Books make you feel better!

I'm feeling a little better today. Thank you all so much for your prayers! Mike took me to the library so I could get a few books and I also got Roman Holiday on DVD. I just love to have a stack of good books waiting to be read. One of the books is called Sew What! Skirts and it has the CUTEST projects! One (shown in the picture) is a skirt made from a vintage tablecloth. I am going on the hunt for a tablecloth! :)

Scenes from my day

*Updated*
I thought it would be fun to share my day with you in pictures. Of course, the day is far from over, so more pictures to come... :)

Cinnamon Rolls

I made Tracy's cinnamon rolls this morning and they were SO good! Thank you Tracy!
Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 cup warm water (about 115 degrees)
2 Tbs. margarine or butter, softened
1 egg
3 1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. regular active dry yeast

Filling:
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. margarine or butter, softened

Glaze:
Mix 1 c. powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 1 to 2 Tbs. milk until smooth and thin enough to drizzle.


Directions:
Place yeast in the warm water. Let bud. Cream egg, butter, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add water/yeast mixture. Stir well. Sift together dry ingredients. Slowly add to wet mixture. Mix well. Knead dough for about 8 minutes. Spray bowl with non-stick spray. Place dough in bowl, cover and let rise about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 18 x 12 inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Spread with softened butter. Sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture. Roll up tightly, beginning at 12 inch end. Cut roll into 1 inch slices. Place in greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in size. Heat oven to 375. Bake 25- 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan; drizzle Glaze over warm rolls. Makes one dozen.

Cinnamon Spice Muffins

I found this recipe at the Get Rich Slowly Blog. It's not usually a blog that posts recipes, but this one sounded SO good. Mike took the day off today, so I thought it was a good morning to try something new.


Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk

Sugar & spice coating

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar mixed with
2 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 12-cup muffin tin (or coat with non-stick spray).

Sift together flour, salt, nutmeg & baking powder. Set aside. Beat together 2/3 cup butter and 1 cup sugar, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time and beat in. Add dry ingredients in three portions, alternately with milk, combining just until well mixed. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes until lightly golden. Cool about 3 minutes, then remove from pan.

While still warm, use a pastry brush to brush muffins with melted butter and then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture until the muffins are well coated on all sides.

Save any extra cinnamon-sugar for toast later in the week. These muffins are best served warm. You can make them a day ahead and reheat them in the oven, in a dish covered with foil.

Chicken Spaghetti

Being the southern girl that I am, I have several favorite recipes that call for cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta. :) This one is so easy it nearly makes itself.

12 oz spaghetti
1 can ro-tel
6 to 8 oz. Velveeta
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small can sliced black olives
cooked chicken (I usually use about 2 cups of chicken that I have previously cooked and diced. You can use canned chicken in a pinch.)

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions and place in the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large sauce pan on medium heat, stirring until Velveeta is melted. Pour on top of spaghetti. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until bubbly.

Winter Isn't Over Yet!

HBHW Menu Day 4

Yesterday was Day 4 of the Hillbilly Housewife's low cost menu. Mike is loving having a nice lunched packed every day (I'm taking one of my commenter's advice and making it the night before). Today he had 2 tuna salad sandwiches made on homemade bread, plus some fruit and veggies.

Last night our supper was cowgirl beans and rice. This is one of our favorite Hillbilly Housewife recipes. I made it with Monday night's leftover baked beans. Isn't it fun to have several different ways to use up leftovers? I had enough left for my own lunch today.


HBHW Menu Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

HBHW Menu Day 3

HBHW Menu Day 1
HBHW Menu Day 2

Yesterday was day 3 of following the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 low cost menu. We had a great breakfast of french toast made with the homemade bread and Mike was very happy to have a good lunch to take to work. I plan to get better about packing his lunch every day.

I had an extremely busy afternoon. My mom came to town and we ran errands and before I knew it, it was 5:00 and Cindy had to be at softball practice at 5:45. I usually have supper ready to go by 5:00 on softball days. Just poor planning and not paying attention led to picking up this instead of following my menu.

I only spent $10, but I'm kicking myself for it. I'm still within my weekly food budget, but I'm trying to put every little penny into our emergency fund instead of spending it on pizza.

We're back on track on the menu today though and I'll update you either tonight or tomorrow. Marcia is finishing up her science project that is due tomorrow so I may not have access to the computer for awhile. :)

HBHW Menu Day 2

Tonight we had Boston Baked Beans, homemade coleslaw, mac and cheese, and homemade bread



Mike loved his lunch of meatloaf sandwiches from last night's leftovers along with carrot sticks with ranch dressing, cookies, and applesauce. I'm not very good at remembering to pack him a lunch (an area I need to improve), so he was really pleased. He didn't have to eat fast food or PB&J.

I think the kids' favorite food today was the afternoon snack of cinnamon toast made with the homemade bread. I liked that pretty well myself! :)

His lunch (and mine) tomorrow will be beanie wienies made with tonight's beans and turkey hot dogs and tomorrow's breakfast tomorrow will be french toast.

Read about Day 1 here.

Hillbilly Housewife Menu

This week, I am following the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 low cost menu. This menu is so easy because she provides all the recipes, plus the shopping list. Her $70 figure is assuming that you are starting with an empty pantry, so it may cost you less, but she is also using powdered milk which is not as cheap as it was when she made this plan. I spent about $65. Some things I already had in my pantry, but I bought 3 gallons of regular milk instead of powdered. I do have some powdered milk in the pantry that I bought when it was much cheaper and I can supplement with it if I need to. My family will not drink reconstituted powdered milk unless it is mixed with regular milk.

The menu starts on Sunday. Yesterday's Sunday dinner was meatloaf, green beans and mashed potatoes. The menu calls for muffins to go with it, but I made sugar cookies instead.


Last night I put beans on to soak for tonight's Boston Baked Beans (which are now in the crock pot) and Marcia helped me make up the week's bread. I did the overnight method that uses very little yeast. You let the bread rise overnight.

What can you do with a can of spray paint?

I bought these bar stools about 5 years ago at our church garage sale. They were brand new and we only paid $20 each for them. They were originally too tall to fit under the bar, so Mike sawed a few inches off the legs for me. I spray painted them black today (they were originally the light pine color of the chairs you see in the background). I think the new color gives my kitchen a whole new look. I wonder what else I can paint? :)