Cheese-Stuffed Christmas Tree

This is absolutely AMAZING! But you have to eat it hot right out of the oven.

First make a batch of Easy Peasy Bread dough.

After the dough rises, split the dough into pieces to make rolls.

Roll the dough around 1/8 of a piece of string cheese.

Place stuffed rolls on a greased baking sheet in a Christmas tree shape.

Brush with an egg beaten with a little water. (it's not absolutely necessary) 

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Remove from oven and brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese or topping of your choice.

Place back in oven for 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve immediately with pasta sauce for dipping.

String Cheese Airplane Snacks

Twice a month I watch our godson and his little sister. Every time they come over, we choose a different subject and do a mini unit-study. Guess what we learned about today?

Yup! We learned all about airplanes. Here are some fun facts about airplanes you may not have known:

1. A Boeing 747 is 150 feet long. The Wright Brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk was only 120 feet.

2. The Concorde flew at over 1300 mph and made the flight from NY to London in 3 hours!

3. Modern 747s have just 365 controls. The first models had 971!

4. Airplane themed snacks are really easy to make! :o)

First we made candy planes. The kind with Smarties, Wintergreen Life Savers and a stick of gum all held together with a rubber band. I hadn’t seen these since I was a kid. It was extra fun because we all shut ourselves into our window-less bathroom and watched the Life Savers spark in our mouths when we bit them. I hadn’t done that since I was a kid either. My poor 17-year-old had never done it or seen it. I think he thought it was cooler than he let on… ;o)

But for our more healthy snack, we made string cheese airplanes.

All you need is a piece of string cheese, two carrot slices, a rectangular piece of bread and a slice of pepperoni.

Stick a toothpick through the front of the string cheese and poke one carrot slice on each end. Break a second toothpick in half. Use one half to secure the bread “wing” to the top of the cheese. Fold the slice of pepperoni in half and then use the second half toothpick to secure it to the back of the cheese with the open end opening to the rear of the “plane”.

If you want a fun and educational movie to watch while you enjoy these treats, check out Andy’s Airplanes episode one on YouTube. You can link to it HERE. 

Easy Lefse

We haven’t had really good Norwegian lefse since leaving MN almost 8 years ago… Friends there seemed to make it perfectly and gave me this great easy shortcut recipe for traditional lefse that is super delicious! Unfortunately I am still getting the hang of making the stuff. It’s not very tender, not rolled quite thin enough and not even close to a circle shape. I call it “rustic”. ;o)  I’m sure my boys wish I would just get more practice so I’d get better at it. We’ll see, we’ll see…

Boil together:

5 cups water

1/2 cup lard or shortening

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

When lard is melted, add 2 cups milk.

Pour over 8 cups potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes).

Let cool overnight in fridge.

Add 2 cups flour. Mix well and divide into 2 or 3 balls. Keep the dough you are not working with in fridge to keep cold.

Cut off small pieces and roll out on heavily floured cloth. Brush off excess flour.

Cook on griddle at 450 on both sides.

  Let cool on wire rack covered with a towel.

Serve warm with butter and cinnamon-sugar.

Pineapple Salsa

Having 5 fresh pineapples this week (they were $1 each), meant thinking of new ways to eat pineapple. I had a fish taco once years ago that had pineapple salsa on it… I’ve often thought about that fish taco and figured this was the perfect time to make me one!

So I grilled up some tilapia and made up a batch of fresh pineapple salsa. I also threw in some white rice in the tortillas… I think these were even better than the ones in my memory banks! ;o)

Such a cool refreshing meal on a hot summer evening!

Here’s the recipe for the salsa…

1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 whole jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (you can seed it and use less for a milder salsa)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

juice from 1 lime

Mix and then chill for a few hours to let flavors combine. Serve with tortilla chips or with fish or chicken tacos.