Recipe #11 Cinnamon Rolls from the Bread Machine

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs i follow daily, LifeAsMom. Jessica also has a great food blog Good and Cheap Eats. One recipe she makes often are homemade cinnamon rolls where the dough can be made in a bread machine and the rolls can rise overnight int he frig. This way, in the mornings all you have to do is let them sit on the counter top for 20 mins and then bake for 20 mins. They are really good too (plus you can make them 100% whole wheat and they taste great).

Here is the recipe. And here are some beautiful photos of my cinnamon rolls. I made them the morning of our yard sale as a special treat. I also have a batch in the frig waiting to come out this morning for us to eat this morning.

Hannah thought it was cake and ice cream because

1) it does kind of look like cake, and

2) I asked her if she like the icing and she thought i meant ice cream

So naturally, Hannah at all of hers and half of Aarons.

A new goal (Am i crazy?)

Hey everyone, so after a lot of thinking, I want to add another item to my personal goals list.

Read 7 new books this year. Audiobooks do not count.

To help with this goal I signed up for booksneeze.com. It's a website that give free books to bloggers to read and then review. Hopefully by the end of May you will see my first review.

Sally

February Review

So here is a summary of how we did in February.


This month a couple things happened to help push us forward.
1) We filed our taxes and got a large return (yea second baby!)
2) Work suprized everyone with raises
3) After much worrying, it looks like the PA Department of revenue is not coming after me for tons of money. But, I'm still waiting on the official word.

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- some of our tax return may go towards this. We are still waiting to see where it is going to go.

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- We are hoping to accomplish this with our tax return. We are still waiting to see if the car needs fixed and other things before we officially designate the money towards this.

3) Make 1 extra house payment- Put an additional 9.6% towards our mortgage. Total ~15%

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- I still have no idea. One of my goals for March is get this in order

5)Never use a credit card - Again I had some work expenses (booking stuff for a trip) that I put on a credit card. But we have not used it for any personal use.

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- Thanks to our tax return, we have money set aside for a new chainsaw. Aaron will probably go pick it out in March

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have money set aside and are now actively looking for a great deal on a used lawnmower

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer


9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- Still no debt-YEA!!!

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- I put the check in the mail on the 24th to pay off the balance. I love not having this hanging over me anymore.


11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Our yardsale was good, but not wonderful. It rained all morning so the turn out (both people selling and looking) was low. But in 2.5 hours, we were able to make $100. We still have a lot of stuff that didnt sell, so it is going into the closet for Augusts big commuity yardsale.

12) Start a savings account for a new car- This is getting moved up as a huge priority. Our Aztek is starting to cause us some problems and will need to replaced within the next year.

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- My job is sending me to Orlando Mar 1st and 2nd. We have decided to go a day early and make it a little vacation. We plan on visiting the Orlando Science Center, playing in the hotel pool, and having a great time. (check it out, i finally learned how to use the linky thing. Yeah me)

2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- no beer yet, but we have read up on it a lot. Hopefully this spring

2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer- Not yet. Aaron did get a book on this for his birthday so hopefully in March or April

3) Grow a successful garden- We started some seedlings inside for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and spinach. We plan to plant them outside in March.

4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- not a good month. Too much baking. March is going to be much better


2) Make two dresses for Hannah- no time in February but this is still very important to me

3) Learn a new hobby- Still no idea what

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- i didnt get a chance to update the books for February. Hopefully in March.

5) Read the entire bible- not a single chapter in February. BAD SALLY

6) Get more involved at the church- Still looking for the right place. Please pray for my guidance to the right area

AARON

1) Hunt something- no opportunities this month

2) Process one animal

3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- We did not buy any bread this month. YEAH!!!. I am getting better about having bread on hand. Aaron has also helped out a lot with this goal. I have also started using my bread maker to make the dough so all I have to do is form it and bake.

2) Make 52 new recipes- I now have a total of 12 new recipes. I still need to post the 12th one.

Recipe #10 Homemade King's Hawiian Bread

I don't know about you but I love King's Hawaiian bread. It just has a great texture and flavor. I came across this recipe on my favorite recipe website recipezaar.com.



So here is the link to the website.



The bread turned out okay. It has a good taste. I forgot to set a timer when I put the in the oven so i went by the color. They should have gone another 5 minutes or so to completely cook the inside of the bead. We will enjoy snacking on them this week.

Recipe #9 Fiesta Cheesecake

This recipe comes from my kitchen aid mixer manual. It is a cheese dip not a dessert cheesecake. I made it for our Sunday school Christmas Party (that is in February). The dip turned out really good. It has a great flavor and looks really nice. I wanted to get a pictures before it was devoured at the party, but we ran out of time. We will definitely make this again for a get-together.

(It really is a million times better than what it looks like in these photos)

Fiesta Cheesecake

2x 8-oz cream cheese, softened

1 package taco seasoning

3 eggs

2 c shredded Marble-jack cheese

1x 4oz can green chilies

1 c sour cream

1 c salsa

Place cream cheese and taco seasoning mix in mixer bowel. Mix on speed 6 for 1 1/2 mins with flat blade mixer. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn onto speed 4 and add eggs, one at a time, beating 15 seconds between each addition. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cheese and green chilies. Turn to stir and mix 15 seconds.

