Cinnabon rolls

These are - The Cinnabon rolls
from
The Girl Who Ate Everything

When I say 'THE' Cinnabon rolls - I mean the real thing!!! They are absolutely heavenly and the hubby even says they're better :)

I was in love from the first bite and will definitely no long EVER try another recipe. My search for the perfect cinnamon roll is over.

Try it out:

Rolls:
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup butter, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 pkg yeast (1/4 ounce)


Filling:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened


Icing:
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat milk for 45-60 seconds in the microwave.

2. Dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well.

3. Knead dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

4. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Spray surface with cooking spray or sprinkle flour on it. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

5. Spread dough with 1/3 cup softened butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough starting with the longer side and cut into 12 rolls (or more smaller rolls).

6. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. *After this I would put them in the refrigerator for the next morning if you are doing them the night before.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.

8. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on while they are still warm so that the frosting melts into the roll.

ENJOY!

Roasted Green Beans

We love our fresh veggies over here. Green beans are on the hubbies top fav list. I guess I've never been too brave, or maybe just boring, or maybe I just have never really thought of trying to make them any other way than this...I boil them or steam them and add a little salt and pepper. That's it.


Then I ran across this blog - How Sweet it is . Great food blog. Go check it out! So I saw some green beans on there - and all she did was roast them! Nothing fancy...what I always do with my asparagus but had NEVER thought to do with green beans.


Well guess what? I will never make green beans another way AGAIN!!! The hubby and I were literally fighting over who got to eat them. I didn't want him to touch ANY of them :) I wanted EVERY SINGLE ONE for myself!!!

Weight Watchers - 0 Points Plus

Ingredients:
- 1 lb of green beans
- A spray of non-stick cooking spray
- Some salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Wash and cut ends of green beans.
2. Spray with non-stick spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Roast at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes (flipping half way)

Enjoy!

Bird's Nests

When I saw these over at Crafting Chicks I thought they were absolutely adorable! I thought they would be the cutest little treats to make for Easter and then I realized I had almost everything on hand and couldn't wait another month to try them out! So I gathered what I had on hand and ended up being able to make four of them.


Ingredients:
- around 2 cups of Fiber One cereal (I just used what was left in my bag)
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- around 1 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows (I just used what was left in my bag)
- easter egg candy (Reese's are our favorite!)
- Peeps

Directions:

1. Melt the butter on low heat and then add the marshmallows like you're making rice krispie treats.

2. Once the marshmallows are melted remove from heat and add in the cereal.

3. Spray your hands with cooking spray (very important - these are SUPER sticky) and mold the cereal into nests once they aren't so hot.

4. Wait a few minutes while the nests firm up a bit and then add your eggs and Peep.

Even the kiddos were pretty good at helping and had lots of fun - making them AND eating them of course!!!

A super cute little treat to add to a bag with some ribbon and Crafting Chicks tags!

ENJOY!

Cinnamon Toast Pretzels

I got this recipe from Your Homebased Mom a few Christmas's ago and it was delightful. I fun twist on your regular chocolate covered pretzels. A perfect combination of salty and sweet - too perfect because I always end up eating too much!

Ingredients:

1 bag (18 oz.) small pretzels

2/3 C oil

1/3 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Extra cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

White chocolate for drizzling

Directions:

1. In microwave safe bowl pour in pretzels. Mix together oil, sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Pour over pretzels and mix well, making sure to coat pretzels.

2. Place in microwave for 2 minutes on high. Check after first minute as they might burn. Stir the mixture and continue cooking. Microwave for 1 minute more.

3. When out of the microwave, stir again to make sure they are all coated.

4. Spread the pretzels onto two cookie sheets. You want a single layer of pretzels. While they are still hot sprinkle additional cinnamon sugar over the top.

5. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over the top of pretzels. Once white chocolate hardens put into air tight containers.

ENJOY!

Pot Roast

The Perfect Pot Roast. It's a much loved thing around our house. However, I think it took about 4 years of trying and failing EVERY time I attempted to make it to finally find what now works perfect EVERY single time. Here are my secrets (learned from my momma of course):

1. I always buy a chuck roast. Others may work well too but I never stray from the chuck roast - when I can find them for $1.99 a pound I always stock the freezer.

2. Put it in a pot in the oven at 350 degrees and douse it with water and about 32oz. of beef broth. Enough to just cover the entire thing in liquid.

3. Cook it for a minimum of 4 hours. If it's still tough - COOK IT LONGER. Cook it until it falls apart. The longer the better.

4. About two hours till I'm ready to serve it I add the carrots, potatoes, and sometimes onions and mushrooms. Then I add 1 onion soup mix packet along with the veggies. If the roast isn't covered with liquid anymore I add more water so the veggies have enough to cook in.

About 2 Weight Watcher PointsPlus per ounce

That's it - Perfect every time!

ENJOY!

Pot Pie

I got this recipe from my best buddy Kierste at SweetPea Recipes (check out her site for way more yummy goodies) - it is perfect for these cold winter days. It is warm and yummy and perfect for using leftover turkey.

An 1/8 of the pie is 9 OLD Weight Watcher Points (I need to figure out the new Point Value)

Ingredients:

1 double pie crust (I use Pillsbury)

2 cans Cream of Potato soup

1 c. frozen mixed vegetables (I used 2 cups)

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

thyme

sage

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Mix the last 6 ingredients together (herbs and seasonings to taste).

2. Press bottom crust into pie pan. Place filling inside pie crust.

3. Top with other crust, seal and flute edges.

4. Cut slits into the top of the crust.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

6. Cover crust edges with aluminum foil for first 20-25 minutes, then remove.

ENJOY!

Snickerdoodles

One year for a Christmas present my little sister gave me some recipes and a cute little snowman holder. I've tried other Snickerdoodle recipes and this one has still come out as the best!

Gale Gand (little sister gave to me from school)

Ingredients:

Topping

3 Tbs. sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

Dough

3 ½ cups flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cinnamon

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbs. light corn syrup

2 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

2. To make the cookie dough, stir together the dry ingredients.

3. In a bowl cream the butter. Add the sugar and continue to mix, then add the eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla, and mix thoroughly.

4. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended.

5. Chill dough 1 hour if it’s sticky or difficult to handle.

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

7. Roll balls of dough about the size of a walnut then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar to coat.

8. Place on an un-greased sheet pan about 2 ½ inches apart.

9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until puffed up and the surface is slightly cracked.

10. Let cool on the sheet pan a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

Cooking Time:

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

ENJOY!