Steak, Potatoes and Spinach with Blue Cheese

So... it's been a while.

Let me see if I can catch you all up in just a few sentences...
I'm two years older.
I've had a baby. She's adorable and getting cuter every day.
I've done a lot of decluttering and reorganizing to streamline my life.

I think that about sums it up.

Now, on to the reason for the post.

Isn't that gorgeous.  I made up some of it, and while I was cooking I said to my husband, "if this turns out well, I'm totally going to make a lazy wife post about it."  And it turned out amazing.

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Steaks with Red Wine butter - derived from Les Halles cookbook by Anthony Bourdain
The following measurements are not exact and should be tweaked to suit your own tastes.

1 small red onion (the original recipe calls for shallots)
1 cup red wine (I used Merlot, you can get inexpensive red wine but make sure its something you wouldn't mind drinking)
Salt
2 sticks of butter

Enough steak to feed your family
Salt & Pepper

To make the flavored butter:
Mince your onion, and put it in a pan, and a pinch or two of salt (depending on your tastes).  Add the wine and bring up to a simmer.  Stir occasionally until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Cool to room temperature. Soften the butter and blend the butter with the onion.  You can do this in a food processor, or a mixer, or by hand.  Just make sure it's fully incorporated and there's no large sections of plain butter.  Then get out some parchment paper or plastic wrap, and make a log out of the flavored butter and chill in the fridge.
You can also freeze the butter and use it at a later time - I have a bit in my freezer that I pull out any time I want some quick, easy, and delicious steak.

For the meat:
Salt and pepper one side of the steaks.  I like using top sirloin, but you can use whatever steak you like. Preheat your oven to 350.  Also, preheat an oven safe pan on the stove - I have a lovely cast iron skillet that works great.  Once the pan is hot, sear the seasoned side of the meat and season the other side with salt and pepper.  Sear all sides and then put the pan in the oven and cook until it's done to your liking.  My husband likes his steak well done, so I get everything else going before I turn the oven off and take the meat out to rest.  Once the meat is done, take it out of the oven and put a nice pat of butter on top and let the meat rest for 5 - 10 minutes so all the delicious juices get redistributed and the butter melts.  Mmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Pan Fried Potatoes and Onions
I eat this for breakfast most days with a fried egg, but they're just as delicious for dinner.

3-4 medium sized Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 1 medium potato per person)
1 medium-large onion
1 Tbsp butter (you can use the wine butter in place of regular butter)
Dried Thyme (optional)
Salt

I use a 10" ceramic non-stick skillet for this recipe.  Preheat your pan on medium heat.  Chop your potatoes and onion into bite sized cubes (for breakfast, I like to slice them more thinly) Melt the butter in your preheated pan. Add the onion and potatoes, and sprinkle a pinch or two of salt and dried thyme.  Cover, stirring occasionally (or do that awesome chef-flick to flip everything) until the potatoes are soft.  Then remove the cover and still stirring occasionally, cook until it gets deliciously caramelized and browned - you may have to turn the heat down so it doesn't get blackened.

Creamed Spinach with Blue Cheese
I just made this up last night, so my recipe is very inexact.

1 bag frozen chopped spinach
1 tsp better than bullion chicken broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder (more or less depending on how much you like garlic)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

In a sauce pan on low/med-low heat, add frozen spinach, chicken broth, garlic powder - put the cover on until the spinach has thawed.  Once thawed, add milk and stir occasionally while it simmers for about 15 min.  Add the blue cheese and stir to melt it in.


Then you serve it all up and feel like you're eating at a 5 star restaurant.  I'm so glad I added that blue cheese to the spinach... and I'm also glad that I made enough last night that I have left overs to eat for lunch today :)

Dinner Highlights

So.  I know there are some people out there that are able to menu plan like champions.  They're organized and make lists of what they're going to make and what they'll need for the next week or two of meals.  Some of them even prep all their meals on one day and then pull things out of the freezer... or make more of one meal so they can use the meat in the next nights meal, or maybe even two nights.  I know there are people out there like that.

I am not like that...

I wish I were like that, I wish I could plan ahead and know what I'm going to make... and I've tried it.  I had one week where I planned out everything we were going to eat... but by day 3 or so, I was way off from the list, and just ended up doing what I always do... which is throw a meal together with whatever I have in the fridge/freezer and hope it goes well.

