Pioneer Woman Test Kitchen ::: Cinnamon Rolls

If you have ever read the PW's blog or even heard of her, the first thing (at least for me) that I think of is her cinnamon rolls. They have been on my list to try for months, but it took being snowed in this weekend to actually put the wheels in motion to get them made.

In a word: unbelieveable.

In many words: I really think the key to her cinnamon rolls in her icing. It has maple flavoring in it, with just the tiniest taste of coffee. It kind-of makes you go a little bit nuts once you taste it. And it is incredibly sweet. I only ate one and didn't have any desire for a second one - I hit my sugar limit!

Noelle asked to eat her cinnamon roll without icing and she pronounced it delicious and better than the ones that I normally make from the can. (Ha!) Travis thought they could have been cooked a little bit longer and I agree with them. They were done, but they were a little more dough-y than a perfect batch would be. I left the second batch I baked in a few minutes longer and we'll see how those turn out after we break into them.

This recipe makes a HUGE amount. I was able to fill one 9x13 pan and three additional pie pans with rolls. We polished off one pie pan this morning, leaving me the three other pans to pop in the freezer. I'm going to take the 9x13 to Bible study on Thursday so we'll see how well they heat up after being completely cooked and frozen.

A few miscellaneous thoughts after this experiment:

• These are definitely do-overs. Super, super yummy, and I think they will just get better with the more practice that I have making them.
• I need to try something a little different the next time with the rising process. I put my batch of dough in what I thought was a good spot for it to rise the first time, and I think it was too warm. The dough didn't rise well at all, but that didn't seem to cause a problem with the rolls in the end. After all the ingredients I had used, I just pressed on and hoped they would turn out because I didn't want to waste the dough. And it worked!
• This makes a HUGE mess in my little kitchen. I was constantly washing as I was preparing these and I still had stuff strewn everywhere in my kitchen.
• This is not the recipe to throw together at the last minute and without ample time to prepare it. I might even try making it in two stages next time - dough the night before, letting it rise in the fridge overnight and completing it the next morning. It is a super easy recipe, it just takes a while.

Recipe #2 from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook is another keeper. You can find the recipe for her cinnamon rolls on her blog. Next up, her meatloaf (a cookbook exclusive) and her grilled rib-eye steak with onion-blue cheese sauce. Yum!

Project 365 ::: A Few Snapshots from our Week

Janaury 25



The results (after approximately 60 hours):



January 26



You saw our Janauary 27 photo here. : )

January 28



January 29

Yet another addendum...

Several of you commented on the Amanda Bennett unit studies that I mentioned in this post. I just thought that I would let you know that she is having a $5 Friday sale at her personal website and you can check out one of her studies at a great deal! These studies on her website are 4 weeks in length which I think is neat as you are gearing up to a big event/holiday or it's a meatier topic, like her unit on the American Government.

Anyway, this would be an inexpensive way to get your feet wet with one her studies so I wanted to pass it along!

I'm not making any kind of kickback on these studies by the way ... I just really like them! : )

As an addendum ...

to yesterday's post...

You may have to click it and enlarge to read it all. : )

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday

1. The girls and I have been thoroughly enjoying The Brady Bunch as we have time to watch an episode or two here and there. Some of the things that the kids say to each other are so dated. In a recent episode, Marsha and Greg called Bobby a "stinker" and Carol got all upset because she really didn't like that word!

2. I haven't done any kind of homeschooling update in some time, and I don't know that this will really be one, but I want to mention that we have REALLY enjoyed using some of these unit studies over the last several months. We have done Amanda Bennett's Autumn study (last fall), her Christmas one, and I just downloaded her Winter Olympic study which looks great. (I have her Easter one, but we haven't used it yet). On this page, you can see some of the upcoming ones that she has set to publish over the next 4-5 months ... some that I have my eye on: George Washington and Spring Surprises. Some of the things that I love about these:

• they are downloadable so I can use them over and over.
• they are geared for a broad age group. Noelle and I barely scratched the surface of the Christmas unit this year, so we'll probably pull it out again in a year or two and there will be stuff that we can add in with her, and I can do the basics with Natalie.
• they can be supplemented with lots of reading aloud and stretched or shortened to cover any time period ... and I feel like I can do as much or as little as I want.

Anyway, they might be worth a look for any homeschoolers out there.

3. This blog post on February burnout for homeschoolers is going in my notebook to refer to over and over.

4. We are doing the infamous carnation and food-dye experiment that, I think, is a requirement for every child at some point, is it not? : )

5. This week is cah-razy. Way too many things on the schedule, but they are all good. Our last few weeks have been mostly empty, so I'm not dreading this week as much as I could be, thankfully. On the agenda, two homeschool field trips, one tae qwon do class (Noelle is visiting a friend's class), one girl scout leader's meeting, one Bible study, one night of Awana, one dr. appointment, one birthday party for our almost 4-year-old, and one birthday day!

6. I managed to get 4 pages scrapbooked last week. I don't know when the last time, I've gotten that many done at once.

7. I have to admit grilling food is not my strong suit at all, but I managed to rock a chicken marinade last night for dinner. (Which we then threw over a southwest chicken salad). Lots of worchestershire, garlic powder, Lawry's seasoning salt, and some barbeque seasoning. Yum. Hoping I can duplicate that again because everyone loved it, including the picky eater.

