Snowy Sweets

Once I heard there was a chance for snow & ice this weekend, I immediately made “snow” plans for a weekend filled with lots of baking and cooking.  Ben offered to bake me a cake as lately I’m always buying slices of cake from the bakery on my grocery shopping trips.  I thought since we had the time and he has become quite the expert with grains and yeast to make home-made cinnamon rolls.As usual I searched for a recipe on Allrecipes.com and found the #1 Cinnamon Roll recipe with 5 stars and almost 4,000 reviews.  It’s named Clone of Cinnabon and it did not disappoint!  These are not for carb-fat-calorie conscious!  The recipe calls for a bread-machine, so Ben adapted the recipe to use regular yeast, knead the dough in the Kitchen-Aid and let it rise. 

Clone of A Cinnabon

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 packet yeast

 

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

 

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball, using the dough hook, occasionally adding flour to prevent sticking. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

More Mushrooms

I wouldn’t say I have a craving for mushrooms, but the two newest recipes I’ve made feature the meaty vegetable.  My little sister, Sara made Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Sauce  from the latest issue of Cooking Light and gave high marks.  It seemed like the perfect cold-weather comfort food. 

This recipe is a great weeknight dinner that is quick and easy, but still very homemade.  My only complaint was I wish it had more sauce to cover the noodles.  Maybe I made too many egg noodles, or we used up the sauce in the first go-round there was not much left for the leftovers.  The sauce was amazing and full of flavor! Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Sauce (Cooking Light)

• 2  cups  uncooked egg noodles
• Cooking spray
• 1  pound  top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 2  tablespoons  finely chopped shallots
• 1  (8-ounce) package presliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1  teaspoon  minced garlic
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• 3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cups  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 3  fresh thyme sprigs
• 1  teaspoon  fresh thyme leaves (optional)

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

While noodles cook, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak; sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cover.

Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Add pepper, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Discard thyme sprigs. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.

Sirloin Steaks with Mushroom Sauce

Now that Christmas is over and our lives are somewhat normal of being at home, we are eating better at home.  I’ve had the time and energy (finally) to start cooking again, although that probably will only last until June!  But this “Gourmet” dinner needs to be added to When-Baby-Arrives Recipe book.  It literally took me 20 minutes to make from start to finish and it was delish!

The recipe calls for pan-searing the steaks, but Ben really wanted to grill them.  We also served broccolini and instant cheddar-garlic potatoes (yes…I LOVE instant potatoes!!!).  I’ve also been craving a glass of red wine and this sauce was the perfect topping to our steak to give me a “taste” of red wine without the alcohol since it has been cooked out. 

Sirloin Steak with Mushroom Sauce (Cooking Light)

4  (4-ounce) boneless sirloin steaks, trimmed (about 1 inch thick)

3/8  teaspoon  black pepper, divided

1/4  teaspoon  salt, divided

1  tablespoon  olive oil

1  (8-ounce) package sliced cremini mushrooms

1/2  cup  dry red wine

1/2  cup  water

2  teaspoons  all-purpose flour

Sprinkle steaks evenly with 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add steaks to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add mushrooms to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender and beginning to brown, stirring frequently. Combine wine, 1/2 cup water, flour, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; stir well with a whisk. Add wine mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until thick; stir constantly. Remove from heat.

Top each steak and about 1/4 cup mushroom sauce.

The Best of ‘09

When I think about the past year I mostly remember the not-so-great things, but after looking back through the thousands of pictures we took, it turns out we had a really great year.  Here are just a few of our highlights in 2009.  We can not wait to see what else 2010 has in store for us, as I know already it is shaping up to be an exciting year with Baby Stafford on the way!

We rung in the New Year with new friends at Maggiano’s.  We ran our first race of 2009 as Expecting Parents!  We’ll always miss our first little Peanut.We celebrated Ben’s 29th Birthday at the ‘Canes game. We spent a fun weekend at the beach with great friends that made us laugh so hard when we were grieving. Ben and I both had a personal record for the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k and celebrated at our favorite watering hole in Charleston, T-Bonz. Later in the spring, we spent an fun filled night at the Jimmy Buffet concert.We hosted a delicious Mother’s Day brunch on a gorgeous spring afternoon. Shared in Steph & Toby’s special day! Celebrated Forever 29 Birthdays at The Mint and Raleigh Times! Girl’s Weekend in DC with Meg and her mom, Kathy.  Looking forward to the 3rd Annual! Completed backsplash by Ben, the newest handy-man. Celebrated July 4th at the Beach with lots of family and friends. A relaxing vacation at Topsail Island.  Celebrated our 3rd Anniversary in Seattle and visited the same bench were Ben proposed. Found out we were expecting again…a Seattle souvenir!! My little sister, Sara, won ECU’s Homecoming Queen. Cheered my mom on in her first Half Marathon in OBX.Had a merry, merry Christmas as just the two of us!

