Sweet Kids and Sweet Rolls

I have the sweetest Grandkids.

Cool Dude on the carousel at the zoo

I was lucky to be able to spend a few days with the Utah ones in the last two weeks.  

We played at Carl's Jr., my house, the park, the zoo, their house, and the Farm at Gardner Village. After spending so many days with them, I felt a little lonely without them.  They are just so awesome to be around.  

Loving riding in the stroller at the zoo.

It was fun to be at the zoo with my son, too!

Fun in the bounce house.

Bridge is probably laughing
at me as I attempt to jump
and fail.

Bridge was making the little
princess smile by letting her run
into him.

At the farm, Little Miss loved all of the animals and was not afraid to reach out and touch them.

Bridge was pretty thrilled to be riding this pony.

The llamas were fun to watch until they started spitting
at these beautiful girls!

She is such a sweetheart!

Here is another sweet thing.  A few weeks ago, I saw a picture of some raspberry sweet rolls and have been craving them ever since.  Finally, this afternoon, I had some free time and made them. 

I may have a new addiction.  They are so good!   

I used parts of two different recipes and added Biscoff Butter to cream cheese for the filling. 

Raspberry Sweet Rolls

1 package yeast (1 ¼ t) dissolved in ½ cup lukewarm water with 1 tsp sugar

½ cup hot water mixed with ½ cup scalded milk

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

4 ½ to 5 cups flour

1 egg

In Kitchenaid mixer with dough hook attached, add butter and sugar to hot water/milk mixture and stir until the butter melts into the liquid.  Let cool to lukewarm.

Add 1 cup flour, then add yeast mixture.  Stir to combine.  Add the egg.  Finish adding flour, 1 cup at a time.  Make sure that the dough is just barely past the sticky stage—almost smooth.  Let the mixer knead the dough for a few minutes. 

Let rise for 30 minutes until it has just about doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, make the filling.

Sweet Roll Filling

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ cup Biscoff Butter spread

Mix together until smooth.

Add 2 T sugar to two 6 ounce containers of fresh raspberries and let sit while the dough continues to rise.  (Side note:  I only had one container of raspberries, but did have strawberries, so my rolls have a raspberry/strawberry mixture).

Spray two 9 x 13 pans with cooking spray.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle-ish shape.

Spread the cream cheese/Biscoff filling all over the dough, then top with the raspberries.

Carefully roll the dough into a log (this will probably be a little messy and might be hard to do).

Cut the dough into rolls with a piece of white thread and place into the pan—6 rolls per pan.

Let rise again for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while the rolls are rising.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Next, make the frosting.

Frosting

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

2 – 3 T milk

1 t vanilla

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth.  You may have to add more milk or more powdered sugar to get the right consistency. 

After the rolls have baked, let them sit for about 10 minutes and then spread frosting over all of them.

Immediately enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

Funny Story

Lately, it seems like coming up with ideas to make for dinner each day is getting harder and harder.  Maybe it is because it is summer. Maybe it is because there are just two of us to cook for.  I mentioned this to Hunter Man one day and he immediately asked for Chicken Pillows, saying that we hadn't had them in quite awhile.  

For anyone who hasn’t made Chicken Pillows, this is what you need and how to do it.  (There are no pictures.  I have really started to hate having to scroll through a whole bunch of pictures on a blog to get to the recipe).

One can of pre-made biscuits or Crescent Rolls

1/2 brick (4 oz) of reduced fat cream cheese

1 can of mushrooms

1 breast and one leg off of a Rotisserie Chicken, broken into pieces

Onion powder

Pepper

Mix everything together, then sprinkle with onion powder and pepper.  You can taste the mixture to see if it is seasoned enough for you.  I think it is about 1 or 2 teaspoons of onion powder.

The can of biscuits has 10 biscuits in it so portion out the chicken mixture into 10 piles on a plate. 

Take a biscuit and flatten it out a little and place a meat portion onto one side of the biscuit, fold it in half, then seal the edges.  It will look like a little turnover.  Repeat for the remaining 9 biscuits. 

Bake the Chicken Pillows according to the directions on the can of biscuits (400 degrees for about 10 minutes). 

If you use a can of Crescent Rolls, you have to get a little bit more creative in folding them around the meat, (stretch out the dough, put the meat into the center and then fold the sides all in until it looks like a little pillow.  Seal the edges and place seam side down on the baking sheet).    

Hunter Man likes to eat them plain, but for myself, I heat up a half  can of Campbells Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup with some milk to make it about gravy thickness and have that on top of my Chicken Pillows. 

I also like to make Ham Pillows.  You just use diced ham instead of chicken, and top the pillows with slices of cheddar cheese before baking. The best way to eat them is to dip them in a mixture of mustard and mayonaise.   (Hunter Man does not really like Ham Pillows).

On to the funny part of the story. 

The next day, I was on my own to find something else to make.  I never know when to begin making dinner, so if I haven’t made anything in advance, I usually don’t start until Hunter Man comes home from work.

I was really going gourmet this time and decided to make Ballpark Hickory Smoked Franks and Smashed Potatoes. 

I usually buy the Hickory Smoked Ball Park Franks for roasting over the campfire (they are pretty pricey for hot dogs), but we haven’t had very many campfire opportunities this summer, so I guess I was craving them for that reason. 

Kj introduced me to Smashed Potatoes and they are a quick way to have some good potatoes with a meal.  

This is how you make Smashed Potatoes. 

Bake some potatoes in the microwave (about 2 minutes per side for each potato)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

When the potatoes are soft enough to poke with a fork, place them on a foil lined, sprayed baking sheet.

Smash them with flat with a potato masher.  I like to use small/medium Red or Yukon Gold potatoes.  This time I used regular oblong Russets, so I cut them in half before I smashed them.   

