A small glitch...
- Thu 3rd June 2010, 9:54 pm
The other day my web designer aka: Casey (my husband) changed servers and everything (my blog and photography gallery) was lost for a little while and we weren’t sure if they were ever coming back! But Casey (the genius) some how found a back-up of my blog and was able to restore everything up until February. I guess this is the only time I was glad I had not posted very much in March-May! I was able to find my last two posts. I have no idea why I had them saved, I never save my posts but I just happened to run across them. So now everything is back to normal. Thank you Casey for all your hard work and for being so dang smart when it comes to all of this computer junk! I will try to be a better blogger this summer and I think I will start saving my blog posts from now on! : )
A Favorite Recipe...
- Thu 3rd June 2010, 9:42 pm
I made these cinnamon rolls the other day and they are so delish so I thought I would share...
Favorite Cinnamon Rolls
1 cup milk (heated approximately 1 minute in microwave)
¼ cup warm water (110 degrees F.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature and beaten
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
5 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (optional)
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
*In a Mixer combine all the ingredients in the order given. Using a dough hook, mix everything together until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface (I use a nonstick cooking spray) and knead until elastic, approximately 10 minutes. Return dough to mixing bowl cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
*Butter a 9x13x2 inch baking pan or cookie sheet; set aside.
*After dough has rested, roll and stretch the dough into approximately a 15x24 rectangle.
Cinnamon Filling:
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
4 to 5 tablespoons cinnamon
¾ to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
*Brush ½ cup butter over the top of the dough with a rubber spatula. Then sprinkle the cinnamon filling over the butter on the prepared dough.
*Starting with the long edge, roll up the dough; pinch seams to seal.
*With a knife, lightly mark roll into 1 ½ inch sections. Use a sharp knife and saw very gently through the roll.
*Place rolls on the pan, cover and let rise in a warm place for approximately 45 to 60 minutes or until doubled in size.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. for regular oven or 325 degrees F. for a convection oven.
• Bake in a regular oven approximately 20 to 25 minutes until they are a light golden brown.
• Bake in a convection oven approximately 15 to 20 minutes until they are a light golden brown.
*Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Spread Butter Frosting over the cinnamon rolls while still warm. Serve warm.
Butter Frosting:
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon lemon extract or oil (optional)
*In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon extract or oil until mixed and creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use and then bring to room temperature before spreading.
Yields 15 cinnamon rolls.
Easter 2010
- Thu 3rd June 2010, 9:35 pm
I know I am WAY behind once again! This year we spent Spring Break/Easter in St. George UT. My parents are "snowbirds" and we actually love it because it gives us a good excuse to "have" to go to Southern UT when it is freezing cold here. We LOVE St. George, so any excuse we can use to get there we take it! Before we left we got together at Grandpa and Grandma Sponenburgh`s to have an egg hunt and a yummy dinner. Of course the weather was horrible so we ended up having to have it indoors but it was still really fun for the kids. They love spending time with their cousins and we are lucky enough to have most of them living close so it`s always fun to get together.
The next day we headed out on the 7 hr. drive to St. George. The kids actually do really well traveling long distances and the only thing that went wrong was when we were about an hour and a half from our destination we ran into a huge snow storm that was so scary to drive through. We couldn`t even see a foot in front of us and had to go VERY slow. It was a very intense ride for about an hour. As soon as we got passed Cedar City it started to clear up and the rest of the time we were there the weather was wonderful!
The next day Casey and I left the kids with their grandparents and we headed to Vegas for the night. We did a little shopping and then went to see KA by Cirque du Soleil. It was AMAZING! It was so nice having some time with Casey and he didn`t even complain about having to shop (thanks babe). We headed back the next morning to St. George and met up with my Sister Michelle and her family, my brother Steve and my parents to play in the red sand dunes at Sand Hallow. We have always had a family tradition to roll the dyed Easter eggs down the sand dunes. We make trails in the sand and race them down the hills. We didn`t have time to dye the eggs this year so we used plastic eggs. It didn`t work very well but it was still fun!
The next day the kids went to a little Easter egg hunt at the place where my parents stay then the dad`s took all the kids swimming while the women did some shopping. And yes the men got plenty of golf in while we were there also.
Then sadly the next day we had to head home. I spent many Easter`s as a kid in Southern UT. so I am so glad I am able to take my kids there now and make so many new memories with them!
Happy Valentines Day!
- Thu 11th February 2010, 9:26 pm
WOW! What a week! I have been busy trying to get everything ready early this week for the kids’ school parties because my mother-in-law owns a flower shop and I help out every year. It is crazy busy but I really enjoy it! To add to the craziness of this week I got a phone call this morning from my son’s school telling me I needed to come pick him up because there had been an "outbreak" of the chicken pox in his classroom and they had already sent 6 kids home. All of my kids had the vaccine for the chicken pox so I was pretty surprised and not very happy to say the least. He only has a very mild case and no fever yet so hopefully it will go away very soon and his brother and sister don’t get it! I was also informed that my daughter had volunteered me to make class treats for their party and a valentine box too. I am happy to say we did get it all done so if we can just make it threw the next two days juggling work schedules to stay home with kids and getting everyone to everything they need to be at then maybe Sunday we might actually get to relax!
We did a little V-day photoshoot. Tyler said I could only take a few! A few is better then none I guess. Sorry for the photo overload but I have a really hard time choosing just one favorite!
I decided to make their valentine cards this year and this is what I came up with...
Nothing too exciting but I think they turned out better then the cheesy store bought ones. I just stapled them to some candy and it was actually pretty fun and easy to do.
One more thing...
Happy Birthday to my OLDER sister Michelle! Hahaha! I love ya and miss you a ton!!
