Med Student Cinnamon Rolls

One morning I was at work when thee most delicious cinnamon rolls I had ever seen arrived. They were uniformly perfect. Who made these AMAZING cinnamon rolls??

"I did" piped up a med student.

"No. No you didn't" answered snotty me. (honestly these were bakery quality, NOT Rhoades.)

"ya, I did"

"You mean your wife did?" I insisted. (What a dork I thought. Does he really think that I would believe that he made these.)

"Really. I made them."

"SO, where did you buy them?" I asked again, not backing down. (I make cinnamon rolls A LOT. I have tried lots of recipes, and although most turn out good these were stop the car fantastic.)

"Seriously I made them."

After asking at least 5 more times, (and was told by a co-worker I was being rude) I conceded. "Can I have the recipe?"

And so here it is: in his own words

MED STUDENT CINNAMON ROLLS

4 eggs

2 1/2 c warm water

3/4 c sugar

2 tbs yeast

1 c semi-melted butter

ADD and mix, then knead:

7 1/2 c flour

2 tsp salt

let rise 20 minutes

roll out into a rectangle

pour on about 1/2 c butter

spread on brown sugar/cinnamon mix :cinnamon such that it tastes like it is almost too much)make it uniform and more that you would think. (I used 1 c brown sugar and 2 Tbs cinnamon)

roll into whatever size roll you desire. (He would make 16-24 rolls I made 30)

let rise about 25 minutes

bake these at 350 for about 14-17 minutes

let them cool about 5 minutes before frosting and frost such that they are completely covered so they don't dry out.

general frosting idear

soften 1/4 c butter and 2 Tbs cream cheese until both are nice and soft, mix together

add in about 3 tbs of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla, mix like crazy

add in enough powdered sugar to make it about as thick as good cake frosting

P.S. spend the extra $.75 and get the good butter, it really makes a difference with these.

P. P.S. turns out the med student used to work in a bakery

March Cookie of the Month- Mint Oreos!

mint oreo cookies

1 chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 c. oil

mix well (batter will be thick) scoop onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes at 350. For the bigger size I used a Tablespoon and the mini cookies was a teaspoon (which only baked for 5 minutes). My kids loved the little size. Let cool completely and then frost the back of one cookie with mint frosting and stick two together to make a sandwich. enjoy!!

Mint Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¼ t salt

1/4 t mint flavoring

1/3 – ½ c milk

green food coloring

P.S. I promise to move beyond green and onto spring this weekend!! happy spring!

St Patrick's Day Dinner: Part II

Not like anyone (except maybe Maddie) cares what we are really having for St. Patricks day dinner (since my family will just show up and eat here) so I have slacked in announcing to the blog world what's for dinner!

It was going to be corned beef in a crock pot, but Dan spearheaded a revolt and my invited guest almost had "other plans" . . . so i have reconsidered and we will have brisket instead. What's the difference you wonder? Ah, corned beef is the salted (or brined version) of brisket. The brine has always worked for me before, but the pink spam look doesn't work for Dan. I am sure it is good and I might have to cook it up next week just to try it. Hey I never thought I would like cabbage rolls either, but we had them at the Steelers party and they were good!

Oh yes, dinner.

Brisket, breadsticks, broccoli smashed potatoes, and whatever green or Irish things Courtney & Scott, Nicole, and Ash & fam are bringing. (yes Ash I bought a 6 lb brisket would love you to come unless your wonderful neighbor friend and you want to have brisket there instead.) Some green additions might be a salad, or asparagus, or cabbage, or jello (the kids would love it).

Sorry Marianne I am not crock potting it. But slow cooker in the oven (about 4 hours) from the recipe in April's Martha Stewart Living.

But a fun addition to the meal will be our green
Broccoli Smashed Potatoes
4 lbs yukon gold potatoes (I like them best for smashed potatoes)
1 lb broccoli
milk
butter
sour cream
salt
garlic
milk

sorry but I make my mashed potatoes without a real recipe. But here is the basic idea:
peel, cube and cook potatoes until soft. Steam broccoli until soft- allow broccoli to cool and then puree in blender with a little milk . For the potatoes ( i like to mix them in my kitchen aid) add milk, butter, sour cream and garlic until whipped and creamy! Fold in the broccoli puree and adjust seasonings to taste!!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Shamrock Stamps

Kate and I had a little "alone" time today and we made placemats for our upcoming St. Patrick's Day Dinner! Easy (and cheap) potato stamps using a heart or shamrock cookie cutter.

1. Cut potato in half and push cookie cutter into the flesh of potato.

2. Cut around the cookie cutter.

3. Dip into paint (and make sure you don't get too much on the stamp or it slides.)

4. Three little hearts make great leaves

5. and then paint a stem

Kate also found that two heart shapes also make great butterflies!

(we made 7 placemats! hope that Nicole & Naomi are planning on joining us for dinner!)

St Patrick's Day Dinner: Part I

St Patricks Day is next week, and we all know I hardly need a holiday to have a celebration.

Will your family enjoy a meal of all green food?? Like Asparagas, peas,beans, broccoli, salad, green jello- or maybe even green eggs and ham??

Shephards Pie then? that seems kid friendly.

OR Will you go with the traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage? Maybe Marianne will try this out with me in the crockpot.

For today though: Shamrock Breadsticks

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 T yeast

1 T sugar

1/4 c. sugar

3-4 c flour

1 t salt

Pour warm water into a small bowl. And yeast and 1 T sugar. It should become bubbly in a few minutes. In your mixer mix sugar, salt and about half the flour. When the yeast mixture is bubbly add it to the flour mixture and mix on low speed to combine. slowly add more flour until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides. (If this is your first time making rolls/breadsticks don't be surprised if it takes a few minutes to get shinny and smooth- if it is still too wet add more flour, and it is too dry add a little water.)

Take the dough and form it into a log roll. Then cut 1 inch pieces and roll in between your hands to form a long snake. Start with one end for the stem, and make 3-4 loops for clovers depending on how lucky you are feeling.

Place on a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. Brush with butter and sprinkle with just a hint of garlic salt while still hot!

Enjoy!!

How does your Garden Grow??

I love to garden, the flower variety that is, but last summer we planted our very first vegetable garden. We grew summer, crookneck, acorn and spaghetti squash, 3 varieties of pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, basil and zucchini. It was one of the easiest things I have ever done. My brother-in-law made me some garden boxes which I filled with topsoil. I planted some little starts from Home Depot and just like magic I had a garden full of vegetables!!
Did you know that you can start planting your vegetable garden in March?? Yes now is the time to plant peas, onions, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, beets, parsley, spinach, carrots, radishes and turnips, potatoes and lettuce.

I think that this year is a wonderful time to plant early and often. (Seeds and starts only cost a few dollars and think of all the money you will save). Start now and you will have a long growing season filled with wonderful fresh veggies!

1. Pick a spot with lots of sunlight and make sure the soil is good. Use top soil to fill new garden boxes or amend the soil with nutra mulch or bumber crop to replenish nutrients to the soil.

2. Make a list of veggies that you most often buy or eat. (don't plant a bunch of silly veggies that you and your kids are not going to eat- we had squash and pumpkins coming out our ears. And although it was fun this year I want to plant veggies that we eat a lot of so that I don't need to buy them from the store. ) Right now I might only plant onions and carrots and lettuce but at least I know we will eat what I grow!

3. Know when to plant.
March is a great time to start planting root vegetables.
J&L Garden Center has a wonderful (day by day) schedule on their website of when to plant here in Northern Utah.

4. Watch for great recipes on the blog using fresh veggies like inside out carrot cake cookies!