Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Okay, so here's the thing about me. I love pizza. I also love cinnamon rolls. It's a toss up between the two. So that's why I felt like a genius when I came up with my Pizza Cinnamon Rolls. But enough of all that. I'm just here to tell you, that I used to make the best cinnamon rolls. You know, back before I went to no sugar, and no white flour. Since then, I have been more than a little bit scared to make cinnamon rolls. There is absolutely no way I was going to mess with something that "sacred".:)

But. I love cinnamon rolls.

I can honestly say that I have never posted a recipe so hesitantly. Just because of the way cinnamon rolls are. Make them good, or don't make them at all. I know I'm not the only person with those feelings. But, I have finally decided that I have a recipe good enough to share. They aren't the same. I will admit that. I have to be honest. But, I can tell you that they will be the best cinnamon rolls of their kind you have ever tasted. They are definitely worth making, and definitely a keeper. They are 100% whole wheat. 100% sugar free...and 100% delicious. They are gooey, and moist...everything a cinnamon roll should be, without the junk, or the guilt.

Recipe

1 1/14 cups of hot water
1/4 cup of cold milk
2 Tablespoons of instant yeast
6 Tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 cup of honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon of salt
3 Tablespoons of wheat gluten* (optional)
4 - 4 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour*
[I always use fresh ground whole wheat flour, which acts differently than when you buy it pre-ground. So I apologize if you have to end up messing with this measurement a bit.]
Filling

1/2 cup of softened butter
1/2 cup of honey
3 Tablespoons of cinnamon
(or more, I generally dump til it tastes right)
3 teaspoons of whole wheat flour

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, Combine water and milk, add yeast  and dissolve.  Blend in butter, honey, egg and salt. Add 2 cups of flour and gluten. [*the gluten definitely makes the dough smoother, but I have done the recipe both ways, and it's delicious both ways.] Beat until smooth. Gradually add enough of the remaining flout  to make a sticky, yet manageable dough. [you don't want to add too much flour...because the stickier the dough, the moister the roll. Also, keep in mind that whole wheat flour makes the dough "thicker" the more you knead it.] Knead 10-12 minutes. Place in a warm greased bowl, turning to coat the top, Cover and let rise 20-30 minutes.

For the filling: in a small bowl beat together butter, honey, cinnamon and flour, until creamy and combined.

[These cinnamon rolls are a lot messier to make than other cinnamon rolls because of the filling. So here's a tip: Lay down 2 sheets of wax paper, making sure they're overlapping, and grease them. The dough doesn't stick, and you don't have to worry about cleaning the mess up afterwards...just pick it up and throw it away. You can thank me later.] Roll out dough into a rectangle, and spread the cinnamon mixture on top...to about a half inch from the edges of the rectangle. Use all of the filling. Roll up the dough, and cut into 1-1 1/2 slices. Depending on how big you want your rolls. I generally use a serrated knife for this. Just make sure to have some paper towels on hand, or something to wipe the blade off...because the filling sticks to everything. It also helps to grease the knife.

Place rolls in greased pan and let rise until doubled. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and butter tops. Add icing of choice and enjoy!
This recipe makes 16 rolls.


Here is the recipe I use for the icing. But feel free to use whatever you like best. 
Coffee Maple Glaze

1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Corn Starch
1/3-1/2 cups of honey
(I don't know the exact measurement, I just add honey until it's as sweet as I want.)

combine everything in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and cool. Add 1/2 cup of softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon of coffee flavoring, and 1/4 teaspoon of maple extract. (You can also add in cream cheese if you want.) Beat until well combined. Spread over cinnamon rolls.

So there you go. I hope you Enjoy!
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Sugar Free Strawberry Freezer Jam (Using Honey instead of Sugar or Splenda)

Okay, so as I mentioned in my last post, I had lots of strawberries, and I wanted to make some jam. Without sugar. But I don't believe in Splenda or all those other artificial sweeteners. I think they're just as bad for you as the real deal, and in my opinion not nearly as good. So I use honey. That is my sweetener of choice. And really, the flavor it adds to stuff, starts to grow on you after awhile. :)

Like this Strawberry Jam. Honestly, I like it far better than regular Strawberry Jam. You know, the jam that calls for 4 cups of Sugar and 2 cups of strawberries...to make 3-4 pints of jam. That's at least one whole cup of sugar, per pint...and only half a cup of strawberries! The suggested serving size for jam, is one Tablespoon. (who actually only uses only 1 tablespoon of jam?) Ok. So...There are 2 cups in a pint, and 16 Tablespoons in a cup. So, there's 32 servings of jam per pint. So let's see...that would make 1/2 Tablespoon of Sugar, and 1/4 Tablespoon of Strawberries. That isn't even one whole Strawberry.

So here's a visual for you...this is what this looks like...in black and white.

I took 1/2 Tablespoon of Sugar, and then smashed up one small strawberry...making a little over 1/4 Tablespoon of Strawberries. Do you see that? That's crazy!! I don't know about you, but I would never eat the bread in the above picture...much less feed it to my child. But, honestly, that's what we're doing! Okay. I'm all grossed out right now. So. Now that we have this out of the way...here's a much better version. :)

I originally was looking for some "No Sugar Needed Sure Jell". But I couldn't find any, and I was in a hurry. So I grabbed a pink box of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin, with No Sugar Needed Recipes inside. But ew. You had to cook the jam, and it called for Splenda. One of the main things that attracted me to this particular one was that it called for 4 cups of Strawberries, and only 3 cups of sugar. All I did, was followed the recipe exactly as it was in the box. Substituting honey for the sugar...and adding one ingredient into it. :)
So here you go.

