Cinnamon Rolls.

I have to admit, I love me some regular old Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the can you have to "pop" open... But.. I like controlling the ingredients my family eats, so I made my first batch of homemade cinnamon rolls..  This is the recipe I use for homemade cinnamon rolls.. and it made soo many, I froze half of them.. We will see how good they defrost!

Ingredients

1/2 c. very warm water

1 T. sugar

2 T. yeast

1/2 c. melted butter

2 eggs

2 t. salt

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. warm milk

5 1/2 c. flour

butter

brown sugar

sugar

cinnamon

Icing

• butter
• vanilla
• milk
• powdered sugar

1. Combine water, 1 T. sugar and yeast.  Set aside for 5-15 minutes to activate.
2. Mix 1/2 c. sugar, melted butter, eggs, and salt.  Add yeast mixture.
3. Stir in warm milk.
4. Add 5 cups flour, 1-2 cups at a time.
5. Knead dough on a well-floured surface, adding flour as necessary, until dough isn’t sticky.
6. Let rise until double in a clean, oiled bowl.
7. Punch down risen dough.  Separate into two pieces.
8. Roll out dough in a large rectangle.  Spread with softened butter.  Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon.
9. Roll dough.   Cut into about 12 (1-inch) rolls.  Place in 9×13 pan.  Let rise until double.
10. Bake at 350° for 20-22 minutes. 

For icing, melt butter (about 2 T.).  Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 T. milk.  Sift powdered sugar into mixture and stir well.  I never measure this.  You can absolutely use more of any ingredient.  Spread icing while hot.

They were good!  They were my first try and I think I have some room for improvement.  I think I needed to let the dough rise longer, but I am a but impatient.. just ask my poor husband :o)

Grandma's Egg Noodles

egg noodles all dried and cut out

Growing up my grandma made a special dish on holidays.  It involved her homemade egg noodles and some cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup.  The result was a yummy heavenly comfort food that I will have to share the recipe of some day.  As she got older she started using store bought frozen egg noodles so I almost forgot about the homemade until a few years ago when I asked my mom for the Holiday Noodle recipe.  She gave me the recipe for the actual noodles as well as the dish.

Fast forward to today, I had no clue what to make for dinner but remembered I had some left over Christmas turkey breast in the freezer that I have been wanting to make into soup but kept forgetting to the buy noodles for it.  I was thinking about heading to the store when I remembered this recipe.  I had to dig in my recipes to find it as it was near the bottom.

I had only attempted to make these once before and at the time they seemed so hard and time consuming, because I never cooked back then.  Now they are so simple and easy to make, this could be bad news for my already expanding waistline.  I might have to pretend like they are hard to make.

What You Will Need:
4 eggs
3 cups flour  + extra for kneading and rolling out
a pinch of salt (I used 1/2 teasp)
1/8 cup milk

My grandma never measured things when she cooked so all measurements are approximates that she gave my mom as a starting off point.  She would often add more eggs/flour if she wanted to make more noodles or less if she needed less.

Step 1: Mix the dough-
Now my grandma was "old school" and I can remember watching her all amazed as she mixed everything straight on the counter, no bowl needed.  She would just dump some flour out on the counter, make a well in the center to add all the other ingredients and just mix with her hands.  I hope 1 day I will be that skilled at this but for now I used a bowl.
I combined the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Beat the eggs and milk together in a smaller bowl
Made a well in the center of the flour and poured the egg/milk mixture in and stirred with a fork


Step 2: Roll out and dry-

Once dough is well combined and sticky dump out onto nicely floured surface.  Use lots of flour as dough is sticky.  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, no longer sticky.  I think I had to use at least another 1/2 cup of flout to achieve this, just keep adding a little at a time.
Once dough is no longer sticky roll out into a large rectangle(ish)  1/8-1/4" thick. 
Once dough is nicely rolled out all to sit on counter and air dry 60 minutes.
Flip dough, lightly flour the top and air dry another 60 minutes.
Keep doing this until you need to cook them.  You need to air dry a minimum of 2 hrs (1 flip).  I flipped mine at least 3 times, lightly flour the top every time you flip, just a small fine dusting will do.

Step 3: Cut out noodles and cook-
Once dough has dried at least 2 hrs cut into 3 equal pieces length wise (horizontal cuts).  Roll up each piece lengthwise (from top to bottom) so you have a long tube of dough.
Cut into 1/4-1/2" strips.
Repeat with remaining 2 sections of dough.
Toss noodles with your hands to loosen and open them up.
Boil in rapidly boiling water (or chicken stock) for 3-5 minutes or until al dente.
I don't worry about trying to make them all uniform or small, my grandma always made big thick noodles so thats the way I like them.


