Cinnamon Rolls and My Foodie's First

I finally made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. My friend got her cookbook and after looking through it, I just couldn't resist. I have another recipe that I normally use for cinnamon rolls, but I rarely make them because they take such a long time. And anyone with two kids breathing down your neck asking for breakfast will tell you that there is not enough time to make cinnamon rolls from scratch in the morning. I've always wanted a recipe that I could make up the night before and bake in the morning and this one was exactly what I was looking for.

The actual roll part of these is good but what makes them really stand out is the icing. It's a maple coffee icing. Maple...coffee...mmmmm! The hubs loves pecans on his cinnamon rolls so we added them after the icing. I only made half the recipe and still came out with three pans full. So, it makes LOTS of cinnamon rolls, but then again, I've never heard anyone complaining about having fresh homemade cinnamon rolls hangin around! These definitely lived up to their reputation. They were fantastic!

Rolled out and spread with cinnamon sugar goodness

Rolled up

After final rise

Grab a fork!

In lunch news... I decided to let the big chic make her own lunch for tomorrow. I thought that after our last week's lunch drama, she might see exactly how long it takes to make a lunch and exactly how much thought goes into it. I told her the lunch rules (a grain, a fruit, a protein, a dairy, and a veg) and she did the rest. She was very concerned with the colors of the foods in the lunch...thus the blueberries. She needed something blue in her lunch, she said. She was really excited about making it herself, so we'll see what she thinks of it after eating it tomorrow!

Banana and granola bar, Babybel cheese on turkey slices, Frozen blueberries, Goldfish, Carrots and ranch.

Flowers and Granola

The rainbow lunch from yesterday was not such a big hit. The second that the chic got in the car she told me that she didn't like her lunch. She said that she doesn't like the veggies cut up so small. Apparently I'm supposed to make "fancy" lunches WITHOUT cutting the veggies too much. Lotsa rules involved with the whole lunch making process :)

SO, tomorrow, we get back to the types of lunches she loves...with lots of flowers and minimal cutting!

PB&J sandwiches with homemade blueberry jam, Cantaloupe flowers, Chocolate chip granola square, Cucumber and carrot cut outs

A few days ago, the chic asked me to make chocolate chip granola bars. It was perfect timing cause Smitten Kitchen has just posted a new granola bar recipe that looked awesome! I decided to try it and see how it compared to my usual recipe. The only change I made to the recipe was that I used agave nectar instead of honey or corn syrup. For my dried fruits and nuts, I used coconut, pecans, walnuts, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, dried cranberries, raisins, wheat germ, and, of course, chocolate chips. I doubled the recipe and baked them in a 9x13 pan. I had to bake them for a few minutes more...maybe 15 minutes.

These were hands down, the best granola bars I've ever made! Not too sweet, not too dry...just a bit sticky. The only drawback to them is that I've eaten a ton of them. I ended up freezing some cause I was afraid that I would completely finish them off. I'm going to make them again and plan out my fruit/nuts mix a little more. This time I just threw in a bunch of stuff I had on hand. You should definitely try the recipe!

Not Quite Goat Cheese Salad

Tomorrow's lunch is a bit of leftovers...

Cranberry pecan salad with honey "goat cheese" dressing, Panko crusted chicken drumstick, Cherry yogurt pretzels, Powerball

I started off with all intentions of making a salad tonight with a honey goat cheese dressing. I even went today and bought more spring mix. But when I came home and started scooping ingredients in the Magic Bullet (which is a blender, btw), I found that my goat cheese smelled a bit off. I'm a little freaky about the whole spoiled food thing. If there's a date on it, by golly it's goin in the trash that day. So, although the goat cheese said it didn't expire until December, I chunked it. I had to come up with a solution quick since almost all the other dressing ingredients were in the Magic Bullet and I wasn't wasting 2 tablespoons of very expensive wild honey that I had already measured out. So, I decided to substitute sour cream since it is similarly tangy. I measured it out, turned the blender on, and crossed my fingers. Although it wasn't as thick and creamy as goat cheese would have made it, the sour cream was a great "in a pinch" substitute.

We came across a sale on organic free range chicken drumsticks last weekend. I usually don't buy drumsticks, but I couldn't tell you why. The chics really loved them. I rolled them in a bit of a mustard concoction and breaded them with panko bread crumbs. Then I baked them on a rack so the whole coating would get crispy. They turned out really well. The little chic even ate two of them.

And to continue yesterday's camera tirade...my cracker submission got rejected on Foodgawker (as usual) due to shadowing. I thought it was a great picture, but what do I know? But it DID get published on Tastespotting! My dad is letting me keep the camera till the weekend so there will be plenty more gratuitous photos I'm sure! Just look at the pecans...oooooh...close up...