Cinnamon Rolls (Really Fast)

Cinnamon Roll Sunday

Taggart informed me that I needed help making cinnamon rolls on Sunday and here is what he taught me. First you measure all of your ingredients

Then you add them to make your doughThen you need to check your dough and see if it is ready.Then you clean up and get ready to roll out the dough.

After you have the dough rolled out you put on the toppings that you want.

Roll them up and cut them to size with some help from mom.Then you bake them.And eat them! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 Cups warm water

2 tsp. Salt

1 Cup oil 3 eggs

3/4 Cup Sugar

10 1/2 Cups Flour
6 Tbsp. Yeast

Mix the water, oil, sugar, and yeast together. Let raise for 15 minuets. Add the salt, eggs, and flour to the mixture. Roll out dough. Shape and let raise for 10 minuter. Bake for 12 minutes at 425 degrees.

From the kitchen of Ann Clements

First run outside

Let's face it I am a weeny when it comes to running in the cold. I hate it and my lungs do too. So when it warmed up to a balmy 40 degrees on Tuesday Jason and I went for a run outside. It was pretty fun. I think I run faster outside because it was cold enough that I wanted to warm up quick. That and Jason has a much longer stride then I do. We ran around the neighborhood behind our house. It was fun and after we were done Jason introduced me to www.mapmyrun.com which I have never used before. In all it was fun I just can't wait for warmer weather and more runs outside with my husband.

Spring Break

So I was asked today if I had anything fun planned for Spring break of if it was too far off. Little did he know what he was getting himself into. I said that I was going to Michigan with my husband to see my brother-in-law for the break which is true. I didn't mention that we were going to be looking for a house while we were there. Then I got more then I asked for. The man is a librarian who is from Mount Pleasant. He told me all about lake effect and how rural the northern part of the state is, how cold it gets, how many times he has been to Big Rapids and being a librarian he even printed me off directions to a ski resort that we could spend some time at. Needless to say it made me even more excited to go. It will be nice to know that we actually get to do something for our spring break this year instead of work and sit in our trailer.

The Rest of our lives

I call this one the walrus house because of the 2 pillars on the front. The house is in Michigan but is a little farther from the school. It is also a very tube shaped house because the owners kept building onto the back.

This is the smurf house. Jason loves this house. Online it has finished wood floors and is in the best shape of all of the other houses.

Here is another one, if you can see it behind the cars.

This one has a garage. That is a bonus. Especially in the winter.

I think I like this house because of the windows and aparently it sits on a little more land then the rest? It would need some work though.

As many of you know Jason has applied to Optometry school and been accepted to Michigan (Ferris State) and Tennessee (Southern College of Optometry) we are still waiting on what Ohio has decided. But because of this we have some big life decisions. Where do we want to spend the next 4 years of our life? How are we going to pay for it? Where are we going to live? Where will I get a job? Etc. So while Jason went and did his interviews he did some detective work and searched out some house and some libraries that I could maybe work at if I wanted to. Above are some pictures of houses in Michigan and Apartments in Tennessee. We are keeping our options open and will let you all know our final decision soon.

This summer with the Richens

So like I said I am behind on my posting so I am catching up on previous posts that I have missed. This summer Brian and Rachael Richens invited us to go tube the Bear River. It was one of the funest things that I have done in water and now that I think about it maybe not one of the safest. We went by Preston Idaho up in the mountains. The route was a couple of miles with some calm spots and some Rapids. Just having a tiny tube keeping you a float was a little nerve racking at times but I loved it! The Richens are such fun people to hang out with. Here are some shots after we were all done. Oh and they made us lunch after how could it have been any better then that!

Baby sitting with noodles.

I am sure that everyone thinks this about their own family but I have the most cute nephew in the world. He comes over to my house and we watch nick jr. together and eat noodles. On Saturday the camera was sitting on the couch and Taggart said "take a picture of me mimi" so I did. Here is Taggart hamming it up.

Spring Cleaning

We have started to slowly clean out our house every weekend because it is spring, and we don't have a very big house. We have gone through closets and bookshelves and donated to a lot to D.I. Last Saturday Jason decided to take this pictue of the magazines stacked on top of each other that I had been cleaning out because he thought they were the same magazine. Not quite. I'm sure Rachael Ray is glad her legs arn't that big.

Long Time and No Batteries

So it has been a long time since we have posted anything so I will up date a little at a time. Last week we had some friends over to play games. We played pictonary man which was really fun, but takes tripple A batteries. Jason sacrifices his calculator batteries for the game but we forgot to get them back. So on Sunday he had to do homework with no batteries. Not to worry, we Andrites are thinkers so this is what he rigged up. Don't worry the table didn't catch on fire and he got his homework done. All he needed was some tape, wire, and some double A batteries.

Anniversay

Can you believe it, Jason and I have been married 1 year. This past weekend was our anniversary. So we went and stayed at a local inn here in Logan. The inn has themed rooms and ours was called Rich's drive in. It was so much fun, the room was set up like a drive-in complete with an old Ford pickup that was converted into the bed. You get food with the room, treats, and breakfast. It was such a fun weekend getting to watch movies at the drive-in in bed. Pictures are below sorry they were small I got them from their website which is http://www.anniversaryinn.com/ if you want to look at some other cool rooms that they have. I will post the ones I tool later.

