Parchment paper

Rolling pin

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To keep things easy, do all of the work on parchment paper. Lay your parchment paper on your counter, open your cookie dough, and using a rolling pin, roll out to about a quarter inch thick. If your rolling pin is sticking to the cookie dough, use a small dusting of flour to prevent further sticking. Using a butter knife, cut and shape your cookie dough to be an egg. You will have some dough left over though, that’s ok. Now pull your parchment paper with the egg shape cookie dough on top onto your baking sheet. Bake your cookie cake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until light brown around the edges. Once it’s finished baking, carefully drag the parchment paper (with the cookie cake on top) to a wire rack to cool. My kids were antsy so we only let ours cool about 10 minutes until we started to decorate. Spread on a thin layer of icing, then get to decorating with an assortment of fruit. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate and eat within 5 days.

Egg shape before baking.

Egg shape after baking. It expanded about an inch on each side.

After icing and fruit were added.

While trying to buy time waiting for the cake to cool, rinse and cut all of your fruit. Also have the kids come up with a plan for the fruit you chose. What order do you want to place things? Such as not placing the raspberries and strawberries next to each other for better contrast. Another fun lesson is taste testing all the fruits and deciding which go best together. We decided on laying the tart fruits next to the sweeter ones together. This is also a good time to roll and bake your extra sugar cookie dough into small cookies.

Guys this one was a lot of fun! Honestly the hardest part was getting the “egg” shape from the cookie dough. Mine wasn’t perfect but once decorated you cannot even tell! To get the most bang for your buck I suggest buying a container of assorted fruit from the produce section. Customize this the way you like, however I will say it’s also a good time to introduce some new fruits. We don’t eat a lot of mango or kiwis but on top of this cake the kids gobbled them up.

This is also a perfect quarantined Easter treat. Stores are not selling out of fruit, icing or cookie dough! So grab these supplies on your next essential run to spread some Easter cheer while we’re all stuck at home.

Parmesan cheese, for topping

Dry Italian seasoning

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Unroll your pizza dough on a large cutting board or clean counter. (If using crescent dough, pinch together all of the seams to make one large dough sheet). Sprinkle on Italian seasoning and press gently into the dough. Next pour on your sauce, and smooth out evenly, then sprinkle on the cheese. Starting at one side, roll your dough into a long tube shape. If your dough sticks, add a little flour to your hands to make rolling it up easier. Once your dough is rolled, using a serrated knife cut out 1-1 1/2” disc shapes (spirals), you should be able to get 12-15 spirals. Next lay them flat on your baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until a light golden brown. Once done, top with parmesan if desired and serve warm.

My tip for these pizza spiral bites is to work quickly. The refrigerated dough becomes harder to work with the warmer it gets.

Fun fact, this recipe came about because my oldest has started the braces process and on the “cannot eat” list is pizza crust. Doesn’t seem like a big deal right? She can still have the best part of the pizza! Well she was crushed and I was determined to find a way she could still enjoy pizza without having to give up the crust. Enter these spiral bites which are super soft and safe to eat. Not to mention super versatile. Fill these with any topping combinations you like and you’ll have a fun kid approved snack.

I grew up with a dad who cooked a lot of awesome steaks and went on to wait tables at a popular steak house chain all throughout college. Shout out to Longhorn, I’ll be forever indebted to Darden for not only meeting my husband through that job, but also my best friend. It’s also where I fell in love with food from a cooking perspective.

Ingredients:

2 steaks, cut of choice (1-2lbs total)

3 tablespoons butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

Salt & Pepper

Additional supplies needed:

Oven safe wire rack

Meat thermometer

Method:

Once your steaks have an internal temperature of 150 degrees (medium rare) to 160 degrees (medium) take them out of the oven. A good digital thermometer makes this super easy. Mine was funny enough, a Valentine’s gift one year from my hubby. He got it on Amazon, for $11!

Now it’s time to sear your steaks. In a frying pan heat up 2 tablespoons of butter over medium/ medium high heat. Place your steaks into the pan and set a timer for just one minute. Flip your steaks and add in your additional 1 tablespoon of butter, garlic, and fresh thyme. Set the timer for one minute again. Then tilt your frying pan down slightly to make the melted butter mixture pool to one side. Spoon this butter over the top of your steak for 30 more seconds. This is called butter basting. Flip your steak one more time and butter baste the first side you seared for 30 seconds. Place the steaks on your plate, top with remaining butter mixture if desired and enjoy!

These steaks are going to cut like butter! They are so soft and juicy! Doing the reverse sear method you also do not need to let your steak rest. You can enjoy it hot out of the pan right away and all the juices will stay intact.