And I've gotten pretty darn good at doing that.  I don't look at recipes (generally) I just rummage around in the fridge and see what I've got.  Usually the meals turn out ok, sometimes they turn out amazing.

Here's some of the highlights:

This meal did not turn out as well as it looks.  The chicken recipe was from ringaroundtherosies.net - it's the Teriyaki chicken recipe... I think it would have been alright with chicken thighs instead of breasts, because the meat turned out really dry after cooking in the crockpot. I generally have some rice sitting around from another meal, and I'd just made hard boiled eggs earlier that day, so this was a pretty easy meal to put together (especially since I went through that phase when I liked making Bento lunches and bought some rice and egg molds from my local Asian market).

***

 
I have to give some thanks to Trader Joe's for this meal. It's pretty much from there, except for the nut pesto on the pasta (the nuts and oil came from Costco).  So, the meat is the Chimichurri Wild Pacific Salmon from Trader Joes - I don't usually like cooked fish (I'll eat Sushi, but not cooked fish, I know I'm weird) but this fish is AWESOME.  I've bought it quite a few times, until my local TJ's ran out, but they promised me it'll be back in the fall... it better be back in the fall...  The lettuce and tomatoes are from TJ's (I love the mini heirloom tomatoes).  And the pasta is the linguini they sell at TJ's.  Yeah... it was a good meal.

***

One night I decided to make fried chicken nuggets, mostly because I'd just made chicken fried steak and I had the oil out already... I had also been watching Paula Dean fry some bacon wrapped macaroni and cheese... yes, that's right... go look at it and feel your arteries clogging.  But from that I learned that you can use crushed up crackers instead of bread crumbs.  And what did I have sitting around?  Crackers.  And of course chicken and eggs and flour.  Anyway.  This chicken was amazing.  I think I could have done bigger pieces... I ended up coating some of them in Frank's RedHot Wings Sauce and put them in a salad with blue cheese dressing... mmm... I'm drooling just thinking about it.

***

This was another fish meal.  Weird, I know... but since TJ's was out of the Chimichurri Salmon, I ended up trying their Wild Marinated Soy Ginger Cod Fillets.  And I have to say... they did it again.  It was delicious, and I might add very easy to put in the oven and bake for 12 minutes.  I didn't think I liked fish, but I am a changed woman.  The noodles are based on the Korean dish Japchae.  The first time I made it was a while ago (mostly because I found the mung bean noodles at my local supermarket) and it's delicious.  This time, I used whatever veggies I had sitting around, some in the freezer and some in the fridge.  It all went together really well.

***

Well, I think that's about all for now.  If any of these sound really good to you, then leave a comment and I'll try to remember the recipe so I can post it :D

Grilled Eggplant Lasagna

I was just wandering around the farmer's market near me, gathering the usual things I buy... onions, tomatoes... you know, the normal stuff.  Then I saw them.  The most beautiful dark purple, almost black, eggplant... aubergine if you prefer.

When I had a BBQ at my disposal, I used to love marinating slices of eggplant in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and grilling it.  Some of my friends would make it into baba ganoush - there is nothing like homemade baba ganoush.  My mom makes an eggplant caponata that is amazing.  And of course, there's always eggplant parmesan.  Eggplant is just so versatile.

I will also mention that when I was in Scotland with some dear friends, there was an Indian restaurant below our flat that made the most amazing eggplant recipe... I only wish I could remember the name or find the recipe, because it was a taste of heaven on a fork... I'm not kidding... absolute heaven.

Now... with all those wonderful ideas running around my mind, I bought 2 aubergines to take home and cook.  After a couple days of not being able to make up my mind about what I would turn these beautiful purple nightshades into, I finally decided to make up my own recipe.  So I give you The Lazy Wife's Grilled Eggplant Lasagna.

Normally, I have more pictures, but I wasn't really sure the recipe would turn out that great, so I didn't take pictures till I had the whole thing assembled.  Oh well. 

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Grilled Eggplant Lasagna

Instant Frozen Yogurt

It's summer here... it's so hot that it feels like summer is slapping me in the face:

Summer probably does slap a lot like Batman.

