There's always time for Cinnamon Rolls!

Recently a friend of mine tweeted that she wished there was an "app" that could take all the blog post ideas in your head and write them for you.  In a dream world, wouldn't that be awesome?!

We've been busy with life and enjoying our spectacular weather, but I wanted to share another recipe with you all.  We had some friends that were in town recently and we invited them over for breakfast.  I made my homemade cinnamon rolls (that my family LOVES).  They got rave reviews and now I'm getting requests for the recipe.  So, here it is! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon white or brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
•  
• For the filling:
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
•  
• For the Icing:
• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions

1. If you have a bread machine you can just put it in there: combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start. And then skip to step 4.
2. If you do NOT have a bread machine, then you need to combine the water, and melted butter with the tablespoon of sugar and the yeast package.  You need to "foam" the yeast.  Mix it well and cover it with plastic wrap while you combine the milk, pudding, and egg together.  (if it does not "foam", you need to start over with another yeast packet).
3. Add your foamed yeast to the milk and pudding mixture.  Then add the four cups of bread flour.  It's important to use bread flour because it has extra gluten in it necessary for the good "dough-y" cinnamon rolls.  Mix until you have a ball of dough. Set it in a clean bowl in a warm place (microwave or under a towel) for about an hour to let the dough rise.  
4. Then, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans if you want them. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough.
5. Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While rolls bake, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.

YUM!!!!

Sharing my Winnings!

A while back I said I would highlight some of my amazing blog giveaway wins.  I've been SO blessed and love when I find a great product (and a great deal).  Here's another one! I won this super sweet dog collar from Amy over at Priddy Creations. (She's crazy talented and has a great etsy shop herself, but also hosts some amazing giveaways from other etsy shop owners). I was lucky enough to win one!

This is our sweet little rescue pup Sophie.  (Isn't she so cute?!) She is nine years old (but we have only had her for 7 years), and she has always hated collars.  She used to run and hide when we wanted to take her on a walk.  She would scratch at the "webbed" collars (and even get her claws stuck in it!).  But when I won this awesome collar from Tiffany at Bailey Brooke Designs (how can you not love something with the name 'Bailey' in it?), we decided to give it one more try.  

She. Loves. It.  

It's made from pure cotton with a ribbon sewn on for sweet detail.  Our groomer took it upon herself to match Sophie's bows to her awesome collar.  We love it so much we had to order a second one for our other pooch, Cali.  

If you have a need for a great dog collar, go visit Tiffany! Great products at a great price (and great customer service!). 

Melting

It was warm yesterday.  Not the crazy hot that we will see in a few months, but certainly warm for this time of year.  

We planted a garden.

The girls played with chalk

And ate popsicles

and watched them melt

But this face....

and this face

and this face...

....make me melt...

Hope you are having a great weekend! 

Easter Weekend!! aka...a really long post with lots of pictures

Wow! What a weekend! Sadly it went too fast, but we are so grateful that it was filled with fun and family!

Saturday was our city's annual Eggstravaganza!! Last year the girls were freezing in their pretty little dresses so this year they wore long pants and sweatshirts (and of course it was warm so they started shedding layers almost immediately).  And of course we forgot our egg baskets AGAIN so they had to use their bike helmets.  They didn't seem to mind.  They had one thing on their minds....candy!

They are divided by age group which works out well for a mom-tographer like myself.  I was able to get pictures of each girl separately.  It's a bit of mayhem for about 34 seconds.  They drop the rope and the kids run onto the field, gathering as many eggs as they can.

Here's Skylar with the "fours"

Reagan with the "sixes"

And Bailey in the "two and under" area 

On the way home we stopped at the creek and the girls played for a few minutes building a "dam." 

We colored eggs at night and the girls had so much fun! We even let Bailey drop (literally drop) her eggs into the dye cups.  

(check out that sassy look! she cracks me up!)

Easter morning arrived and the girls found their baskets on the table.  

In the afternoon we headed down to my parents house for lunch and another Easter egg hunt.

Reagan picking oranges off the tree.

Bailey REALLY wanted to go swimming in the neighbors pool.

Bailey waiting *ever so patiently* for lunch

Enjoying some sweet tea!

READY for the egg hunt!!

Mostly they all just ran in opposite directions (that's my niece Sydney with Bailey).

After they all opened their eggs, we busted out the bubbles and let them run off some of that sugar.

What most of my pictures look like from that day....the back of the girls!

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend celebrating the hope we have in Christ. Yes, we ate chocolate bunnies, and wore pretty dresses, but we also made sure that we told the girls about why we even celebrate Easter.  They know that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive! 

It also seemed very appropriate that on "that day" over 2000 years ago, the Bible says "the earth trembled and the stone was rolled away" and we too had our own "earth trembling" moment with a 6.9 quake on Easter afternoon.  

I hope your Easter was blessed as well! 

What's for Dinner? (Day Five)

So, here it is, day five of dinner recipes! I may post a few here and there, but I'm so glad a few of you have enjoyed the recipes.
Tonight's recipe is one of our family favorites! You can pick up a pork tenderloin for between 4 and 6 dollars usually.  For us, the girls always eat more of the "sides" so we have lots leftover to do "pork fried rice" for a round two recipe.
We have vegetables with every meal, and our favorite with pork are broccoli and carrots.  You can serve pork with potatoes or rice too.  It goes with everything!  I have been able to find pork tenderloin "pre-marinated" at the store for the same price so if that's an option for you, go for it.  But, if you have just fresh tenderloin, try this rub and "herb crust." It's delish!

