Holy Christmas! Cinnamon Rolls, year 2

I baked homemade cinnamon rolls again this Christmas.  The first reason is because I wanted to eat them on Christmas morning with homemade breakfast casserole which I blogged about a couple months ago when our friends stayed with us.  And we have a Keurig now and the thought of piping hot coffee with sweet rolls and breakfast casserole on a cold Christmas morning just sounded lovely. 

So one weekend day I spent several hours in the kitchen making these little gems.  I made one batch....which is about 40-50 rolls or 7-8 pans...then once I got started and realized how perfect they were turning out I decided to share some with our closest friends and family so they could enjoy cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning too. 

I had pans of cinnamon rolls everywhere.

And our kitchen smelled wonderful all day long while they baked. 

I used the maple-coffee frosting from the original recipe on The Pioneer Woman blog and sprinkled a few chopped pecans on some of them before packaging to deliver.

It was nearly impossible to not get a fork and just eat them from the pan as soon as they came out of the oven with icing drizzled over the top.  But, I did resist.

I sealed up the pans with a bag of icing and used these cute little place cards to put a little label on top.  What a good use for place cards, huh?

 I delivered 8 pans of rolls before Christmas day meaning we had 8-9 pans for here at home. Dangerous!  I kept out two pans for us then froze the rest.  I will try to not eat anymore for a month or so but Robbie just loves sweet things for breakfast so I will let him pull out a pan to reheat every once in a while.

I  found several variations to The Pioneer Woman's sweet rolls on her blog and would love to try to make the orange or caramel ones, maybe around Easter.  I love making these things!  It's a yeast dough but extremely easy to work with and there is no kneading involved.  I had several messages from friends and family about how much they enjoyed their rolls on Christmas morning.  I think it may have been one of the best gifts I gave out this year and will continue to be an annual tradition here at this old house. 

Christmas Eve 2013

We started out Christmas Eve at Mom and Tom's house this year.  We had some tasty fried chicken for dinner before opening our gifts and visiting for a little while...or I should say that I visited with them while Robbie and Bob fell asleep on the sofa. Robbie had been up since 4 a.m. for having to work; I have no excuse for Bob.  ha ha!

Mom and Duke...her little sidekick

                              

One gift I got was my maternal grandma's recipe box.  It was a neat gift and I've already looked through it a couple times to read over some of her handwritten recipes.  One I wanted was for Rum Cake and it was in there.  May have to make a second rum cake during the holidays.

Mom made Elvis cake for dessert this evening.  It was very good!

Once we returned home Bob, Robbie and I opened the gifts we gave each other.  Even though we were full from dinner we still managed to eat some sugar cookies and egg nog while opening gifts.

Me and Lucas in front of the downstairs tree.

 Robbie's big gift this year was his very own laptop.  He knew he was getting this so it wasn't a really big surprise. We each saved a gift to open on Christmas morning then will have breakfast before we head out for a day filled with family fun.

 

 

More to come later....

Tis the Season

We're right smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season and while I'm merry and soaking up everything that I can, I also want to just sit and enjoy the peacefulness of the season ever so often because as soon as I blink it will all be over.  We have been busy socializing up a storm for the past couple weekends and still have the actual holidays coming up in less than two weeks where we'll be in a 2 day whirlwind of visiting with family.   While I love to entertain and spend time with friends and family I have to have a break every once in a while which is why the upcoming weekend is our white-out weekend.  We have plans on both Saturday and Sunday....those plans will be to NOT have any plans or visitors at all.  To take time for Christmas movies not yet watched, do the last of the holiday baking and have some quiet in our home for two solid days.  So when we've been asked to do something that particular weekend my reply has been, "No thanks, we have plans."  Because we do.

We've had a great month so far this December.  I've done a lot of decorating, baking new Christmas sweets, entertaining friends in our home and of course enjoying the snow.   We saw The Nutcracker performance, the muscial Elf, gone to the movies and dinner with friends,  attended holiday parties, shopped at the mall and online, and I've spent a few minutes here and there just staring at the Christmas tree lights while sipping some cocoa. Every year during the month of December I listen to Christmas music every single day, watch Christmas themed movies over and over and burn  holiday scented candles.  I even have a cinnamon scented car freshener hanging in my car for this month.  Love it!

It's all great and wonderful but can get overwhelming after being constantly on the go.  Taking some time to recharge for a couple days will hopefully give us the energy and attitude we need to push through the the season in a jolly mood instead of spending the last week of the year exhausted.  Hope everyone else takes some time out for themselves to sit back and get out of the hustle and bustle for a couple hours, or a couple days, to be able to enjoy all the beauty around us during this magical time of year.

