Homemade "hot pockets"

Tonight was another "mama original" in our house. Ah, how my children SO look forward to these nights! (said in my snarkiest voice).

So we are on our Zero Food Waste challenge these days which lets face it is resulting in some new and interesting menu items. Today I needed to use up some bits of chicken that my husband asked me to precook for him to have with salads this week. I made a pound on Sunday and since today is Wednesday they really needed to be used up ASAP (we don't eat cooked foods after 4 days in the fridge for safety reasons).  I decided to get creative and also use up a half filled bottle of ranch dressing, a half a bag of pre-cooked bacon crumbles, a half a cup of cheddar cheese and a half a box of phillo dough. It turned in to home made "hot pockets".

This is a really complicated recipe so hold on tight.

I took the defrosted phillo dough and separated out about 5 sheets ( I didn't count but that was about the average). I put on a layer of ranch dressing down the middle and topped it with cooked chicken breast seasoned with a bit of garlic powder and salt and pepper. Then I  sprinkled on some bacon crumbs. 

I know my kids, and they like options. So I made several different types. I made two chicken, ranch, and bacon ones for my husband and I. A ranch and bacon one and a plain cheddar one for my kids.

I wrapped them up like burritos (ends first then folded the long sides over) and placed them seam side down on a baking sheet. I brushed on some olive oil and they were ready to go into the oven.

 

375 for about 10min and you have these super yummy little package all browned up and ready to go!

Perfect for little hands to self feed......She had 3 helpings!

 

The biggest compliments had to have come from my 9yr old who said she wanted this meal for her birthday dinner (High praise!) and from my husband who complained that they were so good he didn't get enough of them left for him.

I had a bit of a problem and had some phillo leftover and had run out of the toppings so I decided to get creative. I had several thoughts, there is this bottle of salsa that is leftover in the fridge and bugging me. In the end I decided to go with a dessert option.

 Since my husband loves apple pie I went with an apple pie version....I sliced up a small apple and layered it down the middle. I topped that with a Tablespoon of butter chunked really small and sprinkled on 2 Tbsp of brown sugar.

I decided to leave the seam of this one on top because I was worried that the butter would make it impossible to pick up if the seam was on the bottom. I drizzled some melted butter on top and sprinkled it with brown sugar.

Again 375 for about 10min....

So good!