When I was growing up and still to this day, my parents wasted nothing; they learned how to be quite sustainable growing up with my grandparents who’d lived through the Great Depression. Mom would use every single little leftover scrap of food, and honestly, it inspires and motivates me to this day. When she’d make pies, she’d use the leftover pie crust that was trimmed off the edge to make the most delectable cinnamon treat. I like to call it a Cinnamon Crust Bunch. While this isn’t your typical printable recipe, it’s still something I wanted to share.
Anyone can make this. Instead of throwing away that scrap of pie crust dough, make a treat for your kids. I’m not sure exactly how Mom made it, but this is my most educated guess, based on what I can remember. All you need is the dough, a little melted butter, and cinnamon/sugar mixture.
– Take the dough and roll it out just a bit.
– Brush with butter, and sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture on.
– Then roll or fold up your crust and bake alongside your pie, in a separate pan, of course, for about 20-25 minutes.
Serve while warm and enjoy this simple treat!
There is no other comfort food quite like a really good grilled cheese, and this grilled cheese is no exception with its tantalizing tastes of melted Cheddar, American, bacon, freshly sliced tomato, and avocado. 
This slicer made pitting and slicing the avocados an easy peasy process. The hook on the end of the handle helps you to remove the avocado pit. 
Then you just run the slicer down the skin of the avocado through the meat of the fruit, and you have a sliced avocado. 
The tool is quite sturdy and something we’ll probably be using quite a bit in our kitchen, as we’re always eating avocado on our sandwiches or making guacamole.
Putting this sandwich together is super easy, and you start with two slices of sourdough bread. Butter the outsides; I used to butter the insides too on all my grilled cheese, but I don’t do that anymore…. trying to be a bit more health-conscious. Fire up the griddle, and place one slice of bread on the griddle. Add a few slices of Cheddar Cheese, then tomato, avocado, and a slice of American Cheese. Sandwiching the tomato and avocado between the two cheeses ensures that everything will be wrapped together in ooey, gooey goodness. Finally, add a few slices of bacon, already cooked. 
Top it off with your other slice of buttered sourdough, and cook until golden brown and cheeses are melted and gooey.
I added a banana, peaches, a fruit cup of mandarin oranges, about 1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt, and 1-2 tsp of sugar. I kept the peeling on the peaches, so we locked all those awesome nutrients into these ice pops. Blend everything together, making it into a nice liquidy mixture. Then pour into popsicle molds. I highly recommend 
Set your popsicles in the freezer, and leave for however long they need, usually a few hours. Then remove pops from the freezer, and enjoy. 
These have been delicious, and my kids are still enjoying them. 
More recipes and experiments with homemade popsicles to come!
The strawberry crop is a bit late this year, so they’re just now ripening.
After leaving Pea Ridge, we turned onto a gravel road and followed the road through the countryside for about a mile before coming to the farm. At the Pea Ridge location, you’ll find a pick-your-own patch, as well as pre-picked berries. The first patch you’ll come to is where you’ll want to stop if picking your own, and the friendly attendant will send you off with crates and flags, so you can mark where you stop picking.
We were excited to hear that they don’t use pesticides, a huge plus! There were quite a few ripe berries, but there were also a lot of green ones, so I can imagine there must be a lot of red berries just waiting to be picked by today.
Strawberry pickin’ lends to great photo opps, but not just that…. it’s quality time spent together as a family. 
I definitely recommend it if you’re wanting something fun to do together. 
Plus, you get to reap the rewards afterwards.
Below, you’ll find a printable recipe, without photos, for your convenience.
Place pastry sheet on a baking sheet, and bake according to package directions, until golden brown.
While that’s baking, wash and prepare all your fruit; I like to let mine soak in a vinegar/water mixture.
We use blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and kiwi. 
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar together.
Once puff pastry has fully baked and cooled, spread cream cheese mixture onto puff pastry; this is tricky, because the pastry is very flaky. 
Finally, just add fruit, as desired. Add as much fruit as your family prefers. We like to pile ours up. The more colorful, the better.
