Who doesn't love waking up to fresh cinnamon rolls?
Combine 2 cups flour and 1 package active dry yeast. Heat and stir 1 cup milk, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt till warm (120-130 F) and butter almost melts. Add to flour mixture along with 2 eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high for 3 minutes. Using a spoon, stir in as much of 2 to 2 1/3 cups flour as you can.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover, let rise in a warm place till double (about 1 hour).
Punch dough down. Divide in half (if you're making 24 small rolls vs. my 16 large rolls). Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
Roll into rectangle (I eye it to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick). Melt 3 tablespoons butter; brush over dough. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; sprinkle mixture over dough. If desired, measure 3/4 raisins and sprinkle over dough. Roll up from one of the long sides. Seal seams. Slice dough into rolls (approximately 1 inch thick). Place rolls into greased cake pan(s). Cover; let rise till nearly double (about 30 minutes). Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly; remove from pans (I'm lazy and serve up from the pan) and drizzle with icing.
Note: I use the filling (adding 1/2 cup chopped nuts) and icing from the linked recipe below.
In Maya mythology, Xibalba (pronounced /ʃɨˈbɒlbə/), roughly translated as "place of fear", is the name of the underworld, ruled by Maya Death Gods and their helpers. In Yucatec, it was known as Metnal. In the 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán, Guatemala. According to some of the K'iche' Maya presently living in the vicinity, the area is still associated with death. Cave systems in nearby Belize have also been referred to as the entrance to Xibalba.
We experienced a level of Xibalba the other night.
We have the smoke detectors from hell wired into our house. Or they are possessed by some Xibalba native.
I want to do bodily harm to whoever wired our smoke detectors.
A little back story. These things are uber sensitive. Good thing, mostly. They go off whenever I clean the oven, annoying but I can live with it. I'd rather having working smoke detectors. They go off whenever I need to cook above 375 in the oven. Extremely annoying, but again, I'd rather having working smoke detectors.
And it's not just us. We hear neighbors' smoke detectors going off all the time, too.
So, on the night in question, the smoke detector went off around 12:30 in the morning. Hubby and I jerk wake, he does a walk through to make sure it's a false alarm, and he shuts it off. End of story? Not a chance. The darn things went off again. Three more times in that first hour (after which we closed all the windows thinking maybe it was dust coming in with the breeze setting it off) then every 30 to 45 minutes till 6 am. Needless to say, hubby and I wore toothpicks in our eyes all day.
Did you know it's a good idea to blow air (like the compressed air you use on computers) into your smoke detectors when you change the batteries (y'all know when you Spring Forward and Fall Back)?
Here's the scary.
It's a little like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Our first response is no longer, "OMG we need to get out of the house."
Here's the terrifying.
The boys slept through it all! Not a single one woke up, got out of bed, or groggily said, "What up with the alarms last night?"
There have been studies about kids not waking up to smoke detectors. We even tested the boys when we lived in Oregon. But this was truly terrifying because it went on so long. And it was loud! Every smoke detector upstairs going off at once. Not a moan or groan from the boys.
I can't tag this one Blog Fun even though it fits the challenge, it's just too serious.
The boys were on Spring Break last week but we stayed close to home and they ended up being bored out of their minds. Picture your worse kid related nightmare, times 4, throw in a dose of Grinchy "NOISE, NOISE, NOISE, NOISE," and it all equals last week.
It was nicely rapped up with an Easter party at Mark's boss' house Sunday night.
We're in the home stretch of this A to Z challenge and it's been fun.
2 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano or basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
16 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
12 lasagna noodles (regular not the no-boil)
2 10 ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry -- or 3 cups fresh spinach, cooked, or substitute your favorite veggie
Combine tomatoes, garlic, oregano or basil, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together ricotta, Parmesan, and 3/4 of mozzarella.
Spoon 1/4 of tomato mixture into bottom of pan. Layer noodles, breaking to fit. Sprinkle 1/3 of spinach over noodles. Spoon 1/3 of ricotta mixture over spinach. Top with 1/4 of tomato mixture. Repeat with two more layers. Top final layer with remaining mozzarella. **I add the remaining mozzarella after cooking when doing this in the oven.
