Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

So I have this cinnamon roll, and it's pretty epic. But one day, I wanted to make a friend, who loved pumpkin, a pumpkin cinnamon roll. And so, the extra epic pumpkin cinnamon roll was born!

Pumpkin cinnamon rolls

Makes 12 large rolls

Ingredients:

Dough:

4 TBS butter

2/3 c milk

2 eggs

4 TBS sugar

1 TBS yeast

14oz pumpkin

1 tsp salt

5 cups flour

Filling:

1/3 cup butter(softened)

1/2 cup sugar(brown or unprocessed)

1 TBS cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Frosting:

3 oz cream cheese(softened)

1/4 cup butter(softened)

1&1/2 cup powder sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Melt butter in a small saucepan, add milk and heat until just warm. Pour into stand mixer with eggs, sugar, yeast, and pumpkin. Let stand 10 minutes. Using dough hook, mix in salt and flour 1-2 cups at a time. Continue mixing until dough forms. Cover and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled. 

Turn out onto floured surface. Roll out to 13X8" "rectangle". Spread butter over the dough. Mix together sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle over the butter. Roll dough up so that it's as long as possible. Slice with a sharp knife into 12 pieces. Place in a buttered 13X9" pan. Cover and allow to rise 30-45 minutes, or until huge.

Preheat oven to 325. Bake in preheated oven 25-30 minutes. 

Mix together all frosting ingredients until smooth. Spread over warm rolls and eat until you fall into a food coma! You're welcome! ;)

French Bread

You can make this as is, or spread some garlic butter on the dough before you roll it up, or my new fave is to add garlic cloves right into the dough! :)

1 TBS yeast

2&1/2 cups warm water

1 TBS sugar 

6 cups flour(I usually use unbleached all purpose)

1 TBS salt

5 TBS oil

2 TBS cornmeal

1 egg white, beaten

Mix together the yeast, water, and sugar and allow to proof(set until the yeast starts to get foamy) about 10 minutes. Mix in the salt, oil, and 1 cup of the flour. Then mix in remaining flour 1 cup at a time. Unless you have a stand mixer with a dough hook and you are lazy like me, then you can toss in the oil, salt, and all the flour at once and let it knead for 5 minutes or so. If not, once all the flour is mostly incorporated turn it out on a floured surface and knead it until it's smooth. Cover in an oiled bowl(unless you are lazy like me, and then just cover the mixer bowl) and let rise about 45 minutes, or until almost doubled. Roll out into 2 13X9" rectangles, then roll up and seal the ends. Sprinkle the cornmeal on a baking sheet, and place the loaves on the sheet. Cut 3 diagonal slices in the top with a sharp knife, and brush with egg white. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 30-35 minutes. Eat! And then thank me for those extra 5 lbs! ;)

Steak Antipasta Yumminess

This is something I threw together the other night for dinner and it turned out spectacular! I'll add pics the next time I make it! :)

-1 lb mini farfalle pasta(or whatever your family likes!)

-1 large-ish flank steak

-1-3 TBS Montreal steak seasoning(I just sprinkle the junk out of it!)

-1 jar sun dried tomatoes(if they aren't julienned, slice or dice them up)

-1 large-ish jar of artichoke hearts, chopped up

-1 jar kalamata olives, sliced up

-Parmesan cheese for topping

Boil pasta according to directions, and strain. Meanwhile sprinkle flank steak heavily with seasoning. Cook on grill, or griddle, or whatever, until it's nice and seared on both sides, and done to your liking on the inside. Remove to cutting board and let stand 5 minutes. Slice. Throw everything except the cheese into a bowl, or whatever you serve pasta-like giant dishes out of! Stir. Serve. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese for extra yumminess! Eat! You're welcome! ;)

Spicy Ranch

Ok, this is my husband's very favorite dressing. Not exactly home made... Maybe more like home altered? ;)

1 cup ranch dressing

1/2-1 whole diced up fresh jalapeño

3 TBS hot sauce

Throw everything into a mason jar and shake the junk out of it. I'd use it within a week or so just to be safe but it doesn't last long around here, which is good since the longer it sits the SPICIER it gets! :) Enjoy!

Chocolate chip cookies

This recipe was altered from the back of a chocolate chip bag. I like the enjoy life choc chips, and organic sugar. :)

1 cup salted butter
1&1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2&1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups choc. chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla, and blend. Add in flour, and baking soda, and mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips. Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 8-10 min. I like to bake mine on a pizza stone until they just start to firm in the middle. I take them out and let them finish baking on the sheet for a few minutes. Then I pull them off the stone to finish cooling. :)

Forward movement! ;)

A few weeks ago we bought a truck, a super awesome truck, for super awesome cheap. This was the first step, because well, you can't buy a trailer until you have a truck to pull it with. It's a 1983 Chevy diesel dually. That ought to do it. ;)

A few days ago my hubby brought me home a trailer, a super awesome trailer, for super awesome cheap. This trailer needs some serious TLC (read complete gutting). The plan is, to as quickly as possible, get this trailer ready to live in, and move in! It's a 40' 5th wheel trailer. That ought to do it. ;)

Forward movement.... what more can a girl ask for? ;)

Moving on

So here we are, making crazy drastic changes again. We have decided that it is no longer in our family's best interest to remain in the Army. So, this means we have less stability, but oh so much more freedom. What fueled this decision you might ask? Well, a lot of different things but here's some that topped our list... The Army is becoming less and less stable with budget cuts and proposed benefit cuts. With budget cuts and personnel cuts comes the realization that a promotion is not coming. When you have an ever growing family, you NEED that promotion to come. So the security that the military used to give us is no longer there, and we are ready for a change! Scary? Yes, but it's always scary to take that first leap towards something new.

The direction we are heading is freedom, mostly financial freedom. In order to get completely get out of debt(and STAY out this time) we are going all minimalistic. So, what does that mean, to probably the biggest family you personally know? We are selling almost everything and moving into a travel trailer. We must be insane. I know... but don't most adventures start out that way? With everyone around you (and maybe even you) saying, "you must be crazy!"

The goal is also to be mobile. We have no idea where Terence will find a job and we want to have the freedom to go where he can find a job. Being in a trailer will also make our financial obligations smaller, which means we should have a little leeway on what kind of job he finds at first. It will also make it so that we don't have to rush to find housing. We can take our time and build ourselves a nice savings before buying a house again. I know, I know, it isn't what everyone else is doing! Different is scary, and well, different. However, change is necessary, and often good. So, here we go! :)

I will do my best to post pics of our crazy life that is to come!