Light Cinnamon Rolls

Mmmmmm.... cinnamon rolls..... Who doesn't love cinnamon rolls?! When I found this recipe, I was originally excited because it seemed relatively easy to do and the addition of the whole wheat flour made me feel like these would actually be healthy. OK, so healthier?  Regardless, they are pretty good. Not quite as easy as popping them out of the tube, but it made me feel more accomplished to make them on my own;)

Makes 9 Rolls
From here 


What you'll need:

Filling

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp salt

 Dough

• 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (4 1/8 oz) whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 5 tbsp butter, melted and cooled, divided

Glaze

• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 oz light cream cheese
• 1 tbsp buttermilk

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 425. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly grease.

2.) Prepare the filling. Mix together all filling ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

3.) Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine. Add in buttermilk and 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and mix until dough starts to come together into a shaggy ball. (add more flour if yours is still too sticky, like mine was). Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes, until dough begins to look smooth and can be handled easily. (Add more flour if necessary)





it will most likely look like this... you'll need to add more flour to get it less sticky


•  Place dough on a floured surface and press or roll out into a 9×12-inch rectangle with the long side facing you. Take remaining tablespoon of melted butter and brush over the dough. Sprinkle evenly with filling mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border around each edge.  Press the filling gently to get it to stick to the dough.  Roll the dough up into a tight spiral. Pinch seam to seal. (You might need to use a knife or scraper to help un-stick some of the dough from the counter)

• Use a serrated knife to cut dough into 9 even pieces. Gently flatten each of the rolls before placing them in the prepared pan, to even them out if they were misshaped when sliced.

• Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 12 minutes covered, then uncover the rolls and bake for 14-18 minutes, until golden brown. Use the foil to lift the rolls out of the baking pan and place them on a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes.

4) Prepare the glaze: In a medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients together with a hand mixer (or just a fork will work) until very smooth. Drizzle over slightly cooled rolls and serve.

Store leftovers in an airtight container after they have completely cooled.

Vanilla Rooibos (tea) Latte

I used to drink the Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte from Starbucks all the time, but have cut back on my Starbucks since it's so expensive. Well, I stumbled upon a Rooibos Tea in Kroger the other day and remembered how good that latte had been.... so I decided to see if I could recreate it!

Rooibos is an African red tea that is caffeine-free and doesn't have that bitterness that a lot of teas have.  And here's a clue- it's pronounced 'ROY-bus'... NOT 'ROO-E-Bus' as I discovered the first time I tried to order this at Starbucks...

So, all you have to do is plop one of the tea bags into about a half a mug of milk and microwave for a minute. Then fill the mug the rest of the way with water and microwave again for 30 seconds or so until desired temperature.
I added about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the same amount of honey depending on the size of my mug and stirred!

That easy, and I love it! I haven't had the Starbucks version in a while, but I think I'm pretty close.  Regardless, it is delicious and I've had 2 cups so far today.

'Skyline Chili' 5-way Lasagna

I got this recipe from my mom, who clipped it out of the newspaper (I think). But for all you Cincinnati Skyline Chili-lovers out there, this is delicious!

What you'll need:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion

24 oz. tomato sauce (I actually only used 16 oz this time, didn't want the sauce too soupy)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

6-8 no-cook lasagna noodles

1 can (15oz) red kidney beans

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

*optional cayenne pepper and salt to taste

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In large skillet, heat oil on high until just hot. Crumble ground beef into pot.

Peel and coarsely chop onion, adding to pot. Cook, stirring frequently until meat is cooked.

Reduce heat, add tomato sauce and all spices. Reduce heat to simmer until ready to assemble

Rinse and drain beans and set aside until ready to assemble.

To assemble lasagna:

Spray 8x8x3 glass casserole with cooking spray. Spread about 1 cup sauce in the bottom of the pan (just enough to cover the bottom). Top with 2 noodles and another thin layer of meat.  Add about 1/2 of the beans and 1/2 cup cheese.

Add 2 more noodles, meat sauce, remaining beans and  another sprinkling of cheese.

Finally, top with 2 more noodles, the rest of the meat sauce and cheese.

*Depending on your dish's height, you can add more layers and more noodles, so just split up the ingredients accordingly.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 50 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes until cheese is melted.



Cheese Please!

So this isn't exactly a 'recipe' per-say... but I felt like I needed to share my recent addiction to cheese... Let's just say I may have made 2 trips to Kroger in the past 3 days to replenish my cheese stock.

So, what got me hooked? Well, the sample guy at Kroger, that's who.  I tried the most amazing cheese I've had in a looooong time. I'm not usually the type to get sucked into buying the samples, but I couldn't resist! (and they were both on sale... so purchase validated!?) I did walk away after the cheese guy let me taste this fancy Merlot cheese (insert rediculously difficult-to-remember name here) that is soaked in Merlot for like 6 weeks or something! Yummm... BUT $12 a pound! Yikes, not that addicted.

The first kind of cheese is a goat cheese with honey. It is wonderful on soft bread with a drizzle of honey.... LOVE!

on sale now for $2.99



The second kind is an Irish white cheddar that has some hints of fruit and it is wonderful on its own, or on crackers and I even threw in a slice of apple to complement the fruity tones of the cheese! Yummmm.

on sale now for $6.99/lb. usually $9.99/lb

i heart cheese...

Cake Bites

So, I became obsessed with these little bites of heaven back in the fall when I stumbled on this site. My original intention was to make the cake-pops like the website, but I got annoyed with trying to use the sticks and getting them to dry standing up...

