Pancakes

A few days after Christmas I went to Willam's Sonoma to get something special. When I brought it home the boys were so excited. It was Star Wars Pancake Molds! They were so excited they had to make some the next morning while I was at work. Failed Attempt #1.

Olaf was home the next day and he tried to make them for the boys since their attempt didn't work out. Failed Attempt #2.

Then New Year's Day I decided to show them all how it's done. I sprayed lots of Non-Stick spray to no avail. Failed Attempt #3.

Then Olaf tried it again with the same batch of dough. Finally! Successful Attempt #1!!! Well, sort of if you don't count Yoda's torn ear.

Cupcakes

This weekend I tried a new recipe. It was delicious! It was one of the best cupcakes I've had in a long time!

Look at that. Chocolate sumptiousness topped off with a spicy whip cream. There's cayenne pepper in there! A little different sounding but delicious!

It was just like the name of these cupcakes, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes. It tasted just like a cup of Hot Cocoa with Whip Cream on top. Run to your mixer. Make then now. You'll thank me later.

Cookies

Sometimes. Occasionally. Not too often. Randomly. Mysteriously. A good trait gets passed down to your offspring.

Middle Child has been venturing into the field of baking. He came home yesterday and asked if he cleaned up really good, could he could make cookies? I said "No." We really didn't have time.

Today he brought a friend home after school. They asked if they could go to Shopko to buy some treats. His friend had finally turned an assignment in on time! Then they worked on some homework. When they were done they asked if they could make some cookies.

Letting them make cookies versus me driving them to the store? You know which one won out! Thank goodness there are a few teenage boys here to eat the cookies so I don't. Because instead of letting him make the tasteless generic sugar cookies out of my basic cookbook, I gave him a good recipe. And they are good.

Unfortunately he bakes like he does most things. He only reads the first line of the instructions. I told him to read steps 4-7 to see what needed to be done to get them ready for baking. Apparently he only read 4 and 5 because step 6 tells you to flatten the balls of dough. This was after he tried to add chocolate chips to the sugar cookie dough. The mean Mom that I am wouldn't let him. I told him to make Chocolate Chip cookies if that's what he wanted.

They don't look too bad, just not like regular Sugar Cookies. But then, I've talked about Middle Child and his lack of conforming to my version of Normalcy.

My Frosting Runneth Over

I love to bake. A few years ago after I had sent a spat of recipes over to all my family members I got a reply back from my Dad. It said, "Thanks for all the Fatcipes!" Well, not much has changed since then. I still love Butter. And Sugar. And Bread. And...Oh well, you get the point.

Last Saturday morning I woke up to a chilly house, so much so that I turned the heater on for the first time this Fall. And then in an effort to warm up I made cinnamon rolls. And I think this was my best batch yet. So gooey and drippy and scrumptious!

In case you haven't made cinnamon rolls before I thought I would show you a few pictures of what things look like during the process. Be aware that if you haven't made yeast breads before it may take a few tries to get it right. Hell, I still get it wrong sometimes. But it's worth it every time it turns out. And remember that yeast requires a commitment of a couple hours. It's a short term relationship that you have to be committed to for it to work, no one way street here.

I remember once asking one of my sisters a few years back after not having much luck with cinnamon rolls what her trick was cuz mine weren't very good. She said "Sugar. Lots and lots of Sugar!'

See all that beautiful brown sugar. I also dusted it pretty heavily with cinnamon, but not too much.

Then I rolled it up into this neat log. Now comes the tricky part, cutting each roll off the log. All recipes I have ever seen tell you to use a sharp knife. But that just seems to squish the rolls. When I was young my Mom taught me a trick that I have never forgotten.

Dental floss. Any kind will do. Or a sturdy string. Just wiggle it under the log and twist to pinch a roll off. Then put it in the pan.

My trick for rising bread, because I want to keep the commitment as short as possible, is to let the bread raise in an oven set for 200 degrees F. Works like a charm every time. My Mom taught me that trick also.

After they have risen for a while they look like this. Nice and puffy!

Then you bake them and spread your frosting all over while they're still warm. See how it runs over the edge a little. Oh yummy! Hope you have a chance to make your own cinnamon rolls someday because there is nothing better.

12 Pounds

12 Pounds is not to be confused with the absolutely horrible movie 7 Pounds by one of my favorite actors, Will Smith. And that will be the last I speak of that movie. 12 Pounds refers to the weight I  would like to lose but haven't. The problem may lay in the food that keeps appearing in my house. All of the following items were consumed over the course of this weekend.

Candy Corn, one of my weaknesses. Actually, considering how many weaknesses I have I don't even know if that term applies.

Cranberry Walnut bread. Reminds me of the Fall I've been feeling in the air lately, even though it's only September.

A delicious Buffalo Chicken Burger, homemade and to die for.

Olive cheese bread. Heaven on Earth.

Lemon-Lime Jell-o Salad, "Poisonous" as Middle Child called it in an effort to keep his cousins from eating it so he could finish it off later, all by himself.

Ambrosia. The real name is Peanut Butter Oatmeal Brownies with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting. (And who invented spell-check? Fudgy is a real word!) Even though almost everything is homemade, I don't think it was all super healthy. Someone check me into Eaters Anonymous.

The Chef

Crusty sourdough bread. Soft, creamy, goat cheese. Caramelized sweet onions. Olive oil. What are these things? They make sweet heavenly sandwiches!

While I love a good Grilled Cheese I was tired of the same old thing. So I did what I do best. I looked for a simple recipe online. Nothing makes me happier than simple recipes using fabulous ingredients. It beats eating out any day.

