Celebrate!

I hope you all had a nice 4th of July.  Ours was a little strange because Heather and Andrew and kids were planning to come for supper. (Laura and Aaron were with Aaron's family).  Anyway, on Wednesday Bob got a cold  (He said it was a man cold) and he felt crummy.  I was having stomach issues and Andrew wasn't feeling on top of things either.  So we decided to try again on Saturday.
We were all doing better a day later!

Bob grilled burgers, I made baked beans and pretzel salad.  Heather brought fruit salad and some yummy cream cheese bars.

These are the bars she made - so festive!  They were good and she said they were easy to make.  I'll share the recipe on Thursday.

After supper, Cassie and I made these cool little critters.  You choose gel colors to fill these molds, dip them in the water solution and they pop out!

Here's our critters.  They need to stay in the solution for 4 hours.

Cassie put them in another container so she could take them home.

I got some cute pictures of them while they were here too.

The whole family

Cassie

Connor

And both of them!

It was a fun evening and it was worth waiting a day.

Happy Fourth!

 (Comments turned off for today. Enjoy your day!)

Cooking Thursday

Today's recipe is one I got from my sister.  This is for Stromboli, and I've posted similar recipes with crescent roll dough, but this one is made with frozen pizza dough that you can buy, which changes it a bit.  It's full of gooey cheese, meat and a nice pizza crust on the outside. Plus, you can change it up to fit what your family likes!

Easy Stromboli

1 ball of frozen pizza dough, thawed
3 tablespoons butter melted, divided
1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
Toppings of your choice - ham, pepperoni, sausage, green pepper...
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese
Marinara sauce or ranch dressing for dipping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out pizza dough into a rectangle about 12" x 14" inches.
In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Brush over entire surface of the dough.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mozzarella over dough leaving 1 inch border on one long edge and both short edges.  Layer one of the toppings over the cheese, then sprinkle another 1/2 cup of cheese over top. Spread remaining toppings over all and finish with the rest of the cheese.
Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush it on the exposed edges.
Starting on the long edge without the edge wash, roll the stromboli tightly in jelly roll style. Pinch the seam to seal and fold edges under.
Combine remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and parmesan cheese. Brush over top of stromboli.
Use serrated knife to make shallow diagonal cuts about 2 inches apart along the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until top is golden brown.
Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then slice and serve with warmed marinara sauce or ranch for dipping.