Monday, February 28, 2011

Did ya know?? I used to own a Cinnamon Roll Shoppe?

So here's the Scene:
 Year: 1988
Location: Dallas Texas...right down the street
from American Airlines Headquarters
A strip mall housed
The Cinnamon Station....
my creation.

I was working 18 hour days....
making, baking delivering 
cinnamon rolls.

I had a 6 month old in the backroom
whom I was breast feeding...
two other little kids running around...
pregnant with the fourth child
and didn't know it...

but felt like I was having a 
nervous breakdown.
Literally.

At the end of these hard days...
I would have less money than I started out with..
Hmmm....
Finally figured out...
that the 'then' husband...
was having an affair with the girl
at the hair salon next door...
and right next door to her...
Sam the deli man...
was supplying him with cocaine.

Needless to say...
I went broke.
My fortune and fame 
was not to be made
with dough...

But I will share my recipes with you!

I made the above cinnamon rolls for my son in law
while I was down in Utah last month.

I overheard a conversation between him and my daughter.

Brooke: Brian you started coming over to my house when I was 12 years old because you were so in love with me.
Brian: Sorry hon....I was coming over for your mom's cinnamon rolls!

Thus I made him a double batch...
3 large pans full of huge cinnamon rolls.

If you don't have a lot of time...
and don't want to make the dough yourself...
this is the easiest way.

Buy a loaf of Bridgeford Frozen Loaf Bread...
the package that has 3 loaves in it.
Set it out on the counter the night before.
When you wake up it will look 
like it is ready to burst out of the bag.

Roll it out to about 1/2" thickness.
Slather it with a stick and a half of
softened butter (not margarine).

 I sprinkle about another 1/2" of
brown sugar over the whole thing....
and put a good amount
of quality cinnamon
on top of that.
has great cinnamon.

I like nuts...
so I chop up about 1 cup of walnuts
and spread that on top.

Roll them up tightly!
Cut about 1" thick
and place in a greased pan.

Let rise for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for around
25-30 minutes.
When they are light to medium brown on the top
they are ready to come out.

About this color

Top with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick of real butter
1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese
about a half of a large bag of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla.
(Beat together)
(Do a taste taste. I don't like my frosting
super sugary sweet...
because the rolls already
have a lot of sugar in them.
I think this is one of the keys
to my awesome cinnamon rolls!)

With a spatula
slather it on top of the
just baked cinnamon rolls.

Enjoy!!

Now if you want my dough recipe...
here it is:

4 cups of warm water
3 Tbsp of yeast
(Mix together and let sit for 10 minutes..
until it is frothy)

Add:
1 cup powdered milk
2/3 cup of oil
4 tsp of salt
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
10-12 cups of flour

Mix all together. I have a Bosch
so I put in all the ingredients 
except only about 6 cups of flour.
I then add enough flour
until it cleans the sides of the bowl.
Knead it for 10 minutes.

I place about 4 Tbsp of oil
in large bowl...
place the dough in there,
then turn it over, so the oil is on all sides of the dough.


Let rise until doubled in bulk.
Roll out for cinnamon rolls.

This dough is GREAT to freeze.
Once I make up the cinnamon rolls,
I put them on a buttered baking sheet to freeze.
After they are frozen I place them in ziplock bags.

When you want to use them, place them 3" apart on
a buttered pyrex or sheet pan.
Let rise until doubled in size.
(Around 5-6 hours.)

I used to take frozen rolls out of the freezer
on Saturday night late...
and then popped them in the oven
early Sunday morning...
for a quick breakfast before church.

So there you have it gals!
That's my story...
and I'm a stickin' to it!!

Hope you have 
a sweet sticky...
cinnamon-y day!!

Love, Hugs and Smiles....

Monday, February 21, 2011

A Meet Me In Paris Quilt
I made for my mom and dad's
50th wedding anniversary a few years ago.

Above is mom's guest room.
We stayed a quick night with them
on our way out of Denver.

