Snow Chicks and Toast

We woke up this morning and peeked out the window to see lots of snow. For those of you who've never had the joy of an Oklahoma snow, never, and I mean NEVER get into a snowball fight here. You see, Oklahoma snow isn't what the rest of the world knows as light fluffy snow, it's sleet cleverly disguised as snow. One pelt upside the head from an Oklahoma snowball could very likely send little cartoon birdies spinning around your head and leave you with a whelp the size of Utah.

Speaking of birdies, with the ground being all frosted over I tossed a loverly batch of rolls out for the birds and squirrels, just to make sure they had a little snack. One little squirrel sprinted over, snatched up a roll and raced back up the tree before the birds could hog it all. I just loved how he was using his fluffy tail as an umbrella.


After watching all the birds nibble on their bread, Miss Danielle said that she wanted to be a birdie and have snow and toast for breakfast and there was no way I could resist such a cutie patootie request. Being as our loverly old house leaks some serious cold air from under the cabinets, I wanted out of the kitchen as soon as possible so let me share with you my cheating version of cinnamon toast sticks.

First, cut the bread into strips with a pair of kitchen scissors. Please note that the quality of the pictures decreases as we go along due to my frozen toes wanting to get out quick!


Then scoot all the pieces together and give them a coat of butter flavored non stick spray and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Hey, everyone else got to stay home from work for a snow day, I think I'm allowed to slack a bit in the nutrition arena. Don't be hatin'.


Toss them into a 400F preheated oven and then turn off the heat while you cook the eggs (about 10 mins).


Pair them up with bacon pieces to make a nest for the egg yolk birdies to stay warm from the egg white snowflakes.

To make the birdies and snowflakes, I separated the egg yolks and whites and cooked them up omelet style. Once they were done I simply cut them with cookie cutters.

Insert Chicken-ish Title Here or Here Or Over There

It seems that I had one of those brain farts at the store before Christmas and bought some phyllo dough. Seriously, I have no idea why I bought this stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderfully loverly stuff that is great for getting your blood flow pumping from trying to keep it from drying out as you frantically throw your dish together. I just don't have the patients to work with this stuff on a normal bases. So I've been trying to come up with ideas as to what to do with it. I also was looking for something exciting to do with a wee bit of cheese left from the block and a few pieces of cooked bacon that needed to be used and so Chicken Rolls were born {insert owooos and ahhhhhs here}.

First tip O'the day is instead of brushing melted butter between each sheet of phyllo, put the melted butter in a spray bottle and just spritz it on. Yes, I realize this little "ah ha" moment will change your life for the better and you just heard angelic horns blowing and the sun just separated the clouds and is now shining a rainbow through your front window. Feel free to name your first born after me.

Let's see...yes, Chicken Rolls. Take 3 lbs of chicken, toss in pot with a smidgen of your favorite herbs, fill with water just to cover chicken and boil for an hour or two, until the chicken is no longer pink and the bones are easily removed.

Strain chicken, while saving cooking water. Remove bones, toss back into cooking water and place back on stove to simmer for another hour. Strain bones from water (which is now broth) and freeze in 1 cup portions. Cut up cooked chicken and separate into 3 Ziploc baggies. Place 2 in the freezer and keep one for making the chicken rolls.

You can also cheat and buy 2 cups worth of caned/pouched cooked chicken and forget I ever said anything about putting chicken in a pot. I promise not to judge(or tell).

Now throw the cooked chicken in a big bowl. Add cooked bacon, chopped fresh spinach, shredded cheese and ranch dressing. Stir it all together while you pray that you're able to get the phyllo dough to roll up.

Place 1 sheet of phyllo dough on rolling surface, spritz with butter, top with another sheet of phyllo dough, spritz, repeat with one more sheet of dough. Now you have your rolling dough made from 3 sheets of phyllo. Was anyone else taken back to elementary school worded math problems?

Put a couple of large spoonfuls of the chicken mixture on the short end of the phyllo dough, fold long sides over mixture and then roll up like an egg roll. Put on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for about 25 mins.

