New Things Monday

Kristen and I randomly found Witch hazel at Bed Bath and Beyond. In case you aren't aware, BB&B has a huge section of bath and beauty products. They even have a travel size section with a ton of selections. Prices were probably 20/30 cents or so more than what you would pay at Target or Walmart. Anyways, we came across Witch hazel in the travel isle and we decided to get some. It's used for bruises, cleansing wounds, eczma and other things. I remember hearing it used on Dr. Quinn Medicine woman. It's a natural remedy. I decided to get some for a little patch of dry skin I have on my belly and K got some to try too. I've used it and I feel that it's helped a little but that little dry patch I have on my stomach is still itchy and still there. I bruise easily so I'm gonna try it on a bruise one day and see if it helps with the healing. :)

Stuffed chicken breasts

We eat a lot of chicken and today I wanted to make chicken but make it a little different than the norm. I decided to make stuffed chicken breasts. Nope, I'd never done it before but really how hard could it be? :) I stuffed the chicken with some fresh mozz cheese, tomato, real bacon bits, and pepperoni. I then rolled up each breast and held it together with 2 toothpicks. I sprinkled on the top of each stuffed breast with some pepper, olive oil and some Mrs. Dash garlic and herb (no salt added). I also added a little water in the dish to keep them moist while baking. I baked them for about an hour. Then when it was time to eat I pulled them out of the oven and let them rest for about 10 min. They were very good!! Nate said he would like these again one day. :)

BBQ Beef Brisket

I'd never made brisket before but thought it couldn't be that hard. I put the brisket in the crock pot on high this morning at 9am so it would be done for when I left for work around 5:30. I added BBQ sauce (I use Bulls Eye Original), pepper, water and some minced garlic.

It was very tender and fell apart when I pulled some out to make some sammiches.

I made a little sammich and some tator tots and some cole slaw. The cole slaw is like a Sandra Lee Cheat. I bought a bag of shredded slaw and a bottle of cole slaw mix. I mixed the sauce in the slaw and left in fridge for 2 hours. It came out nice and creamy and a perfect fit with the bbq brisket. :) MMMM

I added a little more bbq sauce on my bun for extra bbq taste and flavor. I think I did pretty good job....well the crock pot did most of the work. haha :)

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Blob

I wanted something to settle my sweet tooth. I was going to make blueberry muffins but then thought I would try to bake some from scratch cinnamon rolls. I did everything according to the directions. As I got to the final steps my dough was too sticky on the counter and I couldn't roll it up so I smashed it in frustration and had a big blob. I put the blob in the pan and baked it and it still came out very tasty. :)

Here's the recipe and directions for you in case you'd like to give it a shot. :)

Rolls:

2 1/2 cups flour and some extra for counter

2 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

Cinnamon filling:

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (you can use dark or light, I used light)

1/4 cup sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a round pan with PAM spray. I used my round pyrex pie dish.

2. Make the filling. Combine ingredients until until mix resembles wet sand. It will smell really good and you'll want to eat it. LOL No, I didn't eat any but the smell was wonderful.

3. Make the dough. Whisk the ingredients in a large bowl. Don't add the melted butter.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk your buttermilk and 2 tbsp melted butter together. Now if you don't have buttermilk like I didn't you can take milk and mix in 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar. Let sit 5 min then mix together. Works good!

5. Stir buttermilk mix into the flour mix with a wooden spoon until absorbed. About 30 seconds. The dough will look shaggy and it did look very shaggy.

6. Turn the dough out onto well floured counter and knead until smooth. About 1 min. This process was sticky, goopey and messy. LOL

7. Press dough out into a 9 x 12 rectangle using you hands.

8. Brush dough with 2 tbsp melted butter. Then sprinkle dough with Cinnamon filling mix, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.

9. Loosen the dough with a scraper.

10. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly to form a tight log.

11. Pinch the seam to seal. Slice the dough into 8 even pieces. Tip: For easier slicing of dough, use unflavored dental floss. Slide under rolled dough then cross of the top of roll to cut through.

12. Place slices in greased pan.

13. Brush with remaining 2 tbsp melted butter and bake until edges are golden brown, 20 to 25 min.

14. Use a knife to loosen the buns from pan. Flip the bun s out onto greased wire rack, then turn buns upright and let cool 10 min before frosting. Prepare frosting while rolls are cooling.

My log got stuck while trying to roll up so I rolled as best as I could and then smashed it together, and put in pan. I brushed on the butter and baked it. Once it cooled a few min I frosted it.

For the icing/frosting:

8oz cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups confectioners/powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

Mix until smooth. Now....funny enough I didn't have 3 cups of confectioners sugar. So, my brother looked online and figured out how to process white sugar into a powdered sugar by blending and adding cornstarch. Came out pretty good. :)

Looks good eh? Yeah, it's very good. :) Too bad it didn't turn out like rolls but it still came out great. :)

MMMM :)

New Things Monday

I didn't use to like bananas when I was little and I hated the word banana b/c I missed that word in my 3rd grade spelling bee and some older kids made fun of me and told me I was going to fail 3rd grade. I hated bananas b/c of that but I eat bananas now and I like them. :) For today's 'New Things Monday', I tried Chick-Fil-A's, Banana Pudding Milkshake. It was ok, and I drank it. I got a small and that was all I could handle. I think a large would have been too much. :)

And just an update on how my giving up sodas is going.....I have not had 1 soda. Yes, I've craved it once or twice but I have not had any. I can do this. :)

Locks of Love

Last year, when I got sick I lost a lot of hair. It was scary but my body just needed time to heal and my hair growth was one of the things affected from my sickness. My hair finally grew back and it grew a lot. Most people don't notice b/c I always wear my hair up but it was pretty long. I found a Great Clips coupon from the newspaper last week for a $5 haircut. I thought, "heck I could use a trim" and that's exactly what I did today. As the stylist was asking how much hair I wanted cut off, I told her to my shoulders. She then measured it and said if we cut it to 'here' that would make it 10 inches and then you can donate it to locks of love. I said sure why not. :)

So, I had it cut. It's just a little above my shoulders. Since I donated my hair I didn't have to pay a dime for the cut. And the best part of all my 'virgin' hair is going to be made into a wig to be given to a sick child. Makes me feel good. :)

Safety First

The other weekend we were cooking on our grill and the bottom of our grill had a small grease fire. Luckily, I bought a fire extinguisher a few years ago just in case we needed it and it sure did come in handy. Nate used it and it put out the fire very quickly. The small one, like I had is only a one time use fire extinguisher. Yesterday, I decided to get a new one b/c well you just never know when you might need it and it's a very good thing to have. I went to bed bath and beyond but they didn't have extinguishers all they had was a spray. So, with my $5 coupon I got this 'fire spray' for $10. Totally worth having in the house.

And the best thing I find about the spray....it's not as scary as a extinguisher. :)

Meaty Cheesy Quiche

Quiche for dinner? Why not? So. that's what I made. haha :)

Ingredients:

Sausage (cooked and crumbled)

bacon (cooked and crumbled)

1 onion

parsley

pepper

1 pkg of shredded cheese

1/8 tsp nutmeg

6 eggs

pie crust (1 shell)

Looks good eh?
MMMMMMMM....top with sour cream if you'd like. :)