Super easy no yeast Cinnabuns

I've been baking again and my ass isn't overly happy about it (though my tastebuds are rejoicing)... Last weekend when I was back home visiting the family, I was having fun with the bread maker and got it in my head that I wanted to make cinnbuns. It took 2 attempts but I finally got them made. They didn't turn out exactly like I wanted them to but it got me thinking about when I was just a kid and our babysitter used to make these awesome cinnabuns in the mornings. I remember that it wasn't a rising dough, that she would basically just roll 'em out and then put them in the oven. My brother and I reminisced over those buns and it got me wanting to make some...

I scoured the internets and found this recipe. I tried it out tonight (even though I totally spaced on the first attempt and added WAY too much milk) and the results were echoes of my childhood. Instead of raisins and pecans I used dried cranberries and a sprinkling of crushed walnuts (that's all I had in my pantry) but either way they are awesome.



These cinnamon rolls are a little faster to make than most, with no rising time.
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons shortening
* 3 cups self-rising flour (if you don't have this, just add a pinch of salt and 1.25 tsp of baking powder for every cup of flour used.)
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
* 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
* .
* Vanilla Glaze:
* 1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:
Cut shortening into flour with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1 cup milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Add a bit more milk if you need to to get it all sticking together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead lightly.

Roll dough into a 20x14-inch rectangle; spread the softened butter on dough, leaving a border of about 1/2-inch. Combine sugar and cinnamon; mix well, and sprinkle over butter. Top with pecans and raisins, if using. Beginning at long side, roll up jelly roll fashion; press edges and ends together securely. Cut into 1 inch slices; place cut side down in a buttered 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Bake at 375? for 20 to 25 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar and 3 tablespoon milk and vanilla; drizzle over warm rolls. Makes 20 cinnamon rolls.

Halloween in Ottawa

I got to spend Halloween up in Ottawa this year - it was great!

About a month ago Meg texted me telling me that Wylie was giving her a hard time about his costume for Halloween. She had either a Winnie the Pooh costume or a Thomas the Tank Engine costume to work with. He wanted to be Scooby Doo. I told her to tell him that I was coming for Halloween and that I was afraid of Scooby Doo and that he should be Winnie the Pooh instead. She asked me if I could tell him that myself and I said sure. So Wylie called me and after much convincing, it was decided that he would be Winnie the Pooh and I would be Tigger.

I wasn't totally sure how I'd come up with a Tigger costume but luckily Meg found a tiger hat that would work and I rounded up my Mom's old halloween shirt (bright orange with a jack o lantern face on it)that I cut out a fuzzy yellow "belly" and duct taped it on. Black electrical tape became the stripes on the sleeves. Meg had a donkey hat and some grey pants and a grey shirt and she became Eeyore. Oddly, Wylie kept pronouncing Eeyore as "Eerie-O". Strange kid.

Afterwards I took off to meet up with SC and go to a party with some friends from Henry's. She'd contacted me previously and wondered whether I wanted to be part of a 2 part costume. I said sure and then was informed that I was to become Charlie Brown and she was going to be the Kite Eating Tree. I'm not much of a Peanuts fan and actually had to look this up...

The party was great - got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in a long while. There was a few awkward moments involving a certain someone who wasn't overly impressed with me and the situation when Dave and I got back together. Thankfully nothing terrible happened and it was a great night overall.

Drove back to London on Sunday afternoon and made it back in good time - about 6 hours. It was weird being all alone in the car since the last time I drove back and forth myself was about 2 years ago.

Weight Loss Wagon

I'm sure you've noticed that I started updating with a bit more regularity... I'm going to chock it up to the fact that I put a little application on my google homepage that allows me to post directly.

Anyway, I've decided to really get back on the weight loss wagon. This includes tracking what I eat and trying to actually lose weight. I used to use a particular website (www.thedailyplate.com) but stopped using that a long while ago. So I searched out something on Facebook (since I spend enough time on that website as it is, might as well make it useful) and added a diet tracking application. I input all that I ate yesterday plus all the exercise I did yesterday... and realized I don't eat anywhere enough food to make up for what I do in a day. AARGH!

This is the part I always have a hard time with. In order to lose weight you have to consume less calories than you burn, but if you consume WAY less (like, in my case yesterday about half) then your body stays in starvation mode and nothing happens.

So I have to start eating more. Or at least eating way more on the days that I plan to go to the gym.

I've been eating a lot of soup lately, which is good for you and fills you up and isn't super high in calories.

I think I need a game plan. Last night I went to the gym and did 50 min of cardio while watching The 40 Year Old Virgin... managed to burn like, 600 calories! (whoo hoo!) However, I didn't do any weights. Haven't been in the mood to do weights lately. But I really should. Gotta build up that lean muscle!

If only I could just win the lottery and get liposuction on my saddle bags. Thats the only part of me that really bothers me!

Photo Graphy...

I've really gotta start taking pictures again! I saw some of the pictures from Ty and Lauren's wedding and their photographer did such a great job! I was super jealous that it was awesome and my photos are not that awesome.

Things to put on my list of things to accomplish: make new website. Set it up to sell prints. Sell prints. Find people who need help with photo editing. Make some money!