Some appetizers for the holidays

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Last year I started making these simple as pie appetizers.  I got the recipe from one of those little books that you purchase at the grocery check-out.  This one is from Pillsbury and features recipes using Crescent Rolls. 

The original recipe called for Crescent rolls, flavored soft cream cheese & sliced deli meat.  You unroll the crescents into two rectangles and pinch the perforations to seal them.  Spread with cream cheese and top with the meat.  Then roll them up and pinch the edge to seal.  Slice with a serrated knife into 6 slices (I make 8 pieces).  Place on cookie sheet and bake for 13 to 17 minutes at 350degrees, or until edges are golden brown.

Yeah, well I live in the real world on a real tight budget.  So this year I got all my fixing's at Aldi's (a discount grocery store).  I bought generic crescent rolls, plain cream cheese and pre-packaged sliced turkey and ham.

I put the cream cheese in the mixer and let it go till it was all soft and smooth.  Then I added about 1/3 of an envelope of dry ranch dressing mix.  I let the mixer run again while I prepared the rolls for the toppings.  Topped it with my cheap sliced meat and baked.   

You can also do Mexican Pinwheels using nacho cheese dip in place of the cream cheese.  Top the cheese with chopped red bell pepper and chopped green onions.  You can serve it with salsa too.

Or Pizza pinwheels.  Sprinkle the crescent rolls with parmesan cheese, chopped pepperoni, finely chopped green bell pepper and shredded Italian cheese blend.  Roll up, slice and bake.  Serve with warm pizza sauce for dipping.  Yum!

I also use the crescent rolls, sliced into much smaller triangle, to wrap up those little weiners(which I also get cheaper at the generic store).  I serve them with dijon mustard for dipping.

I make all of these ahead of time and freeze them.  The morning of the day I will be using them, I take them out of the freezer and defrost in the frig.  Then I just heat them up when I need them.  They are really yummy.  The pinwheels are my favorite.  Just make sure no men are around when you make them, otherwise only half of what you make will never make it to the freezer, lol.