Who does not love cinnamon buns? And these are literally to die for. No really, my co-workers stampede into the lunch room when I make them!
They taste like Cinna-Bon cinnamon buns. Mmmmm....yummmy! They pretty much melt in your mouth.
I tend to make the dough and roll them up and cut them, put them in the pan, and let rise, and then throw them in the fridge covered in Saran Wrap the night before. Get up for work, bake them, put icing on them and run out the door with them. If my husband is home I am usually missing about 4-6 of them before I leave the house as he takes "his" stash.
Now my cheat tip is follow the reciepe using your bread maker (I have alway made them without) and use Quick Rise Yeast. I own a huge 3lb loaf and quite honestly the dough when it rises pushes the lid off. If your breadmaker is smaller you may want to take it out for the rising part. Just place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a slightly damp tea towel. Let rise until double.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we all do!
CINNAMON BUNS
Ingredients
DOUGH
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix or 2 vanilla pudding cups (the
pudding cups will give you a stickier but lighter dough)
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
FILLING
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
ICING
• 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
Directions
1. In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start.
2. When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle with pecans (optional).
3. Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While rolls bake, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tip #1 on how to save money.
DId you know that the average household spends $600 per year on household cleaning supplies? Would you like to know how to save that $600, or at least most of it?
Just like cloth diapers vs disposable diapers to be able to save money in the long run over time you have to put out a little money at the start.
So what is this great breakthrough? Norwex. (No I am not a distributor, so this is an unbiased opinion).
Norwex is a microfiber speciality company that has designed the most amazing microfiber cloths on the market (at least in my opinion). Even better is in a number of their cloths they have added silver to it. Silver is a natural antibacterial agent that is activated by simple water. It is extremely effective, so much that it is used in the wound dressings for burn patients to help prevent infections.
Studies have found that Norwex kills the following things:
E.Coli (Escherichia coli)
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Proteus vulgaris
Salmonella typhi
Staphylococcus aureus
Stretococcus faecalis
Stretococcus pygogenes
Candidua albicans
MRSA
SARS coronavurus
I have talked to a number of people who have simply used the microfiber cloths with the silver in them and noticed a dramatic reduction in the number of colds etc people in the house have suffered from. Also I have a couple of friends whose daughters were constantly getting UTIs. They bought the baby cloth size microfiber cloths and hand their daughters use a wet one to clean themselves after going to the bathroom and their UTIs disappeared. People who have bad acne claim that using just the microfiber cloths (without any additonal cleansers) resulted in their acne clearing up. All because of silver.
Not sold on the silver? Ever heard of the term "Born with a silver spoon?" Babies in high income homes in older times often were fed with silver spoons. These children had lesser infection and thus often lesser infant mortality rates.
All the good stuff being said, the initial cost of buying it all can be a fair chunk of cash. And let's face it, that sucks when one is trying to be money savvy. So I suggest buying in it "bits and pieces" and seeing how you like it. If it like/love it then you can slowly buy more.
So the first purchase would be the microfiber cloths and a window cleaning cloth. Almost all your cleaning needs are fixed right there. The microfiber cloths come in 4 different colors. This is so you can color code them for your house - example: kitchen is blue, bathroom is yellow, regular dusting is green, etc. These clothes have the silver embedded in them and so disinfect while cleaning. Cost of 4 is about $60.00. The window cleaning cloth is a damn near miracle cloth. Wet, wring till damp, wipe the window or mirror and it dries streak free. I hate the smell of window cleaner and I found I could not breathe around it so this for me was a near godsend of a product.
The next thing I would buy would be the mop system with the rubber brush. The mop system consists of the mop handle ($31) and base ($25-33 depending on the size) and then a variety of mop heads. For dry cleaning go with the dry superior mop head. run from ( $25-$35 depending on the size of mop head you buy) for this head you will also want the Rubber Brush ($16) which is makes cleaning the dry mop head a breeze, it is also amazing for getting animal hair off your couch! For wet cleaning you want the wet mop head ($25-34 again dependent on the size, this one has the solver in it so you disinfect your floors as you wash). Now if you use a steam mop already you can probably skip this mop head.
If you have allergy sufferers in your house or are just plain paranoid of dust mites living in your beds, bedding, carpets etc (yuck!) they have a "Mattress Cleaner". It is a living enzyme that eats the dust mites and their waste, eggs etc. Our one dog has severe allergies to dust mites to the point she needs allergy shots. Since we started using this her symptoms have gone down by a good 90%. Our toddler who has had a runny nose sine the day he was born also stopped having a runny nose 24/7. You can use it on your couches, carpet, bedding (yours and any animals you may have), pretty anything that is fabric.
They also have a laundry detergent which is amazing for those that have sensitivities to detergents. It is the only detergent my youngest can use anymore. Everything else triggers a horrible eczema outbreak over his entire body.
So those are the must have basics. They have a catalouge full of great products and you could easily spend hundred of dollars buying everything. The above are what I see as the "must haves" the rest is just great "extras", but you have to start somewhere.
I hope that you have found this useful and informative. As always please post your feedback, stories, etc below.
Just like cloth diapers vs disposable diapers to be able to save money in the long run over time you have to put out a little money at the start.
So what is this great breakthrough? Norwex. (No I am not a distributor, so this is an unbiased opinion).
Norwex is a microfiber speciality company that has designed the most amazing microfiber cloths on the market (at least in my opinion). Even better is in a number of their cloths they have added silver to it. Silver is a natural antibacterial agent that is activated by simple water. It is extremely effective, so much that it is used in the wound dressings for burn patients to help prevent infections.