Recently I rediscovered the joy of Cooking and Baking. And, at the ripe old age of my 30's I discovered I had a talent for cooking and baking. And now with the invention of blogs, I have access to millions of delicious, unique recipes!

Cupcakes were my first foray into the world of delectable baking. I had always made them from mixes, which was rare. Cookies were my specialty. I found so many delicious cupcake recipes online. And homemade frosting! To die for. I never liked the canned frosting at the store but cake mix cupcakes didn't really deserve homemade frosting. These new recipes were more than perfect for some good old fashioned butter cream, one of the foods of the gods.

After such great successes with desserts I branched out into dinner food. And breakfast food. And the occasional lunch. I only wish I had discovered cooking this good 15 years ago! In the last year I have really turned my idea of cooking around. It is no longer a chore, but an Adventure! I dare you to go on your own baking/cooking adventure. It's so much fun! And so delicious! And not good for your waistline at all. Now go get on your treadmill. Or if that makes you too tired, take a nap, like me.

The American Dream

I walked out to the mailbox and caught Baby selling a single Lifesaver in a wrapper to our neighbor for only $0.50! He saw me coming so he hurried and got the money and ran to his friend's house without acknowledging me at all, afraid I would make him give the money back. My neighbor, the sweet man that he is, begged me not to get mad at him. He told me Baby comes over regularly in warm weather, usually selling rocks. And he never wants more than $0.50. He said Baby will come up to the door and tell him "I've got some really cool rocks! Wanna buy one? It's only $0.50." To which my neighbor can't resist.

I knew he sold rocks. Last year he would get some of those sparkly white rocks from our neighbors side yard, bring them home, hit them with a hammer until they were the "right size," and then he would sell them to my poor neighbors. I thought it was pretty funny and entrepreneurial. One recently graduated high school student paid him $1.75 last summer! His mom told him that Baby'd be back for sure! Maybe that's why they moved last summer.

One year his cousin got him a Build-a-Bear which he loves. But he wanted to buy lots more clothes for him. So I helped him make some chocolate chip cookies and he went door-to-door selling 6 for $1. It was quite the bargain. He scored that time, especially when he told them what it was for, and made almost $10! Enough to buy one more outfit for that special bear of his.

It also reminds me of Calvin. He had the same entrepreneurial spirit. He used to sell rocks. My favorite was the summer he decided to go door-to-door selling Kool-Aid. He filled up two pitchers without my help. I think I was making the daycare kids lunch and told him I'd help in a minute or two and he just couldn't wait. Off he went pulling the rickety wagon with two gallons of Kool-Aid in the back. I thought for sure it would be all over the road. About ten minutes later he came back. "I forgot the sugar," he sheepishly told me. I had such a good laugh! I instructed him in how much sugar was needed for a gallon of Kool-Aid and he was off again. I think he made about $5 that day.

When he entered Middle School he was constantly selling stuff at school. He liked to make duct tape wallets and sell them to friends for a few bucks. Of course I bought the duct tape. But I didn't mind, it was a good use of his time. In 6th grade he would sell two rubberbands for a quarter. Sounds a little odd? The boys would fold paper into football shapes and play that little game where they shoot the footballs through their pal's fingers shaped into a goal post. It was great entertainment.

That same year Olaf brought a bunch of mechanical pencils home from work and Calvin loved them. He's always loved mechanical pencils and every year we had to stock up for school. So off to school Calvin went with about a dozen. A week later he asked Olaf to bring him more. We expressed our surprise at how quickly he had used them. That's when he told us he was selling them for $1! That one gave us a good laugh too. So as you can see, my children selling things is nothing new to me. They're trying to live the American Dream without the illegal alien part.

Eat Your Heart Out Hollywood

My new place of employment has a Coke machine. Not a vending machine with cans of coke for $.50 or even bottles of coke for $1, but a fountain machine with several options including Diet Coke! And depositing change in the "Soda Money" box is optional. So if I forget to bring myself a Diet Coke to work, it's already there.

This working 8am to 1pm is wonderful! I love getting home before the kids so I can workout. I am going to lose ten pounds. Or at least pretend to all of you that I'm a hot, workout machine. I am going to become the hottest, newest, latest Rockstar Wife. And then I will be all snotty to them and not invite them to my parties and snub my nose at them at school functions. And they will clamor around me begging for my latest "home party" invitation so they can buy jewelry or makeup or candles.

The next best thing I can do with my free time is clean house like a banshee. I will have the perfectest house in Utah County. I will look like I live in a museum with the perfect accessories from Pottery Barn and the most beautiful flowers in several vases strategically placed throughout the house. My children will have the prettiest playroom and Pottery Barn will ask to use my playroom in their next catalog. And I'll never ever let my kids play with anything because that would just mess things up and I can't have a messy house anymore.

And the next best thing is to involve my children in a few more activities. I must try to bring out all their talents. If we don't excel in everything I am going to be held accountable on Judgment Day for wasting my children's talents. I must involve them in piano, violin, all sports (especially baseball, I do live in Spanish Fork), acting, art, dance, singing, and definitely organ, you never know when my child will be the last organist in their congregation and he will be able to bring joy every Sunday to the church.

Lastly I will need to do more baking and cooking. I need to hone those baking talents of mine. I will practice making the perfect pie filling, cookies, brownies, cake, and frosting. I will become the food guru in my neighborhood. Everyone will call me for the latest hip ingredients and cooking styles. I will also be able to relay to everyone how to use their wheat and beans in new and delicious dishes so everyone will be able to live off their food storage for two years. Everyone will be on my doorstep on that fateful day when we have no choice but to eat our food storage and I will be ready with recipes and cooking classes for the masses.