Epic Ice

We got another four inches of snow yesterday and they decided to only delay school a couple of hours. Since none of the roads were cleared and my little car can't clear four inches I decided to keep Wesley home from school. It wasn't worth the deductible. So we relaxed at home, played some games, read some books and had some quality Super Mario Brother time. It was nice. We are sure looking forward to the warm up this week. It's supposed to be in the 60's within the next week. Good bye snow! Good riddance!

With the snow we had some epic icicles. Seriously the biggest icicles I've seen. We had a massive one that got to a little over 66 inches long and as big around as my leg. It was awesome. It nearly ripped off our gutter, but still awesome.

I tried some new recipes since that's seems to be the only thing to do these days. The kids enjoy being my guinea pigs in that department. I found a (somewhat) quick and easy yeast cinnamon roll recipe. It's only got one rise so it's pretty quick from start to finish considering it's yeast rolls. I iced them with a vanilla orange glaze (just mix up powdered sugar with orange juice and vanilla) which made them pop a little more. Really good on these frigid mornings. Give it a try!

One rise cinnamon rolls (makes about 16 rolls)

In a large mixer place:
2 1/2 cups hot tap water
1 T salt
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. sugar or honey
2 T yeast
1 egg

Mix together a little and then add 6 c. flour.

Mix flour until it "leaves" the sides of the bowl.  Then continue mixing 10 minutes.
Pour dough onto an oiled counter top. Roll out the dough on an oiled countertop to form large rectangle. 
In a bowl, mix 3/4 cup sugar & 2 T cinnamon with 4 T softened butter. 
With a pastry cutter or fork, cut butter into sugar & cinnamon until it forms a crumbly mixture.
Spread out on top of rolled out dough. 
Roll the short side toward you to form a log. 
Cut cinnamon rolls about 2 inches thick and place in 13 X 9 inch pan sprayed with Pam. 
Rise for 30-40 minutes. 
Bake for 12-18 minutes.

*I halved the recipe so that I didn't have a giant pan of cinnamon rolls. Eight rolls was enough for our family.