Cooking with Susie Q

15 years ago

I would like to start off with an observation/pet peeve. While your driving home tonight, shut your phone off and watch the other drivers. Will you see more than half driving while talking on their cell phones? I do. This week, I saw a large truck (SUV) run a stop sign and had a car cut me off, both while they were talking on their cell phones. Think about it. Is that call really worth being late for your arrival after you have or have caused an accident?
    We all want to spend this joyful holiday season with our loved ones. That being said, with any luck all our children will be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year! With the influx of family/friends, I try to keep a container of dip, snacks and sandwich makings in the fridge. So, first order of business, we should think about cleaning out the fridge this weekend. Do we really need to save all of that? We really need to make room for storage and cooling. This week I found some quick recipes for snacks and munchies to keep on hand. I hope you enjoy them as much as we will. I love shortcuts if they taste good.

Pizza Pinwheels
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped pepperoni
2 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, bell pepper and Italian cheese blend over each rectangle. Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 6 slices; place cut side down on cookie sheet.
Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Meanwhile, heat pizza sauce. Immediately remove pinwheels from cookie sheet. Serve warm with warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Easy Snack Wraps
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 head lettuce
1 (6 ounce) package sliced deli-style turkey
2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups minced tomato

Directions:  Spread cream cheese evenly over the tortillas. Top the cream cheese with lettuce leaves. Arrange the turkey slices in even layers on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle the carrots and tomato over the turkey slices. Roll the tortillas into wraps. Cut the wraps diagonally into bite-sized pieces. Secure with toothpicks.
You can change the ingredients as you like-maybe roast beef and green peppers or perhaps ham and swiss. This one is great if you just slice them in half instead of bite size pieces. Enjoy!
Have a great week and enjoy your family. Keep writing, have a great week, and we’ll talk more next time. Please contact me at susieqcooking@ainop.com or c/o Pioneer Times, P.O. Box 456, Houlton, Maine 04730.