Sunday, December 06, 2009

Easy Peasy Cinnamon Rolls

So, for my very first post on here, I decided to start you ladies out with a wonderful (INSANELY easy) homemade cinnamon rolls recipe. :) Hope you enjoy these as much as we do! *Some notes about this that are totally optional-purely what I prefer-with the frosting, don't double it (that's waaay too much), but just what the recipe calls for never seems like enough, so 1 1/2 it. Also, wait to frost the rolls until they have cooled almost all the way. Otherwise, you end up with more frosting melted on the pan than the rolls. And one last thing-when it says roll dough into a rectangle, an oval is good enough if you can't get those edges quite right. :) Let me know if you have any questions.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
2 (.25 oz) pkgs active dry yeast
2 1/2 C warm water
1 (9 oz) pkg yellow cake mix
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 C all-purpose flour
The inside goodness:
1/2 C butter or margarine-melted
3/4 C white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Frosting:
3 C confectioner's sugar
1/2 C butter or margarine-softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
Directions: In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let it stand until creamy (about 10 minutes). Then combine the yeast mixture with the cake mix, salt, and vanilla; stir well to combine. Stir in the flour; beat well. Cover bowl and let rise in a warm place for one hour. Deflate dough and turn it out onto a well floured surface. Roll dough out into a rectangle and spread with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (combine in a bowl beforehand to make things real easy). Roll up dough and cut into 3/4 inch thick rolls. Place rolls in two lightly greased baking pans. Cover and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes. While rolls are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl, stir together everything for the frosting. After the rolls have cooled a bit, spread with the frosting. Enjoy!!

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...Make Sandi's Wonderful Hot Cider Drink!!!


1/2 Gallon Apple Juice
1 small can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 small can frozen lemonade concentrate {get it!?!}
1 quart water 
1 cup sugar
1 tsp allspice
3 sticks cinnamon
8 cloves

Mix and heat in crock pot

I've been blah, blek, blue lately and very much in a blogging shlump so I knew to get out of it I needed to blog something, anything...  

voila!  

It's been 15 days since Gramps passed away.  
Most all of his Grandkids and Great-Grand Children last saw him on Halloween, dutifully parading costumes in exchange for a king sized candy bar (oh, baby!)  And while it is still a fresh and vivid memory I am afraid it will fade so I have found something bright to connect with it and keep it alive.  Minutes after visiting Gramps we went to my Aunt Sandi's and she had the most delicious aroma in her home, and offered us her Hot Cider.  Warm and delicious I spent many weeks craving it so I decided to serve it at my ThanksGiving dinner.  I hope to make my own tradition from it somehow and have its home-filling scent help me keep Gramp's memory alive for my girls.  

Also, in full effort to unshlumpitize I took my OWN picture of the cider:


{even though I was overwhelmingly tempted to deceitfully post a google image search picture as my own!}


And it is scandalously possible that if I would have seen this picture


before taking my own, I would have tried it!!!!
It looks so much like my mugs it is scary!

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