CHICKEN ROLLS

• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup crumbled bacon
• 1/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• pkg phyllo dough

1. Mix all ingredients, except phyllo dough together in large bowl.
2. Stack phyllo dough in sets of 3 spritzing melted butter between each layer.
3. Place a couple of large spoonfuls of chicken mix on short end of phyllo dough.
4. Fold ends over and roll up like an egg roll.
5. Bake for abou5 25 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Good Morning Muffins

I'm out of laundry soap (recipe here) and need to make some more, but I have been putting it off for a bit because as I have to hand grate the soap (UGH I miss my food processor). Being as we're down to the underwear with holes and the "I'm with Stupid" t-shirts, I think I better get me bum in gear and get to grating. But first I have to tell you about the fantastic muffins I made yesterday before church.

As I've said before I'm always looking to sneak in healthy good stuff wherever I can, and these little beauties are full of whole grain, fruity, fiber-tastic deliciousness. They are moist, tasty and even my hubby was sneaking them off the plate. He asked me today if I wrote down how I made them so we could have them again. I must confess a little tear of joy welled up in eye.


Good Morning Muffins

1 egg
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups diced apple
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Mix wet ingredients together. Add dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Toss in fruits/veggies and mix together.

Batter doesn't rise much so fill muffin cups as full as you want your muffin to be.

Bake at 375F for 16 min if making full size muffins, 10 mins if making minis.

makes 12 regular or 36 minis.

******
Oh and if anyone has ideas on how to use up a pound of jalapenos, a cup of peach juice, and a dozen eggs please fill me in.

My fridge and I both thank you!

Pucker Up!

You know those days when life sucks big honkin' smelly eggs, so much so that your face is stuck in permanent pucker mode? Well, just call me Sour-puss Sally. Luckily, my grandmother, in her infinite wisdom, taught me that when life hands you lemons, make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. That way if you can't say something nice, you can just pop them in your mouth and not say anything at all (although you will make noises of taste bud ecstasy).


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted (I used coconut oil, becuase I'm trying to be good)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (out of lemons, so I used lemon extract, don't tell Grandma)
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Mix all the wet ingredients together, then dump in the dry ingredients and mix just until moist. Spoon into muffin cups and cook at 400F for 15 mins, 10 if you're making mini-muffins (makes 12 reg muffins or 36 minis).

Lemon Glaze
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Stir together until smooth. Add more juice if too thick or more powdered sugar if too thin. Glaze tops of muffins and then lick the bowl clean (it's good for the soul).

Who You Calling Chicken?

The other night, while eating dinner, my wondermous hubby made the comment, "Better enjoy it, because she'll never remember how to make it again", and as much as I wanted to backhand him for being Mr. Smarty Pants, he was completely right. I'm famous for cooking on the fly and just throwing this and that in the pot.

This is one of the best reasons for posting recipes on this here blog. It forces me to keep record of what I'm doing! I still toss things in here and there, but now, I keep paper and pen next to me so I can write it down. Which brings us to today's post.

One of my old classmates is currently going through chemo so I'm cooking a few meals for her and her family. Due to the flip flops that treatment does to your body, she's not exactly up for the normal "casserole of care" type items like baked ziti or chicken enchiladas. We opted for nice, calm, soothing, chicken soup and homemade wheat rolls.

I was lucky enough to find chicken quarters on sale for $2.90 for 10 lbs! So the day before I made the soup, I skinned and deboned the chicken and cooked it in the crock pot with a bit of white wine and lemon pepper. I also took the skin and bones, tossed it in a bean pot filled with water, thyme, rosemary, celery seed, onion ends, carrots, garlic and a touch of salt and let it simmer all day. Ran it through a strainer and let the broth cool in the fridge so I could remove the fat layer. I ended up with 7 lbs cooked chicken and 8 cups broth. Booooyah!

I've never made regular chicken soup before, but I will definately make it again!

Chicken Veggie Soup

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups chopped onions and celery
• 3 cups frozen mixed veggies
• 4 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 2 tsp McCormicks Grill Mates Roasted Garlic and Herb
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch celery seed

Let simmer in crock pot on low for 6 hours. 30 mins before you're ready to serve, stir in a cup of white sauce (you can also use a can of undiluted cream soup)

Make a white sauce with:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and stir until the butter and flour are well combined. Pour in milk, stirring constantly as it thickens.

