I admire people who are cute. I really do. Cute people do cute things, and their cuteness lightens everything about them. I think cute people get away with more. Take my friend Vicki … she’s petite and adorable with long blond hair. I worked with her for many years, and she used to routinely do things like schedule manicures during the work day. So she would be out of the office for a couple of hours. But in the end, no one really cared because “That’s just Vicki … and she’s so cute!”
No one expects people like me, with my towering height, glasses and size 9½ shoes, to run off for a manicure halfway through the day. And I am sure that if I did, no one would find it cute. In fact, they might think it was a lot like putting nail polish on a giraffe … totally unnecessary and not an improvement.
So when I get the chance to do something cute, I jump on it. Especially when it’s so easy it really can’t go wrong. Take today’s recipe – it’s for an Italian Crescent Wreath and it’s a fabulous holiday appetizer. My daughter and I made it together – it was fun, easy and totally cute! See the testing notes for some helpful hints, and get your cute on!
j*a*N*e
Italian Crescent Wreath
Submitted by Lucy Solberg (ND)
Ingredients
½ lb. mild Italian bulk sausage
3 Tbsp. Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto Mix
1 cup shredded colby Jack cheese
½ cup chopped fresh broccoli
¾ (10.75 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
¾ cup chopped red and green bell pepper
2 (8 oz.) tubes refrigerated crescent rolls
Directions
Brown first 2 ingredients in medium skillet until sausage is no longer pink; add next 4 ingredients. Unroll and separate crescent rolls into triangles; arrange crescent rolls with wide ends completely overlapping in a wreath shape on large baking pan. Spoon sausage mixture over wide ends of crescent rolls; roll pointed ends and tuck under wide ends, leaving filling visible. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.
Testing notes:
- We used a non-stick pizza pan, which was perfect and made it easy to create the wreath shape.
- My daughter said that opening tubes of crescent rolls and hearing that nifty “pop” is one of her favorite things in the whole world. Awwww.
- When you’re chopping up the peppers, use the tops! This kind of recipe is perfect for chopping up all of the green or red, right up to the stem.
- When you are chopping the broccoli, use some of the tender stem. In a recipe like this it works well and you get more bang for your broccoli buck.
- We felt like we totally upped the cute factor by adding the rosemary sprigs and candle to the center of the baked wreath.
- I wanted to transfer the baked wreath to a more suitable platter for the presentation, but it seemed like I wasn’t going to make that swap successfully (i.e., without breaking the wreath). Plus I didn’t have a platter that was big enough. So we kept it on the pizza pan. Lesson learned – bake it on something you will feel comfortable serving it on. A pizza stone would be nice.
Italian Crescent Wreath
- Yield: 8-10 Servings
- Cook: 20-25 mins
A fabulous holiday appetizer.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. mild Italian bulk sausage
- 3 Tbsp. Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto Mix
- 1 cup Colby Jack cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup fresh broccoli chopped
- 3/4 (10.75 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup red and green bell pepper chopped
- 2 (8 oz.) tubes refrigerated crescent rolls
Instructions
- Brown first 2 ingredients in medium skillet until sausage is no longer pink; add next 4 ingredients. Unroll and separate crescent rolls into triangles; arrange crescent rolls with wide ends completely overlapping in a wreath shape on large baking pan. Spoon sausage mixture over wide ends of crescent rolls; roll pointed ends and tuck under wide ends, leaving filling visible. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.
- Cooking Method: Bake
I am blessed with 3 family members who do home direct sales. I love my T.S. products and they pair beautifully with my Pampered Chef. And when I entertain I wear Silpada.
My comment is that Pampered chef stone is great for such a wreath. I also have a Pampered Chef lifter that is 2 pieces that slide under the pizza or wreath and same size as stone. I also have Fiesta (Homer Laughlin China) pizza platters that are the same size as pizza stones. If you use stones, and I spray lightly with olive oil to make sure it won’t stick, You may be able to slide the wreath off. Be sure to losen before trying to slide off.
I am looking forward to trying this. I even grow my own Rosemary indoors in winter to use for garnish. Again I love my Tastefully Simple. Got my 6 Spinach & herbs Yesterday. Beer Bread, Potato Soup, Key lime Cheese ball, Blue cheese dip and Sangria buckets are my favs.
Hey Jane, I wonder if we covered the pizza pan with foil before arranging the wreath on it…..then slide it off onto a “cuter” serving platter by pulling on the corners of the foil. It should be pretty easy to tear the foil into smaller pieces to pull it out from under the wreath.
Marsha – that would probably work well – especially if you spritzed the foil with a little cooking spray before hand.
Any suggestions for making this without the cream of mushroom soup?