Yes.  That's how it feels.

Anyway.  Here's just a few ways I get relief from the summer heat without having to leave our apartment complex:

1) Go for a dip in the pool.

2) Crank up the AC in the apartment.

Or

3) Make some delicious frozen yogurt.

Let's focus on that last one :)

 

I've been making a series of cooling beverages in my blender.  Because every iced drink tastes better blended.  Then I started thinking about lassis.  They're basically yogurt blended with some fruit and maybe some other stuff.  This recipe is somewhere between frozen yogurt and a lassi - and like most of my recipes, I didn't really measure when I made it, so the measurements are approximate and you can adjust it to your own tastes.

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Some Like it Hot

Nope. Not talking about the movie... I'm talking about snacks.

My husband really likes spicy chips.  Like the FLAMAS® DORITOS®. They're pretty darn spicy... I can eat like 3 or 4 before my mouth catches on fire... but he LOVES them.  He also likes running, and having an extra pound or five can really make running a pain... literally.  So, rather than run out to the store because my husband was craving a high calorie hot and spicy snack, I made some Spicy Edamame.

I didn't use a recipe for these, so the measurements are approximate and really up to your own taste... but here goes.

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Spicy Edamame

1 bag frozen Edamame (I got mine from Trader Joes)
2-3 cups water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you want it spicier)

Put the water in a pot. Bring it to a boil and add 1 teaspoon salt and the edamame.  Boil for about 5 minutes (basically follow the instructions on the bag), then strain the edamame.  Place the edamame in a bowl, add the remaining salt, chili powder and cayenne pepper and mix.  Enjoy!

***

If you've never eaten Edamame in the pod, you hold one end with your fingers and stick the pod into your mouth up to your fingers, then bite down slightly and pull the pod out to squeeze the beans out of the pod.

Candied Almonds

As I was wondering what to do with my left over evaporated milk, I found a recipe for Candied Pecans that sounded pretty good.  But then I realized that I didn't have any pecans sitting around, and I didn't particularly want to go out an buy any because I'll be moving soon, and the fewer things I have to take with me, the better.  I did have a large bag of almonds though.  So I decided to adapt the recipe to almonds, pecans would work well too, of course.  The original recipe is here.  But I ended up doubling it (but I'll post the original proportions, because really, how often do people need 6 cups of candied almonds?), so that I could use up all the evaporated milk I had, and I added a few more spices, because really 1/4 tsp of cinnamon is not enough.

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Candied Almonds


3 Cups whole Almonds
1 cup sugar (1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white)
1/4 cup Evaporated milk
2 Tbsp Water
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cardamom
1 pinch Clove
1 pinch Cayenne pepper (if you want a slightly spicy sweet nut)

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

I was kneading bread yesterday, and I started thinking that my arms would probably look a lot better (read: less flabby) if I baked bread every day.  But then I realized that I'd also have to be eating the bread I made that day, which, I think, would cause some pretty intense weight gain.   Unless, of course, my evil plan of baking bread and delivering it to people came to fruition...

I love bread.  And one bread that I have a particular passion for is Hawaiian Sweet bread.  So, of course, when I saw a recipe for it, I decided that I should give it a try (since King's is SO expensive)... and I just happened to have a can of evaporated milk on hand - I don't know where it came from, I certainly didn't buy it - and I REALLY love Hawaiian Sweet bread...  I will admit that my bread isn't exactly like King's Hawaiian, but it does make up for it in cost.

I was trying to make medium sized sandwich rolls, but they puffed up a lot in my oven, so they definitely could have started out smaller.  Also, the recipe I used lied to me in a couple places, so I'm giving you *my* recipe that has corrections/lazy options included.  I found the recipe online, it said that it was a version adapted from The Food of Paradise, but now I can't find the site, so I can't link to it :P

In response to this post, I expect you all to be extremely sad that you don't live with me or close enough to me to get a sample of this bread...

Mini Pommes Anna

That's right! Potatoes! Not just any potatoes! Deliciously French potatoes, or rather Mini Pommes Anna.

Wikipedia tells us that "Pommes Anna is a classic French dish of sliced, layered potatoes cooked in a very large amount of melted butter."

