette Gordon Low is the founder of Girl Scouts).

Since it was Halloween, I wanted to bring in a themed treat. Since there are 24 girls in her troop and it was a combined party with 10 Daisies, I had a few constraints due to the quantity involved. I needed to be able to assemble them fairly rapidly, they needed to be easily transportable (with the quantity I needed), and I didn't want to spend a fortune.

A few years ago I had carved Jack O'Lantern oranges for my daughter's preschool class of 12. I knew from experience that I didn't have the time to carve 35 oranges. I found candy corn fruit cocktails on Pinterest and liked the idea, but needed to shrink the serving size for both transport and cost purposes. I also knew the whipped cream on top would be a challenge since I needed to pre-make the fruit.

I took this inspiration and used the pineapple (my daughter's favorite fruit) and oranges as the yellow and orange layer. My daughter and I visited the produce section of the store to pick a white fruit. We settled on bananas since the inside is white. I also opted to use fresh clementines instead of canned Mandarin oranges.
I peeled the oranges and separated them into individual segments. I cut the pineapple into wedges about 1" wide and 1/2" tall. Then I sliced the bananas into 1/4" thick slices and cut them in half.

I used wooden toothpicks to skewer a pineapple chunk. an orange segment and a banana. I was able to fit enough candy corn fruit for 35 girls into a container and packed additional fruit in separate containers for the girls to take more of their favorite.



Overall, I was very pleased with how these turned out. The bananas did start to turn brown by the next day, but lasted about 2 hours before that. Definitely not a food you can make far in advance, but less time sensitive than whipped cream. The only change that I would make in the future would be to use plastic toothpicks as my toothpicks softened over time and a few broke.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Leftover Halloween Candy? Make Halloween Candy Bark

I was really worried that our trick or treat numbers would be down this year due to the rain so I was making plans to use my leftover Halloween candy. However, I don't seem to have much of a drop-off and have far less candy left than I thought I would. I was surprised that my daughter lasted for almost 90 minutes in the rain. If the weather's nice next year, I think I'll need more candy.

Last night when I was deciding what sweet treat to bring to my daughter's class Halloween party, I stumbled on a few suggestions for Halloween Candy Bark. I was inspired and offered it to my daughter this morning and she loved the idea.

I prepared the pan by lining a cookie sheet with my Silpat Baking Mat. You could also use parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil.

My first step was to chop up the Halloween candy. I started with two fun-size bars of each of our chocolates: Hershey bar, Twix, Kit-Kat, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, and Snickers. Plus I had two packs of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, and Whoppers. After chopping each up, I spread the candy on my cookie sheet to determine if I had enough chocolate. I decided I wanted more chocolate, so I added two more of each type. I then transferred the chopped chocolate to a bowl. Be sure to mix the chopped pieces up so that you end up with a variety on your bark instead of concentrations of a particular type of chocolate.

Not Quite Enough - Time to cut more

Rather than use chocolate chips that would need shortening added, I used Wilton Candy Melts as the base for my bark. One of the recipes recommended using dark chocolate since you are adding more sweet with the mostly milk chocolate candies. I used a combination for my base - 1/3 of a bag of light cocoa melts and a full bag of dark cocoa melts. I melted the chocolate melts in a double boiler although you could also melt them in the microwave according to the directions on the package.

Ready to be Refrigerated

When the chocolate was smooth, I spread it on the cookie sheet being careful not to hit the edges. Then I sprinkled the chopped chocolate bars on top. I placed it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to allow it to solidify. Once the chocolate had hardened, I removed it from the baking mat and broke it into chunks.

Finished Product

I found the M&Ms add some nice color (I used a Halloween color pack). My daughter asked about adding StarBurst, but I suggested sticking with chocolate varieties. The beauty of this is that you could add whatever you had. I have a feeling it might be a good way to get rid of some less popular choices like Baby Ruth that would be fine in smaller quantities and add a crunch to the bark.

The chocolate bark was a big hit at my daughter's class party. Unfortunately I had to ration it after a mishap on the way into school. I was juggling a bag of games, a witch's hat, my water bottle, my phone, my keys, and the container of bark. The container of bark was the ball that got dropped, with the lid popping open and half of it spilling on the sidewalk. I was lucky that half of it stayed in the container and I was safely able to serve it. I had nothing to put the spilled bark in, so I pushed it off to the side and collected it into the empty container on our way back to the car after the class party.

I am definitely remembering this recipe for next year, or maybe for my daughter's rejects this year (I only have about 10 pieces left).

FREE Pancakes at IHOP for Halloween

IHOP is offering all kids 12 and under FREE Scary Face Pancakes on Halloween.

Free Scary Face Pancakes are available from 7a-10p at participating locations.

Sounds like a great breakfast treat before school or breakfast for dinner between school and trick or treat.

Discounted BOOritos at Chipotle

It's Back! Chipotle is offering $3 BOOritos on Halloween.

