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Crack Chicken Crescent Bombs

August 25, 2018 by Stacy Craft 4 Comments

Crack chicken crescent bombs are stuffed with cheesy chicken, crisp bacon and ranch. Your entire family will beg you for these little pockets of goodness!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Crack Puffs

Crack Chicken Crescent Bombs (3)

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Chicken puffs are a staple at our house. Shredded chicken, some combo of cheeses as a binder and then something to create some interest.

In this case it is bacon, can’t go wrong with bacon. We usually call these “puffs” but after making this newest creation, a new name was warranted.

Adding crack chicken to our ordinary puffs made them much more than just a puff. Welcome, crack chicken crescent BOMBS. Because, well, these things are the bomb!

If you read 2.7 seconds on this site, you know that my 4 year old is in that “I only eat chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and McDonald’s” phase. Or I should say that is the phase she wants to be in!

I don’t usually agree with that phase so we negotiate. I find if she tries something she usually likes it so we just have to win the battle to try the new food. Ya’ll she loved these!

Crack Chicken Crescent Bombs

Crack Chicken Bombs - Family Dinner Idea

Let me tell you about these amazing crack chicken crescent bombs. You have probably had crack chicken or at least seen it all over Pinterest.

Crack chicken is shredded chicken, cream cheese, a little cheddar, ranch and some crumbled bacon. There is nothing bad about crack chicken. But you really take it up a notch when you turn the crack chicken into a crescent roll bomb!

Prepare Your Crack Chicken

You can make your crack chicken in a variety of methods. I used my new Instant Pot to make my chicken. But you can also use your crockpot or even a rotisserie chicken.

Using the instant pot, place a package of chicken thighs or chicken breasts into the pot. Add half a cup of chicken broth and a tablespoon of ranch mix on top. As a side note, we really prefer boneless/skinless thighs in this recipe!

For the instant pot, I use the poultry setting and cook for 15 minutes on high pressure. Allow the pressure to release naturally. While your chicken is in the instant pot, set out your cream cheese so that it can soften up a bit.

Cook your bacon while your chicken is cooking. You could use the packaged real bacon bits but actually making the bits will really increase the flavor in your crack chicken crescent bombs.

The Crack Chicken Mixture

In a large bowl, shred your cooked chicken thighs. Next, add the cream cheese, shredded cheese, bacon bits and 1 tablespoon of ranch seasoning to the bowl and mix it all together.

Take one crescent roll triangle and press it out with your fingers just a little. You don’t want to make the dough too thin, but if you press it out a little, it helps get a nice seal on your “bombs.” And let’s face it, no one wants their crack chicken crescent bombs oozing out all their awesome filling so that seal is important.

I usually try to get about 1.5 to 2 tablespoons into each crescent. Then wrap it up like a crescent roll but instead of leaving the edges open, you want to pinch all the way around to make a nice seal. Just keep tugging on dough until you get all the filling contained.

Place the crack chicken crescent bombs on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. I usually flip mine over after about 10 minutes so that both sides get browned. I think it helps to make sure you don’t end up with doughy crescents too!

Serve these cheesy crack chicken crescent bombs with mashed potatoes and a big green salad or some green beans.

Especially if you do the chicken in the Instant Pot or Crock pot, you can have this dinner on the table quicker than the pizza delivery guy can get to your house!

We don’t usually have leftover chicken puffs but if you do, they heat up really well for lunch the next day.

Well, if I’m being honest, they heat up well for breakfast too! Surely I am not the only one that likes dinner food for breakfast! A

nd if you cook up some extra chicken in your instant pot, check out 5 things to do with your leftover chicken.

Print Recipe
Crack Chicken Crescent Bombs
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 Package Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs (6-7 thighs)
  • 1 Envelope Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
  • 4 strips Crisp Bacon Crumbled
  • 1 Cup Shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 Block Cream cheese softened
  • 2 packages Refrigerated Crescent Rolls
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 Package Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs (6-7 thighs)
  • 1 Envelope Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
  • 4 strips Crisp Bacon Crumbled
  • 1 Cup Shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 Block Cream cheese softened
  • 2 packages Refrigerated Crescent Rolls
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Add chicken thighs, chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of ranch mix (1/2 package) to the instant pot. Cook using the poultry setting on high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow steam to release naturally.
  3. While the chicken is cooking, cook your bacon until crisp and tear it into bits.
  4. In a large bowl, shred your cooked chicken thighs.
  5. Add the softened cream cheese, shredded cheese, bacon bits and remaining 1 tablespoon of ranch mix to the bowl.
  6. Mix well until all items are incorporated.
  7. Place 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the center of each crescent roll triangle.
  8. Roll the crescent roll up and pinch the ends together to create a seal around the edges.
  9. Place the prepared chicken bombs onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
  10. Cook the crack chicken crescent bombs for 15 minutes.