I can't take full credit for this recipe, since I got the idea here: Bakers Royale

I changed the recipe a little, since I didn't have any Yukon Gold potatoes (those would be really good for this though) but I had a mixed bag of fingerling potatoes... and they were also very delicious.  And looked a little more like a real Pommes Anna instead of just a single stack of sliced potato.

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Mini Pommes Anna

Asian Food Kick

I've been craving Asian food recently.  I don't know why... but I want everything with rice, soy sauce, and all those other "typically" Asian tastes and flavors.  I got a jump start on the week when my friend had us over for dinner and served Vietnamese spring rolls.

At least, I've always heard them called Vietnamese spring rolls, they are also known as fresh spring rolls, Vietnamese salad rolls, and sometimes summer rolls.  They look very pretty and are really not so difficult to make.  Ingredients vary based on what you want/like.  My friend made vegetarian rolls, using vegetables she had on hand.  I made mine with chicken.  They make a great meal and can either be pre-made, or you can have your guests make them for themselves.  It would be really fun to have a roll making party, and everyone can put in or leave out whatever they want.

My friend generously gave me the rest of the rice paper and rice vermicelli that she had left over, so I decided that tonight was Spring Roll night.  Really, the only mandatory ingredient is the rice paper, everything else is up to your taste and what you want to put in, quantities are also flexible for whatever size group you have.

What I did this week...

 At first I thought I was just being extremely lazy... then I thought I was suffering from something even worse and much more sinister than laziness...

I've also been mixing some delicious cocktails inspired by watching Jeeves and Wooster... but it's not a good idea to add rum to your sloth... you end up with a drunk sloth... which, if I could draw, would be a very funny picture indeed.  I'm not sure why I feel slothful though, because I have So Many Projects.  Here, just to show a few:

Not sure what the flowers will be for, but they're cute :D

I had to use up the Baileys frosting :)

Bacon, Cheddar and Broccoli quiche

The cake was just boxed yellow cake with chocolate chips, but I had to have something to put the Baileys frosting on... Here 's the quiche recipe for those of you that might like to try it (really the filling could contain any number of delicious things, I just picked three things I liked:

Crabapple Jelly

It's a Crab - Apple... get it?

I have been particularly lazy of late.  I don't have any good excuses for my laziness, so I won't give any.  But I did draw a silly picture for you all... Well, I drew the apple part... the limbs were taken off another picture (when I realized that I couldn't remember what crab legs looked like).

Today, I will relate the events that occurred a few months ago when the trees were bearing fruit, and I happened to be listening to quite a bit of British literature, such as P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster and Jane Austen Novels adapted for radio.  Within those stories, I heard how frugal people would pick fruit from the trees and preserve it for the winter months when fresh fruit was hard to find.  While considering this, I was walking to pick up the mail from our box at our apartment and I began to wonder what kind of fruit trees were in our complex.

I picked one of the globular pinkish fruits and a couple leaves and took them back to my apartment.  I searched on the internet to find a description that matched the fruit I had found.

I discovered that apples are the only fruit with seeds in a star pattern.  They are related to roses and also have serrated leaves.  I compared my samples with the descriptions and discovered that I had several crab apple trees in perfect readiness for harvest.  Crab apples do have an apple-like taste and smell, but are generally a more tart.

So I harvested them.  I made Husband go out with me and hold a bag while I pulled the small apples off the higher branches (using a step ladder, of course).  I brought them home, and washed them thoroughly.  Once they were well washed, I cut them up and boiled them in water.  I squeezed them through a cheesecloth and then used that juice to make crab apple jelly.

The first try I got it into my head that I might not have to use pectin, because after doing a little reading, pectin apparently comes from apples, and other relatives.  However, I must have done something wrong (or my apples just didn't have enough pectin) because the jelly didn't set.  So I boiled it all over again, added pectin this time, and got a quite nice jelly in my re-sterilized jars.

Here's the recipe:

***

Crab Apple Jelly

Crab Apples (about 8 cups?)
Water
1 box Pectin
3 cups sugar

If starting with whole fruit:
Remove stems and leaves.  Cut crab apples in half (or quarters if you have large crab apples) and put them in a large pot.  Pour in enough water to almost cover the apples, but not to make them float.

Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium.  Let cook until the apples change color and are soft.  (You can also use a juicer, if you have one)  Let it cool, then strain the apple mash through a few layers of cheesecloth... you may need to squeeze the juice out.

Measure about 4 cups of juice and put in a pot with 1 box of pectin.  Bring to a boil, then add 3 cups of sugar.  Bring back to a boil and boil for at least 1 minute.

Pour into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" space at the top.  Put on lids and process in boiling water for 5 minutes.  Remove jars from water bath and let cool, being sure the lids seal and the jelly has set.  Keep in a cool dark place, and these should last for at least a year.

Enjoy!

***

That's it for the recipe.  I must admit that every time I hear "Crab Apples" I think of some sort of strange crab with the body of an apple... then I stumbled across this picture:

and I'm glad that my imagination lines up so well with other people's.

Chicken Pot Pie

The other day I went ahead and bought a 25lbs bag of flour at Costco. I also bought some boneless skinless chicken thighs. I had been buying chicken breasts, but the thighs were so much less expensive... and then I cooked with them and discovered how much more flavor the thighs had, I'm very pleased that I bought them.

It's cold and damp where I am right now, and it felt about the right time for some good old fashioned comfort food.

I've never made Chicken Pot Pie before, and so I set out to make one. I started with the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, the plain paste recipe, to be specific.  Then I just sort of thought about what is normally in chicken pot pie and went from there.

***

The Lazy Wife's Chicken Pot Pie

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes

2 Tbsp vodka

2 Tbsp cold water

My crust ended up being a little thin, but very flaky and delicious, next time I'd probably double the pastry recipe, then again, I did end up making two pies. 

Put flour in a medium bowl and cut in the butter cubes.  Add vodka and water until you can form a smooth ball (sometimes it requires a little more vodka or water if your flour is dry).  Place the smooth ball in plastic wrap and chill for about 15min.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface, and place in pie pan.  Cover with wax paper and pie weights (I use beans).  Prebake for about 10 min with the weights, then remove them and bake another 5-10min until it just starts to get a light brown color.  Remove from oven and fill with chicken filling.

 

Pie filling:

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

8-10 cloves garlic, minced

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

1/2 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (I like the "hodgepodge"  mix from Trader Joes)

1 carrot, chopped

1 can condensed potato soup

1 Tbsp Herbed Poultry (from my spice rack, I think it's Sage, Rosemary, Thyme and Marjoram)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp butter

Salt & Pepper

In a medium pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, on low heat, until soft.  Add herbs, salt and pepper (about 1 tsp of each), add chicken and continue cooking, turn up to medium heat, stirring occasionally.  When the chicken is cooked, add vegetables and soup (as well as 1 can of water).  Stir until all ingredients are combined.  Add flour and butter and stir until incorporated.  Cook down to thicken.

When the pie crusts are ready (prebaked/just starting to brown, you can use scraps of pie crust to put on top for a cute decoration, bake them with the crusts but on a separate baking sheet) add the chicken filling to the pie shells and bake at 350 for 20min until the crusts are brown and the filling is bubbling.

Take out of oven and serve.

***

Well, that's about it for the recipe.  It tastes pretty darn awesome (the Husband even went back for seconds, despite the pie containing peas).  Chicken breast would obviously work as well, but I really do think the thighs have better flavor.

Also, I'm working on a pair of socks now... but I'll post about those later, when I have pictures and such.  That's all for now!

Hummus

My husband was recently bothering me because I had not made hummus last semester.  So, by request, I made hummus today.

Hummus is a Middle Eastern staple food.  When eaten with bread it makes a complete protein, which is awesome especially if you're vegetarian or vegan (though understandably less awesome if you suffer from Celiac disease).  Hummus is actually pretty easy to make.  It relies heavily on taste... so be sure you're tasting as you go.  So, here's my recipe, feel free to play with it and adjust as you like.

***

Hummus, ala the Lazy Wife

1 lb bag dried chickpeas (you can, of course, use canned chickpeas, dried are sometimes cheaper)
Water
1 head of Garlic, minced
The juice of 2 Lemons
1/3 - 1/2 cup Tahini (Sesame seed paste)
1/2 cup Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Optional Hand full of Sun Dried Tomato, Red Pepper, Paprika, Basil, Avocado, Chipotle pepper, etc.