Cover with foil. Cook in 375 oven for 1 hour, test for donenees by inserting the tip of a paring knife into the noodles; it should pierce them easily. **Top with remaining mozzarella. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Crock pot option: Prepare as above, **adding final layer of mozzarella. Cook on low heat until noodles are done (use same test as above), 2 to 3 hours.
Meat lovers option: Add 1/2 pound of browned ground beef to the tomato mixture.
Because B for Bunny, D for Decorating, E for Easter, and H for Hopping Down the Bunny Trail are past. So, here's some of our Easter decorations featuring Rabbits.
(That table cloth didn't even last 24 hours before one of the boys spilled on it, LOL, good thing it's washable!)
Our dwarf orange tree has flowers! I'm really hoping we get some fruit this year...and that the boys don't pick all the budding oranges before they can mature!
I agonized over whether or not to create a pen name. I got amazing advice from Joely Sue Burkhart, Maria Zannini, and Kait Nolan, friends and mentors. I polled my family and Jewels, played a lengthy game of Pros and Cons, and in the end the need to keep the family separate from the writer won out.
I’m a long way from publishing that first story. However, donning Raelyn Barclay has made me serious about this writing dream, feeling my writing has become a career instead of a hobby.
3/4 cup orange juice
1 1/3 cups couscous
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts
3 cups torn fresh baby spinach
In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of lightly salted water to a boil. Stir in 1/2 cup of the orange juice, the couscous, and the raisins. Cover the pan, remove from heat, and let stand for 5 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Fluff the couscous with a fork and cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of orange juice, the salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the oil until it's well blended.
Add the carrots, nuts, and spinach to the couscous. Pour in the dressing and toss to mix.
Optional: Add 1 1/2 pounds of cooked turkey or chicken breast, cut crosswise into thin strips for a main dish.
Once long ago, in a country far away, a young man sat in a hospital bed recovering from open heart surgery. His crazy, fun-loving sister sent him a piece of paper upon which there were no capital letters nor punctuation nor spaces. He puzzled those letters till his puzzler was sore. By the time the letters meant words and the words made sense as a story, that young man had memorized the thing! And thus became a tradition at every family gathering for that young man to tell the tale of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
Wants pawn term, dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter murder inner ladle cordage, honor itch offer lodge dock florist. Disk ladle gull orphan worry ladle cluck wetter putty ladle rat hut, an fur disk raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.
Wan moaning, Rat Rotten Hut's murder colder inset, "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groin-murder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! An yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainers!"
"Hoe-cake, murder," resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft. Honor wrote tutor cordage offer groin-murder, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut mitten anomalous woof. "Wail, wail, wail!" set disk wicket woof, "Evanescent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut! Wares are putty ladle gull goring wizard ladle basking?"
"O hoe! Heifer blessing woke," setter wicket woof, butter taught tomb shelf, "Oil tickle shirt court tutor cordage offer groin-murder. Oil ketchup wetter letter, an den - O bore!"
Soda wicket woof tucker shirt court, an whinney retched a cordage offer groin-murder, picked inner widow, an sore debtor pore oil worming worse lion inner bet. Inner flesh, disk abdominal woof lipped honor bet an at a rope. Den knee poled honor groin-murder's nut cup an gnat-gun, any curdled dope inner bet.
Inner ladle wile, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut a raft attar cordage, an ranker dough belle. "Comb ink, sweat hard," setter wicket woof, disgracing is verse. Ladle Rat Rotten Hut entity bet rum an stud buyer groin-murder's bet.
"O Grammar!" crater ladle gull, "Wood bag icer gut! A nervous sausage bag ice!"
"Battered lucky chew whiff, doling," whiskered disk ratchet woof, wetter wicket small.
"O Grammar, water bag noise! A nervous sore suture anomolous prognosis!"
"Battered small your whiff," insert a woof, ants mouse worse waddling.
"O Grammar, water bag mousy gut! A nervous sore suture bag mouse!"
Daze worry on-forger-nut gulls lest warts. Oil offer sodden, thoroughing offer carvers an sprinkling otter bet, disk curl and bloat-thursday woof ceased pore Ladle Rat Rotten Hut an garbled erupt.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the other people in the fairy tale?
