Cinnamon Rolls

I'm mostly just posting this so that I'll have the recipe for myself in the future. I made these for General Conference last October, and again today and they were amazing! I'm planning on using this recipe from now on. Once again, I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. The only changes I would make to this recipe are to add more cinnamon to the filling, and make sure you do not cook them too long. I think the suggested time is way too long, but that may be because our oven isn't quite right. This also makes a ton (I halved it and it made over 20), so I would suggest halving the recipe, unless you're cooking for a party. But here it is, the amazing cinnamon rolls:

Rolls:

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup reserved potato cooking water

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 cup hot water

2 packages yeast (or slightly under 2 tablespoons)

1/2 cup warm water

2 eggs

8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, slightly more if needed

Filling:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

6 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

5 Tbs. milk, or more as needed

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, potato water, butter, sugar, salt and hot water in large mixing bowl. Stir until butter melts; set aside and let cool. Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in small bowl. Let rest 5 minutes. Add eggs, 2 cups flour and yeast mixture to potato mixture. Beat until well mixed. Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time until soft dough forms.
2. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 4 to 6 minutes), OR knead with electric mixer using dough hook. Place in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover.
3. Let rise in a warm, draft free area about 1 hour, until doubled in size. Punch dough down; divide in half.
4. Roll one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12 x 18-inch rectangle. Spread with half the butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle half of the mixture over surface. Roll up tightly lengthwise, sealing edges. Cut into 12 slices. Place in greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothies

I think our blender gets used more than any other kitchen appliance we own. Jared and I make smoothies probably 3 or 4 times a week. We just buy lots of fresh fruit when it's on a good deal and freeze it, so we can turn it into smoothies whenever we want. We typically stick to bananas, strawberries, and other normal smoothie fruits, but tonight I decided to be adventurous. I made this to go along with dinner and it was just like drinking pumpkin pie. But better. And a whole lot better for you too. I really just threw together some leftovers in my fridge that I needed to use up, along with some other things, but somehow it turned out fabulous. I'm sure you could be pretty flexible with this recipe, but here's what I did (all measurements are just very rough guesses). Oh, and all the ingredients should be cold, or you'll need to add some ice.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (Serves 2)
1 zucchini, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup (maybe it was more) canned pumpkin puree
1 frozen banana (using frozen bananas makes the texture really creamy)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
Sugar to taste
Cinnamon and nutmeg, to taste (probably 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg should do)

Blend everything up in a blender until smooth, and adjust to taste if you think it needs anything.

Pasta Salad

Dinner tonight was delicious, so I thought I should share it. The combination of all the ingredients just went perfectly together, and Jared and I agreed that it had a very fresh, vibrant flavor. Of course I didn't actually measure anything, so here's the rough estimate:

3 or so cups of cooked macaroni or other small pasta
2-3 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (you might want to start out with less and add more at the end to taste)
A couple shakes each of salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and basil to taste (you really don't    need very much salt at all)
About 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large tomato, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup cubed mozzarella cheese
A couple shakes of parmesan cheese

While the pasta is cooking, combine the oil, lemon juice, and seasonings in a medium bowl and whisk together. Add the pasta and spinach and stir it up. Zap the pasta/spinach in the microwave for about a minute to slightly wilt the spinach. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir it so everything is coated in the dressing. Taste it and add more seasonings if needed. Serve at room temperature.

Tomato Eggs

I love Jared's grandpa. He's just the cutest old man, and we became friends pretty quickly over a few games of Settler's of Zarahemla. I don't think I've ever seen him cook anything because Grandma's so good at it, but there is one dish that he always makes when the extended family's over. Tomato eggs. It's basically stewed tomatoes with poached eggs that you put on top of toast. I've had his tomato eggs for breakfast a few times now and I really like them. Tonight I had the inspiration to make them for dinner, so I surprised Jared with it. I don't have Grandpa's recipe so I came up with my own and they turned out pretty good, and pretty similar to his I think. Here's my adaption:

1/2 onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
A couple shakes each of salt, pepper, basil, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes
3 eggs
Toast

Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan until the onions are nice and tender. Add the garlic and saute for a couple more minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, and spices and let simmer, uncovered, on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Crack the eggs and gently drop them into the tomato mixture, being careful not to break the yolks. Don't stir anything from this point on. Cover the pot and let it simmer until the eggs are fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile make 3 or 4 pieces of toast. When the eggs are done, dish up an egg with a a good amount of tomatoes onto a piece of toast and enjoy! If you don't like the idea of soggy toast, feel free to eat them separately, it will still be delicious.