For the Hummus purists (No optional extras):
Soak the dry chickpeas in water overnight.  Drain the old water and cover the now plumped peas with water by about an inch over the level of the peas... it's not important to get the water quantity exact for these steps, just to make sure the peas absorb as much water as they need to become soft.  Bring the peas to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer.

My chickpeas have always boil over... but uncovered they smell funny, so choose your poison.

Lower: cooked peas, top left: pea skins, top right: naked peas

Once the chickpeas are soft (30min - 2 hours). It really depends on how much attention I'm paying... when they're soft to the touch (squish one between your fingers after letting it cool and see if it mashes easily) turn off the heat and let them cool.

Hummus with Sun Dried Tomato and dried red pepper

Hummus with olive oil and paprika

When you can handle them, strain the chickpeas and prepare for the "fun" part.  Now, some people just leave them in water and roll them around in their fingers to remove the skins, because the skins, for the most part, rise to the top and can be skimmed off.  I, however, am a perfectionist.  I sit down and watch something while I squeeze the skin off of each and every pea.  My other reason for this is because I do not own a food processor, and mash the peas with a potato masher, and I get a better consistency when I remove every skin.  If you don't care about texture or are blessed with a food processor, then go ahead and remove as much of the skins in whatever way you like.

After removing all the skins, put the peas in a medium to large size bowl.  Add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil and some salt, and mash until you get a nice smooth paste.

Some of the ingredient amounts can vary depending on how moist or dry your chickpeas are, and how much you like or dislike certain flavors.  I happen to LOVE garlic, so I used a whole head... just enough to almost give me heartburn.  If you don't like garlic so much, then use 1-5 cloves or whatever you like.

If you find the mashing is not giving you a nice smooth paste, then add a little more tahini, olive oil or lemon juice, depending also on what flavor you think is lacking.  You do have to play with it a little, to get the right taste for your pallet.

If you're feeling a little more adventurous,  you can experiment a little more.

Make the original recipe, but at the end stir in some chopped up sun dried tomato, or some red pepper, or avocado... I know at the farmer's market I used to go to, there was a guy that had all kinds of interesting flavors of hummus.

In most of the Middle Eastern restaurants I've been to, they serve hummus with olive oil and paprika on it.

If you can't find tahini (which I couldn't for a while where I am) I substituted smooth peanut butter!  I know!  Sounds totally crazy, right?!  Well, I did, but I used a little less peanut butter and a little more olive oil and lemon juice, and lots of garlic.  Once it sat for a day in the refrigerator, it tasted pretty much the same as regular hummus, with maybe a little more of a nutty aftertaste.

***

The historical origins of Hummus are unknown.  The earliest verified description of hummus comes from 18th century Damascus.  There were probably similar recipes before the 18th century, and in fact, the Egyptians ate a similar dish that used vinegar instead of lemon juice (which was the ingredient that arrived in the middle east later than all the others).  But it is still unknown where or when hummus, as we know it today, was first made.

Chickpeas are GREAT! Chickpeas are a good source of zinc, folate, and protein.  They have a lot of dietary fiber and are a good source of carbohydrates (especially for people that are insulin sensitive/diabetics).  They also contain phosphorus, magnesium and iron.

Citations: Wikipedia: Hummus, Chickpea

Cinnamon Rolls

I woke up one day earlier this year with a craving for Cinnamon Rolls.  I tried to ignore it for as long as I could... but then I gave in and looked up a recipe and baked these irresistibly delicious rolls.

I do have to say, also, that I LOVE Paula Deen and her appreciation for butter.