See, it is possible. Just get the sticks at the craft store and then it helps to have a styrofoam block to stick them in to dry standing up (so they don't get a flat side). Follow the same procedure below, but just use the stick instead:)

Now, these are pretty simple to make, but they can be a little labor-intensive. The good thing is that if you spend a few hours on a lazy Saturday busting these out, then you can hoard them in your freezer and enjoy them whenever you please! They freeze very well, they thaw out pretty quickly and taste exactly the same as the fresh ones.

You can use your imagination with endless flavor combinations, but my absolute favorite is to use the rainbow chip cake and vanilla frosting and white chocolate candy coating.  An entire boxed cake will make almost 80 cake bites, so I ususally only do half the cake at a time. And you can freeze the other half of the cake, put the other half of the frosting in the fridge and then make cake bites later!

What you'll need for 80 cake bites:
1 box cake mix of your choice
1 can frosting- flavor of your choice
about 32 ounces of candy coating chocolate

Directions:
Bake the cake as directed on the box and let cool.
Crumble the cake in a large bowl

This is actually the frozen chocolate cake I had left over from the last time I made cake bites...

Mix in the can of frosting (so since I only do 1/2 of the cake at a time, I use half of the frosting)

Next, form into about 1 inch balls. I like to use this handy-dandy scooper, which works perfectly.
You'll want to put them onto either a large plate, or cookie sheet- something that will fit easily into the freezer.

Freeze a few hours until firm.
Now, I've experimented a lot with these as far as the dipping-into-chocolate technique goes. I found that it is easier for me to use toothpicks.

Melt the candy coating either in a double-boiler or in a microwave-safe bowl. (if you microwave, only do 30 second intervals and stir until melted.)
* If you over-heat the chocolate, you can add a bit of solid shortening to get it back to normal

Dip each ball into the chocolate and set onto wax paper to dry. If you're going to use sprinkles to decorate, make sure you do this right away before the chocolate sets.

Gently twist the toothpick to remove. You can use the toothpick dipped in chocolate to fill the hole that was left.

If you'd rather do the whole chocolate-drizzle look, just put some melted chocolate into a plastic baggie near one corner and then cut the very tip off the corner.  Gently squeeze the baggie and 'squiggle' back and forth in a zig-zag fashion.

Enjoy!

Pineapple-glazed Chicken

I'm always a big fan when recipes require 5 ingredients or less... well here's one that required only 3 (but I'm not counting salt and pepper or the butter for cooking...)! AND it was actually good:)

What I needed:
2 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 can pineapple- I had a 20 oz. can and only used about half, but you could use more or less depending on how much chicken you use...
salt & pepper to taste
butter or oil
rice to serve

Directions:
brown the chicken in a saucepan with a little butter (about 1 Tablespoon) or oil if you prefer
salt and pepper to your liking

add the brown sugar and pineapple and cover, cooking until chicken is fully cooked and sauce thickens.
*Now I decided to add about 1 teaspoon cornstarch at this point to thicken the sauce....

Serve over rice and Voila! Only about 15 minutes and a few ingredients later... DINNER!

Simple Chicken Parmigiana

So I love Chicken Parm in restaurants, but I've never tried to make it before... I'm sure there are tons of recipes out there, but I kinda played this by ear last night. I was hungry and didn't want to spend an hour on dinner.

So I used:

2 chicken breasts

about 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs (if you only have the regular bread crumbs, just add about a teaspoon of italian seasoning)

about 2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

about 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

spaghetti to serve

about 1 cup Marinara sauce (or meatless pasta sauce)

Directions:

if you want, you can flatten your chicken breasts a bit so they cook more evenly. Just place the chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and have at it.

Next, beat the eggs in a shallow bowl and in a separate shallow bowl or plate, mix parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs.  Coat the chicken in the egg and then cover in bread crumbs.

Place chicken in a baking dish and bake at 375 degrees 10 minutes each side.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta of your choice and warm up some marinara sauce.

Once chicken is cooked, serve over pasta and drizzle with sauce and sprinkle with cheese!





Rosemary Peasant Bread

I love the bread that comes before meals at Italian restaurants… you know, the kind you drown in olive oil and balsamic vinegar? Well I found a recipe here that sounded easy enough and I gave it a try. It looks to be a bit of waiting around time, but seems easy enough if you have the time.

What you’ll need for 2 rounds

1 packet dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)

2 c. warm water

1 T. sugar

2 tsp salt

4 c. flour

1-2 tsp. fresh Rosemary plus more for topping

coarsely chopped rosemary

Directions 

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and sugar.

In a separate bowl, add flour, salt and 1-2 tsp rosemary and stir until combined. Then add the yeast mixture and stir until blended.

Cover the bowl with a moist cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

dough after 1 hour

Remove the dough and divide in half. (The dough will be sticky, so you might want to flour your hands) Place the 2 rounds on a greased cookie sheet or on your silicone baking mat. Cover with a towel or greased plastic wrap and let it rise another hour.

Before 2nd hour of rising

After 2nd hour of rising

After the 2nd rise, brush each round with melted butter and top with coarse salt and more rosemary if you want. (and don't worry that the 2 rounds might be touching- not a big deal)

Bake @ 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 for 15 minutes more.

Cool slightly, and then you can cut it into dip-able chunks or just rip right in!

Sooooooo yummy! Might be my new favorite (despite the fact that it took roughly 2 1/2 hours to make start to finish...)