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin


Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I have to admit, I leave this ingredient out...I don't care for cinnamon on my meat).
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or more, to taste
• salt
• 1- 1 1/2 pounds pork loin roast
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the Herb Crust:

• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (again, I leave this out because I don't care for the taste of ginger).
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 lime, zested
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup herb bread crumbs (or you can smash up "herb" croutons).
• salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, and salt, to taste. Rub the mixture all over the outside of the pork. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the pork roast on all sides, just until golden. Remove the pork to a sheet tray, fat side up.

Meanwhile, make the herb crust: In a food processor or blender (pulse only), combine the onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, and lime zest. In the same saute pan in which the pork was browned, add the olive oil and the onion mixture and cook until softened. Stir in the bread crumbs and cook another 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt, to taste. Spread the mustard on top of the fatty layer of pork and then press the herb crust into it. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 30-35 minutes. Remove to a cutting board and allow to rest, covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice and serve.  

We usually do brown rice and a vegetable.  I mix it all together for the girls and they eat it up! (They say it tastes like chicken..ha!).

For a second round, you can take the pork and make an actual pork fried rice by chopping up the remaining pork, mix it with pre-made white rice in a skillet, add four tablespoons of soy or teriyaki sauce, frozen peas, carrots, and a scrambled egg.  We also love to add peapods because the girls like to open them in order to get the peas out.  If you don't want to do rice again (because you just had rice with the pork), try a different spin with soba noodles and some crushed red pepper (and top with toasted sesame seeds).  Ok, now I'm hungry...

Enjoy!

What's for Dinner? (Day FOUR)

This one is courtesy of my dad! It is DELICIOUS! We like to add a side of guacamole (mostly because my girls love to eat it!).

Southwest Chicken Soup 

Saute: 

1/2 cup diced onions w/ 1 Tbsp. olive oil  

Add:

1 tsp. cumin 

1 tsp. chili powder 

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper 

1/2 tsp. salt 

2-4 cloves of garlic 

Add and bring to boil: 

1 - 15 oz. can chicken broth

1- 15 oz. can black beans (drained)  

1- 15 oz. can corn (undrained) 

1- 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (Mexican style)

Add:

8 oz of shredded, cooked chicken

Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Serve with fresh cilantro and a Tbsp. of sour cream. Can be topped with crushed tortilla chips.

What's for Dinner? (Day Three)

The girls loved the waffles for dinner last night! Instead of just cutting up the rest of our strawberries and putting them on top, I sliced them up, put them in a saucepan with a tablespoon of butter and one fourth cup of sugar and made a syrup.  (Just bring it all to a boil and then simmer for about 3-4 minutes).  YUM!

Tonight we are back to savory with Kabobs! I found a flat iron steak on sale at our grocery story for 3.00 so that is our choice of meat tonight, along with one chicken breast for my non-steak eating children. One onion and one bell pepper are about 99 cents each.  I usually add rice as a side, but since we just did that on Monday, we are doing baked potatoes tonight.  They were .59/pound so that added an extra dollar to the budget for all 5 of us.  Add the sour cream ($1.20) if you need.  If you are keeping track, that's about $9 for the whole meal.  Plus, if you have extra leftover, you can do the round two recipe at the bottom!

BEEF AND/OR CHICKEN KABOBS


You can either use your favorite marinade or make your own.  We love to use Italian dressing as marinade for our kabobs.  The powdered packets are only a dollar and stretch pretty far.  Or try this one:

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (if you like it spicy)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (if you like it spicy)
• salt
• ground black pepper

Other ingredients you will need: 

• Meat of choice-We use either two chicken breasts or one steak (or a combo of both).
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup sour cream, to serve
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro, for garnish
• 8 metal or wooden skewers (make sure to soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes prior to using them)

Directions

In a large resealable bag mix together the lime juice, garlic, hot sauce, canola oil and chili powder. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove 1 tablespoon of the marinade and set aside (to mix in the sour cream later).

Slice the meat into thin strips against the grain and put into the bag with the marinade and mix well to coat everything with the marinade. Place the bag in a large bowl incase it leaks and refrigerate for one and half hours.

Mix the reserved marinade with the sour cream and refrigerate.

Slice the peppers and onions into one inch square pieces. 

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Thread the beef and vegetables onto the skewers. Each skewer should get 4 pieces each of the pepper and onion and 3 pieces of the beef, alternating as you thread them onto the skewer. Cook the skewers on a grill pan or outdoor grill over medium high heat until meat is medium rare, about 3 to 4 minutes a side. Garnished with the flavored sour cream and cilantro. Reserve any extras for online round 2 recipe, Tortilla Pizza.

Round two Recipe:

TORTILLA PIZZA

Ingredients

• 2 flour tortillas
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
• Chicken or Beef leftover from Fajita Skewers recipe
• 1/2 cup shredded Jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the tortillas on 2 baking sheets. Top each tortilla with the sliced tomatoes. Divide the beef or chicken and vegetables from the leftover fajitas over the tortillas. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and golden and the tortillas are crispy, about 10 minutes. Transfer to serving dishes and serve.