These noodles are so yummy I could happily eat them just as is, or tossed with some olive oil and cheese, YUM!

all cooked and ready to be used

Love,
Christy

Photo cubes

Wanted to share this quick idea in case you may be scrambling for some last minutes gifts and funds are low.  These plain photo cubes can be purchased at most craft stores such as Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's.  They are usually around $1 each.  Purchase a few and let your kids decorate them using paint, markers, crayons, whatever you have on hand.  Slip a photo of your kids in and give them to someone special in their lives.  We made ours for grandma (hope she doesn't see this before we give them to her tonight haha).
My 4 yr old colored the one on the left, I had him write his name on the bottom too since he is old enough.  The older 2 girls colored the one on the right.  I meant to print out a more updated photo of the 4 of them to use in one but forgot so these will have to do.  The kids had fun decorating them and they really feel like THEY made grandma a gift.

Reindeer Cookies

This is a simple and fun thing you can let older kids help you make.  My kids enjoy these and  I make them every year.  I have been making them since my oldest was a baby.  You can use store bought Oreo's or if you are feeling particularly adventurous you can try making your own homemade Oreo's to use.

What You Will Need-
1 pkg Oreo's (or your own)
1 bag min pretzel's
1 bag M&Ms
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (or you can use any type of solid chocolate you can melt)
Wax paper
Metal tongs


Step 1: Melt the Chocolate-
This can be done in several ways.  I prefer to melt mine in a pan over LOW heat, stirring constantly.  I like this because I can control it more.  If you have a double boiler you can use that.  I have heard many people like to melt in the microwave because its faster and they don't have to stand there stirring.  I don't like this because mine always seems to burn and I think it changes the taste of the chocolate.  Plus I am not a big microwave person period.  I use ours for popcorn and thats about it.

Step 2: Dip Oreo's for the "Heads"-
Once chocolate is melted dip Oreo's 1 at a time into the chocolate using metal tongs.  Coat both sides evenly and then place on wax paper to cool.

Step 3: Add eyes, nose and antlers-
I usually dip 3-4 Oreo's and then do the eyes/nose/antlers.  Dip 3-4 more and do eyes/nose/antlers again.  You need to add the eye, nose s and antlers while the chocolate is still soft and warm or they will not stick.
After you have about 3-4 dipped take 2 M&Ms in whatever color you want (green, brown or blue) and add near the top of the cookie to make 2 "eyes".  Using a red M&M add below the eyes to make a "nose".
Take 2 pretzel's and gently smush them into the top of the Oreo's.  Be careful not to break them.  I like to dip a spoon into the chocolate and drizzle a little extra chocolate on top to secure them.

Allow cookies to cool at least 10 minutes before removing from wax paper.  I like to just put them in the fridge overnight.
I let Teddy help with the ones pictured above.  He helped add the eyes,  nose and antlers.  I even let him hold the spoon to drizzle chocolate onto the antlers to secure them.  Can you tell which ones he made?   I like to make mine with brown eyes, he insisted they needed green.  We did some with blue too.  This picture is from last year so he was 3 at the time.  This is a fun Christmas activity to let little hands help with.


Love,
Christy


P.S. In our house Santa enjoys these on Christmas Eve along with frosted sugar and gingerbread cookies.

Lazy Day Slow Cooker ideas-Tons of recipes from 2 easy steps.

So, its the Holiday Season, are you as busy as we are here at 3 Moms?  I know we have not been posting much and we apologize for that.  I don't know about the other 2 moms but in my house things have been crazy with Christmas parties, preschool Christmas programs, visiting Santa, and even a yucky 2 week long ickiness that swept through the family.  Things are slowing down as Christmas approaches so hopefully the posts will pick back up.

With all the craziness that I am sure we all are experiencing right now I thought I would share some easy ideas that I have been taking advantage of the past few weeks.  I seriously make some sort of version of the following at least 4-5 days a week.  These are so easy and so versatile, I am sure you can come up with some ways I haven't thought of to use these.  If you do please share here or on our FB wall.

What You Will Need:
a crock pot
some sort of cut of chicken or pork.  Any cut of either will work
1 jar of salsa OR 1 bottle of BBQ sauce.