Recipe:

4 Cups of crushed Strawberries
2 1/2 -3 cups of Honey
one box of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin
4 Tablespoons of Cornstarch

Wash and rinse your containers and lids.Rinse and hull your strawberries, and then crush them in a food processor or blender. Measure exact amount of fruit into a bowl. Measure Honey into a saucepan and stir in one box of Sure Jell. Mix well. Add one cup of water. Combine 4 Tablespoons of Cornstarch in 4 Tablespoons of water. Mix until cornstarch is totally dissolved. Add to the Honey and Sure Jell mixture. Bring to a full rolling boil. Stirring constantly. Boil for one full minute. Mixture should be nice and thick.
Pour into bowl of strawberries, Stir until combined. Fill prepared containers. Leaving about a 1/2 inch space at the top for expansion during freezing. Let Stand at room temperature for 24 hrs, until set. Refrigerate up to 3 wks. Otherwise store them in the freezer for up to a year.

This recipe made 4 pints of Jam.

Enjoy!

Here are some other suggestions for strawberries: Strawberry Salsa, Strawberry Honey Butter

And if you don't have a great bread recipe, go here: Whole Wheat Bread Recipe. This recipe is very versatile, and delicious.

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Strawberry Salsa

So It's strawberry season! YAY! :) There are few things more delicious, and summer, than a fresh warm strawberry. They're so red...and juicy...and...good. :) But the fact is, by the time strawberry season is saying it's final goodbye's, even the most ardent of strawberry lovers, can walk by a dish of fresh strawberries without a second look...or even a bite. It's sad. But true.

So this kinda tends to make you want to run, and scream. But not from the joy of having more strawberries than you need. It's more like a scream of frustration and terror. A run aimlessly directed...anywhere. So long as it gets you away from the strawberries. The molding strawberries. The squishy bruised strawberries. The slightly unripe strawberries. The giant strawberries that poured all of their energy into becoming the largest one of the pack, and seemingly none of their energy into becoming flavorful. Those strawberries are cruel and misled. So you're running away from that bowl of strawberries. Your screaming from the injustice of it all. You're deeply desiring to bury these strawberries. Well, at least that's how I get.

But anyway. Back to the subject.

So basically yesterday I spent most of the day with my mother in law and sister in law's making strawberry jam. I didn't make any. Because I was horrified at how much sugar it took. So I smugly watched from the sidelines and ran the timer for them. "Stop STIRRING! Your minute is up!" "Hey! You're supposed to stir the ENtire 3 minutes. Don't stop now, you have 17 seconds left." Yeah. So in the end I took home a large bowl full of strawberries to make my own, much less deadly jam. ;) Which, I made this morning. But I have to wait til tomorrow to see if it turned out. :) I only made one batch, no use helplessly flopping several batches of jam. Needless to say, I had quite a few strawberries left over.

So I made Strawberry Salsa.

I love fresh salsa. I love all things salsa. I can eat salsa by the spoonfuls. And if you have never had strawberry salsa, you are missing out. It's rather incredible. [on a side note, I've now written salsa so many times that I'm no longer sure if I'm spelling it correctly.]

It's sweet...and strawberry-y... and salsa-y. And awesome. GO TRY IT NOW!

Oh wait. You need the recipe. About that. Growing up my younger bro Veldon, was the one who made the strawberry salsa in the family. He made the best. [But that's probably because he was the only one that ever made it.] So I never recall seeing the recipe. So I sorta just felt it...ya know?

Recipe:
4-5 cups of finely chopped strawberries
1 chopped large green pepper
1 medium sized red onion finely chopped
1/2 of a large jalapeno (or however much you want) minced
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 small lime juiced
1 small lemon juiced
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2-3Tablespoons of Honey (or to taste)
A little bit of Crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 -4 hrs. (Or skip that part and just eat it all up right away.)
Serve with tortilla chips, or cooked chicken, or turkey, or pork...or...the options are as endless as they are delicious.

I put mine in jars to freeze. It made about 2 1/2 pints. Also! I found this really awesome place online where you can customize and print off your own labels! For free! You can choose from 5 different designs, and 3 different colors. So that's what I did. As you can see in the above picture. I just printed them on regular copy paper. Tediously cut them out. (the only drawback) Then, I "glued" them on with milk! It worked like a charm. :) I have yet to see if the label will stay on once I freeze it, but oh well. It looks cool right now. :) I'm letting them set out for awhile, so the flavors mix, before I freeze them. I like freezing stuff like salsa and jam's, better than canning them. Because they're fresher tasting when you go to eat them.  
Here is the link: Jam Labelizer

So yeah! There you go! Please try it. Really. It's one of my favorites. Let me know how it turns out and what you think of it!

If you want to know of another good way to use up excess strawberries, you could always make strawberry honey butter! Recipe here: Strawberry Honey Butter


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Pizza? Stromboli? A Cinnamon Roll? What???!

Hello, hello, hello, hello! Okay. I said hello enough times it was becoming annoying. But wow! Here I am again.