From 4p to closing head to Chipotle in costume and receive a boorito - or bowl, salad, or tacos for just $3. Even better than the $3 boorito is that 100% of proceeds benefit Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.

Last year, my daughter and I had our booritos for dinner on Halloween after school before Trick or Treat. She opted for the kids make your own taco plate. My "costume" consisted of a witch's hat with a black skirt and purple turtleneck.

The booritos were $2 last year, but $3 is still a great deal.

Power Out Smashed Potatoes

Yesterday evening we had a power outage right before dinner. Normally, that would result in us eating out. However, last night we were cooking cedar plank chicken on the grill with smashed potatoes and green beans. The chicken was already on they grill and the potatoes were cut when we lost power.

My husband asked what we were going to do about dinner, and I said no problem. The chicken's on the grill and I can manually light the stove for the potatoes and the green beans. Of course, I forgot about mixing the potatoes. I usually use my Kitchen-Aid mixer and don't have a potato masher, so I had to improvise.

I don't have a potato masher I rummaged through my kitchen tools and found a few things to experiment with. I found a dough blender which I also use to break up fruit for jelly. I vetoed my wire whisk since it would not be sturdy enough to whisk the potatoes. However, my Calphalon Teflon whisk was stronger. I used a dough blender to mash the potatoes and a Calphalon Teflon whip to fluff them up. 

To make my smashed potatoes, I used Klondike Rose potatoes and left the skin on, but cut them into 1/2" pieces to boil in salted water. I cooked the potatoes a little more than I usually do so that they would mash easily. I added butter, low-fat ranch dressing, and milk as I mashed them. By using the ranch dressing, I am able to use less butter.  We typically add garlic and rosemary, but since we were working in the dark/no power we took a few shortcuts. First I used the dough blender to mash the potatoes and start incorporating the liquids. Then I used the whisk to fluff and fully incorporate all of the liquids. Fortunately, I was making smashed potatoes so I wasn't aiming for a whipped consistency.

I had resigned myself to an inconsistent texture, but was really happy with how they came out.

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Shredded Mexican Chicken Recipe - Quick Freezer Meal

With Back to School around the corner, I am already starting to get the schedule for my daughter's activities. Very often our schedule means that we need meal options that can either be prepared in a hurry, or that we can clean up quickly after dinner.

One way that I manage our need for quick meals is with Shredded Mexican Chicken, a staple in our family's freezer. I make a large batch in the slow cooker and freeze the extras. Then, when we are short on time I can pull a container out and have quick quesadillas, wraps, tacos, nachos, etc. My daughter has also requested chicken quesadillas for lunch. I make the quesadilla in the morning and leave it in a Thermos.

I don't really use a recipe for the Mexican Shredded Chicken. I use the same basic ingredients each time, but sometimes make adjustments.

Today, I used:

Ingredients & Finished Product

• a family pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (~4 lbs) - frozen or thawed
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz) - undrained
• 1 can of whole corn (15.25 oz) - drained
• 1 can of diced green chiles (4oz)
• ~3/4 c diced Vidalia onion
• 4 heaping tablespoons of McCormick taco seasoning - roughly 2 packets 
• ~2 cups Minute Rice Brown Rice - uncooked

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients except for the rice and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Today, I forgot to prepare the dish until lunch time, so I cooked it for ~4.5 hours on high. When the chicken is done, it will shred easily with a wooden spoon. After shredding the chicken, I allowed it to cook for about another 30 minutes on low to allow the shredded chicken to absorb some of the excess liquid and seasoning (sometimes I skip this additional cooking step). Finally, I added about the rice and cooked on high for 30 minutes. The rice will absorb most of the remaining liquid.

Shredded Mexican Chicken -
Ready to Use

My family is not a fan of beans, so I did not add any beans. However, it would be easy to add beans to the recipe. You can also adjust the spice level for your family's preference.

Tonight we are using it to make quesadillas, my daughter's favorite. However, it is so versatile. We also eat it on soft tacos, nachos, or on a salad - sometimes we each eat it a different way.

Building a Quesadilla

Clean up from subsequent meals is relatively minimal - a pan used to heat the tortillas or quesadillas or a cookie sheet for nachos (actually I usually use a baking mat, or you could use foil).

From today's batch, we had dinner, I filled 6 plastic freezer containers (3c each), and put enough for another dinner into the refrigerator.

Leftovers Cooling Before
Freezing

Celebrate Earth Day with Pudding Plantings

This year I was signed up to bring snack for my daughter's  Daisy troop on Monday, April 22 - Earth Day. I wanted to bring a snack themed for Earth Day and thought of dirt cups...chocolate pudding with crumbled Oreos and gummy worms.

When I was thinking of different ways to decorate them, I realized that we could represent different planting stages by using different toppings. We used pretzel sticks to divide the plate into four sections and spooned pudding into each section. I used about a 1/2c (1 serving) of pudding on each plate.

Winter: I thought of either whipped cream or marshmallows for snow. My daughter liked the idea of both with the whipped cream as the base and the mini-marshmallows as snowballs to throw.

