Tonight’s recipe came from my mother-in-law. I have no idea where she got it. It reminds me of one of those Pampered Chef recipes only you don’t need a $65 baking stone to make it. I bought one of those once and it cracked in half in the oven. (Yes, I know it has a warranty. I’m way too lazy for that.) Stupid, overpriced cookware. This recipe (and almost any other one) is made on any cheap-o cookie sheet you have lying around.

Ham & Swiss Cheese Ring

Ingredients

1 Tbs. Butter, softened

2 Tbs. Dried Parsley

2 Tbs. Mustard

1 Tsp. Lemon Juice

6 Oz. Swiss Cheese, shredded

1 Cup Broccoli, chopped and cooked

1 Cup Ham, diced

1 8 Oz. Can Crescent Rolls

Mix together the butter, parsley, onion, mustard, and lemon juice. As you can see I didn’t have any lemon juice so I used lime. It didn’t make any difference in the taste. Make sure the butter is soft or you will wind up with big clumps of it in the mixture.

This might be the least appetizing picture in Tasty Tuesday history.

Next, add the cheese, broccoli, and ham. I steamed the broccoli until it was just tender. The original recipe said that you could use frozen, but that’s gross. Don’t do it.

Now comes the fun part. Arrange the crescent rolls (on your crappy baking sheet) in a star shape. It should look like this:

Once that is done spoon the mixture onto the large end of each triangle.

Pull the tips over so that it forms a ring. It’s easy.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the crescent is golden brown.

Tasty looking isn’t it? It tastes a bit like a hot ham and cheese sandwich. When the entire herd is around I make two. I’ve tried making it in a 9×13 pan with a tube of crescents on the bottom, the filling in the middle, and another tube of crescents on top. Don’t do that, its gross.

Before you serve it you’ll want to cut off the crusty brunt cheese from the edges and the pan. And eat them.

Tonight I served it with salad. If you make it for lunch, fruit would be great too.

Enjoy!

Dallas and I enjoy backpacking. I don’t get to go as often as I would like because of the twinkies. Instead, I hear stories about all the cool places he and the twins get to see. It makes me angry. So, for the last few months we have talked about making a trip with the twinkies. We weren’t sure how far or even if they could make it out to a good spot. We also knew that the potential for disaster was high. All it took was little misstep and someone could be injured or, at the very least, miserable.

The weather here has been fabulous so we decided to take the plunge and set out yesterday morning. It was not miserable. I think we will even do it again, taking into consideration a few lessons we learned along the way.

Tips For Backpacking With Pre-Schoolers

1. Don’t bother giving them a pack. We set them up with tiny daypacks that carried only their extra clothes and crocs. They dumped them off less than 50 feet into the hike. We had to strap them to our packs. Then they asked for them back every half hour. Luckily we were smart enough not to fall for this trick.

2. Resist the urge to hop across rocks to get your children out to a cool spot for a picture. You could fall in the river, then you will have to spend the rest of the hike in wet boots.

3. Pack candy. We usually pack trail mix, mini bagels with peanut butter, and Clif bars for quick energy. They picked all the M & M’s out of the trail mix and then fought over who ate more. Fun.

4. Understand that the sugar high you gave them to get through the next 1/2 mile will also cause them to crash. Hard. They are like crack addicts that away. Pack a lot of candy.

5. Bring an extra bear vault for their clothes. While you and I might be able to eat rehydrated spaghetti and meat sauce without schmearing it all over our shirts, they can’t. Seriously, we had to put his clothes in the bear vault.

6. Don’t camp too close to any clearing that has a fire ring. You might wind up with loud twenty-something-year-olds parking their drunk butts too close to you in the middle of the night. If this does happen, don’t get out of your tent to yell at them. When you wake up in the morning and see the handgun laying in the middle of their site you’ll be glad you kept your cool.

7. Even though it seems like a good idea to hike out another 1.5 miles to see a lake, don’t do it. At least not on your first venture. You’ll pay for it tomorrow.

8. Geo Cache. Geo caching is a great way to keep the kids moving and interested. They love looking for the “treasures.” Feel free to do a little re-con so you can help them find it without getting frustrated.

9. Half a flask of Southern Comfort is not enough for two adults backpacking with two 4-year-olds.

Neither is a full flask.

10. If you see bear scat that is so fresh it is still steaming, make sure you can outrun your travel companions.