homemade cinnamon rolls

On Valentine's Day I decided to make a bit of an extra special breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls!  I have started on a journey of cleaner eating.  My goal is at least 80% real food.  I define real food as anything my great grandmother would have heard of or used.  Amazingly that is harder that I thought it would be.  I was very used to boxed and packaged food.  But slowly I am learning how to make things from scratch.  And I have found that it is very tasty and very satisfying.  There is just something about cutting into a warm loaf of bread and knowing "I made that".  I know exactly what is in it, how it was made, etc.  I'm going to share with you my recipe for homemade dough.  I use this same recipe for bread, sweet rolls, stromboli, basically anything that uses a yeast dough.  Except for pizza.  I actually have a slightly different recipe for that.    So here it is:

Whole Wheat Bread Dough
3 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup olive oil
1 Tbl sea salt
1 1/2 Tbl yeast
3-5 cups of fresh ground hard wheat flour

Dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Add honey and let it sit for about 5 minutes.  It will start to look kind of foamy.  Add everything else but the flour.  Add about 2 cups of flour.  I have a kitchenaid mixer.  I start it up on setting 2 with a dough hook.  Once all of the flour has been mixed in, slowly add more until the dough begins to form a ball and cleans the bowl.  Let it mix for about 5-10 more minutes.  Then place on well oiled surface.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes.  This makes 2-3 loaves depending on your pan size.  Now once you have your dough we can begin the cinnamon rolls! 
Divide the dough in half. You can make twice as many rolls and freeze them before you bake them or you can use the other half to make some bread.

  


Roll out the dough until it is in a large rectangle like shape.  It doesn't have to be perfect, obviously, as you may have noted in the picture. 

 

Melt about 2-3 tbl of butter and brush it all over the dough. 

 

 Mix about 1/3 cup of sugar (I use coconut sugar) and about 1 tsp of cinnamon.  You can use more or less depending on how much you like cinnamon. 

 Sprinkly the cinnamon mixture all over the butter.  Leave a little space on one of the long sides.  This helps to seal it when you roll it up.









 

Once you get it all rolled up, kind of pinch it together on the seam to seal it.  Then slice it in rolls.  Depending on how thin you roll the dough and how big you make your slices you can have giant to mini cinnamon rolls.  We like ours a little smaller. 

 

 

 In honor of Valentine's Day, I opened the slices up a bit and formed them into heart shapes before baking.  Place on an ungreased baking pan, stone, or dish.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.  To make a glaze use 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  Add the milk slowly while mixing until you get the consistency you like.  You can also add vanilla and cinnamon. 

Here is the final product!  A yummy, good for you, love filled breakfast!

My New Kindle Cover

I am now on my 2nd Kindle.  Kindle #1 got passed down to Angelfish.  I then purchased a new Kindle touch.  If I had it to do over again I would have kept the Kindle keyboard.  I liked it much better.  Maybe I can post about that another time.  When I got my new Kindle, it didn't fit in the cover I had.  So I needed a new one.  I wasn't willing to shell out 30+ dollars for a cover, so I started with a crocheted pouch.  That worked pretty good, but I really liked the covers that open like a book, instead of something I have to remove and then keep up with.  I've never been that good with the "keeping up with" portion of that.  Off to the internet I go!  I searched for a DIY cover for an ereader/Kindle.  I found lots and lots of fabric ones.  But then I'm back to the remove and keep up with problem that we've already discussed is my down fall.  But then, I found it!  The perfect solution.  Turning an old thrift store book into a cover!  I can no longer find the tutorial that started all of this, but if you do a search for "old books into kindle cover" you will find a plethora of them.  And without further ado, this is how I did it!

Step 1:  Go to your local thrift store, Goodwill, used bookstore, or raid your bookshelves for a suitable book.  I found one for $1.  As an added bonus, I look all cultured as if I am reading poetry when I'm out and about! Obviously it doesn't matter what condition the pages are in, but you want to look for one that has a cover in good condition and that is pretty close to the thickness of your ereader. 

Step 2: Carefully cut the binding on the inside to remove all of the pages. I used a razor and the pages all came out in one section. 

 

Step 3:  Reinforce the binding.  You can use book binding tape, but I didn't have any and I hate waiting.  So I raided my tape cabinet and came up with some tie dyed duct tape.  Doesn't really match, but it got the job done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4:  You need to get some chip board.  I didn't know what this was when I started the project so you may not either.  That's okay.  Chip board is the cardboard like stuff in binders.  I had an old, not necessarily needed binder.  So, I just cut the plastic off and I had a perfectly usable sheet of chipboard.  You just need to cut it to size which isn't difficult with a razor or sharp utility knife.  Apparently you shouldn't use cardboard because it will bend and not give you the support you need. 

 

Step 5:  Once you get your chipboard cut, you need to figure out where to put the holes for the elastic to hold your ereader.  I just laid my Kindle on the top and eyeballed it.  Then I used a nail to punch a hole.  I am a firm believer in using what you have, or what is closest to you.  Once you've got your holes, thread some elastic through.  This was pretty tough because the holes were little.  But I used tape around the ends of the elastic and managed to get it through.  Then you will need to sew the elastic together on the back.  You can sew it by hand or using a machine.  I use the machine option because it is quicker.  Have I mentioned I hate waiting. 

 

This is what the back will look like.  When you turn it over you will have elastic in the corners to hold in your ereader.  I made the elastic as tight as I could because I wanted to make sure it held. 

 

Step 6:  Take some heavy duty glue (gorilla glue, or E6000 or whatever you have.  I wouldn't use school glue).  Put glue on the back of your chipboard and glue it to the cover of your book.  Then set something heavy on it and let it dry.  I let mine dry a few hours, which was very difficult because I really wanted to try it out.  But hang in there.  It is worth the wait. 

 

Step 7:  Put in your ereader and step back and admire how crafty and creative and frugal you are!! 



 

The final result!  I had everything I needed but the book, so this cover cost me $1!  Every time I see those expensive covers in the store, I smile to myself, amazed at how much money I've saved.  Money that can be spent on fabric, my other obsession!  I've been using it for a few months now and it is holding up great!



An Introduction

I've decided to create a blog to keep up with all that we do.  It is always nice to look back and review all the day to day adventures and learning and fun.  Sometimes when you are in the middle of it all you forget.  In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  So this is me, stopping and looking around.  I will admit I am not a writer.  I've never wanted to be a writer.  But here I find myself writing. I guess I should also admit that computers scare me.  I mostly just experiment hoping I don't see the fatal error message that always seems a bit overdramatic.  And yet here I am writing on a computer.  It can be a crazy world sometime.  I hope you stick with me as I stumble my way through.  Hopefully, it will be virtually painless for both of us.