Happy 15th Birthday, Jonathan

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Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast...

I have made these cinnamon rolls twice now, and I think they are my favorite. The recipe comes courtesy of Alton Brown of Food Network fame. I use his recipe as written with no alterations. This is what the dough looks like after being mixed. I know the recipe calls for 4 egg yolks. I happened to be making my son a white birthday cake that needed egg whites, and I had 3 yolks leftover which worked out very well.

It really does take about 2.5 to 3 hours for the dough to rise to double. For a long time it really doesn't look like it is doing anything.

Here are the little rolls already to pop into the refrigerator for the overnight rest. I confess that I did this a little differently this time. I started the dough too late on Friday night. So, it was nearly midnight by the time the dough had doubled. So, I tossed the lump of dough in the refrigerator. In the morning I pulled it out first thing and let it come up to room temperature. It was still a little cold when I worked with it. I would not recommend doing it this way, but it did work. Oh, and a little hint about getting the sugar/cinnamon mixture to stick in the dough. After you sprinkle it all over the flat dough before you roll up the dough, press the sugar mixture into the dough a little with a rolling pin. I forgot to do that this time and wondered why my sugar mixture was falling out all over the place when I went to cut the rolls. Anyway, the rolls will look just like this when you take them out of the refrigerator in the morning.

This is what they look like after they have risen in the steamy oven for 30 minutes.

Here they are all baked and ready to frost.

Oh, lookin' good. It's almost time to call the children.

Here is the roll Brianna selected. These do reheat nicely if you happen to have leftovers.

Enjoy....

Regaining strength...

I started with a cold on Sunday, March 15th. As the week progressed I never felt horrible, yet I have not had a day when I could say I was starting to feel better. I have been doing my "cold regiment", but I think I just need to ride this one out. Needless to say, I have been using my blogging time to rest. I hope to be back tomorrow to tell you about some yummy cinnamon rolls that we made on Saturday.

Going to rest now...

A new foal...

I just had to post these today. Summer, a mare at the barn where Natalie rides, had her foal today. It is a little filly (girl), and her name is Autumn. She came into the the world at about 8:30 AM. The pictures are a little blurry. It is hard to get creatures to stand still and my camera to work right. Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday...Bible Study Feline Style

Grocery Day...

Tuesday is my grocery and errand day. It never was in the past. Actually, I went through a period of time when I didn't have a grocery/errand day. Years ago, when all my kids were under 6, I would go grocery shopping under the cover of darkness after we ate dinner and my husband was home. It was a joy to be alone for a while. Even now I rarely shop with my children.

I have my list partially complete. I generally keep a magnetic pad on the refrigerator, and add to it items we run out of during the week. I do shop weekly. I have tried shopping twice a month, once a month, and in some stores even every three months, and honestly, I did not see any remarkable difference shopping less often. So, now I shop every week. I still shop at more than one store. I am thrilled that they just opened an Aldi store on the opposite corner from the Wegmans that I shop at. This is incredibly convenient. I also shop at Sam's Club about once a month and at a little market in my town. I visit several "merchant ships" as is spoken of in Proverbs 31. I take the list from the refrigerator, and transfer it into a computer program that I found several years ago for free. I don't even know if it exists anymore. This list has prices already entered ( I entered them.) and calculates my total for me as I enter each item to the list. Theoretically, when I leave me house I should know how much my final bill will be.

I have also clipped my coupons. I know some people are very big into couponing (is that a word???). I am not. I do have a few name brand items that I do buy. We just started receiving the Sunday paper again after being a non subscriber for many years. So, I clipped and organized those coupons.

I also am trying to go back to using cash. I am convinced that this is truly the only way I can stay on budget. In order to do this I must take my calculator with me. So, I went over the weekend and took out the money needed for groceries. I am hoping i come home with some leftover because I started this in the middle of the month, and needless to say, I am dangerously close to going over budget. There are still two more shopping days left in the month. Well, one is on the 31st, so I suppose I could count that as April since we will be eating the food and using the products in April. I already spent about $20 of my weekly grocery money on Saturday at the farmer's market. I needed honey, and I also picked up some local apples and brown eggs.

Now all I need are my reusable shopping bags, and I am all set. I guess I will have to go round those up.

Have a blessed day...

A quick Saturday update...

Today we actually slept in a little. There was no early morning hockey game. Brianna, my sweetie, was up at the same time that I was. She was very anxious to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. I implored her to please wait until mama had her coffee. She obliged me one cup of coffee with cream and sugar. After a quick shower, we had a lovely breakfast of blueberry pancakes. Brianna did all the measuring and mixing. She even flipped them off the gridle. She tried to spoon the batter on the gridle, but after about two she pleaded for a little help. I must say that these pancakes were delicious.

After completing morning chores, Natalie, Carolyn and I headed out for the farmer's market. I needed some honey desperately. I also picked up a peck of Empire apples and a dozen brown eggs. From there we headed to the library. Natalie has been reading the Redwall Series, and I had to request two more books for her. They had come in, and we went to get them. I picked up some cash at the bank, and we headed to the thrift stores. At the third store we hit the jackpot, I got a pair of jeans for Brianna for $1.29 and jeans and denim capris for Natalie for $8.78. Natalie tried on several pairs of jeans and was quite exhausted by noon, so we headed home. I am making a commitment to spend cash on all local purchases. I was happy to get three pairs of pants for $10. It certainly is more work to thrift shop, but it is very rewarding as well.

Blessings...

Preparing for Lean Times: A Lesson From Joseph

This week the Lord opened my eyes afresh to the lessons that can be learned from Joseph as I read Genesis 41 again. This is the account of Pharaoh's dream, Joseph's interpretation, and the plan for Egypt. After interpreting the dream, Joseph tells Pharaoh that there will be 7 years or plenty and 7 years of a very severe famine in the land of Egypt. Joseph tells Pharaoh that he needs to appoint a man who is discerning and wise to to oversee the land of Egypt. He tells Pharaoh to collect 1/5 or 20% of the produce of the land during the plentiful years. (Genesis 41:34) Pharaoh recognized that there is no one who is as discerning or as wise as Joseph is, so he makes Joseph overseer of the land of Egypt.

I sat and thought about how this applies to my life and the lives of all people. First, I think that this portion of Scripture shows that there will be times of plenty and times of leanness or famine. It also showed me that it is good and right to prepare for lean times while times are plentiful. These Egyptians were asked to sacrifice 20% of what the land produced so that it could be stored in preparation of the famine to come. In our own lives we face famine times. Perhaps there is a job loss or a death that greatly reduces our ability to bring in money to buy our basic needs. Or perhaps there are general down turns in the overall economy such as we are facing now.

My monthly grocery budget is $560. Divided out over a 4.5 week month that means that I have about $125 per week for food. If I took 20% of that amount which is $25. I could be using $25 dollars per week to stock up on food and other grocery items. This takes a bit of planning, wisdom and discernment. Sometimes I don't know what I should spend money on, but the Lord does. It is His money, and if I pray as I shop I can find deals on food and other non-food items.

It is good and right to ask the Lord to show us how to prepare for what may come. Only He knows your future. He desires to prosper us for His own purposes. Proverbs 6:6-11 tells us to look at the ant. She has no overseer, yet she provides food in the summer and gathers in food in the harvest.

I pray the Lord would bless you as you seek Him in your planning and preparing. Ask Him how he would have your family prepare.

May you be blessed...