FROZEN MANGO POPS

 With the weather warming and school ending, I have been thinking about what we can eat for healthier summer snacks.  Because I so handily had mango and yogurt in the fridge this idea came pretty easily and they were a hit!  

I used 1 mango to 3 small containers of Activia yogurt.

These were blended together and poured into the 99 cent popsicle molds I just picked up at IKEA.

There was some of the mixture left over and I refrigerated it and refilled the popsicle molds as they got eaten.  

 I did think that next time I would add a little bit of vanilla extract and see if it brought out more flavor.  Everyone loved them, but it seemed to me they were lacking just a little something.
This recipe is so easy, wish I would've bought more of the popsicle molds to have a few different flavors at the same time.  I'm going to be making this with all the fruits over time and we'll see what our favorites are.  I'll let you know if I hit upon some fantabulous combination!  Enjoy the feeling of the sunshine warming into your bones!  Love it!

Easy and versatile filled crescent rolls!

   In trying to decide "what's for supper", again...I saw a super simple idea on Pinterest (of course).  It was ham and cheese rolled up in refrigerated crescent dough and baked.  Looked great and so easy.  I have this King Arthur whole wheat pastry flour that I have been wanting to try in more recipes, so I decided I would complicate an easy recipe and make my own crescents!  But, this recipe is very easy and the rolls are delicious either whole wheat, white or half and half!

Here is all you need to gather.  Only 7 ingredients, easy peasy!

You start by pouring the warmed milk into the mixer bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Yeast loooves milk-lots of nutrients in there and it starts bubbling right away!  

The next step is add everything else! (Told you this was easy)  But, we are only adding 4 cups of flour at this point.  You can see the mound of flour with salt and sugar on your left, eggs on your right and butter in the middle.  Now beat it all together til it's smooth.

Then, start adding the remainder of the flour until a soft dough forms.  When the consistency feels right, knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.  I do this in the mixer, but you can get your upper body exercise out of the way by doing it by hand!  The next step is to put it in a covered greased bowl to rise until doubled-probably about an hour.  You can use this time to sit down with a steaming latte and relax and dream about having grocery delivery available get caught up on housework and laundry, right?

 Here is the risen dough. Now dump onto floured counter.

Cut into thirds, roll out into about a 12 inch circle and cut into 8-12 (depending on how big you want them.  8 if you want sandwich size crescents) pie shaped wedges.  I use my pizza cutter for this.  I did take a picture of this step but, apparently it's lost somewhere in cyberspace.

Roll each of the wedges up starting with the wide end and tucking the point under and place on greased baking sheet.

Bake and enjoy!  I made these without the ham and cheese for the first 2 batches.  If you were adding any toppings, put them on the dough before rolling it into the crescent shape so they are rolled inside.  Add your toppings the thickest at the wide end and stop about 2/3 of the way down so the point can wrap around and seal.  Some of the toppings will be showing on the outside of the roll.
 Just imagine the toppings you can try:
Any type of lunchmeat
All kinds of cheeses
Nutella, folks!
Hershey kisses, mmmhmm.
Cream cheese-sweet or savory... 
Pizza fixin's
Let me know what you used!

 2 nutella's on left, 2 pepperoni with mozzarella on right (we dipped those in warmed pizza sauce) and 2 garden cream cheese ones in front.  All were delish!


Easy Crescent Rolls                                 Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes
2 Cups warmed milk                                 Makes about 3 dozen
4 1/2 tsps Yeast (or two 1/4oz pkgs)

6 1/2 Cups flour- I used 4 C whole wheat pastry flour and 2 1/2 C white
1/4 Cup melted butter, let cool
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt


Warm your milk to about 110 degrees and pour it in your mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the milk and let it dissolve.
Add 4 cups of flour, melted butter, eggs, sugar and salt and mix until smooth.
Add in the rest of the flour until a soft dough forms.
Knead until smooth and elastic, either in the mixer or by hand.
Place in a greased bowl, spray the top of the dough with cooking spray and cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch the dough down and cut it into thirds.
Roll each third into about a 12 inch circle and cut into wedges.  8-12 depending on the size of the rolls you want.
If you are adding toppings, put them on now.
Roll wedges beginning with the wide ends and place with pointed end down on greased baking sheets.
Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Brush with butter if desired.


Adapted from my church cookbook-aren't those always the best recipes?

Signs of Spring

We had such a beautiful March then April turned kind of rotten on us.  We are midway through the month and having a sprinkling of nice days now.  Today we had beautiful sunshine and it felt good to be outdoors.

My first trail run of the season.  It felt so good.  I have to get used to those hills again.  I walked on 3 of the uphills, so not too bad.

Always a sign of spring-Tulips.  But, it's tulip in this case.  Just 1 growing in our driveway turnaround, but beautiful it is!

And hopscotch...I instagramed this picture because it brought back memories of my childhood.  I loved to hopscotch.  Now I'm not even sure what the point of hopscotch is anymore.