Theme Tree

I was reading The Nester yesterday during my "research" and she feels every tree needs a theme. Not sure how I feel about that. Years ago, after a busted water pipe wiped out most of our families ornaments (that was a sad day) my mom decided she was going to do a theme tree: pine cones. We started buying all the pine cone ornaments we could find. It was pretty, but is was still missing something, so we added snowflakes. Still missing something, so we added red balls. The always looked nice, but for me, it always looked there was something missing. I guess it was all the old ornaments I looked forward to hanging up every year.


On my tree, we started out with a little bit of everything (the "no theme" theme if you will) I tried collecting cow ornaments. I have a few, but finding ones that aren't totally tack is difficult. Then I tried "green santas" (this was my protest against red santas when I found out that the red and white suit was a marketing tool for Coca Cola), but those are even more scarce than non tacky santa cows. It wasn't until I was at JoAnns one day and saw some photo frame ornaments marked down to next to nothing. I bought all they had. I was teaching at the time and figured they would make good thank you gifts for my parent volunteers. The left over frames sat in my Christmas box for a long time until we had Ben . We brought Ben home on Christmas Eve and so when I found this little frame, I thought it was perfect.

From then on, every year we add new photo ornaments to the tree. Each kid has a school picture ornament and I have one of the both of them in front of the tree. It is amazing how much the kids have grown and changed. As Sam was helping me trim the tree last night, she commented on each of her pictures. "I sure was cute back then. Huh, mom" and then practiced her potential poses for this years picture. In addition to the photo ornaments, Santa brings the kids an ornament every year reflecting their current interests so hanging out between the photos, we have Elmo, the Hulk, Dora and Hello Kitty, to name a few. Of course, no tree is complete with out painted macaroni and we have a couple of those too.


So I guess if I had to pick a "theme" I would go with "our family". Sweet and simple, just like us.

December is here: ready or not

Today is December 1st.

It struck me this morning that I have a lot to get done these next few weeks.

I know I should be chipping away at my to do list, but here I sit blog hopping. I'm calling it "research" to make myself feel better.

We have our annual Christmas party this Saturday. I can't do a lot of decorating until the carpets get cleaned tomorrow, but once that is done, I'm all over it. The real reason we have the party so early is so that we aren't putting up the tree on Christmas eve. I think this year will be fun because the kids are at an age we they are really into it and are actually helpful. Ben has inherited my "it must be symmetrical" gene so his help will actually be helpful when doing the tree. Sam is still in training :0)

What I'm looking forward to this year is that fact that we are keeping things really simple. Our "buy a gift" list is pared down and I'm excited to do a bunch of baking for friends. We don't' have a lot going on in December so I'm hoping things will just be mellow and enjoyable. Isn't that the point? To take time and reflect on family and friends and spread some joy as opposed to pulling your hair out? Well, that is what I'm going to try and do. I'll let you know how it goes... :0)

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
I spent mine:
Baking with the kiddos.

Turkey Trotting with the girls.

Eating lots of yummy turkey with the family.

Puttering around the house.


It was great.

Some Lovin' from the oven

With the holidays upon us, I thought I would share a little recipe that will surely have your friends and family thinking you are the best thing since sliced bread.

About a million years ago, I found this recipe and while it tasted okay, it never seemed to turn out, so it sat in my cookbook almost forgotten. Well, the other night (always at night it seems) Joj and I had a craving for something sweet. Somehow we got on the topic of cinnamon rolls and I decided to pull out this recipe and give it another shot. Despite starting at 8pm, these little babies turned out AMAZING. I don't know what the problem was in the past (well, actually, I'm sure I was just too impatient to let the dough rise sufficiently), but these turned out perfectly. If you are a fan of Cinnabons, this recipe is for you. I had a girlfriend in HS who worked there and she gave us the recipe and this is pretty close. I feel compelled to warn you these are HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, but if you are willing to risk it, I promise you won't be disappointed. As an added bonus, your house will smell amazing. Enjoy



Buns from Heaven (aka the cinnabon clone)

Dough:
2 pkg of yeast (or 1T)

1 C. warm water (105-115 degree)

2/3 C. plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar, divided

1 C. warmed milk

2/3 C. butter

2 tsp salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

7-8 C. all-purpose flour, or more if needed

Filling:
3 T cinnamon
1 3/4 C sugar
1/2 C melted butter
(You can add raisins and nuts if you want, I like mine without)

Proof the yeast ~ combine yeast, water and 1T of sugar, mix slightly and let sit 10 min until foamy

Mix milk, butter, salt and eggs then add proofed yeast

Slowly add flour (I usually use about 7 1/2 cups)

Knead for 10 minutes either by hand or with dough hook on the mixer

Place dough in a buttered bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size (I put my oven on "keep warm" and this helps a lot)

Once it has risen, punch it down and let it rest 5 min.

