Pinterest, Poppers and Pretzels

I admit it.  I had been in the closet about Pinterest until about 2 weeks ago.  I had heard and read things about it around the net but really never wanted to go check it out because in all honesty.....the last thing I needed was a new addiction that keeps me from getting other more important stuff done.  However, in a moment of weakness I clicked on someone's link to their Pinterest boards and within minutes I could feel myself getting sucked in.  I love inspiration.  Colors, beautiful places, recipes, home decor ideas and quotes, just to name a few.  I really haven't pinned a whole lot since joining as I only check in every few days and only peruse for 30 minutes or so at a time.  I am trying to be controlled about this so it doesn't get out of hand.  ;)

I have pinned several recipes that look and sound delicious!  Since today was grocery shopping day, I picked out a few recipes for us to try this week.  Well, I was so excited that I made them both tonight!  LOL

With this being my FIRST ever Pinterest projects, I knew I had to capture the memory and photograph my steps along the way.  I don't promise that you won't do some drooling along the way.  I apologize in advance for some of my photos, there is no window in my kitchen and I have dark counters, dark cabinets and black appliances so the photos can be a bit dark.

First up is some Jalapeno Bacon Cream Cheese Poppers.  Last night after seeing these on a friend's board, I knew I had to make them for us to try.

You can find them on my Recipes Board HERE where you can link to the original recipe by From The Aisle To Aloha.

You need the following ingredients:

1 tube of Crescent Rolls (I used the regular size, not the BIG ones)

2 fresh jalapenos

4 oz. block of cream cheese

1/2 pkg. of bacon

My way of making them yielded 12 poppers.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In the original recipe it says to cut your bacon in small pieces for frying.  Have you ever tried to slice bacon?  Not easy to slice those slippery strips so I've always used a little trick for cutting my bacon....SCISSORS!  I cut up half the package and then fried it up.

While your bacon is frying, cut the stems off of your jalapenos and then cut them lengthwise.  Remove the seeds and veins and then slice each half again lengthwise.  Then cut them width wise to yield pieces about 1/2" to 3/4".  

Next you can unroll your crescent rolls.  Once unrolled, I broke them into sections so that just 2 triangles were attached.  I then sliced them at an angle to yield 2 normal size pieces and 2 pieces that were smaller (the tips).

I then took those tips and pressed them together to make one piece.  So every 2 triangles wound up yielding me 3 crescent bases. 

Make sure to keep an eye on that bacon!  I got so busy doing my rolls and jalapenos (okay, so I was taking pictures too!) that I got my bacon a little too crispy.  Errr....burnt.  :)

Here are all of my ingredients ready to start assembling the poppers.

I laid all of my crescent pieces out on my rectangular cookie sheet and then added a dollop (about 1/2 tbsp.) of cream cheese to each one.  I then added about 3 or 4 chunks of cooked bacon and 2 to 3  pieces of jalapeno.

Once they are all topped, bring each corner up to the top and give it a little pinch or twist.  

Next just seal up the sides to keep your cream cheese yumminess from running out the sides when it heats up.    Then pop them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.  

I got a little distracted again this time shopping at Lauren Grier's $1 sale and let mine stay in the oven a bit too long.  I never seem to make anything right when I try a recipe for the first time.  Practice makes perfect!

But, they were a big hit with the family!  I will definitely be making them again!

After dinner, we got together as a family to quickly make these Candy Corn Kissed Pretzels.  I knew these were going to be something we would all love and eat too much of.  Combine that with how incredibly simple they are to make and you can't go wrong!

You can find these on my Recipes Board HERE where you can link to the original recipe by Free Cake Info.

You will need the following ingredients:

Bag of Candy Corn

Bag of Pretzels - I used Snyder's Snaps cuz I love the butteryness of them!

Bag of white chocolate/milk chocolate kisses

Bag of almonds (optional)

The original recipe calls for just candy corn's but my hubby suggested we try them with an almond on the top too.  I thought it was a good idea so we tried ours half and half.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange your pretzels on a rectangular cookie sheet.  I was able to fit 70 pretzel snacks comfortably on my cookie sheet.  10 rows of 7 in each row.

Unwrap your kisses and place one on top of each pretzel.

Place in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes just so that your kisses get a little melted.  They turn shiny when they are warm enough.

Remove your cookie sheet from the oven and place a candy corn or almond on the top middle of each kiss.  Some of ours slid a little to the side but no worries, they all taste the same when you pop 'em in your mouth!

I popped our tray in the freezer for about 5 minutes to harden them up a bit so we could try them right away, we were anxious!  

After the taste test, Hubby and I both agree that the almond topped ones were the best.  We thought the kiss added just the right amount of sweetness and the candy corn made them a little sweeter than we like.  However, they are still really good with the candy corn, we just probably can't eat as many at a time.  Not that that is a bad thing, right?  And....admittedly the candy corn ones are more festive!

It was such a fun night and it got my family involved which I am all for!  We had some good laughs while prepping these recipes.  Laughter and food go so well together!

Let me know if you decide to try either of these.  I would love to know how they turned out and what you and your family thought of them.

I am out of here for now.  Ready to relax and take in some boob tube.  Until next time, HUGS!