Bonus Lunchtime Recipe!

I am blessed to have the best of both worlds.  I work September to June as a special education teacher and get to spend July and August as a Stay at Home Mom.  I always say I would love to be home full time, but sometimes I wonder if staying home makes me enjoy work and work makes me enjoy staying home!  For now its a perfect balance.

I have a 3 year old daughter named Grace Ann, she will be 4 in October, but sometimes I think she will be 13!  She is really smart and funny and I love spending the summer with her.  I am also 6 months pregnant and we are expecting a son in October.  My due date is actually Grace's birthday!  So I will more than likely have 2 little pumpkins!  If I am still pregnant in November, I will probably cry.  My husband, Tim, is a probation officer at the county courthouse and is always a good sport about trying new recipes, although he is not often a fair critics.  Many times he will tell me something is good and then I take a bite and wonder what it was he was tasting!

Any hoo, I have spent the whole more trying to get ready for the great room switch by going through some of Grace Ann's items and getting things ready for the consignment sale.  Grace was very patient and played nicely while I did this.  Then she found "the photo."  It seems benign at first glance.  My husband and I on our wedding day, smiling happily at the camera, but what it truly was was 20 minutes of torture.  This photo caused Grace to sob for 20 minutes straight... why you ask?  Because she was not in it.  The fact that she wasn't born for another 19 months was not a good enough excuse.  She loves the picture, but why was she left out?  <cricket, cricket>  There was no reasoning with her.  It was time for Plan B.  Distract her with a cooking project.  But what to make?

Pepperoni Cheese Stick Roll Ups... original recipe found here Pepperoni Cheese Stick Roll Ups .  I made them with little change.  I did use mini turkey pepperoni instead of traditional pepperoni, because it is what I had on hand.  Anyone who knows my little sous chef knows that her favorite food is any processed meat that comes in a log form (sausage, pepperoni, hot dogs, etc.)  So we just about always have turkey pepperoni on hand.  I don't know if my cheese sticks were extra long, but when we rolled them up some cheese was still showing.  So I tucked the sides of the croissants in to prevent too much leakage.  I also didn't make the Garlic Butter Glaze because, well, I am lazy.  I did give them a little squirt of cooking spray and sprinkled them with garlic powder, oregano and Parmesan cheese.

Here is a picture so you can see how I tucked the sides:

Stuffed, tucked and sprinkled!

 I baked them for the time recommended, but truth be told they could have stayed in a few more minutes to get really golden.  I knew this as soon as I saw them, but we were hungry... really hungry.  We didn't have sauce to dip and these were yummy anyway!

They needed to keep working on their tan!