Speaking of the Denver show....
what a nightmare...
We were in that bad storm...
creeping along the freeway 
at about 10-20 mph
all the way.
Causing us to be late for set up.
Poor Kenny Roy
only had 2 1/2 hours that night.
Thankfully it was only a single booth...

We were so glad to finally be done with that
show...
and on our way to see the grand kids.

On the way out of Denver...
we usually stop here...
for some good grub.
I mean really???
How can you go wrong...
with a name like that?

Here we are just outside...



A quick stop at the bookstore...
And finally to grand kids house we go...
Grandma always has to put a curl in his hair ...
Some of you ask about Ashley...this pic shows how happy she is to be a mom to this lil boy...
The older kids playing drums...
That's all for today folks....
I'm off to the bookstore
for some R and R....

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Newest Block in Buttercream Summer!

Mystery Block of the Month (Block 6) Buttercream Summer
Oh ladies....
it has been way too long....
since I have conversed with all of you!!

I pulled into home last night around 10 pm
after 30 days on the road.

Oh my...
Home Sweet Home!

Above is the latest block in 
this Mystery trip we have been on...
called
A Summer Afternoon Read!

I'm over the moon with this block.
It took me hours and hours
to get it just right...
but it's always rewarding
when the hard work pays off.
Let me know what you think!

So here's some pictures of the process...
 Drawings...
  I lost count of the number of times
I had to redraw this thing!
I was first planning on having all the pieces of the chair in fabric
as well as the ottoman.
Above are all the pieces I drew on freezer paper...
then doubled up the freezer paper...
cut them all out...
only to find out...
I forgot to reverse image them.
Doggone it!!
Not a happy moment for me...
I assure you!
Now I am at my daughter's house...
and find a cubby hole
to set up in.
I don't have any applique glue
or spray starch...
so I run down to the local quilt shoppe...
and pick those up.
The Quilt Cottage...
a darling little place...
who used to be a customer of mine.
And back to work I go...
Here I am figuring out what to tell the Guitar Man
to cut..
for all the Block of the Months...
I end up with 16 pieces...
all of the templates made...
fabrics cut out...
starched and ironed down over the templates...
only to decide it isn't working!
I end up using only 4 pieces...
out of the whole lot.
Sometimes less is more!
And I stitch...
and I stitch..
and I stitch....
until finally the piece is done!

On a different note....
my bestest friend, Nancy, from Las Vegas
is coming in to spend the night with me
tomorrow!

So hopefully after that,
I can catch up on all of your blog posts...
and get another post off to you all
about the rest of our trip!

Until then...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Brrr! It's cold out there traveling from show to show....

Whimsy Lane in Shabby Chic Colors
We're out there in the middle of this storm everyone on the news 
is talking about...
traveling from show to show..

The above pic is from our Phoenix show.

Every show is set up differently...
I decided to hang my original
Meet Me In Paris
this time...

I managed to find a better way
to display my
Buttercream Summer
Mystery Block of the Month
while it is still in pieces...
And we hung the
Heart and Home quilt this time too...
After Phoenix
is when we were caught up in this storm...
We had to pull over in Albuquerqe
for the night...
and oh my...
I had to go to the spa....
(so rough)

then on to their Borders store in town...
Some of the books I perused....

The Guitar Man
worked on our 2011 Quilt Show Schedule...

and oh yeah...
I just have to show you this...

In all the bookstores I have been in...
never before have I seen
'Quilting'
as a title caption!

Albuquerqe you rock!

We then skedaddled out in 
the 15 degree weather
to Bravo's for an Italian dinner.

We had their Lobster Ravioli in Vodka Sauce
for an appetizer...
Ummm....Divine....
Antipasto Salads for our main course...
And I have to show you pics of
this place...
It's like ancient Roman Pillars in ruins...
have been placed as the center
focal point...
Bravos Italiana...
The bitter half...(whoops!)
I mean....better half...
left to hook up the trailer...
and told me we must get on the road...
NOW!
So off we go...