Wednesday, October 27, 2010

One Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty

No, it is NOT the number of recipes I have on my to-do list. It is NOT the number of times a day that I think about chocolate. It is NOT the number of germs you get from typing on your keyboard (actually, I don’t know that for sure, but I guarantee that’s NOT what I’m talking about).
It IS the number of minutes we have every single day. I have been thinking a lot about this lately and have felt empowered to be doing more with my minutes every day. I used to think in terms of hours. I have 24 hours a day, watching a TV show takes an hour. Baking something generally takes an hour, start to finish. I sleep for about 8 hours a night. You get the idea. I used to say that I didn’t have enough time because I would round up my time – something that would probably only take about 30 minutes would really take an ‘hour’ by the time I got it organized, started, and finished. But when I think in terms of minutes, I realize just how much time I actually have in my day. When I have a few minutes that I’m in between things, I realize that I could write a letter, call a friend, speed clean, read, or go for a quick walk. There are just all sorts of possibilities. I have made it my goal recently to maximize my time by using the small minutes that I have to do something great. In just a few minutes, you can make someone’s day, help them feel loved, do something to lift your own spirits or organize your life.
I know that when we take the time we have, the Lord will always help us with our time, and somehow He can help us stretch it out more to do more good in our day.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Carmel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

A couple of weeks ago, our ward went to our bishop's house to pick apples and other fruits. He let us all take what we wanted home with us. I knew, almost instantly, that I wanted to do something "different" with them. I decided to make Carmel Apple Cinnamon Rolls. Make any sweet dough recipe - I just use a basic roll dough recipe. It's sweet without being too sweet.
While the dough is rising, you will need to do two things: first, core, peel and slice your apples; second, make a carmel sauce. Apples: I used two for this, but next time I would probably double that. I sauteed them in a sauce pan with a little bit of butter, just until they were becoming tender. Carmel sauce: I have no idea how much of anything I used, but I used a little butter, some brown sugar, and a bit of cream. Cook until the sugar is dissolved. (If I were being the slightest bit technical, my guess would be that I cooked my to soft ball stage, but I didn't actually check...oops).
After the dough has had a chance to rise (doubled in size), roll it out onto a lightly floured surface. Proceed as you normally would if you were making regular cinnamon rolls. Before you start to roll the dough, spread the apples over the dough. Then begin rolling. On The Pioneer Woman's website, she suggested rolling the dough toward yourself - a great tip!
Before rolling

Carmel sauce in the pan, ready and waiting.

Place rolls in pan. Leave enough space for them to rise.

See how well it raised!

Piping hot, just out of the oven.

Just turn the baking pan over onto a larger plate/tray to dump the rolls out. This lets the carmel sauce run all over everything.
The next time I do this I think I would save the carmel sauce for the end and drizzle it over the top. Also, I would add less brown sugar at the beginning since the sauce is rather sweet.

Friday, October 1, 2010

25 Pounds

Trust me, it's not what you think. Last weekend Sam, Cherie, and I went to the farmers market and bought all sorts of stuff, but we ended the trip (and by we, I mean they) bought 25 pounds of fruit; peaches, pears, and plums to be precise. We came home and decided to make pear sauce. Then we decided to do something with the apples, so we made apple pie filling. When we thought we were done, we had the hair brained scheme to make peach cobbler. And just for the record, I'm using we loosely as I'm not really sure who had what ideas. :)
We didn't document the endeavor while in the process, but we did get pics of the finished products.
It may not look like much here, but everything was amazing!

Sam and Cherie showing off their handywork.