Who all out there has Saturday night for their designated pizza night? If you do, you're awesome. Almost as awesome as pizza.

I love pizza.

That being said, I like Stromboli just about as much. Just because it's a little easier to eat on the go. Maybe it's just me, but that's what I think.

But my problem is...Stromboli takes forEVER to bake. Seriously. I can't ever get it done totally. Yeah. That's my own personal battle that you don't need to know about. But now that you do...you may as well know that I didn't make that up. I just never can seem to get it done...without burning the bottom of it or something.

In my life, it's a little crazy. I often don't have a lot of time to prepare meals... So everything I make generally takes me 30 minutes or less.

Last night was no different. I was gone all day...and then all of the sudden my Marlin was gonna be home sooner than I thought and then we needed to be somewhere at 7:00. Do you ever have those moments where you look at your cupboards and frig full of ingredients and you have absolutely no idea how you're ever going to be able to figure out what to make? I do it all the time. Some days I'm sure I've run out of ideas and we'll slowly just starve. It's like writers block...but it's food block instead...and the stakes are higher.

So as I was staring at all the ingredients I had surrounding me, I started mentally going through the different things I could make. But seriously. Have you ever tried to figure out something to make, when you're hungry for something else? Yeah. I wanted pizza. I always want pizza. So that's nothing new. But I really wanted pizza. I threw the idea out because it'd be too messy for on the go. Next idea. Stromboli. No. Not a good idea. It's take forever to get done. But I for some reason started tossing together some pizza dough and next thing I new I had rolled it out and had things all set up to make Stromboli. But then I came to my sense. Duh, it's never worked before...now is not the time to try it again. There has to be food ready to go when he walks through that door.

Then it hit me.

This is what I came up with.

It was brilliant. It was genius. It was fast. It was easy...it was delicious.

So. Preheat the oven and mix together your favorite pizza dough recipe. I had instant yeast so I didn't even worry about letting it raise twice. After I mixed it up I let it sit while I gathered the stuff to put in it. Normal pizza stuff.
I think I had Turkey Pepperoni, Turkey Bacon, Hamburger, Mushrooms, Onions, Green Peppers and Beef sausage.
This is where it really helps to have things made up ahead of time and stuck in the freezer. All of my meat was already cooked and ready, and my cheese was already grated. So I just had to pull them out of the freezer and thaw them a little, and then cut my fresh veggies.
Then I lightly greased the area I'd be rolling the dough out and sprinkled it with cornmeal. Doing the same to the cookie sheet I baked them on.
I then rolled the dough out into a rectangle like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls. I was in a hurry so I didn't even bother making it perfect. I sprinkled more cornmeal on top of the dough before I spread the pizza sauce on..to keep it from soaking into the dough and get some of the moisture. Then I threw on all my toppings and rolled it up like a cinnamon roll. Cut it into even slices and placed them on the cookie sheet. From there I popped them right into the oven, without waiting for it to raise. Hey, I was in a hurry.

I baked them for 20-25 minutes, and a couple minutes before I pulled them out I put on the  "icing"...okay, before you gross out...I sprinkled some cheese over it. Let it melt...and then remove from the oven. Seriously. These can be eaten immediately and they don't fall apart. Also, they weren't in the least bit heavy and flat from not being allowed to raise. They turned out perfect. And start to finish It only took me 30 minutes. [granted, I can whip up pizza stuff really quickly.]

I'll share the pizza dough recipe I used for this.
Recipe

2 teaspoons of honey
1 3/4 cups of warm water
1 Tablespoon of Instant yeast
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of whole wheat
1- 1 1/4 cups flour of your choice
(I have done it all whole wheat but I like mixing flours)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

In a large mixing bowl add your yeast. Dissolve honey in your warm water. [this makes it easier to mix the honey in, as it kinda melts] Mix well with yeast. Allow yeast to bubble slightly. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Adding more flour if needed. Lightly grease the pan your going to be baking it on, and sprinkle with cornmeal, doing the same to the surface you'll be using to roll the dough out. Roll out dough into desired shape. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal and spread with sauce. Add toppings. Roll up. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
[If you're going to be making pizza Sprinkle the dough with cornmeal and bake in oven for 7-8 minutes... allow to cool, Then add sauce and toppings. Bake for another 10-12 minutes until pizza is done]

[This recipe makes 2 thin crust pizza's. For the Cinnamon roll pizza I used all of the dough.]

There ya have it! These would also work well for appetizers...like if you made miniature ones. I think they'd be so cute! I'm totally going to do that next time. :)

Question: What is your favorite fast and easy meal to make?


I linked up with successful2gether

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Chocolate Fruit Pizza. [with gluten-free crust]

Okay, So the other day I decided to finally try out an idea that had been churning around in my mind for quite awhile now. A twist on a classic. A fruit pizza, with a chocolate "sauce", instead of the normal white cream cheese stuff. I also wanted a crust that wasn't super sweet and all sugary.

You know, next time, I'm actually going to have lots of awesome fruit on hand when I decide to make a fruit pizza. Instead of just strawberries and kiwis. Even though I absolutely love both of those. But I guess one of the main things about this blog is that I promote using ingredients you have on hand. Since I just so happened to have a pile of strawberries and kiwis about to go bad on me, I suppose I did live up to my motto.

But really, I do wish I would've had more, awesome fruit.

