Friday, November 26, 2010

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

We made homemade cinnamon rolls this morning for breakfast. They were so good. The recipe is below and it is from the Pioneer Woman's website. We loved them and will definitely make them again. It was a very easy recipe and there are several ways that you can vary the recipe. We made half the recipe as regular cinnamon rolls and the other half as Chocolate Chip Cookie Rolls. We wanted to make the Orange Marmalade version but didn't have all the ingredients. If you wish to visit the website where I found this recipe, here is the site. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/
Here are a few photos of Riley and Abby helping make the rolls. Blaine had been out all night shopping for Black Friday with Amber so when they got home this morning, they had hot rolls and breakfast ready and waiting for them, before they went to take their nap.




Recipe: Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls
Prep Time: 2 Hours Cook Time: 30 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 8

Ingredients
■1 quart Whole Milk
■1 cup Vegetable Oil
■1 cup Sugar
■2 packages Active Dry Yeast
■8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
■1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
■1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
■Plenty Of Melted Butter
■2 cups Sugar
■Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
■_____
■MAPLE FROSTING:
■1 bag Powdered Sugar
■2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
■½ cups Milk
■¼ cups Melted Butter
■¼ cups Brewed Coffee
■⅛ teaspoons Salt
Preparation Instructions
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

McLennan County Food Challenge

Today was the McLennan County 4-H Food Challenge. Blaine and Allison both competed on teams -- Blaine's team is pictured below. They were known as the 4-H Food Queens -- her team was Kaycee, herself, and Natalie. They came in 2nd place out of six teams.



Allison's team was the Diva Zebras -- her team was herself, Emilie, Claire, and Cassidy. They came in 1st place out of the six teams. Both the 1st and 2nd place team will advance to District Contest in December.
Great Job, ladies.



The 4-H Food Challenge is a project where a team is provided a bag of ingredients and a recipe without directions. They have 40 minutes to prepare a dish and a presentation for the judges about the recipe-- how it was created, the nutrition provided, and how to make into a complete healthy meal. In addition to completing the dish and presentation, they have to clean area completely and work together as a team within the short time frame. Then, they present the dish to a set of judges, along with their presentation. The dish for this competition was Homemade Pumpkin Pancakes.

Friday, November 12, 2010

AbBy'S 3rd BiRtHdAy
















It's hard to believe that Abby Gale Margaret has turned 3. It seems like just yesterday, she was just born and a little baby girl with a mohawk hairdo. She just a little princess these days, picky about her clothes, shoes and hair. She is now in the mood to pick her own clothes to wear each day. She really enjoyed her birthday. She loved the pink strawberry birthday cake, she liked having everyone sing happy birthday to her, and she loved her presents.

She proudly now goes around saying that she is 3!










Sunday, November 7, 2010

Allison's Final Soccer Game of the Year







Dance -- Deck the Halls and MCC

Blaine had two dance performances this weekend - one at Deck the Halls and then another at MCC. At the Deck the Halls event, she danced in four numbers-- UP, Just got Paid, Fire Burning, and Fame. Here are a few photos....




She also danced at the MCC Ladies Basketball game half time as part a clinic that she had participated in last weekend. She did a great job performing a routine that she learned with the HighLassies Dance squad.


14th Birthday

Today is Blaine's 14th Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
For her birthday celebration, she had her friends come over and spend the night on Friday. They went to watch her perform at the MCC Ladies Basketball game half time performance (more on that later); they went bowling during extreme bowling (lights out with blacklights and disco ball going, loud music); and back to the house for movies and seeing who could stay up the longest.

Hannah bowling in just a little bit of a different way

Three to bowl -- one ball.... things starting getting a little out of hand as the night went on..


Karin, Hannah, Allison, Alicia, Morgan and the birthday girl




Pajama Breakfast on the Polar Express

Abby, Lauryn, and Paige went to the Pajama Breakfast on the Polar Express (Deck the Halls Christmas Event). They had breakfast, made a craft picture frame item, talked to Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves about what they were wanting for Christmas. (Abby was more than happy to talk with everyone other than Santa... we are going to have to work on that).
Here are a few pics from the event...










Hard to believe that Christmas is close enough now to be thinking about Christmas lists, about getting out the trees and decorations, and about time to start picking out cookie recipes for Santa's plate.





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