Adventures with Cinnamon Rolls...

I've been trying to come up with something new to fix this year for teachers and neighbors since I've been giving out the same Christmas cookies every year & I'm kinda bored with that. I've always had an unnatural fear of yeast breads for reason too submerged in my subconscious to even understand, so I try not to go there. However, I decided to face my fears yesterday & just get over it! I heard about "The Pioneer Woman" site about two months ago (thank you, Theresa!) & this wonderful cattle ranchers wife, and her awesome food photography spurred me on to greatness yesterday! Well....sorta. I tried her famous Cinnamon Roll recipe and while things were not as simple as she makes it sound, it was a good learning experience & I DID make 8 whole pans of cinnamon rolls!

I followed the recipe EXACTLY as it was written and the only problem I ran into was that my dough was pretty soft and sticky even after adding the 9 freaking cups of flour with another CUP of flour sprinkled over the rolling surface! My cinnamon rolls did not cut into cute Pillsbury pinwheels like PW shows in her pictures & I would not call this an "easy" recipe (PW rates this as an "easy" recipe on her site...but that woman is smoking some high quality crack if she really thinks this process is "easy"!). Whatev' PW! I had oozing melted butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture rolling all over my counter and even dripping onto my floors & shoes! Every time I tried to cut a roll it stuck to my knife and fell apart before I could get it transferred to the pan. I fought really hard to keep my smooshy dough looking somewhat "circular" and cinnamon roll-ish which started making me really frustrated toward the end . I'm glad I didn't give up though, because the end result (while not very aesthetically pleasing) was very, very yummy!

I'm going to try my hand at these cinnamon rolls again for Christmas (and teacher gifts), but next time I think I'm gonna cut down on the butter and sugar used inside the rolls (I think 1/2 cup of melted butter is PLENTY and brown sugar might work a little better then white sugar). The maple frosting on top is to die for, but it's also VERY sweet so you don't need a truck load of sugar inside the rolls too! I'm also going to work a little extra flour into my dough before I actually roll it out. Oh, and in case you live in fear of yeast rolls like I did for the first 30 years of my life, here are a few tips I found that made things a little easier:

-When you scald your milk only bring it up to about 185-190 degrees (I used a candy thermometer).

- Let your scalded milk cool down for about 50 minutes & don't add your yeast until the mixture cools to about 125-130 degrees.

-If your kitchen is really cold (like it probably is today on this 4 degree day!) then turn on your oven to preheat and leave your dough in the pan on top of the oven (yeast likes a nice cozy warm environment to rise).

-"Sticky/Wet" dough is way too tough to handle, so it's best to work a little (a little light kneading where your turn the dough into some flour with the heel of your hands) flour into the sticky mess before you try to roll it out.

-Yeast dough probably takes a little time and patience to get better at, but it's well worth the effort!
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This is what my pans of cinnamon rolls ended up looking like (not so pretty, huh?), but the frosting sorta covered a multitude of sins so to speak-ha!

Pumpkin Muffins!

(RECIPE)

-1 box yellow cake mix

-1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional)

-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or more if you want!)

-1/4 cup oil

-2 eggs

-1 can of pumpkin

*DO NOT ADD ANY WATER!

-Preheat oven to 350

Mix all ingredients

Pour into greased muffin tins...and bake for about 18-20 minutes.

Turn around and realize that while you have been baking your one year old has been systematically taking apart the lower shelves in your pantry!

Clean up baby just as the timer goes off on the oven!

Take muffins out of oven.

Children and husband will come flocking to the kitchen to devour said muffins...watch out!

*Only after you have eaten all of the muffins will you realize you forgot to take a picture of the finished product! Such is life with 4 Little Whites to feed and care for!

Judah's new "Tricks"

This baby boy is surprising us every day with new little "tricks" & sometimes I have to admit that each new milestone is a little bittersweet for me. Baby "Jubs" is almost certainly our last little White which means all these cute little "firsts" are my "lasts". The last time I'll hear one of my babies say "ma ma" for the first time. the last time I'll get to witness those pudgy little baby feet take their first steps, and the last time I'll get to witness one of my babies "shhhhhh" his older siblings when they are being loud in the car-LOL! OK...so that last one is unique to Mr Judah, but it's super cute & I even caught a picture of him doing it :-)

Seriously......you guys are so L-O-U-D! Knock it off!

SHHHHHHHHH!

My Baby turned 8!

I'm going to try to get my blog up to speed this week. After a few weeks of craziness & a very old computer that is starting to have a mind of it's own (sigh) it's been tough to keep up with the blogging world, but I'll give it my best shot this week!