I find it easier to cut the dough into half and roll into a big rectangle.

Spread with half of the filling and roll it up jellyroll style. Cut into 9 pieces and repeat with the remaining dough.

Place rolls into buttered baking dishes ~ okay, originally it said you use 2 9x9's, but I found this was too crowded. I think it works best if you use 3 7x11 pans. I only have 2 so I used a 9x9 as well. Let rise again until doubled in size.

Bake 25min @ 350



While the buns are baking, make the To Die For frosting. I have seen lots of "copycat" recipes for this, but I'm telling you this is THE frosting you want to use. It tastes just like the cinnabon frosting and let's face it, it's all about the frosting :0)

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8oz room temp cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 t vanilla
2 t lemon juice (this is the special ingredient that really makes it yummy)
4 C powdered sugar

Combine all ingreds and continue to mix for AT LEAST 12 minutes. DO NOT skip this step!! It is what makes this frosting so light and fluffy.

Once the rolls have cooled, spread frosting on rolls making sure to save a little bit. These are good fresh out of the oven or if you are like me and don't want to start baking at 3am, just make them the night before. In the morning, just nuke for 30 and add a little extra frosting. No better way to start your day.

I'm too sexy...

So People Magazine named Johnny Depp as the sexiest man alive. I'm sorry, but they clearly missed the Alex Skarsgard memo.

With all the hoopla over Mr. Pattinson (yes, he is a cutie) I feel compelled to remind folks of another vampire (Erik Northman from HBO's True Blood). So he doesn't sparkle, but frankly, he doesn't need to :0)

Boo Boo Kitty

Happy Halloween.

I know I have been a very bad blogger, but I do make the rounds daily and enjoy what everyone is up to.

As I sit here waiting for the trick or treaters to start knocking on my door (I hope we get more than the 5 we got last year) I'm thinking about my little black kitty that is no longer here.
His name was Boo Boo Kitty. Here is a picture of his namesake. He was the best cat. We got him right before Halloween 15 years ago. He took lots of "love" from the kids and their friends and never once scratched, bit or even hissed.
Now Tinker is all alone and I can tell she misses him. We all miss him.

Old School Sugar Cookies

I like to bake.

I bake a lot.

It seems like I'm always baking something for school or for Joj to take to work. I usually make cookies because they seem to offer the most bang for your buck. While I have a few good stand bys I'm always on the look out for a new cookie recipe. I'm kind of a stickler when it come my cookies. They have to be pretty, chewy and easy. Well, I think I'm in love...

When my friend Jenny P was in town this summer, we were talking about sugar cookies. Now I have a sugar cookie recipe for "cut outs", but that takes too much effort. I've been using the cake box recipe and while that is good, I'm kind of over them. So Jenny sent me the Paradise Bakery cookie recipe and I was going to try that, but I didn't have cake flour (it was one of those things I had kept in my pantry forever and then finally pitched only to need it a week later) Jenny mentioned the recipe must be followed exactly, so I didn't make them. However, now I was craving some sugar cookies and my search began.

Allrecipes.com is one of my new favorite sites. The best part is that is has recipe reviews. I love to hear what people have to say and how they tweak the recipes to make them better. Anyhoo, I found a recipe and everyone loved it (I always look for over 100 reviews with at least 4 stars) The best part was that I had everything on hand so I whipped some up. Can I just tell you they were YUMMY!! They totally reminded me of the cookies you would get with your lunch at school. They were slightly crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Did I say they were yummy. I took them to the PTA meeting the other night and they disappeared very quickly.

So, if you are looking for an "old school" sugar cookie recipe in which I'm willing to bet all the ingredients are already in your pantry, look no further.

Enjoy!!

:0)

Old School Sugar Cookies (makes 3 dozen)

1 1/4 cups white sugar (divided)
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Cream together 1 C sugar and butter.

Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
Add flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir.
Form dough into walnut size balls (I use a 1T ice cream scoop) roll in 1/4 sugar and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Don't flatten.

Bake 10 minutes, until tops are cracked and just turning color.

Leave them on the sheet for about 5 minutes to finish cooking and cool.