As If We Aren’t Stuffed Enough

This past week has been so cold and dark, I’ve been craving hot comfort foods, even after all the fabulous holiday food we’ve had the past few weeks.  After a quick batch of Baked Potato Soup made with Ore-ida’s Steam & Mash potatoes, I added Stuffed Peppers to our menu this week.  Unfortunately I could not find my usual recipe and had to pick a new one.  I went to Allrecipes which is always trusty in finding highly rated recipes and found one that seemed pretty similar to my old recipe. 

At first I was irritated I had to boil the peppers.  I hate using more pots and dishes than I need, but it cut down on the bake time and the peppers came out nice and soft with just a little crunch – perfect.  I also used ground turkey since it was on sale and much healthier, then added a small palm-full of red pepper flakes for extra heat and spice!  Delish.  The peppers I brought were huge, so I knew this recipe would not fill 6 peppers as it called for, and 4 was the perfect amount!

 

Stuffed Green Peppers (Allrecipes)

• 4 large green bell peppers
• salt and pepper
• 1 lb ground turkey/beef
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced italian tomatoes, slightly drained
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• water as needed

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.

In a large skillet, sauté beef and onions for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Pour over the peppers.

Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Christmas 2009

This holiday season we have truly been blessed with many celebrations with our friends and family.  We kicked off the Christmas season by picking out the perfect tree.  Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the NC mountains this year, but we went to the next best place for the freshest tree – the NC Farmer’s market.  Our tree is not quite as big and obnoxious as last years, but still over 8ft tall!  We spent all weekend decorating the house…we officially have enough Christmas decorations since I have to actually take down our regular decor in the living room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December would not be complete with out my annual Cookie Swap…this makes the the 4th year and like I said last year, the cookies keep getting better and better!  There were white chocolate cranberry, ginger, sugar cutouts, lemon, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate dream, loaded oatmeal, brownie bites, toffee, almond and snickerdoodle cookies to choose from.    The next weekend I got all dolled up with friends for the Credit Suisse Holiday party at Solas.  While it was only for employees our hubby’s all went to dinner at the Flying Saucer and we met up with them later at Busy Bee Cafe.  The Solas bartenders made amazing non-alcoholic drinks for me all night. 

The weekend before Christmas was a pretty big snow storm for western NC and Virginia, so we had a smaller than usual Family Christmas in Pittsboro.  We saw my mom’s family for lunch and missed my aunts, uncles and cousins.  For dinner, we headed to Greensboro where they had 4-5 inches of snow for the Hedrick Family Christmas. 

Our traditions continued this year with our Christmas Eve dinner at my dad’s.  Dad made Beef Wellington and we had brown rice casserole and asparagus-pea casserole before heading to Candlelight church service.  After church we opened gifts and enjoyed raspberry cheesecake and saw the little girl’s off to bed before Santa arrived.  We got so many great gifts: running stuff, Wii Sports Resorts, Scotch and gift cards for Ben.  Maternity clothes, pj’s, jewelry, and a pedicure for me.  And a new camera lens and bag for both of us. 

Christmas morning we woke up at home really early- Ben and I are like kids on Christmas morning -  to open our presents from each other.  I think we both loved our gifts to each other this year. Santa brought Ben a new Garmin Forerunner, clothes, books, and cologne.  Santa delivered new perfume, a robe, Philosophy body wash, Pandora gift card and an Ipod adapter for my car to me.  Freddie even enjoyed his stocking full of treats, new toys and a collar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After opening gifts from each other, we had our traditional Christmas morning brunch at my mom’s with Crème Brulee French Toast, Garlic Cheese grits, fruit, eggs, bacon and apple crisp.  Santa was also good to us all and everyone loved their gifts.  Ben finally got a gift card to get his build a mash tun for brewing beer and I got a Snoogle pillow, gift cards and a new purse.

Following presents and brunch Ben found the perfect spot for a quick nap in the rainy weather before heading to his parent’s house for more Christmas festivities.  There we spent the afternoon snacking and playing a game of Dirty Santa.  Susan and George gave us the cutest swaddling blanket with embroidered bumblebees.  Little Peanut got quick the collection of gifts this year…I can’t imagine what next year will be like!