The Best Cinnamon Rolls

When you add a little love they are even better!

SWEET LOAF BREAD RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 c. All-Purpose Flour 

1/2 c. Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt 

2 pkgs. Active Dry Yeast

3/4 c. Milk 

1 c. Butter or Margarine

1 Egg

DIRECTIONS:

About 3 hours before serving in a large bowl, combine the first 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. In a medium saucepan over low-heat, heat milk, 1/2 cup water, and butter or margarine until very warm (120°F to 300°F if you get to hot it will kill the yeast, too cold will slow rising process). Butter or margarine does not need to melt. Mix at a low speed with mixer, gradually pouring the liquid into the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in egg add another 1-1/2 cups flour; continue beating 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. If required, with a spoon stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Shape dough into ball and place in a large greased bowl, turning over so that top of dough is greased. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place (80° to 85°), away from drafts until doubled, about 1 hour. Dough is doubled when two fingers pressed lightly into dough leaves a dent. Punch down dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and proceed with Cinnamon Roll recipe below. 

NOTE: Make sure the yeast is not expired, having good yeast and the steps in adding the yeast is the most important part of this recipe along with kneading the dough.

CINNAMON ROLLS

Have ready the Basic Sweet Dough Recipe Above:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon (or more if you like Cinnamon)
1 cup Nuts, chopped (Pecans or Walnuts) Optional

In a small bowl combine packed brown sugar, cinnamon and set aside. Chop nuts (optional) and set aside. Roll dough into rectangle on a floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into approximately a 18- x 12-inch rectangle; brush generously with melted butter or margarine and evenly sprinkle sugar mixture and nuts. Starting from 18-inch side, tightly roll dough (jelly-roll fashion); pinch seams to seal. Cut dough crosswise into 1-inch slices; place in greased baking dish, cut sides down. Cover with towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F degrees. Bake rolls 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan. Drizzle with Sugar Glaze. Makes approximately 18 rolls.

SUGAR GLAZE: In small bowl, stir 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and about 3 tablespoons water or milk until smooth.

Mild Chili Beans for a Cold Fall Day

By Glenda Reando

My Chili Beans are made from scratch with some store bought goodies for a faster chili. The flavor intensifies everyday as it sits in the refrigerator or canned jars. Love this over cornbread. My Mom always said the cornbread made it a rounded out meal.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 lbs. Lean Ground Beef or Turkey
1 Onion, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2-3 small Tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp. Chili Powder (or to taste, add more for a hotter chili)
1 Tbsp. Garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. Cumin
Dash of Cayenne Red Pepper (or to taste, add more for a hotter chili)

1 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder (optional)
1-15oz. can Black Beans, rinsed
1-15oz. can Pinto Beans, rinsed
2-15oz. cans Large Red Kidney Beans, rinsed
1-14oz. can Beef Broth
1-16oz. Bag Frozen Corn
1-17oz. can Salsa Verde
Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot add the oil and brown the ground beef. Add the chopped onion, red pepper and tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. When onions have softened add the spices: chili powder, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper and cocoa powder and stir all the ingredients in the pot together. Cook for as few minutes then add the beans (you can use any kind of beans you like, this is the mix I prefer). Make sure to rinse the canned beans. Add the corn and Salsa Verde. Stir all the ingredients together. Add a cup or two of water to cover all the ingredients, bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer for at least 20 minutes. Easy meal and it makes enough for leftovers and just keeps getting better everyday. Enjoy!

My Spaghetti Sauce

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1-1/2 to 2 pounds of Ground Chuck or Hamburger
1 large onion, chopped
1 bulb fresh garlic, peeled and minced
2–Lg. 29-32oz. cans Tomato Sauce
1–15 oz. can Tomato Paste
1–15 oz can Chopped Tomatoes or fresh chopped tomatoes
4 oz Olives, sliced with juice (optional but I love olives in my sauce)
1 Lg basket of sliced mushrooms
1-2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning, to taste (I like a lot you can use less)
Fresh Basil leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp. Salt
1/2 Tbsp. Black Pepper
1 Tbsp. Sugar

I make this either on the stove top or in a slow cooker. In a slow cooker set to sauté and add olive oil and bring to temperature then add meat and brown. When meat is browned add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft. Turn off slow cooker and add the rest of the ingredients. This only needs to slow cook for a couple hours, so if you have a delay setting use it so it will be ready when you get home from work. On the stove top, it is basically the same except you simmer the sauce for 2-3 hours after you add all the ingredients.

I always make a huge batch like this and then put into large mason jars and either refrigerator (it will last a long time in the refrigerator) or seal jars and store in cupboards. Serve over any pasta with parmesan cheese.

Homemade sauce is the best, you'll never buy the already made again.

Best camping trip

We went to Rockport State Park even though it was 56 percent down in water capacity it was fun to fish. I caught a small bass, catch and release. I love kayaking and fishing from one is even better. We also went to our favorite fising place Lost Creek Resovior where it was a bit windy but Frank caught two big rainbow trouts ones which we kept. I caught a small rainbow.
Rockport State Park Resovior was quite and we heard it is packed every weekend. Since we went during the week there were only about three other campers in the Juniper campground so it was very quite. We saw a young moose lots of deer and fawns also a bunch of wild turkeys. The campground had a few tree squirrels. This campground has water and power hookups and a dump site making camping in a trailer a dream. It also has nice fire pits and tables most of which have built-in in canopy covers. Ideas easy to launch our kayaks from the boat docks which also has a store just in case you forgot something or get hungry. They sell pizza and even deliver of which we did not try since we brought plenty of food. I'm guessing it would not be easy to kayak on the weekends since their are a lot of boaters and skidooers causing waves and ripples.

Dry Eye Syndrome

My eyes are not producing the oily outer layer needed to protect my eyeballs, which when staring at a computer screen all day then aggravates my eyes even more. Hot packs twice a day and eye drops twice a day forever. Some days are worse than others.

Frank's Fishing Trip

He caught some for dinner, I didn't go on this fishing trip had to much housework to catch up on.

My Utah Grandkids

Grandson just stared football season. They both just started the school year too, 8th and 6th graders this year. Where did the summer go?