YUMMY Cinnamon Rolls

I actually remembered this time to take pictures and not only the final product of these wonderful cinnamon rolls but a step by step process of how to make these cinnamon rolls. I honestly have to say I have been on top of it lately and I am quite proud of myself! :) Not only on this blog but on my own blog!

Melt in your mouth Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients: (3 different bowls, 4 if you count your mixer bowl, such as the kitchen aid)

First bowl: medium

3 cups of milk

2 cubes of butter

Microwave for 4 minutes or until butter is melted - let it cool down for a little bit before mixing the yeast and flour mixture to it.

Second bowl: small

3 Tbls of yeast

1 tsp of sugar

1/4 cup luke warm water (make sure it's not too thick, add a tiny bit more water if it's clumpy)

Let it rise until it literally doubles in size (it will foam up)

Third bowl: large

1 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

6 cups flour (my mom and I both use all-purpose- the blue bag?)

Mix together thoroughly

plus 5-6 cups of more flour later - you will add this after mixing all the bowls together*- I am just making you aware that there is 12 cups of flour total not just 6 cups like I initially thought

If you are mixing it using a wooden spoon use the third bowl as your main mixing bowl.

If you are using a mixing machine (kitchen aid) use that bowl and start my pouring in the Milk/butter bowl (first bowl) then the flour mixture (third bowl) then the yeast.

* My kitchen aid is small so if you have a larger kitchen aid you should be fine, but in my experience I started in the kitchen aid and I eventually had to dump the dough back into the third bowl and finish mixing it by hand.

Having mixing all of the bowls together the dough will be very sticky. But you are not done yet.

Add 6 eggs to the mixture- mix well.......*then slowly add one cup at a time of flour (5-6 cups)- I usually put five cups of flour into the kitchen aid then put the dough back into the large bowl then add the last cup. If you haven't already, place the dough back into the third bowl to let it rise. Once you add the 6th cup try not to handle the dough to much.

Before:

So try and mix the dough as gently as you can. The dough should be really soft. Not firm like homemade pizza dough. Soak a kitchen towel with very hot wa

ter (as hot as you can stand) and place on top of bowl, over the dough. Let it rise for at least 2 hours. It will double in size

After:

This is my third bowl or large bowl - Can you see the difference? - it doubled in size

Pull a third of the dough out of the bowl and place on a generously floured counter or table top. Gently roll out the dough using your hands not a rolling pin. You don't want to flatten the raised dough too much. Like I said earlier, try not to handle to much. It will look like a long oval.

Pour melted/soft butter on top, I like to use my hands, it's faster. Sprinkle Brown sugar (with my hands) and cinnamon on top of oval dough. You can also add nuts or raisins at this time if you like.

Roll up dough into a circle. Cut dough with dentalfloss. Just place under rolled dough, cross and slice. Do not cut with a knife, all that you will manage to do is flatten the dough. You want the dough to be soft and fluffy. I would make the slices smaller then I did. You will see how big I made them.

Before:

Place sliced cinnamon rolls on a greased cookie sheet. Let it rise another hour. I just let it rise over night. I did everything up to the point of letting it rise some more. That way you can wake up and all you have to do its put them in the oven.

After:

There's not a huge difference here but you can see that they grew a little bit. I made the cinnamon rolls to the right a little too big. Unless you like them big. I was able to make 2 dozen rolls but if you were to make them smaller I am sure you could make 3 dozen.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the rolls look slightly brown.

Take out of the oven and brush melted butter on top. Drizzle glaze on top

Glaze:

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl milk

A little bit of vanilla extract

Powder sugar (just keep adding powder sugar until you get a thick consistency. You don't want it too runny, but you want it runny enough to allow it to drizzle.

The FINAL Product! YUMMY!

The best Quesadilla Triangles EVER!!

These are the best quesadilla's I have ever had. Even the sauce for it is amazing. (sauce is to the left of picture)

This recipe is made to serve 8 people - 16 flour tortillas but I've cut it down to 4 people (8 tortillas) and 2 people (4 tortillas) so it's possible. And they are so filling I am only able to eat one, if I eat two I am stuffed. I got this recipe from "In the Kitchen - The Costco way". Jeff and I went to Costco one weekend and they were handing out free cookbooks which have fantastic recipes using Costco products and this was one of them. I improvised the recipe a little bit because I don't buy everything at Costco so I will give you both recipes.

