Mini Cinnamon Rolls

One of the things on my 23 x 23 list was "Cinnamon Rolls." Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite breakfast foods. Back in Georgia, we have a lady at our church who makes some of the best cinnamon rolls. No lie. They are of the heavenly, melt in your mouth variety. Every time Neil would come home on leave, before we were married, she would always try and make him a batch. And he wouldn't share.

But I didn't blame him. She hasn't yet given me the recipe but I ask for it every time I see her. Until she caves, I make do with these. This is an incredibly easy recipe that makes delicious cinnamon rolls. You can add as much or as little cinnamon and brown sugar depending on your taste buds. This recipe also has a delicious maple frosting for the rolls but you can change that up as well. Iowa Girl Eats has a beautiful picture tutorial for this recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting

Source: Iowa Girl Eats

8 oz tube crescent roll dough

2 tbsp butter

cinnamon

brown sugar

For the maple icing:

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tbsp skim milk

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven according to directions on the package of crescent rolls. Layout half the dough, 4 triangles, and pinch all the seams together. Flip over and pinch the seams on the back side together too. Using a rolling pin, smooth the seams and roll the dough into a square about 1/4" thick.

Brush with half the butter, and sprinkle as much cinnamon and brown sugar as you want. Roll into a log and cut into 8 pieces.

Place mini cinnamon rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the other half of the crescent roll dough. Bake according to package directions.

Meanwhile, whisk together the maple syrup and milk in a bowl. Add in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Spice Latte

Welcome to day 3 of Pumpkin Week! I hope you've been inspired by the Dinner in a pumpkin or that you're craving some Pumpkin Butter. Before we get to todays recipe, I thought I'd share some pictures of us carving our pumpkin.

Living in an apartment complex, not only do you have a miniscule kitchen, but your husband also doesn't get many opportunities to us his drill and other handy tools. When I suggested we break out the drill for our pumpkin, he was all for it. I took a turn drilling a few wholes but mostly left all that heavy duty man stuff up to my manly husband. Because he looks good wielding that drill.

That's right, we used our drill to create a polka dotted pumpkin! Our scary faces aren't that scary and we didn't have enough skills to make some complicated drawing/carving so instead we made it polka dotted. And I love it. It's fun and doesn't seem out of place now that Halloween is over.

Besides carving pumpkins, one of my favorite Fall things is pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. But daily coffees from Starbucks get expensive so I decided to try a homemade version. It was delicious and super cheap. And just so you know, whipped cream makes things so much better.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Source: Recipe Girl

1/2 cup whole milk

1 tbsp unsweetened canned pumpkin puree

1 tsp packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup hot brewed, strong coffee

2 tbsp half & half cream

1 tsp granulated white sugar, or more to taste

whipped cream, optional but not really cause whipped cream makes everything better

ground nutmeg

In a microwave-safe glass or bowl, whisk together milk, pumpkin, brown sugar, spice, and vanilla. Microwave for 1-2 minutes. Watch closely and remove from microwave when it gets hot and frothy.

Pour the pumpkin milk into a tall mug or glass. Add hot coffee. Pour in the cream and add a teaspoon of sugar. Stir and taste, adding more sugar, if desired.

Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Week: Homemade Pumpkin Butter

I'd like to welcome you to Pumpkin Week! Pumpkin is my favorite Fall flavor so I decided to devote a whole week to it on the blog. That's right. 5 days full of pumpkin flavors with some extra pumpkin fun tossed in. I've got appetizers, drinks, dinners, and desserts packed with pumpkin flavor so make sure you check back every day this week for a new one!

The first recipe this week isn't one that I've made, but I can vouch for its deliciousness. Last Friday, we had some friends over for our traditional (can it be called traditional if it was our first but we plan on making a tradition out of it?) pumpkin dinner. Don't worry- that delicious recipe is coming at you tomorrow. Being the sweet person that she is, Karisa brought us a jar of homemade pumpkin butter. Being the pumpkin lover that I am, I couldn't wait too long to try it out.

The hubs and our roomie with the delicious breakfast they cooked. And yes, this is the best picture out of the four I took. I decided the hubster looked better with his eyes closed rather than open with a vacant creepy stare. He hates pictures. It's kind of his only fault.

This past weekend was the perfect lazy weekend. Temperatures actually dropped below 65º and it was rainy! I can't even remember the last time we had rain in San Diego, probably last March. Karisa recommended trying the pumpkin butter with pancakes, toast, or straight from a spoon. I decided to start with pancakes and the boys were all for that. They whipped us up a delicious brunch of pancakes (my hubby's "secret" recipe-he adds cinnamon and vanilla but they taste different each time and they're always delicious), bacon, sausage, and eggs (our roomies recipe added just a hint of cinnamon, and it was good). The pumpkin butter earned a spot amidst all the food on the table.

It was good. So good. As in screw the pancakes and hand me the spoon good. You need to make some of this. Now. You can make the pancakes too but I guarantee you won't be able to resist slipping a spoonful of this butter inside your mouth.

Homemade Pumpkin Butter

Source: Recommended by Karisa, made from Oh She Glows

1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree

3/4 cup apple juice

1.5 tsp ground giner

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

juice of half a lemon

Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Cover and stir frequently.

Remove from heat. Adjust spices to taste. Stir in lemon juice and add more to taste. Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge.

Canning is not recommended. This recipe makes enough to fill one large mason jar.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

When my 7 alarms go off in the morning, I usually hit the snooze button for at least 6 of them. Yep you read that right. It takes about 13 alarms to get me out of bed in the morning. And even after I turn that last one off, I usually lay in bed for another 5 minutes telling myself that I'll just count to thirty and then get up. And around 20, I forget where I was and have to start counting. I'm so not a morning person.

So since I'm basically dysfunctional in the mornings, I'm not really a breakfast person. I'll have the occasional bowl of cereal and I love when the hubs makes me bacon and pancakes but I never eat breakfast during the week. But since I'm all about making new goals for myself this week, I decided I was going to eat breakfast every morning, or at least drink it.

Smoothies are so easy to make in the morning, especially since I added almost all the ingredients to a plastic bag and stuck it in the freezer. So all I have to do is empty the bag into the blender, add the milk and honey, and pulse that baby up. That's about as much work as I can handle in the morning.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Source: Tyler's Taste Test Original

1 banana

4 strawberries

1/4 cup ice

1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup milk

honey, to taste (if you like your mornings a little sweeter)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend :) Enjoy!