Pour into a greased 9 in spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until knife comes out of the center clean. Remove from oven and spread sour cream over top. Place back in oven for 5 minutes. Cool 15 mins. Refrigerate 3-8 hours. Before serving, remove outer ring and spread salsa. Serve with taco chips, if desired.

Yields ~20 servings

Recipe #8 Baked Tilapia with corn and tomatoes

EDIT: Here is a link to the recipe with pictures so you can see how beautiful it really is.
http://www.startmakingchoices.com/recipes/recipeDetails.jsp?action=recipe&recipeid=4239&view=view

Aaron found a recipe that he wanted to try in a ConAgra coupon booklet I got in the mail. This recipe is really simple and cheap (they save it can serve 4 for less than $10). This meal cost us approximately $4.

Baked Tilapia with Corn and Tomatoes
2c frozen whole corn kernels, thawed
1x 14.5oz can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained (we used mexican blend diced tomatoes)
1/2 c chopped white onion (we reconstituted some dried onion)
1t dill weed, divided
1/2t salt, divided
Pam cooking spray (we used some olive oil)
1 lb tilapia fillets, 4 oz each, thawed
1/4t ground pepper
3 c cooked brown rice (we used white because it was quicker)

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine corn, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 t dill, and 1/4 t salt in a bowl. For each packet, lay 2 20x12 inch sheets of aluminum foil on top of each other. Place about 3/4c corn mixture in the center of each sheet of foil. Spray both sides of the fillets with pam and sprinkle with the remaining dill and salt and pepper. Place fillets on the corn mixture and bring up short sides of each foil packets and double fold the tops. Double fold each ends to seal packet, leaving space for steam to gather. Place packets on baking sheets and bake 20 mins or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork. Open packets carefully to allow steam to escape before opening fully. Place fish and corn/tomato mixture from each packet on dinner plates and accompany each with 3/4 c rice. Serve immediately.

Review: The people in the house who like fish, really enjoyed this meal. The people who are not big fish lovers, found it just okay. We will definitely keep this recipe and make it again. Its a great way to serve fish that is healthy and in expensive.

P.S. I was going to take a picture of Aaron's beautiful work making this dinner, but he ate it all before I could get one. Maybe next time.

January Update

Here is an update on how we did in January

FINANCE
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account
2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary
3) Make 1 extra house payment- I paid an extra 5.45% towards this goal
4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- Wow I spent a lot this month. We had to restock on a lot of staples and we gave three meals to friends plus some extras for parties and such. Hopefully next month will be drastically less.
5)Never use a credit card -didn't use for us. I had to buy some things for work. But i was reimbursed promptly and i plan of paying it off in full when the statement arrives.
6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw
7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower
8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer
9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- YEAH NO ADDITIONAL DEBT!! (OK, so its been a month, but it still makes me happy)
10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)-Paid our regular payment plus a little extra. Still $2000+ to go
11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Set up for a yard sale next month. Its amazing how one small house can accumulate so much stuff you never use. We also tried to sell two slides and a camera on Craigslist. No luck, but we are working towards this goal.
12) Start a savings account for a new car

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- Nothing planned yet, but we do have some Christmas money set aside for this purpose.
2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer
3) Grow a successful garden- Nothing in the ground yet, but we have started planning on what we want to plant.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.- We received 6 grocery bags of grapefruit a couple weeks ago. We have all of them sliced ad juice. This week we are going to can the fruit and freeze the juice.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- I am 12.5%$ of the way there. I am definitely learning self control with all of the wonderful baked bread and sweets around the house. I want to start working out but am having trouble finding time. This is my mini-goal for February-start a semi regular workout schedule.
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- No dresses yet, but i did have some sewing time with a lady at work. We made a little bag together.
3) Learn a new hobby- Any suggestions on a new hobby? I have no idea what this will be yet
4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up to date with Titus's baby book.
5) Read the entire bible 11 out of 260 chapters read. I know this is pathetic. I need to work on finding time to set aside every day to do this.
6) Get more involved at the church. - I really want to do this. But, I'm hesitant to commit myself to too much. They have opening for things i think I would like to do but I just don't have the time to do. Hopefully God will lead me to the right ministry. Too bad there isn't a baking ministry.

AARON
1) Hunt something (Armadillos do not count)- Our neighbor called about a wild boar bothering his pigs. He hunted but was unsuccessful because of the daytime and surrounding obstacles (houses and cars). But the year is still young.
2) Process one animal
3) Make a rocking horse

OTHER
1) Make our own (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- So far we have not bought any bread. This is going to be a much harder goal than i first anticipated.
2) Make 52 new recipes- I made 7 new recipes this month.

Some thoughts from this month. I am excited about everything that we accomplished or started in motion this month. I know its easy to make a list and dream, but i think because of this list we will accomplish great things this year. I now realize (as Aaron warned me) how ambitious my list really is. I am very thankful of his support and help in my crazy dream of accomplishing all of this. I already would have failed if it wasn't for him (who knew he was an expert bread maker).