An alternative to ordering out on a Friday night!

It's the end of a long week, you are tired, you are hungry and you want dinner. What to do?  It's tempting to pull out the "take out menus" and start shuffling through them. 

We were in this very spot this past Friday.  But we closed the drawer that holds the take out menus and opened up the cabinets instead.

Here is a pretty easy meal for dinner.  It doesn't take a lot of time and it is mighty tasty, even a day or two afterwards!

The final product

As you can see, it doesn't look perfect but it tasted fantastic

Here's how to get there:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:Use what is listed or what you have on hand. Experiment! 

• 2 packages of crescent rolls
• A package of ground meat, we used turkey.
• 2 cups of shredded cheese, we had Swiss on hand.
• 1 cup of sauteed onions, celery.
• 1 cup of dried cranberries. Since they were in the cabinet we also used some dried prunes and walnuts about half a cup each.
• 1 cup of mayo. Start with half a cup and see how well the mixture comes together in the bowl. 

   

This is the way

We sauté:

While tempting to crank the heat, keep it somewhere in the middle of the dial.
Also,  we like to saute using one small tab of butter and about a teaspoon of olive oil, increasing depending on the amount being sauteed.  The combination is good for both the oil and butter. The oil prevents the butter from burning too quickly and the butter holds off the sometimes bitter taste olive oil can get.
      
Next:
1. Brown the meat in a saute pan (Just using veggies? Dice 'em up and throw those babies in until they are tender)
2. Remove and place in a large bowl to cool
3. In same pan, add the onions and celery.  Add some butter and olive oil to sauté, lower heat
4. Remove from heat and add to bowl with meat or veggies
5. Add to bowl the remaining ingredients (except mayo and crescent rolls)
6. To this, add half cup of mayo.  If all ingredients are coated and holding together, stop here.  Add the remaining half cup if it looks necessary.
7. Set aside and let the flavors meld.

Now, pull everything together:

If you have a pizza stone, use that.  If not, use a large cookie sheet, coat with a light spraying of PAM.

8. Open one package of crescent rolls and start to unroll them.
    The roll should look like a triangle, which is what happens when you unroll them from their happy crescent shape.
9. Start placing one package of unrolled crescents in a circle, around the sheet or stone.
    To do this place the wide part of the triangle in the center of the stone or pan and the tips of the triangle should hang off slightly .
10. Open up the second package of rolls
11. With this package, start lining up the wide end of the triangle with the wide end of triangles from package one so they meet.
When you do this, there will be a lot of dough overlapping and hanging out in the center of the sheet or stone. This is because the tips of the triangles from the second package of rolls will be in the middle -this is okay.
12. Gently press down on where the wide end of the triangles meet so they bond.
13. Get bowl of tasty ingredients and a tablespoon. Start spooning this on the dough (where the wide end of the triangles meet).  The spooned mixture should be about an inch high; mostly likely there will be leftover mixture to use for another tasty dish.
14. Once there is a inch high layer of mixture in place, starting with any outside triangle tip, bring it in toward the center, crossing over to the wide end.
15. Next bring the coordinating inside triangle tip to the outside, criss crossing the dough.
16. Repeat these steps until all of the tips have been criss crossed.
17. It might be necessary to tuck in the dough here and there but that is fine.  No matter how "messy" this might look at this stage, it will look tasty and delightful when you take it out of the oven.
18.  Put in the oven, middle rack. Bake for 20 minutes.
19. About 10 minutes in, if you feel up to it, melt a little butter and brush on top of baking dough.

Another reason we like this dish:
The baking time is a perfect opportunity to put on your comfy clothes, pour that first (or second) cold beverage, set the tunes and get out the plates and utensils.
All ovens vary but you know this dish is ready when the dough is golden brown and it smells so good you can't even stand it!
Once you take it out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes.
Next, get out your pizza cutter or knife and start serving up this delicious alternative to Friday night take out!  Chew on....