clickinmyheels

How have you been? I have a funny story to share.  My parents stayed with us for a few days to help out with the girls during my husband’s surgery. A good laugh is long overdue on the blog and I apologize to my friends that have already heard it. The day before surgery, I had dropped off the girls and school and was headed to work when my husband sends me a text that had me giggling all the way to work. Apparently my dad tried to make coffee and had a little mishap. We only have whole beans and I grind them just before brewing. Well, my husband heard the grinder while laying in bed and was excited that someone was making him coffee. He slowly made his way downstairs to my find my parents laughing at the coffee mishap. My dad had put loose tea leaves in the coffee grinder and ground them up, placed them in the coffee filter, brewed that pot like a pro – only to discover it was tea and not coffee. Umm, it’s a big bag of loose tea, labeled English Breakfast from Teavana. And it sure doesn’t look like coffee beans. My husband kept asking my dad “Does it look like coffee beans?” Ha. We all laughed about it for days. Every time I’ve made coffee during their visit, my dad asks me if it tastes like tea. So funny! Since then, I’ve purchased a new fancier coffee pot so luckily I’ll be home to handle the coffee brewing in the morning! After lots of research and review reading, I decided on the Bialetti Triple Brew Coffee Maker. One side does can brew a carafe (up to 12 cups) of coffee and the other side can brew a single cup from a K Cup or from ground coffee using the K Cup adaptor. I decided on this one over the K Cup market hog Keurig for a few reasons. The Bialetti lets you use any brand of K Cup, not just Keurig. It also lets you use your own ground coffee in the reusable K Cup adapter. Plus the price was way better and I haven’t heard great things about the fancy Keurig machines. I decided to purchase the Bialetti Triple Brew from Bed Bath and Beyond. It was on sale, plus I used my handy dandy 20% off coupon and shipping was free. I checked it out in person in the store. Going inside a Bed Bath and Beyond, or Bed Bath and Below as my dad calls it with my children is not fun. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I really dislike it. There’s usually no one to help you, the isles are so narrow and keeping little hands and feet inside the moving train at all times is a constant battle. Clean up in isle 5 (The fine china isle)! 🙂 Just kidding. But, I braved the store to check out this coffee maker in person just to be sure it was “The One!” The store never has it in stock so I knew I’d just order it online. One thing I do like about Bed Bath and Beyond is their customer service. You can return or exchange defective products for the purchase price long after the 30-60 day window and that’s better than a lot of other stores. So far I love the new addition to the kitchen and it’s working well for our needs.

A while back, I made Veggie Pizza to take to a party.  I hadn’t made it in a few years and oh how I missed this treat! It was always and easy go-to dish to take to food days at work. Healthy (well, sorta healthy) and delicious, easy to transport, and always gets gobbled up. If you read that title Veggie Pizza and thought to yourself that leftover cold pizza sounds disgusting – maybe I should clarify. It’s not cold pizza as in college days cold leftover pepperoni pizza straight from the box. This is cold veggie pizza with a flaky crescent roll crust, ranch cream cheesy spread, and topped with lots of fresh veggies and a little sprinkle of cheese to make it even better. I hope we are on the same page, because I’d hate for you to miss out on this one. It’s a great party food, appetizer, or snack. But you could easily pair it with a protein and call it a side dish to any meal. You can make it a few hours beforehand to help with party planning. You can customize it to whatever toppings you like. I generally stick with broccoli, carrots, bell peppers and cheddar or colby jack cheese. You could change up the flavors to more of a southwest flair by mixing in a dash of cumin or taco seasoning in the ranch cream cheese,  topping with some green onions, tomatoes, drained black beans, and a few crunched up taco chips or Doritos. Or, you could do an Italian style with basil flavored cream cheese instead of ranch, black olives, tomatoes, fresh basil, and parmesan cheese. Yum! I’m making myself so hungry. This is bad! Give it a try!

It’s so simple to put together with simple ingredients and will be a hit at any gathering.

Begin by Preheating oven to 350°. Lay out crescent rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes until light golden brown.

Let this cool completely. You may want to transfer to a large cutting board once cool or at least something you don’t mind cutting on. In the meantime, wash and chop your veggies and set aside.

Mix up your spread. This spread could be used as a ranch dip with veggies or chips too.

Once your crust is cool, spread on the spread, baby.

Start lightly pressing in your veggies.

Top with shredded cheese at the end.

Cut into squares and you are ready to eat!

So good!

Here’s the recipe for you.