***

Cinnamon Rolls

Servings: 12-15 rolls (depending on how thin you cut them) 

Prep Time: about 1 hour 20 min, Cook Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

Dough:
1/4 ounce package yeast
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter

1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 - 4 cups flour

Filling: 
1/3 cup melted butter, plus more for the pan
1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, or pecans (optional)(I've also crushed some sliced almonds and used those)

Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoon vanilla
3-6 tablespoons of hot water (enough to make it smooth)

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix yeast, about two cups of flour, sugar and salt.  In a mircowave safe measuring cup, mix water, milk and butter, heat until butter is just melted, not until very hot.  Add liquid mixture to large bowl, add egg and mix until smooth.  Add about two cups more of flour and mix until the dough comes together and is easy to handle.  Gently knead dough on lightly floured surface (or in the bowl), the more you knead the tougher the dough will get, so DON'T over knead, just enough to incorporate everything plus a little.  Place in well-greased bowl (or keep in the bowl you were using, I don't grease mine) and let rise until doubled, usually 1 - 1 1/2 hours. I usually cover mine with a damp cloth and put it in a barely warm oven.

When doubled, punch down dough.  Roll out on flour surface into a 15x9 inch rectangle.  Spread melted butter all over dough, I softened my butter and spread it out leaving about a 1-2" bar across the top of my rectangle free from butter.  Mix sugar, cinnamon and optional walnuts or pecans and sprinkle over buttered dough.

Beginning at 15 inch side role up dough and pinch edge together to seal.  Cut into 12-15 slices; thin, serrated knives work well.  Coat bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes.  Again, I like putting the pan in a barely warm oven with a dish of hot water underneath, because I think it makes them more moist.

Bake (with a dish of water underneath) at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Once rolls are done baking, mix melted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency.  Spread over slightly cooled rolls.  Serve warm.

Based on Paula Deen's Recipe with my own additional suggestions.

***

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum, which can be used in both sweet and savory foods. Cinnamon trees are native to South East Asia. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC.

The Old Testament makes specific mention of the spice many times: first when Moses is commanded to use both sweet cinnamon and cassia in the holy anointing oil; in Proverbs where the lover's bed is perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.  In Song of Solomon, song describing the beauty of his beloved, cinnamon scents her garments like the smell of Lebanon.

It was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a gift fit for monarchs and even for a god: records show that gifts of cinnamon and cassia were brought to the temple of Apollo at Miletus.  It was too expensive to be commonly used on funeral pyres in Rome, but the Emperor Nero is said to have burned a year's worth of the city's supply at the funeral for his wife Poppaea Sabina in A.D. 65.

Through the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon was a mystery to the Western world.  Sieur de Joinville accompanied his king to Egypt during the crusades  in 1248, and reported that cinnamon was fished up in nets at the source of the Nile out at the edge of the world.  In Herodotus and other authors, Arabia was the source of cinnamon: giant Cinnamon birds collected the cinnamon sticks from an unknown land where the cinnamon trees grew and used them to construct their nests; the Arabs employed a trick to obtain the sticks.  This story was current as late as 1310, although in the first century, Pliny the Elder had written that the traders had made this up in order to charge more.

Portuguese traders finally landed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the beginning of the 1500's and restructured the traditional production and management of cinnamon by the Sinhalese, who later held the monopoly for cinnamon in Ceylon. The Portuguese established a fort on the island in 1518 and protected their own monopoly for over a hundred years.

Dutch traders finally dislodged the Portuguese in 1638.  The Dutch East India Company continued to overhaul the methods of harvesting in the wild and eventually began to cultivate its own trees.

The British took control of the island from the Dutch in 1796. However, the importance of the monopoly of Ceylon was already declining, as cultivation of the cinnamon tree spread to other areas, and coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate were becoming more popular than traditional spices.

Some interesting Health Benefits of Cinnamon:

• Just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower LDL cholesterol.
• Cinnamon may have a regulatory effect on blood sugar, making it especially beneficial for people with diabetes. 
• Cinnamon has shown an amazing ability to stop medication-resistant yeast infections.
• Cinnamon has been shown to reduce the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.
• It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.
• Patients given half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with one tablespoon of honey every morning before breakfast had significant relief in arthritis pain after one week and could walk without pain within one month.
• When added to food, it inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.
• Smelling cinnamon can boost cognitive function and memory.
• Cinnamon fights the E. coli bacteria in unpasteurized juices.
• Cinnamon is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.

(Citations: Paula Deen's Website, Wikipedia: Cinnamon, 10 Health Benefits of Cinnamon)


Update: This is what I found on the Husband's plate after he ate THREE cinnamon rolls:

They are obviously Husband approved.