Filed Under: Featured, Main Meal, Plan, Recipes Tagged With: cheesy chicken, Chicken bombs, Crack Chicken, crack chicken bombs, crescent rolls, dinner, easy, main, simple, weeknight meal

Easy Spring Tray Vignette For the Home with Buying Guide

May 9, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Easy Spring Tray Vignette with Online Buying Guide

Decorating is not necessarily my thing. I like doing it but I feel like an amateur at best. But when it comes to decorating for holidays or seasons, I am a pro. Well, a pro in the sense of adding lots of gaudy, bright colored trinkets and holiday signs around the house that my daughter absolutely loves.

I love celebrating with her so I don’t mind too much that we might not make the cover of Southern Living magazine. Lately I have been trying to create one pretty thing for each holiday and season that can bring me joy like the bright orange plastic pumpkins that delight my daughter at Halloween. This month I created an easy spring tray vignette that I have on a counter in my kitchen.

Spring Tray Vignette Flowers Bird and Moss

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information. 

Simple Spring Tray Vignette Assembly

For this spring tray vignette, I wanted to bring in a fresh green color as my focal point. I did that for two reasons. 1. It reminds me of fresh cut grass and new leaves on the trees that come with springtime. 2. I created a St. Patrick’s Day Vignette a few weeks back and I wanted to reuse some of the items – and you guessed it, there was a lot of green. I like being able to create a fresh decorative area while saving money by re-purposing some on hand items.

Free Buying Guide

Pinterest is awesome until you see something you want to recreated and can’t figure out where to buy the stuff at. I bought everything shown on this spring tray vignette at Hobby Lobby or Amazon. The only exception is the fresh flowers. I got those at our local grocery store, just the cheap $5 bouquet.

Tray – I bought mine at Hobby Lobby and used it in this spring tray vignette and in my St. Patrick’s Day Vignette. However, since they can’t seem to find a cart that will hold a car seat carrier, I totally understand if you  prefer Amazon! Here is a tray that is similar in size to mine on Amazon Prime.

Green Vase – Reused this item from the St. Pat’s Vignette. Here is the bottle.

Green Moss Ball – I bought this ball on Amazon & it is was only $5! Prices are always subject to change on Amazon

White Cake Stand with Cloche – what I used to hold the little bird.

Bird – I found one at Hobby Lobby, it fits in the palm of your hand. 

Moss in Bird Cloche – I put this moss in the white cake stand so that the bird was sitting on a little nest of moss. You will have a good bit left over since the stand isn’t very big.

Farmhouse Pitcher – I couldn’t find the exact pitcher that I bought but this is an Amazon option – Farmhouse distressed metal pitcher

Flowers – I bought at a grocery store for $5

Books – These were all reused from the St. Patrick’s day Vignette.  Sheet Music Book, Antique Book, Small Fancy Green Book.

Spring Tray Vignette Close up

Total Money Spent

By reusing some things that I saved from the St. Patrick’s Day Vignette and by purchasing the other items on sale, I spent just under $40 to create this spring tray vignette. I am sure I will reuse some of these pieces again for my summer tray that I am planning.

One of the reasons that I like saving money is so that I can afford to play a little more. I love the satisfaction of creating something that I like and finding happiness in looking at it. With delicate fresh daisies in a farmhouse white pitcher – what’s not to like? It just screams happy spring to me.

I even tried it with a Fresh pineapple just for fun but we ended up eating the pineapple so the tall green bottle made its way back on the tray.

Spring Tray Vignette with Pineapple

What is your guilty decorating pleasure?

 

Filed Under: Featured, Play Tagged With: decor, decorating, easy, frugal, fun, holiday, seasonal, simple, spring, vignette

No Bake Halloween Snack Cake Ghost

September 15, 2018 by Stacy Craft 10 Comments

Simple, no bake Halloween snack cake ghost treats for classroom parties or a simple after school snack.

No Bake Halloween Snack Cake Ghost

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

I love Halloween! I always pin these amazing looking desserts year after year but never end up finding the time to create them. So this year, I decided to find some things that we could definitely find the time for this holiday season and add some fun to our usual schedule.

My kids don’t seem to care if the dessert is super elaborate or super simple. It is amazing but if it has sugar, they like it. One of my goals this year is to just “do.” To stop worrying if the activity or recipe is perfect, and just do it. My kids love it and I am having some fun too!