But anyway! Here is what I came up with.

My Marlin loves coconut. So for the crust I used 4 cups of unsweetened coconut, 2 cups of almond flour, a cup of butter, and about a half a cup of honey. I really just added the honey until it had the sweetness I wanted. And did you hear that? It's gluten free! Yeah. I  felt proud of myself. It wasn't even intentional.

So yeah. You mix all of that up and spread it evenly onto your pan and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

While that is baking slice up your fruit. I really don't have any idea how much I used. Between me eating it, and slicing more up, and Marlin coming in and randomly snitching a pile...wow. Yeah. No idea. So really, just feel it. It's not that difficult.

When the crust comes out. You want to make sure that it's pretty much completely cooled before you put your cream cheese mixture on it...otherwise it will make the whole thing all runny and....ewww. Honestly, I feel your pain. You have no idea how much I sincerely desired to just put the sauce on when it was still lukewarm. I mean, I was really excited about this idea...and I'm not a patient person to begin with. Just, chill. Take some deep breaths...and check the temperature outside or something. Or facebook, or pinterest....or eat some more of your carefully sliced fruit. Because trust me, simply mixing up the cream cheese, coconut milk, honey, and cocoa powder will not take long enough to make this crust cool.

You could also try holding the pan up in the air and swooshing it around like an airplane in an effort to cool it faster. But then you risk losing the pan. Plus, pans can retain an amazing amount of heat. And you could get burnt. Not like I'd know or anything. Ahem. Cough.

So yeah. Once the crust is finished cooling you want to spread the cream cheese on evenly, and top with your fruit. Make it look cool. Or not. :)

Recipe

Crust:
4 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes
2 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup of honey (or to taste)
1 cup of softened butter (two sticks)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix everything together and press onto lightly greased pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely.

Sauce:
1-2 8 oz packages of softened cream cheese
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of cocoa powder. (or until it's as chocolate-y as ya want it)
Honey to taste
1/2 banana
(I added the banana for a little extra sweetener. this is totally optional. Ok, I'll be totally honest. I actually just had one very ripe banana that I managed to only eat half of before I was totally grossed out by it... so I threw it into the mix. I wouldn't recommend putting in more unless you want a really banana flavor to the whole thing. P.S. I hate really ripe bananas.)


Mix well and spread onto crust.

Top with Fruit of your choice.

Enjoy at your leisure. :)

Question: Do you have any cute Ideas to make garnishes out of fruit? I really wanted to do something with the kiwis but couldn't figure out how to turn one into a flower or something. ;) I tried to do one like this kiwi flower but I'm afraid I totally failed...either that or it's going to take a little more practice. So I just went back to my strawberry flower. :)

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Healthy Chocolate Mousse! [ & A new look for me????]

Do you wanna know what I did yesterday? I helped my Marlin frame up a deck...or whatever it's called...you know, like, put up the frame of the deck...so the deck structure is there, but the boards aren't on or the rail? yeah. I think it's called a deck frame. If it's not. Too bad. You get the picture.

But seriously! I think guys are strong. Like, stronger than you actually think they are. Because, I've always considered myself to be a strong girl. Maybe even stronger than I thought I was. ;) Yesterday kinda made me take a second look at that. But let's not focus on that. How morbid. Anyway! About the guy's being strong thing.

We were putting up these 2 by 12's around the edge...and then 2 by 10's for the floor joists. AND IT HURT!  Okay. now that I put that out there, I feel better. So what happened was: I stood on a ladder in the middle of the structure. (on the ground of course) and Marlin had the edge. He handed one end of the board up to me and then carried the other end up his side of the ladder. Then we held them up. (above my head, mind you. yeah, SUPERWOMAN!) and he lined his end up with whatever he was lining it up with, and then managed to hold his end of the HEAVY board up with one hand and wrestled the nail gun up there and nail his end in. (I say "wrestled" because that's what I would do. It actually was pretty effortless on his part.) Then He would climb down and come over to my end of the board and do the same thing over. Repeat process, repeat process, repeat process....um, yeah. Your getting the point.

You wanna know something? I seriously thought I was going to drop my end of the board every time! It just got heavier and heavier. I'll bet I'm several inches shorter now. But it got me thinking. How many times have I watched my dad and bros...and a few other guys do something like that and act like it was no biggie. When, hello? It IS a biggie. Just saying. I really do think they're stronger than I think they are. Which, really leaves me with a dilemma...because now I have no clue how strong they are! Oh, and My Marlin? He's stronger than all of them. (I just had to say that. You understand, I hope.)

Alright! Enough of that. Yay!

I'm so excited right now. I actually feel like, a genius or something. I always get so happy when I learn something new...something that I thought was hard, but turned out easy. I learned this last night at like, midnight. Yeah. My poor Marlin...he had to put up with me being all excited about this.

But here it is! I always thought the fish tail braid was super creepy looking. Like, idk, it sorta looks like a rattle snakes tail. But when I found out how easy it was, I decided to do it anyway. And it actually isn't that bad. It kinda grows on you. Besides, when you run your hand down the length of the "braid"? It's super trippy feeling. Seriously. That alone is worth the work. :) I'm not good at it yet. This is only my second try. But here ya go.

