Meat Pies and Polenta Fries

It's Butler vs. UConn tonight, and honestly, I don't really care who wins. To pick a side, I'm choosing Butler since it will make the My Life in the Men's Room gang's day/week/maybe year.  So, let's go boys.

In other news though, I took an oldie but goodie from my mom's kitchen and combined it with a new take on a side item, and it turns out--another culinary win!

Meat Pies (adapted from Julie's Kitchen!)
Ingredients
1 lb ground meat
1 pack crescent rolls
1 packet onion soup mix
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Water


Brown ground meat (drain most of fat) and stir in 1/4 - 1/2 cup water and onion soup mix. Simmer until liquid dissolved.

Open cheese. You would think this would not need to be a step. Turns out "improved" package still needs improving. (Preheat oven at this point to 375 or whatever your crescent rolls tell you to do.)

 It also turns out that they must not make crescent rolls like they used to. Mom's instructions were to break apart the triangles and stretch the dough out evenly. Stretching with my hands = dough breaking. So I used a roller. That sort of worked, but I was too hesitant to break more dough or flatten it so much that it stuck to the board. So I just made do

Assemble pies. Mom said to put some meat in the center with cheese and pull the sides up. Here's what I managed while The Sheriff sat for a few in the jumper.

Some of them worked well and came out like this:

Others weren't so lucky

Bake according to crescent roll directions. 

Polenta Fries (courtesy of One Hungry Mama) 

*I've been dying to try these, and they were worth it. But, add plenty salt!)

Ingredients:
Ground polenta
Salt
Yum-Yums --grated cheese perhaps
EVOO

Cook ground polenta according to package.

 Spread out on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for about an hour. I have it divided because right side was plain (to let The Sheriff taste) and the left had grated cheese and black pepper.

And here the pictures end. Well at least the step-by-step. After refrigerating, use a plastic knife and cut into fries. Coat all sides of each fry and place on a lightly greased pan. Cook in a preheated 450 degree oven for about 25 minutes. I love a crispy texture but I think I will have to make them a bit softer for Sheriff next time. He tried them but the crispy outside made me nervous as it didn't dissolve well in his mouth. I might not even coat his with EVOO next time.

One more pic! Sorry it's not food porn quality. Time crunch people!

 Enjoy! (and don't forget the ketchup!)