Photo Dump

I have no idea why I'm behind on blogging. I'm not giving it up but sometimes cannot think of any good stories to tell although we have been busy doing stuff and I'm sure something good happens everyday. Anyway I did upload theses photos this morning and can share those. 

The first several are from Thanksgiving with the Fishers.  We had deep fried turkey which is the only way to eat Thanksgiving turkey these days.  It was a cold day but Bob braved the temps to get the bird done for us.  We soaked it in a brine for about 15 hours the night before and we think it really made a difference.  The meat was unbelievably juicy! 

I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner and this year made several things including learning to make oyster dressing with Phyllis.  It was delicious and I look forward to making it again next year.  Also pictured is my pumpkin pie and Phyllis' pecan pie.  Jennifer made a chocolate pie.

I think our food is so awesome on Thanksgiving because we make everything (but the gravy) from scratch....Jennifer's homemade dumplings, Bob's mashed potatoes, Phyllis' yeast rolls and my sweet potato casserole (no canned yams either!).  Kevin made green bean casserole and Phyllis also made cranberry salad.

And since I like to take pictures of my food here is my plate below with nearly all the above mentioned.  I ate what I wanted on Thanksgiving Day and was able to get back on my healthy eating plan the next day.

Me and Phyllis after packing up leftovers for everyone to take home.

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Okay, now we're moving onto Christmas.  I've cut back on what I bake for Christmas this year since none of us need to eat 4 dozen cookies in a month.  I did try out some new candy recipes as well as some old ones and served them up when had friends over this weekend during the snowstorm.  There's peanut butter fudge, lemon coconut bars, chocolate chip cookie dough brownie truffles, and Ritz cracker candy.  I asked our friend to each bring a little sweet something so in addition to what I made we had peanut butter pie and another assortment of homemade candy. 

I  made homemade turkey tortilla soup, O'Charley's potato cheese soup and set up a Panini bar.  For the paninis we had orange marinated chicken, turkey breast, bacon and honey ham.  I also set out several toppings like raspberry preserves, pesto and a few different kinds of cheeses.  The 6 of us had a nice time staying warm with spike Wassail, eating good, hot food and a lot of laughing. The nice thing is we've had plenty of leftovers to tide us over all weekend long so I haven't had to cook.

Last but not least...here is a photo of a really old Nativity set I have that belonged to my dad's side of the family.  It's from Germany and who knows how old it is.  The figures are made of this really thin clay-type material and are very fragile.  I don't think the "stable" is original to this collection but I guess it's the one my grandparents last used to display the scene in.  I think I'm going to get some moss to cover up some of the green and red spray paint one of these days.

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We've enjoyed the winter weather this weekend.  We stayed in on Friday and watched the ice and snow come down and finally ventured out yesterday morning to exercise at the mall then see The Nutcracker last night.  Today we'll venture to the mall again to walk a few miles then hang out and watch some football.  I may do a little online Christmas shopping from the comfort of this old house.  We already have Robbie's big Christmas gifts purchased including his very own laptop and printer (he doesn't read my blog) and will go shopping for gifts for a few of my clients later in the week. 

That's it folks!  Hope y'all are doing well.

Nature Walk

I miss Bob this weekend.  He's at his parents' house helping his dad work on the old car.  The past few weekends we have spent time exercising together on Saturday and Sunday. This weekend it has been pretty cold outside so I did a little mall walking instead.  Below, was last weekend at Audubon Park.  We had fair weather and spent 2 1/2 hours walking trails in the park. Per our step counter, we walk around 6 miles that day. 

I had never really spent much time in this park and didn't realize how nice it is!  I imagine a few weeks ago it was really pretty with all the fall colors. 

This is where we came out from the first trail; right in front of the museum. 

This was built by Boy Scouts a long time ago and was a good place to stop for a few minutes to catch our breath.  There are a ton of steep hills in the woods and I think I stopped and took about 10 one minute long breaks.  Despite the difficulty of some portions of the trails it was a good walk and I hope to try it again in the near future and try to better my time and take less breaks.

Look closely and you can see the only deer we saw that day.  I thought we'd see a lot more deer or wildlife in general but this was it.  We could hear birds but never saw any.

Part of the trail around this lake was closed but we were able to walk a short distance down one side of it.  So pretty and like mentioned before, I bet it was gorgeous down there a few weeks ago before all the leaves fell. 

We have a couple other parks in our area that we'd like to explore when the weather is fair.  I walk a paved path near our home when I just need to get in a quick walk but it's fun to get off the beaten path every once in a while. 

As soon as I finish this post I'm going to watch The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special dvd.  I'm counting down the days until my favorite holiday. Some of my favorite things about Thanksgiving are:

Sweet Potato Casserole (no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without it)...

