Some people believe in magic, I believe in pillsbury dough crusts. If you're not totally geeking out about them with me right now, then you just don't understand the full amazing-ness of them. They're little wraps of dough that can turn your favorite fillings into amazing pillows of snack heaven. They're SO customizable and SO delicious. Are you a plain jane? Ham and cheese is for you. Are you an Italian stallion? Pesto and prosciutto is your saving grace. Are you too Greek for your own good (me), then spinach and feta it up!

I could literally go on about those forever, so I'll stop my rant there and continue with the recipe. For my birthday party in late August, I wanted to make some cool appetizers, and I simultaneously had a craving for the combination of veggies, meat, cheese, and pillsbury crusts. From my cravings sprung out 24 of these creations of mine. 

I had a vision for one Greek-inspired one and two Italian-inspired ones. I planned on making a pastry with spinach and feta, a pastry with tomato, pesto, and mozzarella, and a pastry with prosciutto and goat cheese. If I had to pick a favorite, it would definitely be the prosciutto and goat cheese one. These are all of my ingredients laid out.

This is your golden ticket: pillsbury crescent rolls.

I put these together like an assembly line. It was the loneliest assembly line ever, an assembly line of one, but I got through. First, I laid out the dough in the triangular format it comes out of the container in. This dough comes in one big rolled up square of dough, and perforated lines creates triangles that can be folded and manipulated to your pleasure.

I then put the filling in the middle. If there is a sauce or pesto I put that first, then the meat or veggies, then the cheese. Next, to folded the triangle edges over the filling so it would bake into a little pastry pocket.

Next, I baked them in a preheated oven until ready.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350

2. Spray two large baking sheets with spray/olive oil

3. Separate the 24 crescent triangles from the perforated sheet and lay them on the baking sheets 

4. Place the fillings in the triangles

5. For spinach feta: add spinach and feta in the triangles

6. For goat cheese and prosciutto: add goat cheese and prosciutto in the triangles

7. For tomato and mozzarella: add pesto, one slice of tomato, and one slice of mozzarella to the triangles

8. There should be 8 of each to make 24

9. Fold the rest of the dough triangles over the filling

 10. Once the oven is preheated, bake the pastries for 8-10 minutes or until they are golden brown and cooked through. Make sure cheese is melted and dough is firm. Enjoy!

Ever want something to spice up your bbq? I recently did, and I did exactly that. However, I didn't quite SPICE it up, it was more of a sweet upgrade than anything. I love mixing different flavors to see how they react to each other in my cooking. I also love reducing flavors in heat and seeing how they react. These two tricks played out in this BBQ sauce upgrade between the cumin and the cinnamon.

Cumin is native to the Mediterranean near India. Coming from seeds originally, it has a robust flavor that can be described as bitter. It has a strong, warm aroma. Cinnamon, has an equally as strong aroma, however the word to use with cinnamon is obviously sweet. I expected these two to mellow each other out, and the steak rub to add that extra kick. I also love when sweet flavors carmelize out in cooking.

The olive oil made the mixture more fluid so it would be easier to spread, and it would melt into the chicken easier.

We put the BBQ sauce on the chicken for the last ten minutes of cooking time so that it doesn't burn off. We also drizzled some EVOO right before they went on the grill to help the cooking process.

SWEET AND SIMPLE BBQ SAUCE

INGREDIENTS: All ingredients can be your brand of choice. Recipe good for 4 breasts.