Make-Ahead Cinnamon Rolls

Here is a yummy recipe for cinnamon rolls which you can make a day (or more) in advance to save you time. Thursday was my son's 13th birthday and he requested these for breakfast, so I prepared them on Wednesday afternoon, let them rise in the refrigerator and baked them fresh on Thursday morning. I have made these several times and they are so good!

A friend gave me this recipe and I'm not sure where she got it, so I can't give credit to the original creator of the recipe - it wasn't me however.

The recipe will actually make 2 pans, you could bake a pan on consecutive days if you like (I've done that), or halve the recipe if you only want one pan, which is what I did this time. Remember, they will rise in the refrigerator, you can keep them there for 12-48 hours before baking.

Here's the recipe, followed by a few pictures I took along the way!

Make Ahead Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter (or shortening - I use butter)
2 tsp salt
1 egg
5-6 cups all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, let sit for a few minutes. Stir in milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter, baking powder, salt, egg, and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn onto floured board; knead in more flour as necessary. Place in greased bowl and let rise until double.

Mix the other 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and 2 Tbsp flour in small bowl and set aside.
Roll out 1/2 of the dough on floured board into a rectangle shape. Spread with 2 Tbsp of the butter and sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon mixture. Roll up, pinch to seal. Cut into 12 slices ( I use dental floss for easy cutting), place slices in greased 13" x 9"pan. Repeat with other half of dough. Cover pans tightly and refrigerate for 12 - 48 hours.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
Top with your choice of glaze or frosting.

An easy powdered sugar glaze recipe:
1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, a few Tbsp milk.
Mix together in medium bowl to desired consistency.

Dough rolled out on the board

Spread with butter and topped with cinnamon mixture

Rolled up

Cut in half using dental floss. I then cut each section in half again, then each of those into 3 slices. That way I get them fairly even in thickness

In the pan.

Baked the next day.

Topped with powdered sugar icing. YUMMY!!!

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does. They are a wonderful treat and extra nice because you don't need to get up at 5 am to have them ready for breakfast!!

Simplify your life

Where does the time go... has it really been two weeks since my last blog entry? Wow.. things have been hectic around here, I'm hoping to get it together here soon, and having said that I want to share some tips for simplifying your life to reduce your stress and save you energy!

Examine:

Take stock of what is consuming your day. If you don't know where your time is going, keep a log for a day or two. Write down everything you do and how much time you spend on each task. You might be surprised at what you find.

Evaluate:

Evaluate each item/task on your list and determine if it is a necessary/valuable use of time (obviously if you have a job to go to, you better not quit). Prioritize the use of your time. Time for fun and relaxation should be part of your day too.

Eliminate:

Eliminate things from your which are unnecessary, add stress, or take away from any goals you have established for your life.

In addition you might want to consider these tips for simplifying your life:

• discard junk mail as soon as you get it, to prevent piles of paper growing in your home


• clean out your refrigerator and pantry


• purge your e-mail inbox and unsubscribe from newsletters you no longer read


• donate or sell unwanted items and clothing

Watch for more tips in the future. Be sure to let me know if you have any great tips to share too.

Smart Mom

Time Savers for Tweeters!

I have to confess that up until about 2 months ago I was quite blissfully ignorant of Twitter. I didn't "get it", you know -what is the purpose?

Then I took a look at it because I wanted to increase my business contacts, so I set up an account .. or two, then I showed my hubby how to set up an account and we began to see the possibilities. It's possible to make contact with people you would have never otherwise encountered in your life. Have to say though, it's not all good. Not everyone shares the same values which is quite evident by the variety of tweets. I recommend discernment!

Anyway, the reason for my talk about Twitter is for those of you who do use it for business, as I'm sure you know it's quite easy to spend too much time posting tweets and search relevant keywords. Before you know it, your day has flown by and you haven't accomplished the other things you needed to do. It is advantageous to post tweets at at various times throughout the day in order to reach more people and become familiar to your followers, but it's hard to schedule the time for this.

That's when I came across http://www.tweetlater.com/ , you can set up a free account and link all your Twitter accounts to it. Then you can decide if you want to auto-follow those who follow you, it will check your status for you every 8 hours, auto-follow and send a direct message to your new followers for you. You can also write your tweets and schedule them to post at a time you set. I do this for a series of tips that I post on one of my Twitter accounts, it allows me to offer tips to my readers 4 or 5 times a day but I can write them all within a few minutes in the morning then I don't have to worry about forgetting to post them later.

TweetLater also offers a Professional subscription with more features, it looks good and you can get a free 7-day trial but then if you want to use it there's a monthly fee. I am still using the free one because I like to save! However, check it out and see what you think. There's a TweetLater banner in my sidebar!

Just be sure that if you use TweetLater, you still go to Twitter and read the tweets of those you are following otherwise you'll lose touch with them and then.....what's the point?

A Little Planning Goes A Long Way

I have come to the conclusion that in order to realize a savings, typically an initial investment is required. Sounds kind of weird, but it's true. Think about it, your bank savings account won't grow if you don't first make a deposit. A store coupon won't save you any money if you don't first find that coupon and then present it at the store with your purchase. Likewise when we invest time, we often reap the reward of saved time later.

One of the things which I know many moms struggle with is "what's for dinner?". I've "been there, done that" and still do sometimes. However I do know a solution which has been a tremendous time-saver, stress-reliever and blessing in my life. Yes... it just takes a little planning and you can enjoy weeks of worry free meals. No, you don't have to cook them all in one day, but that's a great idea too, if you can muster the energy!

You need to start with a list of meals, grab your favorite recipe books, paper and pen, and don't try to rush it. I like to do 2 weeks at a time so I usually choose about 12 meals, because in our home we can usually count on leftovers a couple of times. You might want to allow for eating out one night o ordering pizza etc. depending on your family.

In your list of meals try to plan for variety based on your family's preferences, it's more fun if you can get each family member to choose at least one meal, then everyone feels involved and they're sure to get at least one thing they like!

Don't choose too many complicated recipes, allow yourself some meals that will be quick and easy on your busiest days. Perhaps try at least one new recipe during each 2 week period. I highly recommend http://www.allrecipes.com/ for recipe searching, there are so many to choose from, be sure to read some of the reviews before you make a new recipe, the experiences of others can really help you decide if you want to try it.

If you like to prepare ahead of time and freeze your meals, I love "Fix, Freeze & Feast" by Kati Neville &Lindsay Tkacsik. I got mine from http://www.amazon.com/, the Salisbury Meatballs are my favorite! Having a few meals in the freezer can be a life-saver too.

After you've made your list, go back through and check the ingredients for each recipe and make your shopping list for the entire 2 weeks. Be sure to check your pantry as you make the list so you don't miss anything and add other staples that you might be low on. I don't make a lunch or breakfast plan as such because those are easier for me to throw together.

When you're all done, post the list on your refrigerator (or other place that's convenient for you) then each morning choose a meal off the list for that evening, so you'll be able to plan your day and know how much time you need to prepare dinner.

Be sure to save your meal plan at the end of the 2 weeks, after you've done a few of these you'll have a good variety to choose from, you can either just cycle through them again or use them as a starting point for a new plan.

So, it takes a little investment of time but it will save you time every day for 2 weeks and I"m pretty sure you'll spend less on groceries because you'll be making less trips to the store.

Have fun, I'll be getting busy on my meal plan and grocery shopping...tomorrow!