 Leftover homemade dumplings for the lunch the next day as I put up Christmas decorations...

 Spending time with the little people in the family (who are not so little anymore)...

Watching the men gather around a deep fried bird (the only way we eat Thanksgiving turkey)...

And then there's browsing through the newspaper sale ads and watching NFL and the first of many holiday movies for the next several weeks. 

8 more days.....

Weekend Adventures

This photo has nothing to do with my adventures but it's one Jennifer took in the Smoky Mountains and I just love it!  The colors are so beautiful.  Just wanted to share with you....

Last weekend one of our friends came in from Wyoming with her new husband to visit.  A group of us drove about an hour away to the middle of nowhere where some of them had been ghost and Bigfoot hunting several times.  Bob has gone with them before but this was my first time.  There is a very old cemetery in the middle of the woods there.  This grave was of someone buried in 1865.  I'm sure we walked over several graves without even knowing it as everything is grown up in the area.  We did try to be careful and respectful when we were there.  We used or walking sticks and flashlights to help navigate through the thicket, weeds and downed tree branches in the middle of the night.  There really weren't any clear paths so we mostly had to climb over logs, sticks, etc.

It was pitch black dark in the woods and so much fun!  We got a late start so didn't arrive until around 11:00.   The sky was full of stars but didn't lend us much in the way of light.  It was quiet until we heard some branches fall and then thought a light in the distance was a person walking towards us with a light.  We finally left the area around 1:00 a.m. after a couple hours walking around looking for stuff. 

Bob is using a meter which picks up on heat in the distance.  Our friends also had other kinds of equipment to detect movement and also a few pairs of night vision goggles we took turns using.  They are hardcore with ghost hunting.

Below is another grave and headstone. 

So, we had a busy weekend.  The other thing Bob and I did was watch the Broadway musical "Elf" on Saturday afternoon.  I've never been to a musical besides "The Nutcracker" so it was pretty exciting. The musical kicked off their national tour right here in our little town so it was a big deal.  I really liked it and hope to attend more musicals and plays at our local theatre in the coming years.   We have tickets to see "The Nutcracker" next month. Can't wait! 

Halloween Party

Our friend Darrell had his 10th Annual Costume Party last weekend.  This was our fifth year to attend.  It gets better every year!  Below are Darrell and Jonathan; one of Darrell's friends who I was introduced to several months ago and is now my hair stylist extraordinaire! Love them both!

Me and Jennifer. Love my beer mug purse as a prop!

Darrell, me and friends Sandy and Steve.

Friends Angel and Timmy...some of the group I went to Florida with last month.

Bob and I with Jennifer and Kevin. Bob was a f*ck you hand and Kevin was a prisoner from the Dept of Erections.  LOL!!

Karaoke is always going on at Darrell's parties.  Someone asked me to sing something from The Sound of Music so I did.  ha ha!

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Bob breakin' it down on the dance floor. 

A pilot, wedding cake/bride/burlesque??, and a nerd.  ha ha!  Everyone loved the guy in the wedding cake dress.  These guys were a lot of fun!

I'm not sure how many people attended altogether but I can guess at least 60 people were there at one time when the party was at its busiest. The cops came at one point but then left. That was a first. 

Darrell always puts out a spread of several kinds of chili in crockpots, hot dogs, sandwiches and other munchies then asks for help with drinks and desserts.  He also makes a few hundred Jello shots. I was having some tummy issues last weekend so I didn't have any spirits but heard some of the Jello shots were made with peach schnapps and I bet those were quite yummy. He also sets up a couple firepits in his backyard so people can enjoy time outside if they want to.  It was chilly that night but warm by the fires.

Can't wait until next year!! I'm thinking of reviving my Queen of Hearts costume from a couple years ago.  I just love that red wig.  We're starting to accumulate quite a collection of Halloween costumes here at this old house.

Autumn Walk

 

We took a long walk this morning at one of the parks in the county.  There weren't but a few people walking through the woods when we first arrived so it was quiet and peaceful except for the sound of leaves as we shuffled along the path.  We walked about two miles taking photos of the trees along the way. 

Not all the leaves have changed in our area but the ones that have are beautiful! The park mostly had trees with yellow leaves but I've seen maples this year with shades of yellow, orange and red; looks like flames covering the limbs.  Those are my favorite ones. 

We're hoping to take another long walk next weekend and perhaps try another park.  Bob and I have changed our nutrition recently and are starting to get into the exercise portion of our plan.  We also want to get stronger and increase our endurance which will be helpful when we return to Yellowstone next year so we can do some ranger-led hikes. 

Tonight we head to our friend's annual Halloween Party so I will update again in a few days.