Rich's Drive Inn

Ikea Show room

So as you now know Jason and I are moving into a trailer. It has more space than our current apartment but it has less light. So Jason and I took a trip to Ikea in Draper (just south of Salt Lake) and got some lamps. Jason just loved the big hanging one so we had to get it. We also got a small side table so now our trailer will look like a cheap Ikea showroom. I liked the box light and the ball is a table lamp orb thing.

Pie Crust Recipe

Makes enough for 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9-inch pies

What you will need:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 1/4 sticks (18 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
7 to 10 tablespoons ice water


Directions
Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add butter, and pulse until coarse crumbs form, about 10 seconds.
With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream just until dough holds together and is not wet or sticky, no longer than 30 seconds.
Divide dough into two portions, and shape each into a disk. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. Dough can be frozen up to 1 month; thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.

Apple Pie

American apple pie with a twist

Makes one 9-inch double-crust pie
For The Pie filling:
4 pounds Granny Smith apples
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling


Directions for crust:
On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1 disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Trim edges flush with rim. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll remaining disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 1 3/4-inch fluted round cutter ( I use a cookie cutter), cut out about 70 rounds, rerolling scraps if necessary. Place rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For Filling:
Peel and core apples. Thinly slice half the apples, and cut remaining apples into 1-inch pieces.
Toss together apples, lemon zest and juice, sugars, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Place filling in piecrust, mounding it in the center. Dot with butter. To make egg wash, whisk together egg yolk and cream in a small bowl. Lightly brush edge of piecrust with egg wash.
Arrange dough rounds over filling, working in a spiral from the outside in to the center, overlapping them slightly. Lightly brush top of each round with egg wash as you work to help them adhere to one another.
Once the filling has been covered with rounds, lightly brush entire top of pie with egg wash.
Sprinkle top with sanding sugar. Refrigerate pie for 1 hour.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a foil-lined baking sheet on lower rack to catch any juices. Place pie on middle rack, and bake until crust begins to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees, and bake until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 1 hour, 10 minutes more. Tent with foil if crust browns too quickly. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy

Yummy Vermont Spice Cake

Vermont Spice Cake

What you will need for the Cake:

3 Cups all- purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking power
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Cups granulated sugar
3/4 Cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, soffened
3 large eggs
1 1/2 Cups pure pumpkin (I use Libby's)
1/2 Cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Maple Frosting

11 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 1.2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons maple flavoring
Orange peel teist, fresh mint, or chopped nuts for top

Preheat oven to 325 F Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. (I don't have cake pans so I use cheese cake springform pans)

For Cake:
Combine:
Flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl until creamy. Then add eggs; beat for 2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin, evaporated milk, water and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared cake pans.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a wooden tooth pick (or fork) inserted into the center come out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes, then remove them from pans and cool completely.

For Frosting:
Beat cream cheese, butter, and powder sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Add maple flavoring and mix well. ( I would put in a little less butter because the frosting needs to be stiff or the cake will fall over)

To Assemble.
Cut each layer in half horizontally with long knife. Frost between layers and on top of cake, leave the sides un-frosted. Top with what you want.
You don't have to make it a 4 layer cake you can just frost the 2 layers from the cake pans and frost the whole cake.
Enjoy!!!

If you are looking for inspiration

If you get home and have no idea what to cook here are some ideas,
*go to Kraft.com they have an extensive network of recipies all you need to so it type in food that you have such as chicken or rice and it will bring up recipies that you can use them in.
*Check out www.theorganizedchef.blogspot.com this is a blog from a girl in my ward. She knows and plans what she is going to make a month in advance. After she has made something she posts the recipe and a photo of it on her blog.
*Call your friends and ask them what they are making for dinner. Sometimes it is just hard to get an idea which prevents us from making anything. Don't be afraid to call your mom.

Angel Hair Chicken

Jason and I love this recipe and it is easy.

1st crock pot recipe Angel Chicken

Angel Chicken
You Will need:
*8oz cream cheese
*Italian dressing
*1 can cream of mushroom soup
*Boneless Skinless Chicken (I use chicken brest but you can use tenders and they cook faster)
*a liquid of some kind, water, milk, Grape Juice. (I use grape juice)
*noodles to put it on hence angel hair

Put the
Chicken (I do 2 brests) can of soup, 1/2 cup liquid, 1/2 cup italian dressing, and 1/2 of the cream cheese into the crockpot.
Cook it high for 1 &1/2 hours

Cook on low for 3 hours
or if the chicken is frozen you can cook it on high for 3 hours or on low for 6
You can put it in before you leave for class in the morning and have dinner when you come home.
Cook the noodles then spoon the sauce and the chicken onto the noodles and Enjoy.

Freshman in the fall

For all of my cousins that are starting school in the fall and are worried about not knowing what or how to cook I have one kitchen item that will save your life. Crockpot. Ask your parents for one and if your parents are the ones reading this buy your kids one. I know that Joe has the upper hand because he has been away from home, but with a hecktic school schedule and homework you won't have time to cook or let alone eat. (That is why you need to hit up aunt Lori's house for dinner every once in a while besides I'm sure Lindsay will be lonely) So I will try to find recipies that you will like and use that are easy. Also a nice kitchen item is a small grill. Like the hamilton ones that you can grill chicken and they will save you time as well.