Once I took a good long look at it. I decided that the best look to go with this weird braid...is like, the hippy style. So Basically, I think all you need to do for this style is just throw on some bright colors and a flowy skirt. Then do the braid thing...and make sure you just have random hairs hanging out. Which for me is not a problem. My hair just doesn't enjoy staying where I put it. Then! This the tricky part. Grab all of your colorful bracelets and a couple necklaces and throw it all on....after I did all of that... I felt like I should be out in the middle of the meadow meditating in the early morning sunshine or something. So I went and peaced out for awhile. I really think I need to work on my meditative form though. But bear with me, it's a work in progress....and of course no rush! But wow. Now I feel like my mellow has been put in place for the day.

I really think I could work this look....or not? I mean. For today, anyway. Tomorrow I might be something else...because I won't have the braid. But, it's a good thought.

Okay! Okay. Focus Vonda. Focus. I'm very focused right now. Recipe. Mousse, recipe. Healthy, Mousse recipe. Got it.

Awhile back I found this recipe for a Vegan Chocolate Mousse. Quite frankly, I was fascinated. I just had to make it. I mean, it has...wait for it: Avocado's in it! How weird is that anyway? Yeah. Pretty weird. I mean, I love guacamole...it's so green, and, well, green. But, guacamole, in chocolate? Seriously? WHAT?! Now I realize, avocados aren't guacamole. But be honest, I am not the only one that immediately associates the two. So this recipe is so cool me. Especially since it worked. :) Plus, it only takes like 5 minutes to make.

Recipe
4 ripe organic avocados. halved, pitted, and with their flesh scooped out.
3/4 Cup of Cocoa Powder
3/4- 1 cup of Raw Organic Agave Nectar (or to taste)
3 Tablespoons of Raw Almond butter, (or 1/4 cup of coconut cream)
2 Tablespoons of Raw Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
(I did NOT like it with the cinnamon. I just added more vanilla. But it's your choice.)
pinch of sea salt

Place all ingredients in a high speed blender and puree until smooth. You might need to get a spatula and scrape the sides a few times and pulse. Because the mixture gets very thick.
Refrigerate for 2 hours and Serve!

So seriously! Now answer me, How awesome is that? Very awesome! Totally guilt free too. And you seriously cannot taste the avocados. :)

Speaking of Avocados [aka guacamole]: What is your favorite spring/summer time chip dip? :)
I love fresh salsa and.....guacamole. :)



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Turkey Bacon & Feta Cheese Salad With Bonus Honey Butter Rolls

Alright! I'm almost done updating these promised recipes. I can't wait! I've been making some pretty cool stuff. But I have to get this out of the way first! :)

So first up is the salad. This salad was delish. Honestly. Another thing is...I didn't follow or use a recipe. :) But if you can't make it just with knowing the ingredients and "feeling it"...I'm sorry. I'll try and do the approximate with everything. :)

Okay. Baby Spinach. Turkey Bacon. Feta Cheese. Bosc Pears. Baby Bella Mushrooms. Hardboiled  Eggs. Red Onion.
So just use however much spinach you want. Cause I have no clue on this one.
Approx half a package of cooked and cut turkey bacon.
2 Baby Bella Mushrooms per plate.
1 1/2 hard boiled eggs per plate.
Half of a red onion distributed between the two.
Sprinkle with as much Feta Cheese as you want.
Half a Bosc pear. Slice it. And garnish each plate with one half.
Sprinkle lightly with Pepper.
Drizzle with Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Enjoy! :)

So next up is some Honey Butter Rolls. :) Super Easy. Fast. Delicious. I'm really sorry that Once again, I didnt take many pics. Mainly, after they came out of the oven pics. I was just in a hurry to get everything set on and served before it got cold...that I sorta forgot.

I also used White Whole Wheat Flour in these instead of Whole Wheat. I realize that yes, White Whole Wheat is not as "healthy" of an option. So for the longest time I just didn't use it. But I have done a lot of research on different flours...and decided that know. In the end it isn't necessarily the "unhealthiest" flour of the two. True, Whole Wheat Flour contains approximately 5% more protein than White Whole Wheat does, and it has tannins and phenolic acids...whereas White Whole Wheat does not. But! White Whole Wheat has considerably less gluten content. So if you are trying to monitor gluten, the fact that it's lacking 5% of the protein value, is outweighed by the benefits of less gluten. That however, is just my opinion. If you decide to buy White Whole Wheat Flour, make sure it's organic.

Recipe

1 Tablespoon of Instant Yeast
1 1/8 cups of warm water
3 cups of White Whole Wheat Flour
 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
3/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of softened butter (1 cube)
1/4 cup of dry milk

Dissolve Yeast in Water & Honey. Let set for approx 15 minutes or until the yeast has started to bubble and expand. Add remaining ingredients to mixture and mix and knead until you have a smooth dough. It is going to be sticky.
Set in a greased bowl and let raise until doubled in size.
(I was in a hurry so I just skipped this step. They probably would've been fluffier if I wouldn't have.)
Lightly grease your desired pan, and form dough into even balls. Space evenly on pan and let rise until double. While they are rising preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stick in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and immediately butter the tops and sides. Serve warm, with your choice of jam. :)

So there ya go!

Question: "Do you have a tried and true dinner roll recipe or do you enjoy trying out different recipes?"