No Bake Halloween Snack Cake Ghost

You know when your kid’s school sends home a note that you need to send a Halloween treat to school for the party, tomorrow? Yes, you knew that Halloween was 10/31 but it just has the tendency to sneak up on you. And now you need something cute to send to school that wont’ keep you up until 3 am making…

These white chocolate ding dong ghosts will delight the classroom and help you keep your sanity. Reading this blog post will literally take you more time than whipping up a box or two of these no bake Halloween snack cake ghosts.

And if you want a less spooky option, try these No Bake Pumpkin cupcakes, perfect for a Harvest or Fall Party.

Supplies:

–Box of Hostess white chocolate ding dongs

–Betty Crocker Black Icing

Halloween NO bake ghost supplies

Creating the Ghosts

It doesn’t get any easier than this! Just draw on two dots for eyes and a bigger dot for a mouth. I think they turned out too cute for a preschool/elementary school party.

This no bake Halloween snack cake ghost fit the bill for the perfect class party treat. Easy. Tasty. Cute. Now you are done with your Halloween duties and can move on to more important things like Witch Wine (see how I just made your wine festive? Go have a glass, you earned it).

Would your kids love these ding dong ghosts?

 

Filed Under: Featured, Holiday Treats, Recipes Tagged With: class, easy dessert, ghost, Halloween, holiday, simple, treat

Easy Set Up Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity

June 9, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity

Baby Sensory Play with less than a dollar and a minute

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information. 

Finding an edible infant sensory play activity can be a challenge. The attention span of your 6-24 month old is typically very short so you want something that is not going to take you forever to set up. The sensory activity also needs to be something that can go in those little mouths because let’s face it, everything they see goes in.

My son has attempted to eat a photo, many leaves, a raw carrot end and the good Lord only knows what else, and that was just this week! I have to watch him like a hawk. That is another reason why I loved this activity, it is literally meant to be eaten!

Easiest Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity Ever

Creating a stimulating environment for your baby is so simple to do. I was literally trying to figure out how to make a meal for my family and keep a fussy baby happy and it hit me. The most inexpensive, low set up edible infant sensory play activity formed in my mind. You seriously need only things that I bet as a parent of an infant that you have on hand!

What Do I Need For the Sensory Fun?

Highchair – this is a similar space saver seat like we use.

Baby Food Puree

Wipes or rag for after play clean up! It is a bit messy.

Baby Food Painting – Sensory Style

We are going to throw that old adage of “don’t play with your food” right out the window with this fun and messy activity that will delight your baby’s senses.

Place your baby in his or her highchair. I highly recommend that you do this in nothing but a diaper. We headed straight to the tub after this and I was glad there were no dirty clothes to deal with.

Edible Infant Sensory Play Activity

Squeeze some baby food onto a clean highchair tray.

I used about half of two different pouches to offer different visual colors and flavors. Since this edible infant sensory play activity will likely go straight into your sweet little ones mouth, it is fun to give them a variety of tastes to sample.

Baby Playing with Food

Once you squirt the baby food on the tray, your little one will likely start “painting” right away. It took my little guy about 2.5 seconds to start making a big finger painting mess.

Infant sensory baby food painting

Why I Loved This Sensory Mess

I love this project for so many reasons! I am a busy mom (who isn’t!?) so I need things that set up quickly. There is not much quicker than popping the top to a baby food pouch! Providing sensory play activities, even in infancy, is so important for baby development. Being able to make an educational activity so quickly and for less than $1 makes me happy.

Messy Baby Sensory Activity

He literally played and ate on this little project for almost 25 minutes before he got tired of it. While he did that, I was able to interact with him. Once he had the hang of painting with purees, I was able to grab my sack of potatoes and peel them for dinner while he played. WIN!

What To Do Different Next Time

You can learn from my mistakes! I really liked this playtime because it gave me time to prep dinner, entertained my baby and provided a stimulating experience for him. However, I did learn a couple of things. I probably should have known but you live and learn!

  1. Put baby in only a diaper – I actually did this one but it is a must. The baby will be covered in baby food.
  2. If your highchair cover is cloth, cover it with a towel. I had to wash ours because I didn’t do this.
  3. Plan to do this activity when you have time for a bath immediately afterwards. It is definitely a messy sensory activity but I felt like it cleaned up quickly.

Messy Baby and Dog

And if you are needing some activities for your bigger toddlers or preschoolers this summer check out this awesome slip n slide hack and 2 free activities that you should sign up for now!

Do you have a favorite easy edible infant sensory play activity that you love?

Filed Under: Featured, Play Tagged With: activity, Baby, easy, frugal, infant, play, sensory, simple

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Hey - I'm Stacy! Join me on a journey to buy smart, plan and save so that you can also PLAY!

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