Ready to Plant: I made a traditional dirt cup with crushed Oreos and a sour gummy worm to signify when the land is ready to plant.

Emerging Plants: We added a little bit of green coconut flakes to represent plants beginning to sprout.

Harvest Time: For harvest time, we used more green coconut flakes and added fruit snacks (Welch's) that are shaped like fruit.

I tinted sweetened coconut flakes using the directions on the bag (a few drops of food coloring mixed with 1/2 tsp water). I had to repeat the process twice to achieve the desired color.

The plan is for the Girl Scouts to assemble their own snacks. If you pre-assemble, I recommend only putting the whipped cream on at the end as it tends to deflate over time.

FREE Pinkberry Greek Yogurt

Pinkberry is offering FREE Greek Yogurt at their locations on Wednesdays in April. Free yogurt is available from 11a-2p.

Note: Pinkberry Greek Yogurt is not frozen. Please verify that the location nearest to you is participating.

FREE Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

Today, April 9 is FREE Cone Day at participating Ben & Jerry's locations nationwide (you can verify online that a location is participating).

After years of living places without a Ben & Jerry's, we do have a location in our current town. I would love to get my free cone, but I know what the line looks like. Free ice cream across the street from a college campus does tend to equal long lines.

It just isn't worth it to me to get a free cone. I'll go tomorrow and pay for my ice cream. What about you? Is a FREE Cone worth a 20-30 minute line?

FREE Pancakes for National Pancake Day!

Today, February 5, 2013 is National Pancake Day.

IHOP is giving away a FREE Short Stack of Buttermilk Pancakes to celebrate. In return, guests are asked to leave a donation for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals or other designated charities.

I noticed that my daughter's school district has blueberry pancakes on the lunch menu for today. Sadly, my daughter doesn't like their blueberry pancakes. I would celebrate with pancakes for dinner tonight, but the rest of my family doesn't like breakfast for dinner.

So, will you be headed to IHOP for National Pancake Day?

Eggo Mini Pancake Review

An empty package

I am a cereal for breakfast person...typically Special K Red Berries with a banana. My daughter, on the other hand, is very much a "traditional carb breakfast" person - waffle, french toast, pancakes, etc. Mostly of the Eggo variety.

For a long time her favorite was Eggo Cinnamon French Toast sticks, but at one point they were recalled and were off store shelves for many months. She also enjoys Eggo's French Toast Waffles, Cinnamon Roll wafflers, and chocolate chip waffles. Since I am always going through a standard size box of these, I looked at Costco to see what they had.

The only large box of Eggos they had was Eggo Mini Pancakes - Maple Flavor. I wanted to wait and try a small box at the store, but my daughter convinced me to buy the big box. Fortunately, she likes them so they won't be going to waste.

The Eggo Mini Pancakes are packed in individual servings of 8 pancakes and are microwaved right in their package. I read 8 pancakes per package and was worried that the serving size would be too large, but they are definitely mini. My daughter easily finished off 7 of the pancakes (I tried one of them before giving them to her) the first time and has eaten all 8 the other times. Eggo Minis are made with whole grains and contain no trans fats.

Her breakfast

The pancakes microwaved in their package in 45 seconds. There are also options to heat them in the package in a convection or a conventional oven. The pancakes had a mild maple flavor. My daughter asked to eat them cut up with syrup the first day. While they cannot compare to fresh made pancakes, they were among the better microwave pancakes that I have had. The pancakes stayed soft and moist. Some microwave pancakes can be come cardboard like and dry. We had no such concerns with these. Since they are individually packaged we don't have to worry about them staying fresh as we work our way through the box.

The Eggo Mini Pancakes also work well as a clean on the go breakfast. Since the first day, she has been eating them straight out of the package without syrup including once in the car. They are great on the go, since they can be taken in their package which can then be thrown away without needing to keep track of a container.

The Eggo Mini Pancakes are packaged in a serving of 8 pancakes. The box I bought at Costco has 15 servings (120 pancakes). The box was quite large, but I can fit it in the freezer of my basement refrigerator and bring a few servings into my main freezer as needed.

I would definitely recommend these as an option for a quick breakfast.

$2 Booritos on Halloween

On Halloween Chipotle will be offering $2 Booritos for anyone who comes into the store dressed in costume between 4p and closing.

Don't worry if Burritos aren't your favorite menu item. You can select from Burritis, bowl, salads, or an order of tacos for $2. Even better, the proceeds (up to a$1 million) will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate foundation

My daughter loves Chipotle (we just had lunch there today). She wants to get dinner there on Halloween, although she will be disappointed not to get their kids make your own taco kit.

You can also enter the costume contest by uploading a picture of you in your costume in front of or at a Chipotle on Halloween to the Chipotle Boorito website. Entries must be received by November 2. The grand prize is $2500 (1). Five runner ups will receive $1,000 and 20 runner-runner ups will receive a burrito party for 10.