Daring Bakers- A Bûche de Noël (French Yule Log)

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

This could very well be my favorite DB challenge yet! As with most DB challenges, the initial scan of the recipe seemed a wee bit daunting, and after a couple of hours of hiding in the corner shivering in the fetal position, screaming "Help me oh great spirit of Betty Crocker!", I buckled down and got to work. The recipe had six different elements that formed together to make complete culinary BLISS! If you'd like to see the complete recipe please visit Hilda here.

I chose to make my log with the following elements: Coconut Almond Dacquoise, Milk Chocolate Whipped Cream (Chantilly), Dark Chocolate Ganache, Coconut Crisp, Vanilla Almond Crème Brulée, and Dark Chocolate Icing. Yes, it was like a giant, frozen, creamy, Almond Joy candy bar and it ROCKED!

As what happens once or twice a month, my mom calls to inform me that she has a big to-do with one of her social groups (this time it was simply her church diner), and she "just doesn't know what on earth she's going to make, or when she's going to find the time to make it", yadda yadda yadda. These are the moments when my mother goes into full on guilt trip mode like only a true Jewish mother knows how to do. I'm always amazed at how effortlessly she can pull you into an all agreeable trance where you'll agree to rebuild the Eiffel Tower if need be. My boys inform me that I too have this skill, yet compared to my mom, I'm merely an amature with much to learn. Anyhoo, I decided I'd make this for her to take and it was a huge hit!

The only part that caused me grief was the icing. I'm not real sure what I did to it, but I never could get it to thicken up so, I just poured it over top like a glaze. After being in the freezer for a day it transformed into some funky jelly type shield that seemed a bit like plastic on the tongue. Deeeeelicious! Seriously, after peeling off the chocolate vinyl layer it was pure heaven that would make your tummy do a happy jig. I do plan on making this again and again until I conquer that icing. And as God as my witness, I'll never eat chocolate vinyl again!


Edited to fix date error.

Frosty The MINTman-Starring Molly!

Yes it's true, that really is a TEENAGER SMILING! (she's going to kill me for this picture) The secret, my friends, is unbelievably cute snowman mints that you make yourself.

Here's what you need:

1 Tbsp softened butter (don't substitute)
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix together butter, syrup, salt, and mint, then gradually add the powdered sugar.

When it becomes too stiff to stir, knead with your hands.

Form dough into little balls to build snowmen. We added food coloring to some of the dough to make little hats and accessories for them. It turned out to be a giant pain in the arse so we turned to our handy dandy food markers and drew on buttons and just ate the rest of the colored mint dough. I do so love tasty mistakes.

After you have your little snowmen all decorated, put them in the fridge to harden.

Wakey Wakey Eggs N Bakey

It's one of those loverly mornings where the wind chill drops the otherwise "toasty" temperature of 16F down to 2F and I ask myself why the heck I still live in this abyss known as Oklahoma (there's a reason they had to GIVE the land away people!). Anyhoo, I feel like icky pewy yuck and start my morning with a tall glass of Orange Zest Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine. My body is just not in the mood to stand over a pan and cook eggs so I threw this baby together and surprisingly it tasted pretty darn good, so I thought I'd share. Please keep in mind that these measurements are my best guesstimation, because I just grabbed and tossed things while doing my best to keep Sam out of the sink, trash can, junk drawer, his sister's shoes, etc.

1/2 can crescent rolls
6 eggs
6 pieces cooked bacon
1/2 cup green peppers
2 tsp pepper
4 slices cheese

First zap 6 pieces of bacon in the microwave for about 5 mins (until cooked).
grease/spray 8x8 square dish.
unroll half of crescent roll package and place on the bottom of pan (save other half for pigs in a blanket for lunch, hee hee).
In bowl, mix eggs, green peppers, and crumbled bacon.
Pour over crescent rolls, sprinkle with pepper and cook at 425 for about 30 mins.
Remove from oven and top with cheese.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, just imagine a really yummy square omelet topped with bright orange cheese squares!

Operation Baking Gals-Captain Marcus Hampton

Round 5 of Operation Baking Gals is upon us just in time for Christmas! For those of you who've missed this in the past, Operation Baking Gals is a group of bakers who get together once a month and send care packages to our awesome men and women in the Armed Forces. It's great fun and I encourage everyone to get involved. Clink the linky link for more information.... LINKY LINK.

