Cinnamon Rolls and Cream Cheese Frosting

When I took Foods class at my high school this past year, my group made cinnamon rolls, and they're one of the only things my group made that actually turned out good. The recipe was pretty complex, mostly because yeast breads are just-plain complicated. But it was definitely a recipe I'd keep on making--when I get the time, that is.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 4 to 4-1/3 cups all-purpose flour (A range is given because, on a humid or rainy day, you might need more flour than usual.)
• 1 package active dry yeast (We used Quik-Rise, which has a rising time of about half the given amount.)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs

For the topping (used in step four):

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. I actually recommend doing this a tad differently. I'd rather proof my yeast first, which adds an extra step, but it guarantees the activation of your yeast, and if your yeast isn't going to activate, or you kill it, you'll know before it's too late, and you won't have to start your dough all over. To proof, mix the yeast with the milk. Warm the milk a little; it should feel barely warm to the touch, or lukewarm (which is 75-80°F). Add a pinch of your sugar. Let them sit together for a minute, and after a short while, it will start forming a foam. This means your yeast is activated, and ready to use. You don't have to do this, so if you don't want to, proceed to here-->  In a large mixing bowl, combine two cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir milk, the 1/3 cup sugar, the 1/3 cup butter, and salt just till warm (105-115°F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high speed three minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough (smooth and elastic), knead for 3-5 minutes. Shape dough into a ball. Place it in a lightly-greased bowl; turn it a few times to grease the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free location until doubled. To test your dough to see if it has doubled, insert two clean fingers into the top of the dough. If indentations remain when you remove your fingers, dough is ready to punched down (see next step).
3. Make a fist and punch the dough down in the center. This deflates the dough and releases excess carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide in the gas that yeast gives off when it grows, which is why your dough rises). Turn your dough onto a lightly-floured surface. Divide in half. Cover your dough and let it rest for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease two 9 x 1-1/2 inch round pans.
4. Roll each dough half into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. Brush melted butter over dough. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Jelly-roll your dough, starting on long side. Seal the seam by pinching along the length of the roll. Slice each roll into 12 slices (each slice about an inch and a half thick). Place cinnamon roll slices in the prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free location till nearly doubled in size.
5. Bake your cinnamon rolls at 370°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, prepare frosting (see below).

Cream Cheese Frosting

When we made cinnamon rolls in class, most of the other groups were using the powdered sugar icing that accompanied the cinnamon roll recipe our teacher gave us. I thought to myself, 'How boring. Why not be different?' So I asked my teacher if I could make cream cheese frosting instead, and she was happy to let me. However, when I mentioned this change to my group, one person protested. "Cream cheese is gross!" he said. I just shook my head and assured him that cream cheese and cream cheese frosting do not taste alike. I told him to trust me, and he finally agreed to be okay with our modification. After I made the icing, I got a spoon and let him taste it, and I'm pretty sure he fell in love, because he tried to double-dip with the spoon. So here it is, the frosting that's been changing people's minds since...well, since I don't know when.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (this can be done very easily by heating it in the microwave for about twenty seconds at a time--in a microwave-safe bowl, of course)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened (soften it along with the cream cheese, if you want, but I recommend adding it after the cream cheese is half-way soft, or it will just melt)
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, beat ingredients together until well-blended; it'll be smooth and creamy.

After cinnamon rolls have cooled just a little, spread frosting over them, and for goodness sake, enjoy them!! ♥

Italian Peas

Imagine this: You're making a nice dinner of herb-and-panko-crusted chicken with mushroom risotto. You realize you haven't planned for a vegetable, so you search your freezer and pantry for something you can whip up. All you have is frozen peas. What kind of fancy side-dish is that??? Well. Here's your answer: it isn't a good one. But I've got your solution with Italian peas.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp chicken stock base
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 pound frozen peas
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large, deep skillet on medium-high heat. Add first the onion, then the garlic, to the hot oil. Saute until onions are slightly tender.
2. Add stock base and water to skillet and stir in. Bring to a boil.
3. Add peas carefully (with salt and pepper). Cover and cook 10 minutes or until peas are tender.

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 5-7 min.

Cook time: 15 min.

Total time: 20-22 min

Enjoy!! And good luck with that fancy dinner ;)

Fixxer-Upper

That stuff I told you about that I made with the cream of chicken soup? Well. My mom and I added a lot of stuff to it and made a REALLY good pasta salad. I just don't remember what all we put in it :P

Well...

So, I goofed up today. I was making cream of chicken soup, just to eat all by itself, when I saw a recipe for pasta sauce on the can. It called for pesto sauce, and I didn't have any, but I did have some tomato pasta sauce. Well...it wasn't the greatest thing in the world. In fact, I'm using it as a lesson from my mistakes, and I'm going to just mention here that mixing anything tomatoes with cream of chicken soup is NOT a very good idea. At least, not in my opinion. Anyways, that is all.