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Lemon, Rosemary & Garlic Roasted Game Hens

Okay. First things first. ;) I passed my test!!!! Yay! Seriously! I'm so happy right now....I got this cool certificate....and cool card...and cool little First Responder patches...and it awesome! Even though I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the patches...they're still cool. That's how happy I am. I also got a WAY better grade than I thought I would. Which is also...well, very cool. But no, it wasn't a 100% so you cannot know what it actually was.

Second thing. I apologize for my complete lack of pictures...but I was rather in a hurry when I made this meal...so I didn't have time to take lots of pictures. So yeah, sorry.

I would apologize for taking so long on an update...(again!) But, it's my blog...and seeing as how it's my blog, I get to update it when I have time/feel like it. Life is getting much busier. That's all.

First up: The Awesome Cornish Game Hens!

These are so simple to make, and absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making these again. They take about 45 minutes to cook. So without further ado (or pictures) here is the recipe:

Recipe

2 Cornish Game Hens
1 lemon quartered
2 Tablespoons of Rosemary
(or more if you really like Rosemary)
1/2 cup of olive oil
6 or 7 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of white wine
1/3 cup of chicken broth
fresh rosemary sprigs for a garnish
[if you have fresh rosemary..if not use whatever you want]Oh! And salt and pepper to taste. :)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Get yourself a roaster or an oven safe dish.
Put the hens in that dish. ;) Okay. I'm going to be serious now.
Quarter your lemons and put two quarters in the cavity of each hen. Put a Tablespoon of Rosemary in there too. Or if you have fresh Rosemary, like a sprig or two. Mix your salt and pepper into about a 1/4 cup of olive oil and rub onto the hens...I added more pepper after that. Arrange your Garlic cloves around the hens and put in preheated oven, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees F and in a mixing bowl whisk together the wine, chicken broth and remaining olive oil...then pour the mixture over the hens. Cover the hens (or don't, I don't care.) and put them back in for approx. 25 minutes. Or until they're a nice golden brown and the juices are running clear. Baste with pan juices every 10 minutes or so.
Transfer the hens to a serving dish and make sure to empty all of the juice and stuff from the cavity. Cover to keep warm. Take all the pan juice and garlic and put them in a sauce pan. Boil until it is a sauce like consistency...approx. 4-6 minutes. Spoon sauce over hens, garnish...and enjoy!

Additional super easy recipe. Honey Seasoned Yams. :)

Recipe

2 yams
4 Tablespoons of honey
Salt and pepper to taste
(and your favorite seasoning salt)
Slice of butter.

Poke yams with a fork...many times. In a small kettle combine the honey, salt and pepper and a little butter.  Add Yams, and enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil, cover and keep on low heat for 25-30 minutes, or until soft.
Remove from kettle. Cut Yams in half, and add a little butter and more seasonings to the top of it. Enjoy! (and remember, they're much better hot!)

okay! So that's everything. I'll see ya next time with the dinner roll recipe and the salad!



Today's question: what is your favorite thing about spring?
I love all the flowers and sunshine.

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I linked up with: Little farm in the big city

I Love Holidays

Hey again everyone! Sorry, I didn't mean to neglect my blog for so long. But I have been so busy. It's crazy. Since  I last updated I have made a round trip to Idaho to visit my family. (we drove. AND I learned how to drive a stick shift.) That was such a blast though. Just hanging out again and catching up...my family is so funny. I can't describe how much I've missed all the noise and craziness. Except, I have a lower noise tolerance than I once did. I used to not really be bothered by a ton of noise, but there were several times I found myself wishing I was back home in my quiet apartment. ;)

As soon as we got home I had to run off and take my State Practical test for the First Responder class I was taking. I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally not have to worry about tests anymore...the next day was the written test and so I studied some more...then I got there, and they totally tricked me...they hardly had any questions about the stuff I had studied...and they asked so many questions that looked ALL the same. I haven't gotten my results back yet, but trust me, you will hear my exclamation of joy, if I pass. :)

Then there was Easter. I love Easter. Everything is all springy and cheerful, and everyone dresses up in pretty bright colors...and its awesome. I have heard the story so many times, but it never grows old. What Jesus did for me(you) is absolutely incredible and beyond my comprehension. I also enjoy all the cute plays people do about the Easter story.

And then there's the food...I don't know about you all...but my family was the type to celebrate holidays. My mom made the BEST food ever...and we NEVER ran out...there was always so much food, that we could've just sat there at the table and feasted all day without a worry. That's one of the things I've missed the most about home....is the holidays. Everyone celebrates them differently...but it's not something you really think about. Until, BAM! You aren't home with your family for the holiday...and you go to someone else's place, or your in laws. My husbands family isn't really the type to just go all out with an awesome feast...and so that made me super homesick over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. So I decided that the next holiday we came to, I was going to take things into my own hands. ;)

Along came Easter. I planned out a menu and when shopping. I was so annoyed though, when I couldn't find the meat I wanted. I was looking for some nice lamb chops. Because, A. I don't really like Ham...AND it's not good for you. And B. Why do so many people celebrate days like Christmas and Easter with a big juicy Ham? Ham is from pig, which was considered by the Jews an unclean animal and they were forbidden to eat it. Plus, the fact that Jesus was considered the "Lamb of God"...idk, it just seems more awesome and meaningful to eat lamb on those holidays. But I couldn't find any!! All I could find was this giant lamb leg, and that grossed me out. So I opted for 2 Cornish Game Hens. They're small. Delicious....and small...and delicious. Oh! They also are not ham. ;) That being said...I really don't care if you  eat Ham for those holidays. :) I was just stating my personal opinion, and since I like to have my opinion, I will more than gladly allow someone else's theirs. ;)

We didn't actually have our Easter meal on Easter Sunday. We had it Monday night instead. Because we were invited over to a friends place for Sunday afternoon lunch. Where we enjoyed a delicious meal, and some awesome times. 