This round I joined the SugarBakerz team so that I could bake for Captain Marcus Hampton of the US Air Force, who is currently stationed in Qatar. I was told that he likes Red Velvet Cake and is quite partial to coffee. I really had no idea just how to get a full cake shipped to him properly and the thought of chopping it up into little bits to ship in sections just seemed wrong. So, very, very wrong. Anyhoo, after doing a little internet searching I ran across Red Velvet Cake Balls at Bakerella's bloggity blog. Really how did we ever do anything without the internet? Oh yeah, we read books. Never mind.

Have a gander at them. I decided to make them a little lumpy and imperfect to ensure they had that homemade feel. Yeah, that's it, just like I do with my gravy. Lumpy=Love!

I also made up some Coffee Brownie Bites which really are to die for!

Coffee Brownie Bites
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons instant coffee
1/3 cup powdered sugar (for topping)

Mix together butter, sugar eggs and vanilla. Beat in remaining ingredients until combined(except for powdered sugar).
Bake in mini muffin cups for 10 mins at 350F.
Once cooled dust with powdered sugar.

Of course what would a care package be without some Oatmeal Raisin cookies and Christmas colored M&M cookies? We then topped things off with some candy canes and my grandma's traditional Life Saver Christmas Sweet Story Book.

Again, I urge everyone to get involved in sharing some love with our troops.

If you happen to read this Captian Hampton, my family thanks you for everything you're doing to make the world a better place to be. Merry Christmas!

Italian Chicken Casserole

This was inspired from a recipe I found at Suite101.com. It sounded pretty good, except for the thought of cooking chicken in the spaghetti sauce. All I could think about was how runny and greasy that sauce would be. GAG-O-RAMA! So here's what I did instead:

This made enough for 2 dinners and base for soup, so you may want to cut it in half

6-7 russet potatoes about the size of your palm (well, my palm, because you weren't here to measure).
1 large yellow onion
2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp bullion
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup of water
1/4 cup white wine
1 Tbsp McCormick Roasted Garlic & Herb seasoning
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 jar (28 oz) spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded parmesan

Chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes, slice onions and toss both in bottom of crock pot.
sprinkle with black pepper and bullion
Slice chicken into strips and put on top of onions.
Add water, wine and garlic seasoning, then top with chopped red peppers.
Cook on low for 8 hours

Remove chicken to separate plate and spoon potatoes and onions with slotted spoon to put in the bottom of casserole dish. Top with 1/2 of spaghetti sauce and 1/2 of mozzarella. Add chicken & peppers and cover with remaining sauce and cheese. Let it sit for about 10 mins to melt the cheese before serving. Pour the broth and potato/onion/chicken/pepper remnants from crock pot into a bowl to cool in fridge. Once cooled, throw away fat layer and freeze as base for soup.

I really wasn't sure how this would turn out, but the family loved it. In fact, Molly had 3 helpings! We did all agree that it definitely needs some garlic bread to go with it though.

Let me see that Jelly Roll!

"To the left, to the left, to the right, to the right.
To the front, to the front, to the back, to the back.
Now dip baby dip, come on let's dip baby dip,
Cotton Candy sweet and low let me see that JELLY ROLL!"

Okay, okay, so it's Tootsie Roll, not Jelly Roll. It still made you do a little chair dance didn't it? I just couldn't help myself though. You see, I made a loverly little snacky poo that was just so gosh darn good that it deserved an intro song. I found this recipe while floating through the Blogosphere one day....in the merry merry month of May...... UGH, sorry, it's so distracting being me. Let's see, where was I? Oh yes, KIM and CO. I spent forever reading through her blog. It will make you laugh; it will make you cry; it will make you hungry; it may even make you want to have "Sparkle Babies". (to those of you who get that last joke, remember she warned you first, lol).

Here's the recipe straight off her blog. I'm not real sure if mine came out looking like they're supposed to, so I just closed my eyes while I scarfed them down.


JEWISH JELLY ROLLS
Prepare dough ahead - refrigerate overnight or until cool

Mix with mixer
2 sticks of butter
2 C. flour
1 sm. carton sour cream

Wow that was hard eh? Nite nite Miss Dough

*Separate into 4 balls, flatten to med. thin. (When you roll the dough, you want the dough to be longer than it is wide.) -Alrighty Kim, I think this bit of measurement was inserted just to drive my OCD side nuts. Just how thick is medium thin??
*Spread with strawberry jam, sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar and nut pieces (I use pecans).
*Roll up (you want to roll it so it remains long) and fold in ends, place seams on bottom of sprayed cookie sheet.
*Bake @ 350 degrees for approx. 40 min.
*When hot sprinkle with powdered sugar.
*Cool and cut into pieces.

