My Blog!!

My blog has suffered from a lack of attention! This does not come from a lack of affection!! But life gets in the way and some hearts cannot be swayed,to bring to life that which the mind will not compute,be I not remiss,will now not dispute,and strive to make better the "art"of the "letter"

Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe actually is an original recipe stated as featured in Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook of 1950,although published as Sweet Roll Dough then featured as Orange Rolls i took the original sweet dough and made Cinnamon Rolls from it! I hope you can try it and devise your own variation on the original recipe!

1 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water 105-115*
1/2 cup lukewarm milk [scalded then cooled]
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter softened
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 - 4 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large mixing bowl,stir in milk,sugar,shortening,salt,egg and 2 cups flour.Beat until smooth.mix in enough of the remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic this will take around 5 min.place dough in greased bowl turn the dough over in the bowl to bring greased side up,cover and let rise until double.Punch the dough down,turning onto surface and roll into "rectangle" shape,approx 12x17 inches.You can make the cinnamon rolls or the orange rolls,or use your imagination!! the rolls will be baked in 375* oven for 20-25 min or until golden brown. I will now give recipe for both!

Cinnamon Rolls : Take 2 tablespoons butter or margarine which has been softened and "spread" over dough this may be a little difficult if butter is too hard,soften well or melt in microwave till soft, then sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar using your judgement as too how much of each you like! Add raisins to the top scattered evenly but not too thick! roll the dough from the 12 inch side and pinch ends tightly! Cut evenly into 12 1 inch slices,place slightly apart on greased baking pan and yes!! let rise again until double! this should take only about 40 minutes!! then bake as directed above. Now,for the good part! when just so slightly cooled you can "frost" your new rolls with a frosting! I use a small batch of "buttercream" just a cup of confectioners sugar with 1-2 tsp. of butter,or margarine and a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp vanilla and a touch of milk to make a thin frosting to top your rolls!!


Orange Rolls: 1 cup powered sugar
2 tbsp.margarine or butter
2 tsp.grated orange peel
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp orange juice

Beat sugar margarine orange peel and juice until creamy,spread 1/2 of mixture over your rectangle of dough and roll up as with previously stated for roll recipe,bake as directed,then frost with remaining frosting!! Enjoy!

I should clarify that with the orange roll recipe the amount of dough used is stated as 1/2 dough for the frosting recipe the other half can be baked also if you double the frosting.
This recipe for the dough states it may be refrigerated for 3-4 days and used as you have time I have never refrigerated any! I always bake it all!!
Oh! another little "TIP" I use DENTAL FLOSS ! to cut the rolls in the 1 inch pieces,just slide your length of floss about 12 inches should do it! under the dough and bringing it up through the dough it will "cut" the slices of dough nicely for you, they are a little tricky to work with as they are a soft dough,but practice makes perfect and as I always say:

Happy Baking ! !

Butter Rolls

I will attempt to read the original recipe as given to me more than 28 yrs ago by a friend at Church the recipe is in my head so forgive me if the language is not "textbook" I am going to visit "Delilah" and this is the best way to send the recipe!!

2 cups unsifted flour
1 pkg dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 beaten eggs
2 cups unsifted flour

In a bowl mix together 2 cups flour+ dry yeast
In saucepan heat milk with butter and sugar until blended and dissolved make sure it's not too hot as it will "kill" the yeast! Stir the liquid into the flour mixture,mix until blended then add the 3 beaten eggs,I have always had the eggs at room temp and beaten them in a small bowl before adding.mix the ingredients well then add the remaining 2 cups flour and mix well your batter will look smooth NO LUMPS!! batter will be on the thinnish side kinda! Trust me! have a large bowl greased ready which you will transfer the "dough " to,cover this with a cloth,which I have always wettened slightly.this must now rise in a warm place until double in size,you will then turn onto a floured surface adding enough flour to keep from sticking and "knead' for a
few minutes then cut into 4 equal pieces which you will roll out into circles and "cut" like you would a pie!! you will then roll from wide-to-narrow making a cresent shape roll! Now you will place them evenly on greased baking sheets to cover and rise again until slightly under double after which you will bake them at 375* they will be done when nicely browned! Perhaps around 20-25 min depending on your ovens' personality!!

This recipe is said to make 32 rolls also the original recipe states to roll those circles into 9 in. circles,however you can vary this according to the size rolls you like,I have done so many times usually dividing the dough into 3 parts and cutting each part into eight rolls,oh and i also use a "pizza" cutter to cut the wedges! It's easy!!