I’ve always used either cream of celery or cream of chicken soup in place of cream of mushroom.. I’ve been told that cheddar cheese soup is a good substitute too.
I’d assume you could use any cream soup that you’d like. Cream of Broccoli might work well, or cream of chicken.
Can I say not only do I give you “props” for a seriously fun appetizer idea but your story gave me one really good chuckle!
Bravo! You’ve definately got the whole cuteness thing down-pat, Jane!
PS – And go get one of those mid-day manicures…it’s a good thing!
Hey Jen – I really don’t feel like I fit the cute mold…but hey – fake it till ya make it, right? Glad you enjoyed the recipe idea. I really couldn’t believe how easy this one was, for something that looked so fab in the end!
Jane – first and most importantly – you’re cute as a button! If you were a Tastefully Simple Consultant, you would so have salves in the $100,000′s with all your witty banter and bright ‘n vivid descriptions and awesome benefit descriptions!
A couple of changes that may make this a little more “non-cook” friendly – and increase the cross-selling opportunity! Exchange the peppers for up to 1 Tbsp of Onion Onion and up to 1 Tbsp of Smoked Paprika & Garlic. To replace the “bulk” lost, you could use any veggie desired – mushroom, celery, even some carrot!
Robin – you could replace the Cream of Mushroom Soup with Cream of Celery or Cream of Potato.
Sheesh – too late to be typing – I meant to say “sales” – I’m not sure what a “salves” is!
Thanks, Melissa & I love your modifications!!
What I love about this recipe, besides the fact that it looks gorgeous and surely tastes as great, is that it seems you could make the filling up the night before and just spend a few minutes spooning it over the cresent rolls before company arrives… a great time saver! Thanks Jane, can’t wait to make this.
Ooh Emily – great idea! I would nuke the filling for a minute or two, then spoon it over the crescent rolls.
I think Chicken would be great in this recipe! Thanks so much for the idea…can’t wait to try it! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Love this- it’s amazing, how fun would this be to serve on Christmas! I wonder if something lik ground beef could be used in place of sausage. I’m not a big fan of sausage, do you think it would work flavor wise to use ground beef? Anyone have thoughts?
I make this “ring” using browned ground beef and seasoned with Simply Salsa. I then add about 1/2 jar of Corn Black Bean, and handful of shredded cheddar and then spoon that over the crescents. In the center I place a glass dish with sour cream. It’s a big hit where ever I take it. Happy Holidays!
This sounds great Jane! I’m with Jen. You are cute and adorable!
I’m going to do this on parchment paper and then slide it onto a large platter I have.
Love the suggestions and alternative ideas too. I’ll be making this for company coming tomorrow. Thanks for sharing it!
Even Lori might be able to do this…yay!! Thank you, Jane
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Made this for bunco last night. HUGE hit! I used a pizza stone and I even used a candle and rosemary. The rosemary was the biggest hit! It let off the best aroma as it laid on the hot stone. The pictures helped too. I had to reference exactly how to assemble it.
This inspired me, but to make a dessert! I used a single tube of crescent rolls and a pie plate, mixed 4oz of cream cheese with about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp Warm Up Mulling Spice. Spread that around the ring, topped with sliced strawberries and kiwi, rolled the crescents under and sprinkled with sugar and a bit more Mulling Spice. Bake as above… It was a tasty dessert for my family tonight!
Kolette – that sounds amazing! Tubed crescent rolls really are a wonderful invention, aren’t they?! Thanks for sharing!
Parchment paper is the key. If you don’t have a pizza stone, place parchment paper on to the baking sheet or pizza pan. Let the ring cool for about 2-5 minutes then simply slide off to your favorite serving dish. You may need to give it a nudge with a knife but comes off beautifully.
I love, love making these rings… the filling is absolutely limitless. One time I mixed the spinach and artichoke dip mix in a bar of cream cheese, added fresh spinach leaves and mozerrella cheese…. it was yummy!
Jane – I don’t know ya, but you keep rockin’ them big ol’ shoes. Everything you said resonates with me – I’ve determined that the only cute thing I have control over is my attitude, so I make it a goal to be sweet each day! (doesn’t always work, but I try!) I’ve met plenty of lovely, petite little misses who are the furthest thing from cute, because they’re crass and hateful. Oh yeah, and this recipe looks Ah-ha-ha-mazing!
I first learned of the cresent rings from attending a Pampered Chef party they did them with chopped ham, brocoli, onion, mustard & mayo, shredded swiss cheese was amazing and no cream soups necessary. It was a double ring though w/crescents going both ways
but it allows slits will have to go back and see if I can find the recipee and see how it worked. You still only used two tubes. Will make this as a meal paired with saled it should work. Love the dessert ideas with the rings as well. Thanks Jane for sharing.