Brush the tops with olive oil (sometimes I use melted butter)

Season with Garlic Mrs. Dash and pepper shaken over the on top (Kj also sprinkles Rosemary on her Smashed Potatoes, but I do not like Rosemary, so I leave that off).  Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.
You can also just put the Smashed Potatoes in a microwave safe baking dish and melt the cheese in the microwave, if you are short on time.

While the potatoes were in the oven, I made sure that the hot dogs were boiling, but by then I noticed that Hunter Man had fallen asleep (which is not unusual on hot summer days after work).

I served myself some of the food and then put the potatoes and green beans into the oven on warm, while leaving the hot dogs in the hot water on the stove.  I ate alone (which isn’t uncommon because sometimes he is ready for dinner at 4:30 and I am not and sometimes I am ready for dinner and he hasn’t made it home from work, yet). 

I was working in the office when I noticed that he had gone into the kitchen to get some food and I asked him if he had some potatoes and beans.  

He said, “No, I thought the we were only having hot dogs.”

Seriously?

I could not stop laughing, but managed to ask, “Did you think that I was having such a hard time finding good dinner ideas that I resorted to making hot dogs—ONLY HOT DOGS and nothing else for our meal?”

He did not think it was funny and said that he wasn’t feeling well and that plain old hot dogs were all that he wanted anyway.

Well, it was funny to me.

Sometime, when I am feeling not-so-nice, I am going to boil a pan of hot dogs for his dinner with nothing else in honor of the day when he seriously thought I hadn’t made anything to go with them.

I am an awesome wife.  

Duck Fishing

Hunter man was pretty sad when the results came out for deer hunting tags this year.  He did not draw one.  This was the first year that he has not been able to deer hunt in his entire life. 

So, this fall, during the deer hunt, we went to Camelot with our son and his family for some non-deer hunting fun.  

 

We played with the grandsons--a lot.  

The fun started the minute they got there.

                                                     Cute hats and coats.

                                          




                               We immediately had a fire and roasted hot dogs.

                                           Hunter Man had to have a "brat".

                     The babies always like to go in and out the door of the trailer.

                                    Bridger discovered "Mountain Biking".

The boys really like our new play set..

                                                 Playing in the leaves.

Good old Pumpkin, just decided out of the blue that now she is allowed to sit on the furniture.  

After no success with fishing and duck hunting on Saturday, we went for a drive on Sunday all the way to the top of Strawberry Peak.

On the way up Timber Canyon, there were some beaver ponds and one actually had some ducks on it.  Hunter Man and Jer jumped out of the truck (and left us just sitting in the middle of the road), grabbed their guns, and went down to the pond to see if they could get any shots at the ducks.

We heard some shooting, but didn't really think they got any, as we watched all the ducks fly away.  But, it turned out that Hunter man got one and it landed right in the middle of the pond.

Suddenly, I heard Hunter Man yell to Jer that he wanted him to get his fishing pole.  At first, I thought that he had seen some fish swimming around and wanted to try to catch one of them, too.  I wouldn't have put it past him.

But, no.  He was going to try to catch the DUCK  with the fishing pole!

I laughed so hard.  It just struck me as really funny that he was fishing for the dead duck.

He tried and tried, and yes, eventually, he was successful and he reeled that duck in to the shore.

Bridge did not want to touch it.

But, he finally agreed to pose with it.  

                                                                                   


And then, held it by its feet. 

On top of Strawberry Peak, Bridge and Brex built their own cairn to show that we were there.

On the drive back down the canyon, we stopped to let the boys play in the snow.

                     Bridge had some snow thrown on him that he didn’t expect. 

                                         (You would have had to be there).

Later on, when we stopped for target practice, Brex saw the duck, and he thought he had been given a pet duck to play with. 

We had a great weekend.  It was so nice to just hang out with Jer, Tass, Bridge, and Brex with no work issues, pressure, or drama from other sources—just having a nice time.

I had planned to make some great dip while we were up there, but never found the time--too much playing (but that's okay).  

The first time I had this dip was at the 54^th Street Grill in Kansas City when we visited my daughter and her family in May for Little Jay’s 2^nd birthday.  It was called Gringo Dip.

I made the dip last night and I used it to make the most delicious nachos.  At least, Hunter Man and I thought they were delicious.

This picture is just of the dip.

This is my recipe:

In a microwave safe bowl, melt:

8 oz cubed Pepper Jack Cheese

4 oz cubed Velveeta Cheese

With:

1 cup of Salsa

1 T lime juice

¼ c heavy cream

2 – 3 T grated Parmesan Cheese

1 t. onion powder

Microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every 45 seconds.

After everything is all melted and combined, stir in 1/2 package of Green Giant Frozen Creamed Spinach (that you have defrosted and warmed up).

Microwave for another minute or so until it is hot enough.

Serve hot.

(If the dip is not "hot" enough for you, add a pinch or two of cayenne pepper).

I made our Nachos by layering tortilla chips, dip, black beans, and some leftover pulled pork.

You can also make this in the crock pot so that it is hot for dipping during a party.  You might want to double the recipe.  The above amounts made enough dip for Hunter Man and I to have nachos about 3 times.  

I am not a big fan of salsa, so I used 1/2 can petite diced tomatoes and half a scoop of some salsa mix that Hunter man got from a booth at an outdoor show.  (H & H Brand 30 Second Salsa.  hnhbrands.com  877 361 3496).

I seasoned one can of black beans with 1 T barbecue sauce and 2 T Kraft Taco Bell Spicy Ranch Dressing.

I flavored the pulled pork (about 1 cup) by sprinkling it with Worcestershire sauce, cumin, brown sugar, oregano, and splash or two of Pepsi.