Things look grim for Talia and her mother. By royal proclamation, the constables and those annoying "good" fairies have taken away their livelihood by confiscating their spinning wheel. Something to do with a curse on the princess, they said.
Not every young lady has a fairy godmother rushing to her rescue.
Without the promise of an income from spinning, Talia's prospects for marriage disappear, and she and her mother face destitution. Past caring about breaking an arbitrary and cruel law, rebellious Talia determines to build a new spinning wheel, the only one in the nation—which plays right into the evil fairy's diabolical plan. Talia discovers that finding a happy ending requires sacrifice. But is it a sacrifice she's willing to make?
I loved this twist on the classic Sleeping Beauty tale. All the fairy tale elements you know and love are still present yet the different perspective keeps it from being just another retelling.
Talia is fully developed. She’s a very likable heroine, who just wanted a life with Willard, but was denied. She picks her way through a life altered by the curse. Talia grows and changes along her journey despite the circumstances dictating a lot of her choices. I was rooting for Talia to get her happy-ever-after.
Everyone you expect make appearances, just not how you'd think. I enjoyed the explanations such as why the fairies couldn't reverse the curse. And was rewarded with a satisfying end that took in the entire scope of the story.
The Sevenfold Spell is a quick read and a good way to spend a free hour or two. I'm looking forward to more from this series.
:le sigh: this is one of my all-time favorite desserts. It's also a guilty pleasure because I'm the only one who eats it.
3 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup rice
1/2 cup raisins
Ground nutmeg (or cinnamon)
Combine eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat till well combined but not foamy. Stir in rice and raisins. Pour into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Place casserole in a large baking dish (I use the bottom of my broiling pan) and pour boiling water into the baking dish around the casserole to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake at 325 for 45 to 55 minutes till a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (Original recipe calls for a stir 30 minutes into the baking but I like the defined layers created when omitting this step.) Makes 6 servings and can be served warm or chilled.
Shh...don't tell...but I love this for breakfast, too. Am I channelling Bill Cosby when I say its the perfect dessert for breakfast? I mean it has rice which is a grain, raisins which are a fruit, eggs which are a protein, and milk which is a dairy. By my accounting that makes rice pudding better for breakfast than...say...cake! LOL
Earlier this week I learned of the A to Z Blog Challenge. I love the idea. Basically you post six days a week, each day focusing on a specific letter, with a goal of getting through the entire alphabet by the time you reach the end of April.
I'm not officially joining the blog challenge but am going to attempt to do the blog posts in and around my regularly scheduled posts. So we'll see what fun I can get into on the blog for April.
There are over 700 blogger participating in this A to Z challenge. April is going to be a busy blogging month! People I know who are taking part:
Nineteen years ago yesterday, we were having a family gathering at my parents -- I don't remember now if it was for my birthday (which is next week) or Easter or a combination of the two (they run neck and neck more often than you'd think) -- my sister was huge, ready to pop any day. After sis and BIL left that night those of us left joked about her going into labor and the baby having an April Fools birthday.
Just after midnight, sure enough, the call came in. BIL and sis were on their way to the hospital, LOL. So, April Fools at 9:58 in the morning my amazing nephew came into the world.
Two ways. We like the more traditional recipe to accompany things like fried or roasted chicken but the sweet recipe for spicy foods like chili.
Traditional Corn Bread
1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup veggie oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Sweet Corn Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup corn meal
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup veggie oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine the the liquid ingredients. Add the milk mixture to the corn meal mixture, stir just until blended.
Pour into greased 8 inch baking pan, greased or paper-lined muffin cups, or my personal favorite a cast iron skillet.
For the traditional recipe: bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes for bread or 15 minutes for muffins.
For the sweet recipe: bake at 350 for 35 minutes for bread or 18-20 minutes for muffins.
by Kristen Lamb), Mystery (Twelve Sharp (Stephanie Plum #12)
by Janet Evanovich), Urban Fantasy (Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1)
by Stacia Kane), Paranormal Romance (Wicked Highlander (Dark Sword)
by Donna Grant), Historical Romance (Flowers from the Storm
by Laura Kinsale)
, the first of the Accidental Enchantment series.