The day after Thanksgiving was McKenna's birthday & we had a great time celebrating with our sweet big girl. We bought her some new clothes, a new webkins & of course, some new Hello Kitty makeup! Then we took her to Burger King (her choice!) & to the movies! After the movies we went back to Grandma & Grandpas house for pizza & red velvet cupcakes.

Thanksgiving Recipes!

Here are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving Recipes. Be brave...try em' out this year!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes.

3 Medium Sweet Potatoes (around 2 lbs) *Scrub them well!

5-6 slices of Bacon

2 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons butter

2 small shallots

1 teaspoon Fresh minced rosemary + a little extra for garnish

1 large egg

4 Tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 Cup finely grated Gruyere cheese (the recipe calls for about 2 oz...but I always use more than just 2 oz!) +extra cheese for garnish

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

1) Preheat oven to 400. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork& line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake potatoes until tender...about 45 minutes. Remove potatoes and let them cool while you cook the bacon.

2) Line a baking sheet with foil. Place a wire cookie rack on the aluminum lined sheet and arrange bacon strips on the wire rack. Sprinkle with brown sugar & cook in the 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and roughly chop. *I have skipped the whole wire rack/foil lined sheet before & just sprinkled the brown sugar on the bacon and put it in the microwave on paper towels. Both methods have there drawbacks (they kinda make a mess!), but the sweet/crispy/crunchy bacon bits are worth the trouble...trust me!

3) Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a medium heat skillet and add shallots; cook until soft-about two minutes. Add rosemary and cook for 1 more minute. Remove from heat.

4)Carefully split potatoes lengthwise & CAREFULLY spoon out flesh, leaving about 1/4 inch shell; set the halves on a baking sheet. Place flesh in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add 2-3 more tablespoons butter, shallot/rosemary mixture/ egg/ cream/ and Gruyere. Mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

5) *Transfer mixture to pastry bag fitted with very large star tip. Pipe mixture into shells. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Garnish with extra Gruyere, rosemary, and bacon. Enjoy!

*You can skip the whole pastry bag step if you are not a cake decorator :-) & just spoon the mixture into the shells. Or...you can put the mixture into a large gallon size baggie and cut the tip off the the end of the baggie and pipe the filling into the shells that way!

Caramel Apple Pie.

1 prepared 9 inch pie crust (deep dish). I make my own most of the time, but I won't tell anyone if you use the cheater store-bought ones...I've done it a time or two before (hanging head).

Pie Filling:

6 Medium apples (about 2 3/4 pounds), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced. I use Jonathan apples, and golden delicious apples most of the time.

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar.

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

tiny pinch of ground cloves (*don't tell Jon I add cloves or he won't eat this pie anymore!).

*Stir together sugar, flour, and spices. Sprinkle over sliced apples & toss to coat.

Crumb Topping:

1 Cup light brown sugar.

1/2 Cup Flour

1/2 cup (rounded) quick cooking oats

1 stick of butter + 2 Tablespoons (1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 Cup chopped pecans

*Combine brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon & nutmeg. Keep butter well chilled & cut the butter into small chunks & combine it with the oat/flour/sugar/spice mixture until it is like course crumbs. *Add pecans and stir well.

*Pour sliced apple mixture into well-chilled pie crust.

*Sprinkle crumb topping over apple mixture.

*Place pie on a cookie sheet so the drippings won't burn to the bottom of your oven.

*Cover pie crust with strips of aluminum foil.

*Bake at 375 for the first 30 minutes. Reduce temp to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes. You may need to loosely tent the whole pie with aluminum foil during the last 20 minutes if the topping is looking too dark brown.

**You do not have to add the pecans to the crumb topping either. You can add the pecans AFTER you remove the pie from the oven if you want them to be a little more crunchy. Jon likes it when I add the pecans to the top after it's done baking, but it's a little easier (I think) to just throw em' in the topping mixture. It's your choice.

1/3 Cup Caramel Topping

*Let your pie cool for about 15 minutes and then drizzle top with caramel topping! Divine!!

How He Loves Us.

*I have this little memory I love to recall from time to time because it often makes me wonder if this is how God sees me.

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It was late. Everyone had left the hospital & I was all alone holding my firstborn in my arms & drinking in her beauty. I counted her toes, ran my fingers through her soft baby hairs, and kissed her chubby little cheeks. As I stared at her angelic little sleeping face I whispered to her: "I'm your Mommy...and...I love you SO much".