I must admit I LOVED playing with this dough, which probably means that my end measurement of "medium thin" is more appropriate for paper not jelly rolls. Again, may not look right, but tasted amazing!

Thanks once again Kim!

Slow Cooker Candied Spice Pecans

I first had candied spice pecans at a concert at Red Rocks in Colorado about 9 years ago. The cutest little hippy girl was selling them in paper cones, which held about 1/2 cup of nuts, for $7. I'm pretty sure she was either a marketing major or the devil in disguise, because those things were YUMMMMMMMMMY and she sucked huge amounts of money from me.

Since that day, I've tried making them myself, because, as my BFF has informed me, I have DIY issues and believe if I can buy it, I can make it. Anyhoo, everytime I've tried making them, I've burnt the jeepers out of them and unfortunately, I still haven't gained a love for eating charcoal. The oven can be such a vicious sweets hating monster. But wait! Up on the counter... it's a foundue pot.... it's a giant potpurri warmer...NO, It's SUPER SLOW COOKER!

Ahhh, my time forgiving, go read a book while I cook, friend. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...... (while I'm busy counting the ways, go give these a try)

Slow Cooker Candied Spice Pecans
4 cups pecans
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon (plus a smidge or two for sprinkling)

Toss it all in the slow cooker for 30 min to let the butter melt(be sure to taste one, because they rock). Stir and cook on low for 2 hours(be sure to taste another one, because they rock). After the pecans have had their swim in gooey sweet goodness, spread them out on some parchment paper, give a light sprinkling of cinnamon and let them cool(be sure to taste yet another one, because they rock). After they've cooled, Proceed with devouring these addictive little gems.

Look how stinking cute they are all wrapped up and ready to give to Helen the Plumbing Diva from Home Depot who made the installation of my dishwasher possible.

Be Frugal or Burn in HELL!!!

Ok, so maybe it's not quite that bad, but I did have frugalism burned into my brain by Pastor John Hagee. Even though he says his church is a non-denominational evangelical church, he can preach some fire and brimstone like a Baptist preacher at a Wiccan convention, so you may want to wear a helmet to avoid head dents from bible thumping. Anyhoo, I saw one of his "keeper of the home" sermons and the point he made was that being careless with your money is the same as saying your life is insignificant. For example, let's say every night I over cook and end up throwing out $1.00 worth of leftovers. It may not seem like much, but let's say that my husband makes $10 an hour (hey, I like easy math, lol), after a year, I have thrown out $365 or 36 hours of his life.

Take a moment and let it sink in, I'll wait......

• $1 per day in trash=1 work week wasted
• 1 week that could've been spent, lying on the beach
• enough money for movie tickets for you and 34 of your best friends
• a super sweet new pair of shoes
• a Wii

Just think, all this could be yours if you'd just eat your leftovers.

So, let's say you're one of those people (like me) who enjoy a cup O' flavorishous java in the mornings and let's say that every morning on the way to work you stop and buy yourself an ex-large iced mocha latte with 2 shots of raspberry (not that I did that every morning for 2 high strung years). Now let's say that each cup of caffeine love cost $4 (yes, I'm pricing low, because "I can't handle the truth"). So $4 per day, 22 days a month, 12 months a year comes to a whopping.... hold on tight, this is ugly...

$1056.

Hurts, doesn't it? If you make it at home the cost is $.72 per day for the big as my head jumbo sized cup, or about $190 per year and a savings of $866. Which, btw, is enough to pay for a plane ticket from Los Angeles, CA to Abu Dhabi.

Please understand that being Frugal is not the same as being Cheap. Frugal is making wise choices with your money. Cheap is putting so much importance on money that you can't let any of it leave your hands. Let me share a few examples of the difference:

Frugal: making coffee at home. (click here for a few recipes)

Cheap: adding dirt to water to make it brown and trying to pass it off as coffee.

Frugal: wearing a sweatshirt and socks around the house and turning the thermostat down a notch.

Cheap: cutting down your neighbor's tree to use as kindling for a bonfire in your living room so you don't have to use the heater at all.