6 MorningStar Farms* Chipotle Black Bean Burger, Garden Veggie Patties or Gardenburger The Original, thawed (I just cooked enough chicken for the amount of people eating, shredded it and sprinkled poultry seasoning on top- very simple).
1 each red, yellow, and green bell peppers, cut in 1/8 inch dice
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese (this I do buy at Costco- it's cheap compared to grocery stores)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (also buy at Costco) ( I add 1 cup if I don't have Montery jack cheese)
1/2 cup shredded Montery jack cheese ( I have never added this because I don't buy this cheese on a regular basis, but I am sure it will taste very if you were to add it)
1 cup roasted tomato salsa ( I just use 1 cup of the brand Pace salsa - I actually buy a huge container of this at Costco, but you can also buy a smaller jar at any grocery store and I am sure any brand of your favorite salsa would work too)
16 10-inch flour tortillas
Melted Butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress F
2. Cut thawed burgers into 1/4 inch diced ( like I said above I just shred chicken and add a little poultry seasoning)
3. In a large bowl, combine burger (chicken), peppers, cheese and salsa. Mix thoroughly and set aside
4. Cut each tortilla into a 7-inch triangle - ( I don't like to waste tortilla even if it may be a little bit easier to handle- you could try both ways - their way or I like to fold in what i would have cut off then wrap the rest of the tortilla around the filling to make a triangle. I hope that makes sense, if not I can try and explain again in the comments.
5. Place about a little less than half a cup of filling in each triangle; fold each corner into the center, overlapping one another.
6. Brush quesadillas with melted butter and cook in a nonstick pan over medium heat until browned, about 1 min per side. Place in the oven for 5 min (I leave it in till the cheese is melted, which takes about 10-15 min) or until heated through

Cilantro lime sour cream Dipping sauce
4 oz sour cream
1 1/2 Tbls freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 tsp. each: ground cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and mix well
( When I had 4 people over for dinner this was not enough so I would make double if you have more people)Here's a little bit of closer look on how I wrapped it. If you have any questions please comment.

Trifle ( It honestly needs a new name for how good it really was)

I made this for my 2nd anniversary and it was absolutely delicious!!!

1 (3oz) package of strawberry gelatin (jello)
1 (3.4 oz) package instant cheesecake pudding mix* (Jeff doesn't like cheesecake so I used Vanilla)
1 (11 oz) angel food cake loaf
2 cups of strawberries
2 med bananas
Blueberries - this wasn't in the recipe but I add some anyways- it was really good
1/2 pint whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Mix jello according to pkg. directions. Refrigerate until slightly thickened. (I put 3/4 cup boiling water, 1/2 cup cold water, and ice cubes- it helps it thicken a lot faster - remove remaining ice cubes)
2. Mix pudding mix according to pkg directions. Set aside.
3. Cut angel food cake in half. Break up one half the cake and place in 3 quart trifle bowl- ( I just used a big glass bowl- whether it was trifle bowl or not I have no idea)
4. Cap, wash and slice strawberries into halves. Sprinkle one cup berries over cake in bowl (this is also where I added the blueberries)
5. Pour one cup thickened jello over cake and fruit.
6. Slice one banana over mixture in bowl. Top with half of pudding.
7. Whip cream in small mixing bowl with sugar and vanilla
8. Spread whipped cream over pudding layer.
9. Repeat layers, ending with whipped cream and garnish with extra berries, if desired (I also as added blueberries on top as you can see)

*Substitute vanilla or white chocolate instant pudding mix, if preferred

Blueberry Cream Muffins (with streusel topping)

Hello!! It has been far too long since there has been a new post on this blog. My excuse is that I've been having computer issues...but the truth is, like many excuses, it is only an excuse. There was nothing keeping me from looking for my lost camera cord. Ah well! I finally did find it, and that's what matters, I suppose.

I've looked through my camera, and I have seven wonderful recipes to share with you. I think I'll start with the most recent though, because it is pretty much my favorite of them all.

Here in Oregon, it is blueberry season! It is so cool to go and pick your own blueberries (for the fraction of what they normally cost at the grocery store)! I went picking for the first time last week, and they were delicious. I barely had enough left for baking after all the berries James and I ate...in fact, I actually didn't have enough, so I supplemented with frozen blueberries.

Anyway, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I actually combined two recipes and a couple comments from users. Here's what I ended up with:

Blueberry Cream Muffins with Streusel Topping
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. white sugar
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. oil
1 t. vanilla
2 c. sour cream
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
4 c. flour
3 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Streusel topping:
1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin pan(s) by lining with paper liners or greasing the pan.

Beat eggs. Gradually stir in sugar (both kinds), while still beating. Stir in oil, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Add salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.* Gently stir in flour. Do not overmix; stir until just combined (batter will be slightly lumpy). Carefully fold in blueberries.

Prepare streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients together. I started with a fork, but quickly set it aside and just mixed with my hands. Mix until crumbly.

Fill muffin liners all the way to the top. This recipe makes 24 large (bakery sized) muffins, so you don't need to worry about running out of batter. Sprinkle streusel topping generously on each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I almost took my first batch out too early. I found that it took about 24 minutes in my oven. I tested the muffins by using a toothpick; when it came out clean, they were done.

*Of course, the original recipe has you mix together the dry ingredients separately. Feel free to do this if you want. I'm just lazy. ;)


Here are links to the main recipe that I used: Blueberry Cream Muffins. I used the suggestions of the commenter MommyFromSeattle (her comment is on the top right now).