I think it was the very first time in my life that I felt such a deep, intense love for someone like that. Right after I whispered those words into her tiny little ears I gently pressed my forehead to hers & the tears just came streaming down my cheeks, soaking her tiny little tummy! It was as if someone had just released a dam that was holding a thousand years worth of tears & now they were all coming at once. I was so overcome with with love for my firstborn that I couldn't hold back the emotion, and the tears just seemed to flow effortlessly, soaking my tiny little babe in salty wet raindrops of pure unbridled love. It was one of the most awesome emotions I have ever felt in my entire life & it was as if someone had just awakened a new depth of understanding in my soul.

As I sat there sobbing love-filled tears that soaked my baby's little white hospital shirt, I wondered "Is this how the Lord feels about me". The thought kinda scared me at first! Surely not!! I don't deserve to have the Lord of the universe feel this for me... do I?? That's when it occurred to me that the whole reason He calls himself my "father" is because when He looks at me He DOES feel this sort of indescribable love for me. Nothing I could ever do or say would be able to separate me from that love that Jesus says He has for me! What an AWESOME thought!

I hope if you are reading this you take a moment today to feel God's love being poured all over you. Because I know that when He looks down at us, His beautiful children, He aches with a love for us that is so strong that our finite little minds cannot even comprehend it. In fact, the first time I started to tap into understanding that kind of love I was so overcome by it that I couldn't stop crying (happy tears of course!). Now that's a love that can only come from a savior that loved us so much that he would lay down His very own life for us :-). Oh, how He does indeed LOVE us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgeUrD4MHI

Sick Day/ Turkey Day....My thoughts on both!

I have a sick baby today. He is coughing & hacking, crying and clinging, dripping with green snot & utterly miserable! It's a sad sight to see. McKenna was sick for about 3 days last week & then she perked right up & skipped back to school just in time for the circus field trip. I love how McKenna is very rarely sick & when she is it's never for very long. That kid has the immune system of the gods I tell ya! Nothing gets her down....nothing! Sometimes I wonder if that's an advantage of being the oldest kid?? Then there is my boys.....the "wimpy White boys"....oh, they are a mess! Chandler is guaranteed to get pneumonia once a year & if there is a "bug" going around, he's gonna get it. Every. Time. (sigh). However, by some small miracle he is not sick just yet! Let's not say miracles never happen-mmmm-kay? He could make it through this plague unscathed.....he could. I just know it....or, I just really HOPE it ;-). Either way, I'm wishing with all my heart that we get all this sickness behind us in time for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, oh boy, am I ready to cook! I went to Sam's Club yesterday to get ready & let me tell you...I AM READY! I bought 4 lbs of butter, 6 bricks of cream cheese, a quart of heavy cream, a quart of half & half (because sometimes you have to go low fat...don't cha know!), 10 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes, 5 lbs of apples, 3 lbs of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, the 40 oz bag of walnuts, 2 lbs of cocoa, 5 lbs of sharp cheddar, and.......the 3 pack of sparkling ciders (my husband laughs at me for this one!). Can you tell I am mostly responsible for the desserts?

Every Thanksgiving I go over to my mom's house the night before and help her start the preparations. We brine the Turkey, fry bacon, make pies & jello salads, start the rolls, and the squash & beans get underway as well. Oh, I can already smell the glorious aromas!! I never thought I'd enjoy cooking this much, but the older I get the more I enjoy all the domestic-y parts of being a homemaker. I can honestly say I really enjoy the "work" that goes into fixing a big meal. There is just something so satisfying about serving your family a big meal that was planned and prepared by you for no other purpose than for everyone to find enjoyment in it! It's a thing of beauty!

If my clingy baby sleeps long enough today maybe I'll get to share one of my Thanksgiving recipes :-). Although, it's gonna be a tough choice between the twice baked sweet potatoes, or the caramel apple pie. We shall see ;-)

It's Cookie Season!

There is nothing I love more than Holiday cookies! I love to cook, but I LOVE to bake even more! And this, my friends, is COOKIE season! In my opinion the best part about Thanksgiving and Christmas is the desserts. It's taken me years to perfect a few of my favorite pies, cookies, and cakes, but I never get tired of trying new things either. A few years ago when I was on the hunt for a new cookie recipe I came across a recipe for peanut butter/oatmeal cookies, but I didn't have all the ingredients to make the cream filling (they were supposed to be a sandwich cookie) so I went to work modifying the recipe to fit the ingredients I had in my pantry. What I came up with is has become a big hit at our house & man oh man, are these cookies addictive. They make a huge batch too....so watch out! I make them all year round, but I think they are a nice addition to Christmas cookie tins too!

Hope you try em'!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

1 ½ Cups Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Butter, softened

1 Cup White Sugar

1 Cup packed Light Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 Cups Quick Cooking Oats

1 Bag *Peanut Butter/ Milk Chocolate Chips (Nestle)

*Just plain Milk Chocolate Chips may also be used J

** M&M's are also yummy!

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs next and beat well.

2. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. (do not use your mixer any longer) Add oatmeal and stir.

3. Mix Chocolate chips to cookie dough mixture.

4. Roll dough into balls & flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass, and place at least 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are very light brown on top.

Please Note: These are not the PB/Oatmeal cookies, but I just wanted to show you this example of slightly flattened cookie balls (don't go wild on the flattening part). I'll be posting the recipe for these cookies (Oatmeal raisin) soon :-).

*If cookies do not spread out well enough “slam” (or drop) cookie sheet once on counter top or oven rack to deflate cookies and bake for 1 more minute J Cookies will look quite “puffy” until they are nearly ready…so watch them closely.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

This past weekend my family spent all day on Saturday raking leaves, jumping in giant piles of leaves, and eating lunch on the porch on the uncharacteristically warm (75 degree) November day! It was GREAT! We even went to Jonathan's parents house that night for a bonfire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, sang songs by the campfire & played flashlight tag. Yes, it was a grand weekend full of fun and great memories...and not a single picture!! Yeah, I'm so not "on the ball" these days, but you know what....I could care less. It's just how I roll sometimes & I'm totally OK with that :-)

So......because I have no leaf jumping or bonfire pictures to share with you, I'll share another recipe. This is actually one I made up a few years ago when my mom gave me a gallon of rosemary from her herb garden & I tried my hand at being creative in the kitchen. OK, so It's not a very creative idea....but it's yummy & a HUGE crowd pleaser. Chances are if you live close to me and have a baby, or a surgery & I bring you a meal, this is what I will show up with. I'm SO original like that! Oh, and because I'm so not the "Pioneer Woman" I regret to inform you that I do not have detailed pictures of the whole preparation/cooking process. I even forgot to take a picture of the finished masterpiece because my family was experiencing a dinner time meltdown & when this happens my mind turns to mush, I cry tears of blood, and then I curl up in a ball and forget my name for a few days. Sorry... I'll try to do better next time :-).

Here goes nothin'

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

You will need:

-Salt

-Pepper

-4-6 garlic cloves

-1 red onion

-1-2 lemons

-1 stick of butter softened

-Rosemary (about 4-5 sprigs)

-Finely chop 2 cloves of garlic

-Pull rosemary leaves of the stem and finely chop (I use about two of the sprigs here)

-Make a "herb butter" paste with your salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary.

Next, get a big fat "roaster" chicken that is at least 5 lbs. (This one is about 6 lbs). Rinse the chicken well & then pat it dry with paper towels. Left up the skin on the breast meat & pull back very gently. Be very careful not to tear the skin though, you want to try to keep it in tact. Run your hand under the skin to separate the membrane from the meat. Do this on the drumsticks as well. Next, try to carefully pat down the breast meat with a paper towel (this helps the herb butter "stick" to the meat a little better.) Rub the herb butter under the skin of the breast meat & legs. If you have extra butter left over rub it all over the outside of the chicken as well.

-Now, for a little fancy "extra" you can very thinly slice some lemon wedges and slide those under the skin as well. This really enhances the "lemony" flavor of the chicken...and it looks pretty!

-Crank that oven up to a blazing hot 425!
-Chop the onion into wedges
-Chop the lemon into wedges
-Smack a few more garlic cloves with the flat side of a big knife to remove the peel...
Stuff the cavity of your herb-buttered bird with the lemons, onions, garlic, and then cram at least 2-3 sprigs of whole rosemary in there too!
-If you have any leftover onion wedges, or crushed garlic cloves throw those in the pan too. I usually cut up about 1.5 lbs or new potatoes and sprinkle em' with salt and pepper and place those around the bird too. It's up to you :-)
-Throw your stuffed, buttered bird into a roasting pan, or a "V" rack inside a roasting pan if you have one, and stick it in the 425 degree oven.
*I'm too lazy to truss my birds, but it does help keep the skin from splitting while they roast, so by all means...truss your bird if you want to...or don't -I really don't care!
-Roast at 425 for 20 minutes, then baste it, turn the pan, and turn the heat down to 375.
-Keep basting with a brush every 15-20 minutes. Turn the pan a few times too. It helps it brown evenly!
-I roast a 6 lb bird using this method for about 2 hours. Give or take about 15 minutes. I use a meat thermometer to know when it's done, so you will have to do the same :-). Every bird has different cooking times so it kinda varies.

*Because I usually throw potatoes in the roasting pan the only other side I serve with this is a salad, and some crusty bread! It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not. Once you butter and stuff the bird you've got two hours to clean up the kitchen & get ready for dinner. It's pretty simple & SO yummy. Enjoy!