Studies have found that Norwex kills the following things:
E.Coli (Escherichia coli)
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Proteus vulgaris
Salmonella typhi
Staphylococcus aureus
Stretococcus faecalis
Stretococcus pygogenes
Candidua albicans
MRSA
SARS coronavurus
I have talked to a number of people who have simply used the microfiber cloths with the silver in them and noticed a dramatic reduction in the number of colds etc people in the house have suffered from. Also I have a couple of friends whose daughters were constantly getting UTIs. They bought the baby cloth size microfiber cloths and hand their daughters use a wet one to clean themselves after going to the bathroom and their UTIs disappeared. People who have bad acne claim that using just the microfiber cloths (without any additonal cleansers) resulted in their acne clearing up. All because of silver.
Not sold on the silver? Ever heard of the term "Born with a silver spoon?" Babies in high income homes in older times often were fed with silver spoons. These children had lesser infection and thus often lesser infant mortality rates.
All the good stuff being said, the initial cost of buying it all can be a fair chunk of cash. And let's face it, that sucks when one is trying to be money savvy. So I suggest buying in it "bits and pieces" and seeing how you like it. If it like/love it then you can slowly buy more.
So the first purchase would be the microfiber cloths and a window cleaning cloth. Almost all your cleaning needs are fixed right there. The microfiber cloths come in 4 different colors. This is so you can color code them for your house - example: kitchen is blue, bathroom is yellow, regular dusting is green, etc. These clothes have the silver embedded in them and so disinfect while cleaning. Cost of 4 is about $60.00. The window cleaning cloth is a damn near miracle cloth. Wet, wring till damp, wipe the window or mirror and it dries streak free. I hate the smell of window cleaner and I found I could not breathe around it so this for me was a near godsend of a product.
The next thing I would buy would be the mop system with the rubber brush. The mop system consists of the mop handle ($31) and base ($25-33 depending on the size) and then a variety of mop heads. For dry cleaning go with the dry superior mop head. run from ( $25-$35 depending on the size of mop head you buy) for this head you will also want the Rubber Brush ($16) which is makes cleaning the dry mop head a breeze, it is also amazing for getting animal hair off your couch! For wet cleaning you want the wet mop head ($25-34 again dependent on the size, this one has the solver in it so you disinfect your floors as you wash). Now if you use a steam mop already you can probably skip this mop head.
If you have allergy sufferers in your house or are just plain paranoid of dust mites living in your beds, bedding, carpets etc (yuck!) they have a "Mattress Cleaner". It is a living enzyme that eats the dust mites and their waste, eggs etc. Our one dog has severe allergies to dust mites to the point she needs allergy shots. Since we started using this her symptoms have gone down by a good 90%. Our toddler who has had a runny nose sine the day he was born also stopped having a runny nose 24/7. You can use it on your couches, carpet, bedding (yours and any animals you may have), pretty anything that is fabric.
They also have a laundry detergent which is amazing for those that have sensitivities to detergents. It is the only detergent my youngest can use anymore. Everything else triggers a horrible eczema outbreak over his entire body.
So those are the must have basics. They have a catalouge full of great products and you could easily spend hundred of dollars buying everything. The above are what I see as the "must haves" the rest is just great "extras", but you have to start somewhere.
I hope that you have found this useful and informative. As always please post your feedback, stories, etc below.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Whoas of Menu Planning
Menu planning always sounds like a great idea. It really does. It is suppose to cut down on your grocery bills, save you time, and overall make you happy.
Menu planning needs a reality check.
Pitfall #1
Menu planning usually only plans your suppers. It does not plan the other two meals of the day or snacks. I found I was having these really great suppers but not so great lunches (breakfasts are a short and sweet meal in this house). In reality what happened is I ended up eating out more for lunches as I had bought everything I needed for suppers off my grocery list to only realize later I had no "ingredients" for lunches. They were healthy lunches but $6-$10/day adds up really fast. So if this is the case in your life, you may also need to extend your planning to include lunches and possibly breakfast. Oh and don't forget to plan snacks!
Pitfall #2
How in whoever's name are you suppose to know what you are going to want to eat on Friday when it is the Saturday before and you are "planning". My first solution to this was to premake my dinners and freeze them all. Then I could just pull out the one I wanted that morning and it would be ready to throw in the oven when I got home. Sounds great in theory. But there was always at least one meal I was not totally keen on and it kept getting shoved to "tomorrow's supper". So by the end of the week I was eating something that did not enthuse me and well let's just say pizza was ordered in on more than one occasion because of this. So came my next "solve" and I started one week one to make two weeks meals at a time and freeze them. At the end of week #1 I could see what I had left and make 6-7 more dinner dishes and thus was never having to eat something that just did not appeal to me. Really when you are in the mood for steak, chicken just is not going to cut it.
Pitfall #3
Menu planning is a "family affair". Again great sounding in theory but not great in practice. My kids hate everything. If they had their "opinions" heard we would each grilled cheese sandwiches for a week, maybe throw in some fish sticks to liven things up on Thursdays. Ask your husband what he wants and the answer is usually something along the lines of "I dunno" or "whatever". Save yourself some stress and just make what you want.
Pitfall #4
They say menu planning will encourage your husband to participate in dinner making. Not true. Even though all they have to do it take the thawed food or precut up food and put it in the oven or follow a simple reciepe it just is not going to happen. If it does happen let me know cause your husband is a rarity and thus deserves a medal.
So once you understand and figure out ways around these issues that normally have people stop menu planning you can begin with a realistic view and outcome. It is not hard, and if done right it can save you money (just don't go crazy buying snacks and non meal items).
Any other tips? Please fee free to share them in the comment section below.
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