Step 1: Cook meat-
Take whatever cut of meat you are using and add it into the crock pot.
Add in either 1 jar of salsa OR 1 bottle BBQ sauce depending on what you are wanting to make.
Move around a bit so that sauce is covering all sides of the meat.
Cook on low 5-7 hrs. (depending on cut-bone in and larger cuts take longer)


Step 2-Decide what dish you would like to "feature" the meat in-
This is the fun part, there are so many delicious ways to serve this up, the combinations are almost endless.  I am going to list a few of our families favorites.  Use your imagination and I am sure you can come up with many more than I have listed here.

Pork Tenderloin + BBQ Sauce-  With this I can make pulled pork sandwiches on homemade buns (click here for recipe).  Or I just shred up the pork and serve with homemade rolls (same dough recipe as buns) and mashed potatoes (made with golden Yukon potatoes YUM!).  Use the BBQ sauce as a "gravy" over the pork meat and potatoes, SO GOOD!
You can also serve over a bed of rice (any rice you like, we like Jasmine rice), I like to mix in some steamed broccoli to this.

B/S Chicken Breasts (or bone-in chicken breasts) + Salsa-  If using bone-in breasts shred meat off of bone before serving.
With this I can shred the meat up to use in a whole gamut of Mexican dishes including chicken soft tacos, chicken burritos, chicken hard shell tacos, chicken tostadas, Tanya's Potato Tacos, quesadillias, chicken enchiladas, etc etc. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want.  Mix it up with flour and corn tortillas and serve with all of your families favorite toppings.  We like more salsa, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, avocados and black beans.

Pork Chops + BBQ Sauce- Easy way to make BBQ pork chops w/o all the work, serve with you favorite sides.

B/S Chicken breasts + BBQ Sauce-  Again you can use bone in chicken breasts too, just shred meat off the bone before serving.
Like the pork tenderloin above you can serve the chicken as is with mashed potatoes and rolls, you can shred to make pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches or you can serve over rice with broccoli.
Another thing you can do is make some pizza dough (this dough recipe makes great pizza crust too).  Make sure to scoop out some sauce to use as the pizza "sauce", top with cheese and any other topping you might like.  Makes an excellent BBQ chicken pizza.

Bone-in Chicken legs, thighs, or wings + BBQ Sauce- An easy meal to make BBQ chicken, serve with your favorite sides.  If you like dark meat you can also do any of the above things for the chicken breast and BBQ sauce.

Pork tenderloin + Salsa- You can make any of the same dishes under the chicken breast and salsa.

If you can come up with some more things to make we would love to hear your ideas.  We will credit you if we add them to the list.
As always, we love for you to share pictures on our FB wall if you make any of our recipes.

I am going to start experimenting with things to make using a jar of spaghetti sauce and various meats.  I will let you know what I come up with.

Here are some pics of a few things I have made using these ideas:

Shredded Chicken and salsa inside of a jalapeno cheddar wrap-
brush with oil and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes to make crisp.

Chicken and salsa paired with Tanya's mashed potato tacos

Shredded chicken and salsa made into chicken tostadas

I thought I had more pics than this, they may have been lost last month when our computer crashed.  I know I had a picture of the BBQ pork tenderloin.  That's what I am making for dinner tonight in fact so I will take a pic and upload it after dinner.

Thumbprint Cookies

Baking Christmas Cookies with my mom was a tradition we did together every Christmas that I can ever remember.  It is definitely one of the traditions I miss the most since we are about 1300 miles apart.  So now I bake my mom's cookies every year for my little family to eat.  It's not the same, but its the closest I get and it brings back many fond memories.

Thumbprint Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup (or two sticks) of butter, softened
2 eggs separated
1/8 tsp of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of finely chopped pecans
jar of fruit preserves (I used raspberry, but you could use strawberry or apricot or any kind you like)

Heat over to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla.  Beat at a low speed, scrape sides of bowl, mix for another 2-3 minutes.

Shape into 1-inch balls.

Beat eggs whites in a bowl until foamy.

Dip each ball into egg whites and then roll in finely chopped pecans.

Place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make a depression in each ball with your thumb or the back of a spoon.  Bake 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and fill center of each cookies with fruit preserves.

Continue baking for 6-10 minutes until lightly browned.

Remove and cool before biting into these yummy cookies, because the fruit preserves WILL burn the roof of your mouth.. I do it every year ;o)

Enjoy!
- Jess xoxo

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thank you so much and spread the love!