Lemon Pepper, Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Cornish Game Hen

Honey Seasoned Yam

Spinach & Turkey Bacon Salad Sprinkled With Feta Cheese, and drizzled with Balsamic Vinaigrette and garnished with Bosc Pears. (Ingredients: Baby Spinach, Baby Bella Mushrooms, Red Onion, Hard Boiled Eggs, Turkey Bacon, Feta Cheese and Bosc Pears)

Raw Vegan Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse
This was delicious and I've been wanting to try it for ages. But! I don't think I will put cinnamon in next time.

Oh. And we had some nice fluffy White Whole Wheat buns...But I failed to get an after pic of them...they are on the plate. :)

I will post all the recipes for everyone in following posts. :) 
I will also give a post of what I used the left over chicken for...as there was no way we could each eat an entire chicken. ;)
Question: What is your favorite Holiday and why? Are you the type to celebrate holidays? Also, do you have any special traditions? Tell me about them.

I would love to hear what your menu was!

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Strawberry Honey Butter

Awhile back I saw this recipe for Strawberry Honey Butter, and decided I absolutely had to try it. It just sounded too good. I mean, who doesn't like Honey Butter? Who doesn't like Strawberries? Okay, so if you don't like either of those, don't tell me about it, I really don't want to know. :) So anyway, the other day when I found Strawberries on sale, I knew exactly what I had to do. Buy them, of course.  As soon as I got home I launched into my project. 

Get your strawberries, and rinse them well.

Hull them, and if you like slicing things like I do, slice them also. :) I like chopping things. Plus, you feel a lot more validated eating a slice of your strawberries, than just eating a whole one. :)

Throw them in the blended and blend them all up. 

In a sauce pan combine your Honey, Lemon Juice, and blended Strawberries. Bring to a boil, and boil approx. 3 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened. Stirring continually.
Remove from heat and let set until mixture has reached room temperature.

Combine your softened butter with your cooled strawberry stuff, and blend it furiously.
Cool for about an hour to let the flavors blend.

Recipe

1 pint of strawberries, hulled
4 Tablespoons of Honey
3 Teaspoons of Lemon Juice
1 cup of softened butter [2 sticks]

Rinse strawberries and hull them. In a blender or food processor, blend until strawberries are smooth. Pour into sauce pan. Add the honey and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, and boil for approx. 3 minutes or until mixture has thickened, stirring continually. Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature. Put cooled strawberry sauce back into blender, add softened butter. Blend until smooth. Cool for 1 hr to allow flavors to mix. Enjoy!

This is so easy to make and absolutely delicious!! Definitely a new favorite!

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Flops on Friday

Wow! I can't believe it's been a week since I last updated this thing. I'm sorry everyone. But I had some tests to study for and take. I kinda spaz out when it comes to taking tests. So that, with some extremely awesome weather, kinda caused me to neglect my blog world. There was just too much stuff happening under my slice of sky. Wow. I can not believe how cheezy I am. I seriously never used to be able to write stuff like that.

Our family had a bent and dent grocery store for several years. It's name was Bananas. Yeah. Try explaining that to the customers, especially when they couldn't find any bananas. :) But my Mom was always coming up with these awesome things to write on signs and stuff: "Go Bananas over our prices"...for Valentines day: "I'm bananas for you"....when we had an excessive amount of one item the sign would say: "Too Many Granola Bars. We're going Bananas"! Yeah. Just all sorts of little quips and stuff using the whole "bananas" thing. I really can't specifically remember any of them. I tried to block them from my mind. But Mom liked it if I'd help her out by being the one to write the signs. No way! It was too cheezy. I could.not.make.myself.write.it. End of story.

But now look at me: "There was too much happening under my slice of sky". Um, I'm frightened now. :)

Oh! And you want to know what else I did? I totally painted a mirror. Yeah. I found it cheap at Goodwill and it was this hideous golden color. I couldn't believe myself when I actually went and bought some spray paint and actually painted the mirror. It looks way cooler now. Except I can't figure out where to put it. I'm beginning to think that I bought the mirror simply so I could feel and frugal and renovate-y and stuff. Because duh, you can't put a white mirror on a white wall. Hello? Where was the planning ahead part of my brain? Oh well. I'll figure it out, and feel all accomplished in the meantime.

Back to the cheezy thing. I was trying to come up with a name for my post today, and all I could think of was: "Flops on Friday". You know how real blog have these cool things like "Thrifty Thursday" and "Wedding Wednesday" and...yeah. I've been feeling like it's time for my blog to step up to the plate and find it's identity. But blogs just need one of those cheezy things to help it in that process. I thought "Flops on Friday" was cool. Because seriously, how many times do you make something and it just "flops". Well, I don't know about you, but it happens to me frequently. It's pretty much impossible to alter a recipe to the extents that I do, and get it perfect the first try. So then you're stuck with the disaster. My first impulse is to just dump it. Or bury it. Or burn it...whatever destroys the evidence the most effectively. But how wasteful is that anyway? So you start thinking about your budget and all the ingredients in the flop, and how much they cost...and wow. That's a dangerous road. But, if you save it, what in the WORLD are you supposed to use it for?