Good luck bakers!!! Happy Bakers have happy Families!!

Are you in labor?

Well here I am in OB Triage ! I usually do Labor but sick calls prevail! Do you know what we do for you here? Well in many hospitals this is where you first come to see if you really are in labor.The experienced nurses in triage will put you on a fetal monitor to assess your contractions and listen to your babys heart rate.If you are not due yet the nurses should assess where you are uncomfortable,ask you to give them a sample of urine;Why you ask ;well urinary tract infections very often will cause you to feel as if you are in early labor.also you may start having what we call "irritability" just a run of "tiny" contractions that are not real labor,and are often related to the "UTI"as well.These things are important to rule out in case of true premature labor.When you are determined to be having true contractions and you are due or close to your due date the nurses will examine you internally to see how far you are"dilated"this is the opening of your cervix that will indicate labor is starting.The nurses notify your Midwife or Doctor to admit you,at some hospitals the Triage nurses will also draw your blood,this in preparation of your admit to the labor unit,it lets us know many things,
#1 -the state of your general well being,a baseline to compare after birth if we need to
#2-you may want an epidural,if so your "platelet "count will determine if you may have one
#3-a double check on your "rh" status will tell us if we need to administer rhogam after delivery.
Now you and your partner are off for the most important physical and emotional challenges you will ever be given!
We will begin next time by taking you through the early stages of labor and what you can expect also some tips to help!!! please send questions????

Weed The Cactus??

Have you ever weeded a cactus? Me either! However this is depressing! The cactus seems to be at a stalemate, The part you see on here is just a small part of the much bigger plant,being about 6 sprouts if you will which take up about a 3-5 ft, area,then there are 2 other kinds of cactus in the cactus garden,which are of small tree size! I had the bright idea that maybe the "dead" leaves were taking the strength of the plant..does that make sense?..and so i "weeded"it oucchhh!! HOwever it's done..sort of I removed quite a bit old brown leaves,so we'll see.This plant was moved from the front of my house to the back to where the other cactus are,I couldn't move them! maybe it's still shocked ? I do have pictures from when it was in the front,so I can at least show you what it shoukd look like..but we'll wait a few days!

Belly Buttons

I'm off to work today..so some more babies will feel my hands dry them off and rub their back vigorously! I will make them cry,suction their little nose and mouth for the secretions that may block their airway,and cry they do!,as they protest the cold,open space they have been subjected to after being so cozy and warm so long!
A mom asked me last week if I could make it so their baby have an "innie"belly button!! Well no,actually I cannot! I think maybe the idea came from when the dr. had to "tie" the cord with suture??Anyone know? All I could think was my own children have "innies" however when they were born we used "belly bands" these are cloth bands that wrap around the baby's belly,you tie them snugly until after the drying cord has fallen off,and the area is no longer red,I am sure these came to an end because of the high number of infections resulting from lack of thorough cleaning of the area,not that moms do not clean,but as I have watched moms over the years ,they are often afraid to lift the cord up and clean all under and around the umbilicus,this WILL NOT hurt the baby! Can I suggest how to make the "belly button" be an "innie"I really cannot think of anything except for the belly-bands but did that piece of cloth really make my girls and son have an "innie"? ANYONE!! with a comment I would welcome your experience!! Perhaps we together can create a whole generation of INNIES!!!

My Home!!

This is kind of fuzzy,but you will get the idea! My husband bought this house for $10,000. he basically gutted the place then rebuilt it from the inside.The home was a stopping point from Syracuse to Albany in the 1800's.Originally a tavern with rooms to let on your journey,the basic footprint inside was kept, the same except for two bedrooms which had been one large "dancehall"The home was known as the Briggs House. as the family who built it was Briggs. We were featured on the local home tour for the hospital auxilary.Impressive in size at 4,800 sq. feet,it was "home" for many years. We were married in the living room,as well as my youngest daughter.A fireplace built by my husband spans one wall of the kitchen and is a replica of an 1800's cooking fireplace complete with dutch ovens!!There is a fireplace in every room,making each room unique in decor.The amazement of the home is a tribute to the man who spent countless hours carving out woodwork for the library,searching old,abandoned houses for period pieces,and applying his unique style to every room,as each represents a colonial period of a different country!! Stay with me as I search the pics and post the memories of my heart!!