Frugal: mixing washing soda with your automatic dish soap to give it a boost and save some money.

Cheap: having the dogs lick the dishes "clean".

Frugal: taking turns carpooling with a friend to work or trips to the store.

Cheap: roof surfing the city bus "Teen Wolf" style to get around paying for a bus pass.

Frugal: making your own bath salts (click me for how tos)

Cheap: scrubbing up with spit and a washcloth.

Frugal: adding shredded veggies to ground beef to stretch the meal.

Cheap: adding shredded carboard found behind the grocery store to ground beef to stretch the meal.

Now that we all have a better grasp of frugalism, I challenge you all to find one simple way to save some money!

Cinnamon Roll Tweaker

The other day I was doing some reading on baking and ran across a discussion on subbing cottage cheese for milk in bread recipes. Being as I'm all about sneaking in yummy goodness wherever I can, I knew I had to give this a go. So join me now as we do a little cinnamon roll tweaking. Don't be scared of the words cottage cheese, take a deep breath and tell yourself, "protein is my friend". You can do this! I'll be right here for support, we'll get through it together!

Here's what you need:
DOUGH:
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp dry yeast
3 cups flour (I use half wheat/half white, you can use all of one or the other)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
FILLING/TOPPING:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped pecans (or chopped apples, or raisins, or whatever makes you happy)

*If you look close enough at the recycled piece of junk mail that I used to write my instructions (which I forgot to move before taking the picture) you'll also see my recipe for Lime Chicken marinade and Chocolate Scootcheroos. Sweet bonus eh?*

Ok, back to the rolls. First, proof the yeast by mixing it into the warm water and let it sit until it's bubbly (about 5 mins).

Meanwhile, mix the flours, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt together. Then cut the cottage cheese (hee hee cut the cheese, sheesh I'm a child) and butter into the flour until it forms loverly little clumps. Like so:

Now mix the egg and vanilla into the yeast water, then stir it into the flour mixture until absorbed. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. It will be crazy sticky, so you'll want to turn it a few times in the flour so it'll be easier to handle.
After giving it a flour coat, roll/smoosh it out into a 12x24 inch rectangle. Being as my rolling mat was attacked by rust from a freak leaky dishwasher accident and had to be thrown out, I had to cut the dough in half and roll it into two 12x12 squares.

Once you have the dough rolled, mix the melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together and spread evenly over the dough (I reserved a couple Tbsp of the mixture to drizzle over the top after it's done). Then top with the pecans, apple, raisin, whatever option.

Roll up the dough and cut into 1 inch pieces. Feel free to cut them larger and have fewer taller rolls. Let the power of the doughy goodness speak to your soul and led you towards how big of pieces it wants to be. Yeah man, let it be man.

Place the pieces into a greased pan (I use 2 round 8inch cake pans) and let them rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45-60 mins. You want to make sure not to crowd the rolls or the middles will get all cranky from being crowded and will pop up all funky wonky when you cook them. While we're waiting for them to rise, let me show you our solution to the "where's the silverware go?" problem:
Ta Dahhhhh. Cute eh? Just ignore the flour spillage. Baking is a powerful thing and you can't let yourself be confinded by flour tidiness. Sounds good anyway, doesn't it? Oh and while you're ignoring things, if you could just ignore the fact that there's only two clean forks and butter knives and not mention that I need to wash dishes. Thanks, you're cool like that!

Oh look, the rolls have risen and there was much rejoicing!

Now we pop them in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until light golden brown. Aren't they pretty and all cozy like?
After you take them out of the oven drizzle the remaining filling mixture over top and chow down!

And now for some food porn, bomp chicka bow wow:

yeah baby

that's it, own it

Whoooooa mamma

work it

I believe in miracles. Where you from? You sexy thing

C is for Cookie

Ohhhhh these are nummy nummy nummy. Did I mention they are nummy? This is actually a recipe from Nestle Toll House Very Best Baking. You simply must give these a go. Oy vay, are they nummy! Besides, chocolate is good for reducing stress. Let's just think of it as my way of looking out for your health. I'm here for ya!

Pudding Chip Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour and pudding mix in small bowl. Beat butter in large mixing bowl on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar and baking soda until well combined. Beat in egg and egg white. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool on baking sheets 2 to 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.