That's what "Flops on Friday" is all about. Sharing different ideas on how to incorporate your flops into something else. It's so awesome when you can effectively disguise the flop and make the end result look like it was something you planned all along. So here is a step by step process on what to do.

First of all. Take a moment to mourn the loss of your potentially successful flop. You put a lot of time and energy into making it. So it's emotionally stressing to pull it out of the oven and find that it was a failure. So, take your flop, set it beside you, and then just feel free to bury your head in despair for 30-45 seconds. Don't take too long on this step. Because, likely as not, it's probably late in the afternoon and your husband, [or some other onlooker] is soon going to arrive on the scene. Your objective is to destroy the evidence by creating something new. :)
Okay, Your 45 seconds are up. This is where you raise your head, and summon the saddest face you can. End of step. Get over it. Start thinking. Start thinking of what time it is. What ingredients you have on hand...stop thinking about the disaster.

In this case my flop was a chocolate chip scone. I had made the recipe before using whole wheat flour and it was fantastic. I was trying to make it with Oat Bran. FAIL! It just crumbled and yeah. I don't want to talk about it. Cookies and the like, are one of these easiest things to disguise. Make a trifle! :) I don't know how many times growing up my Mom took one of us kids' flops and made it into a trifle. Most of us have pudding mixes on hand, or, if you don't, you probably have the ingredients to make pudding. So start making pudding. Then start thinking about what you're going to make to go with the Trifle.

But first there's something we have to address. When was the last time you made dessert for supper, in the middle of the week? Yeah. That's what I thought. You have to explain away the presence of the dessert. Perfect answer? Date night!!! :) [Sorry if you don't have a handsome someone to have a date night with.] Date night calls for a little more awesome of a meal. So I decided to make a Vegetable Stir Fry, and Orange Sesame Chicken.

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F

Plan ahead, make some tea or something for a drink. :)

Thaw your chicken and marinate them for as long as possible. Here's where I start running into trouble. I don't follow recipes at. all. when I'm cooking. I just dump until it tastes how I want it to. But I'll try for y'all's sake. Mix: 1 cup of orange juice, 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 3 drops of sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I generally add some more seasonings just because I like seasonings. So add some Crushed Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, and a little bit of Ginger. Or don't. I don't really care. I was just throwing it out there. Put chicken in a container and add the marinade. Let this marinade for as long as possible.

Put half a cup of sesame seeds in a pan on medium heat. Toast them until they are brown. Stir frequently. You want to keep your eye on these because they burn easily and quickly. Once browned remove from heat.

In a shallow dish, Mix a cup and a half of flour with about 2 Tablespoons of butter. Add seasonings.  Here again I generally just put in the red pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, and a little ginger. Add the sesame seeds. Mix. Take your marinated chicken breasts and place them one at a time into the dish coating them well with the flour mixture.. front and back.I apologize for not having a picture of this step. I kinda forgot to take one. :(

Put floured chicken breasts on a cookie sheet and top with a slice of orange.  Place them in preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, cut up your vegetables and start on your stir fry. Put some olive oil into a frying pan on medium heat. Use vegetables of your choice. I used, Red, Orange, and Green Bell Peppers, Sweet Onion, Carrots, and Mushrooms. Put them in sauce pan. Add some Sesame seeds if you want. Also put in a little Soy Sauce and Worcestershire Sauce, to taste. Let it do it's thing.
You want to make a sauce to pour over the chicken and stir fry.
In a sauce pan combine: 1 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 2 tablespoons of honey, 2 teaspoons of  soy sauce, 3 drops of sesame oil, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to a little bit of cold water. Add to sauce and stir until it thickens. You might want to add more cornstarch depending on how thick you want the sauce to be. Salt to Taste.

While all of that is doing it's thing. Get the pudding out of  the refrigerator. Crumble the cookies. Get your cups ready. I have two different kinds of pudding so I'll want to get two ziploc bags. Stuff the ziploc bag into a cup, like the picture shows. It's a lot easier to fill a bag this way than to hold it in your hand and fill it. Spoon pudding into bag. Seal Bag. Cut a small piece off of one of the corners. I use a bag to pipe the pudding into the cup, because it's rather difficult to keep the pudding from slopping all over the cup if you're just spooning it in.

Pipe in your first layer of pudding and add cookie crumbs.

Repeat process until you've reached the top. :) Place in refrigerator. By this time everything should be done.

Remove Chicken and Stir Fry and put them on your plate. Drizzle with sauce.

Get your table set. Make it pretty. :) Take out your Trifle and add it to the scene.  Pour tea into glasses.

And Wa-LA! Your meal is ready.

After you finished your awesome meal. :) Go watch NCIS. How's that for an awesome night?

Recipe

Marinade

• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 3 drops sesame oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
  Additional Seasonings

Sauce

• 1 cup orange juice
• ½ cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons Soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in cold water water
• Salt
  

  INGREDIENTS
  4 small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 7 oz. each)
  1 1/2 cups flour
  2 Tbsp butter
  1/2 cup sesame seeds
  Additional Seasonings

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