8. The final season of Lost starts in one week. Do you watch it? I am always on the edge of my seat and nervous, but I love the mystery of the show.

9. My sister is on her way to pick up her kids from me right. now. and bringing me a Route 44 Diet Coke from Sonic. That's the best kind of sister.

10. I have crazy girls. : )

Pioneer Woman Test Kitchen: Cheese Grits

I mentioned in my first post of the new year that I had some fun cooking goals for myself. Not necessarily the most healthy, but one that I was going to enjoy. I received the Pioneer Woman's cookbook for my birthday and have now flipped through it several times ooh-ing and aah-ing over both the recipes AND the photos of her ranch which are scattered liberally throughout.

First of all, it is obvious I am not a food photographer. : )

Second, we made her cheese grits on Saturday morning. (Unfortunately, this is one of the recipes that is exclusive to the cookbook so I can't hook you up with a link on her website). Yum. Grits, cheese, and some garlic ... these were really good. Two of my girls even tried them and they both liked them as well. Her recipe in the cookbook serves 8; when we made it, we reduced it quite a bit and made only one-fourth as much as she suggested. There was still plenty for me, two munchkins, and a healthy serving left over. Safe to say, a full batch of this will serve a lot of folks.

My review, two thumbs up. Definitely a keeper.

National Handwriting Day

Daddy & Daughter

This past Saturday night was the Girl Scout daddy/daughter dance. Noelle felt so bad on Saturday (you all know where we spent Sunday morning). She had been running a fever and sick to her stomach, so the prudent parent would have said no to the dance, right? She was so disappointed, so we let her get dressed up and she and Daddy went to the dance for a few minutes (literally). After 15 minutes, they turned around and came back home where it was back to the couch with blankets and sprite. Poor girl.

However, didn't I get a great picture of my guy and girl out of it? : ) When the other girls saw Noelle getting her picture with Daddy there was much shrieking and a few tears that needed their picture with Daddy, too.

You will note that Natalie is wearing quite the fancy ballet outfit in her picture. We are in the midst of the dress-up stage with the her and Betsy-Boo. One, if not both, are usually dressed in some form of ballet or princess attire. Ready for any social situation that might be thrown at them. : )

Ten on Tuesday

1. Travis took had Monday off and used it to study, study, study for a Microsoft computer something something exam that he is taking on Tuesday (today). He offered lunch out at Cracker Barrel and we said, "um, yes!" I can count on one hand the number of times that we have gone out to eat in a restaurant with the girls as a family of five. (Not counting restaurants where you don't leave the car (Sonic) or that are sweetly nicknamed Old McDonald's.) A fun treat. I love Cracker Barrel. Yum yum yum. : )



2. N2 discovered how tasty ice cream cones are yesterday. Before then, the girls and I had a good ice cream cone arrangement. They ate the ice cream, and I ate the delicious sugar cone. However, in her dilemna at getting all the chocolate ice cream out of the cone, she took a bite out of it. Then another. Rats.

3. I got a surprise package in the mail today from my Dad ... a brand-new cast iron skillet. A whole world of cooking has opened up to me. As well as the ability to really make some of the Pioneer Woman recipes out of my new cookbook. Now to choose one.

4. Today was National Popcorn Day. I had good intentions of making some with the girls today, but time totally got away from us. Tomorrow will be our makeup day on this one.

5. We are having a little birthday party for a certain almost 4 year old in less than two weeks, and I haven't made a single list to prepare for it. Must. get. cracking.

6. Do you have blogs that are comfort reading blogs for you? I've noticed recently that there are a few blogs that I gravitate to for comfort reading ... like I turn, on occasion, to time in Mitford or Avonlea. Whether it's because I need a kick in homeschooling pants, or because the person has the ability to make me laugh outloud while reading their posts, there are a few that have been that for me of late. What about you?

7. I've decided to try and do a 365 photo-a-day project again for this year. I started one last year and made it about 3-4 months, but this year I've got a new strategy. Over on the right (-->) is a little graphic of a camera. If you click it, you can check out my 365 photo album over in flickr (if you are totally bored on a Friday night or something). : ) I'll be uploading the pictures I take to that album every few days.

8. We had to take our bunny to the vet again today for an ear recheck. Three girls + bunny + one parent = an adventure. And by the way, bunnies are considered an exotic animal to our little regular vet. They do mostly dogs and cats, so when we called to see if we could bring the bunny in because of an ear infection, it caused quite a stir. Today, all three of the vets in the office came in to look in the bunny's ear. I think he was feeling a little self conscious from all the attention.

9. We've been reading lots of books on snow and penguins and winter weather and such of late. All sorts of cold weather goodness.

10. And speaking of books, tonight I ran into Barnes & Noble for all of about 15 minutes. (It's educator's week which means 25% off my purchase - yay!) I was looking for a couple specific books for N1 that I wanted to use in school over the next few weeks and I have to say that as much as I love browsing and looking in the bookstore, I couldn't find any of the books that I wanted. (And they were by a fairly popular/current author). Amazon is definitely easier and quicker in the long run for me right now, but I really miss going to the bookstore more often. Must make a note to do that sometimes / occasionally / when I have the rare opportunity to run out by myself.

The Thoroughly Modern Patient

The thoroughly modern patient watching a video while we wait to see the doctor. We ended up at the walk-in clinic on Sunday morning with a diagnosis of strep. Catching it again exactly one month after she had it in December. I hope this isn't going to turn into a pattern.