Pumpkin Bread :)

Obviously, it's autumn, and there are only a few more weeks left until Thanksgiving. We've got lots of cans of pumpkin, and of course, who doesn't always have sugar, eggs, and flour? One of my teachers is pregnant and craving pumpkin, and she put the thought of pumpkin bread right into my head. So then I wanted it. I was sure we had all the necessary ingredients, so I okay-ed it with my mom and set to work!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 4 eggs
• 3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2-1/3 cups white, and 1 cup whole wheat.)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 15-oz can of pumpkin puree--NOT mix!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of loaf pans*, and set them aside. In an extra large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer (a whisk can also get the job done) on medium speed. Add eggs and beat well; set sugar mixture aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and water to the sugar mixture, beating (or whisking) on low speed after each addition just until well-combined. Beat in pumpkin. Spoon batter into prepared pans*.
3. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Wrap and store overnight before slicing**.

* Pan Sizes:

• Use two 9x5x3-inch pans OR
• Three 8x4x2-inch pans OR
• Four 7.5x3.5x2-inch pans

** It isn't really critical to cool on wire racks, or even store overnight before slicing. I waited only about 20 minutes before cutting into my first loaf, just because I couldn't wait. I didn't remove my loaves from the pans, I just left them in. To store this way, drape clean towels over the pans when bread is cool.

Zuppa Toscana

You may know, 'Zuppa Toscana' is Italian for 'Tuscany Soup'. The soup is just a little spicy, in a creamy broth, with a little of everything for everyone. It originates in the Tuscany region of Italy, and it is de-lic-ious!!!

This is one my all-time favorite recipes. I've made it many, many times, with and without the recipe handy. It's a lot like Olive Garden's version of the yummy soup, only this one has bacon, and it uses chicken base (which you can find in the spices section of a grocery store like Kroger, or Publix, or FoodLion) instead of chicken bouillon or chicken broth. I love the one from Olive Garden, but making it yourself is much cheaper and much more rewarding!!

--1-1/2 cups spicy Italian ground sausage

--3/4 cup yellow onion, diced

--6 slices bacon, chopped (I don't recommend thick-cut bacon)

--1-1/2 tsp. minced garlic

--2 cups fresh kale leaves, torn into thin strips or bite-size pieces

--2 tbsp chicken base

--1 qt. water

--2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

--1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Saute sausage, bacon, and onions in a large saucepan or dutch oven until onions are clear (almost see-through).

2. Add garlic and saute one more minute.

3. Add chicken base, water, and potatoes. Simmer 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

4. Add kale, simmer 3 more minutes, then remove pot from heat and turn off the burner.

5. Using a ladle, dip some broth out of the pot and mix it with the cream. This makes the cream a little warm before adding it to the soup, because if it's still cold it could curdle. Now add the warm cream* (with the soup you added to it of course) to the pot, and stir it in. Serve with warm buttered bread, if you like, or garlic toast.

*My dad likes to add a little cream to each individual bowl, but that's just him. You can do that, if you like, or simply add it to the whole pot of soup.

I hope you enjoy this amazing soup as much as I do :) And I hope making it is a pleasure ♥

Charlie's "Alfredo" Sauce

This recipe came out of something that happens a lot: I was hungry and couldn't find anything to heat up real fast, or just eat cold (like a salad). So I took it as an opportunity to come up with something new. I knew I had a bunch of different pasta, and I saw some heavy whipping cream in the fridge, so I thought, 'Hey, how about some homemade alfredo?' The first thing I did was research a simple alfredo recipe, one that used cream cheese--because I had lots of that, too. But you know me, I modify everything. So I added in lots of yummy things :) But notice, there's no salt (except the lawry's) on the ingredients list. That's because if all goes well, you shouldn't need it! Just go by your own salty preferences :) Here it is, my super-delicious creamy pasta sauce:

-stick of butter

-8 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes

-1 tsp minced garlic (if you love garlic, add more if you like! I'd say I used about 2 cloves)

-2 cups cream, divided (maybe more, maybe less--I didn't measure...again)

-3/4 cups parmesan cheese, grated

-dash of Lawry's seasoned salt

-dash (or 2) of garlic powder

-dash of onion powder

-dash of red curry powder (I don't recommend buying this just for this recipe! If you already have it, great! If not, either use regular curry powder, or leave it out completely.)

-1/4 cup dry white wine (about that...."dry" doesn't mean literally dry, like a powder. It's white wine in a bottle that isn't sweet. I mention this because I know I used to confuse it, but I'm sure a lot of you knew that already. If you didn't, well, you learned something.)

-3 or 4 large spoonfuls of a simple tomato pasta sauce (like RAGU Old World Style)

-dash cinnamon

-1 tbsp oregano

Instructions:

Okay, I'll admit, I don't really have instructions for this. But I'll write some just for you :)

1. Melt butter in medium to large saucepan.

2. Add cream cheese, garlic, and 1/2 cup of cream--cook, stirring very frequently, until smooth, and cream cheese is melted. Add the parmesan cheese and stir until smooth again.

3. Stir in the rest of the cream, garlic powder, onion powder, red curry powder (if desired), the wine, and the tomato sauce. Stir until creamy--it should be a sauce-like consistency. If not, bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until it is.

4. Just before serving, stir in the cinnamon (just a SMALL dash, it shouldn't be a lot at all) and oregano. Enjoy!! :)