Serving This Week 12-30 To 1-3-2019

Come and see what I will be cooking up on Marilyns Treats this week!

This is what I featured the week of 12-30 to 1-3 on my blog. On Tuesday morning was a Christmas Tree Pizza Pull Apart. Wednesday was Croissant French Toast with Strawberries . And wrapping up the Holidays was Slow Cooker Mushroom Barley Soup. Enjoy!

If you missed what I served up last week please click Serving This Week 12-23 to 12-27.

Christmas Tree Pizza Pull Apart

What can you make with 5 ingredients in less than 30 minutes that everyone will find festive? This Christmas Tree Pizza Pull Apart that’s what!

Pizza dough, cream cheese, mozzarella and butter with spices create a great appetizer for a festive party.

This Christmas tree pull apart is a quick and easy appetizer that everyone will love. I took it to a family party and didn’t even get through the door before my niece squealed. “Pinterest”! Yes I made this recipe that I found on Pinterest by Eclectic Recipes.

I did make a few changes from her recipe to make it faster and easier. First of all, the biggest change, was my granddaughter practically made the entire thing while I was figuring out how to style the dish. I only had to roll the dough and place it on the pan.

I found that the recipe as written didn’t work with the amount of dough described. I had to use 3 tubes of pizza dough to get 35 balls.

Then I needed to keep the cheese for the center the same. Doubling it would have made it impossible to stuff the dough balls.

I also didn’t use the cloves of garlic or basil. I substituted Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning. It was delicious!!

Everyone at the party thought the Christmas Tree shape was so cute. And the smell of the garlic reminded me of my grandma at this time of the year.

I am thinking of making these for my New Years Eve Party. I will try shaping it like a champagne glass tipped on its side.

I will let you know how that turns out!!

Croissant French Toast with Fresh Strawberries

Want to add a bit of flair to that tired french toast dish?

Switch out the bread for a croissant! Your dish we be lighter in taste as well as calories.

Adding to the usual toppings try some fresh fruit instead of maple syrup. Any seasonal fresh fruit works for this dish.

Ready to serve in 20 minutes and it serves 4!!

Your family will love this spinoff of the regular french toast.

And you know how quickly croissant disappears from the dinner table.

Everyone that eats this Croissant French Toast with Fresh Strawberries will think you were in the kitchen cooking all morning!

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Mushroom Barley Soup

We just love Mushroom Barley Soup this time of year. Preparing it in the Slow Cooker is the easiest way to make it!

Just measure your ingredients and line the bottom of the pot with them. Then add the barley and broth and let it sit.

Oh, and just to caution a close friend of mine. READ the ingredients carefully. A box containing 30 oz of barley is a bit more than 1 cup. Make sure you check carefully and remove all the excess. (Whew).

I used fresh veggies that just needed to be sliced. White mushrooms were on sale so I switched those out. I also used pink Himalayan Salt instead of kosher.

I usually cheat with my garlic and use minced from a jar. But this time I didn’t have any. So I went outside my comfort zone and used cloves of the garlic my daughter-in-law keeps in her spice stash.

I confess, I had to look up to see just how much a clove was. I always struggle to get the skin off. And this time I even had to mince it using a chef knife. What a sight is must have been. Almost beaten by a clove of garlic!

The soup was well received. I will definitely prepare it again. I will also not be tired when I start the crock pot. My husband saved the day.