Holy Peaches!

I never realized how delicious fresh peaches are. They are simply amazing, at least when you pick them right off the tree. My problem before now is that I've always bought them from the grocery store, and they're usually kind of dry and bland. But this summer we loaded up on fresh peaches from a tree just 2 blocks from our apartment. We picked four whole grocery bags full! We've probably been eating at least 2 peaches a day each for the past week, and had tons and tons left. Most of them ended up in the freezer tonight, and we're going to turn some more into jam tomorrow. But we still have another bag of them left. We've used them in cereal, smoothies, oatmeal, and on waffles. Does anyone have any good peach recipes?

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

I know the thought of buttermilk in cake sounds weird, but trust me on this one. This cake is delicious. My parents left us with a carton of buttermilk a few weeks ago, and of course the only thing I could think to use it for was pancakes. Luckily we found this awesome recipe on allrecipes.com when we had to make a dessert for something.

     2 cups white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup water

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk

3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup butter or margarine, 1/3 cup cocoa, and water. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted.
2. In a large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour, soda, and cinnamon. Add cocoa mixture to flour mixture, and blend. Beat together eggs and buttermilk, and blend into batter thoroughly. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour batter into ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. To Make Frosting: Five minutes before cake is done, combine 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer about 3 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla, blending until smooth. Spread immediately over hot cake in pan.

Chicken Pot Pie

Don't you just love the week after Thanksgiving when you've got all those awesome turkey leftovers that seem to go into about half a dozen meals? So do I. We don't have any turkey leftovers, but we did roast a couple chickens for our cousin dinner last night. Happily we had almost a whole one leftover. So what did we decide to do with it tonight? Homemade chicken pot pie. Mmm was it good. I attempted to make a dessert pie a few weeks ago and it seemed like everything that could have gone wrong with it, did go wrong. Somehow it turned out okay, but I made sure not to make any of the same mistakes with my crust this time (like forgetting to turn on the oven, only to discover it sitting cold and pale half an hour later). Nope. This time it turned out perfectly flaky and delicious. Jared made up the gravy, which we mixed some cooked veggies and chicken into for the filling. But here's the recipe for the crust, along with some personal tips I've learned or discovered on my own.

Pastry             2 ½ C.  pastry flour          3/4 C. shortening

                        3/4 tsp. salt                    8 to 10 Tablespoons (1/2 c. plus 2 T.) ice cold water

1.         Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

2.         Gently cut in shortening with a pastry blender until pea sized. If you don't have a pastry cutter, use 2 butter knives, one in each fist, and slide them past each other, cutting the shortening into the flour.

3.         Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the cold water over flour mixture, tossing lightly with a fork or rubber scraper. Add the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork, and press to the side of the bowl until all is moistened. Use just enough water for the dough to hold together.

4.         Divide dough in half, and gently pat into 2 lightly flattened balls. (Don’t over-work your dough at this point. You should just gently gather the dough into two slightly flattened pieces, not two tightly compressed dough balls.) Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

5.         When you're ready to roll out the dough, spread a long sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper on the counter (about 2 feet long) and put one of the dough balls toward one end. Fold the plastic wrap in half over the dough, so it is over and under it. This will prevent it from sticking to the counter and the rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a large circle. To measure it, take your pie pan upside down and hold it over the dough. The dough needs to be at least 2 inches bigger all the way around. Now peel back the top layer of plastic from the dough, lift it up and flip it over onto the pie pan. Press it into the pan, making sure there are no air bubbles. It's okay if there's some dough hanging over the edge. Put your filling in the bottom crust and lay the top crust over the filling. Use a fork to press the edges together, and then use scissors to trim the overhanging dough. Also use the scissors to cut a slit in the top crust.

6. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Then take the foil off and let it bake for another 10 minutes, or until the crust is nice and golden.