Yum...I really LOVE Cream Cheese Frosting!

To go along with my need to bake with yeast this weekend, I decided to try a new Cinnamon Roll recipe as well. I've recently discovered how much I love making dough and then allowing it to rise in the refrigerator overnight. I still can't believe that actually works! This time, I used the recipe for Overnight Cinnamon Rolls.

Again, proof 2 1/4 tsp of yeast with 1/2 cup of white sugar in 1 cup of warm milk. Add 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup melted butter, 3 eggs and 1 tsp of salt. Continue adding flour and knead dough until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl, covered, for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, roll dough into a large rectangle, about 10 x 14. In a bowl mix 3/4 cup of Brown Sugar with 1 TBS of cinnamon.

Spread evenly over the dough leaving 1 edge clean. Brush this edge with water.

Slowly roll the dough and seal the edge. Cut into 12 equal pieces.

Place into a buttered baking dish. I used 2 8x8 pans so I could freeze one batch for another time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

 Look how big they got overnight!!! Allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

While the cinnamon rolls bake- make frosting :) I didn't use the frosting recipe recommended, instead, I used the frosting from the Clone of a Cinnabon recipe!

My rolls baked for exactly 25 minutes- they got so big!!!

Frost and serve! Very sweet and very delicious :)

Because I love my husband...

Hubby came home about one night and announced they were having a "Football Food" day at work the following week. He asked if I would make him soft pretzels with cheese to take. I LOVE the hot pretzels at the mall, and now that I make so much bread, I figured- no problem! I used the recipe Mall Pretzels.

Mix yeast and water with a little brown sugar. Let sit 10 minutes. Stir in All Purpose Flour, Bread Flour and salt.

Knead until it forms a smooth dough- you may not need all the flour. Place in an oiled bowl and cover. Let sit in a warm place for 1 hour.

It really grew!!! This dough was so soft and easy to work with. Dump onto a lightly floured surface and cut dough into as many strips as you want. I got 20 smaller pretzels from this recipe (great for a crowd)!

Roll each strip until it reaches the thickness you like and loop into a pretzel or whatever you shape you like. Would be great fun for kids to make letters...or you could chop into nuggets!

Mix 2 cups of really warm water with 2 TBS of Baking Soda. Dip each pretzel into the solution, dab on a paper towel to remove extra water and place on a greased cookie sheet or silpat.

Allow pretzels to sit for 20 minutes before baking them. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes...or until golden brown. I brushed mine with butter when they came out of the oven, but didn't salt until the next morning when I warmed them up for hubby to take to work. If you salt and don't eat them, the salt soaks in and makes them soggy.

I can't even talk about the first cheese sauce I made (pictured here). It was a Rachael Ray recipe and it was AWFUL!!!! What a waste of good cheese. I started over after that and made my own using a little flour and butter mixed with milk and then stirred in some Shredded Pepper Jack and Sharp Cheddar, along with some pickled jalapenos. Much tastier- but I still love the canned Nacho Cheese :)

Yum- I just love Bruschetta!

I've been craving Bruschetta lately...with my basil in full bloom and fresh tomatoes finally available! I decided to go all out and make my own bread too!

I made French Bread...which only contains Yeast, All Purpose Flour, Salt and Water.

You begin by mixing 5 tsp of yeast with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of warm water. Mix until smooth.

Continue adding flour until you can no longer mix it in. Dump onto a clean surface and continue kneading until you have added as much flour as necessary. Mine took 5 cups.

Once your dough forms a smooth and elastic ball, place in an oiled bowl, and allow to double in size. This took about 40 minutes.

Robyn was helping- she had flour everywhere! She is trying to brush it off her cheeks :)

After 40 minutes- dump the dough onto a floured surface and degas.

Divide into 2 portions and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

With a rolling pin (a wine bottle would work in a pinch!), roll the dough into a semi-rectangle.

On the long edge, begin folding over the dough rolling into a log. Seal the bottom seam with water and tuck the ends under.

Brush with an egg white beaten with a little water. I covered mine with plastic wrap that I sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to double in size- approx 30-40 minutes.

Cut slices in the top of your bread before baking. Place in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, brush again with the egg white mixture. I put the loaves back in the oven and threw 5 ice cubes in the bottom to create some steam!

After baking for another 15-20 minutes, the loaves were done!

Chewy inside with a beautiful, golden crust!

Usually, when I make Bruschetta I just start throwing in what I like. This time, I used a recipe that intrigued me (Bruschetta I). It called for fresh basil, chives and parsley...all of which are growing in my garden.

I chopped about 20 grape tomatoes and used my micro plane to grate one gigantic clove of garlic.

The micro plane makes the garlic super fine...so you don't bite into chunks of raw garlic.

Bundle all your herbs into a tight pile. This makes them much easier to chop.

Chop until fine and no large leaves remain. Add to tomato and garlic.

Dress with olive oil, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Slice bread into thin pieces and place on a cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray or olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes...until crisp.

Top with Bruschetta and enjoy! I love this for lunch or dinner in the summer :)

You gotta love grilling when it's hot!

I don't know about you, but when it gets hot, I hate to use my oven! The last thing I need is to increase the temperature in the house by 5 degrees! I'm trying hard to learn new ways to use my grill. After watching a recent episode of Top Chef Masters, I decided to try my hand at grilled pizzas. They didn't go over very well with the judges on the show that night, but we love pizza, so it was a risk I was willing to take. Turns out- that was a good decision! I used the Grill Dough recipe for this.

It starts with proofing the yeast. I added the sugar to this step like I would with bread.


In another bowl, I added the flour and salt. I made a well in the middle, added the oil to the yeast mixture and mixed until a ball formed.


I kneaded the dough until smooth and then divided into 4 equally sized balls (for 4 small pizzas).


I placed the four dough balls on a silpat and covered with plastic wrap, sprayed with cooking spray. Set aside for 1 1/2 hours.

After 1 1/2 hours- they doubled in size and were very soft.

Roll to desired thickness (we like ours really thin). I didn't have cornmeal, so instead of oiling my grill, I coated both sides of my dough with olive oil and layered between pieces of aluminum foil to help transfer them to the grill. (By the way- getting them on the grill was the toughest part!)

Before you start grilling, make sure you have all your toppings prepared.

I grilled over charcoal, and the first side took about 1 1/2 minutes. I removed them from the grill and brought them back in the kitchen to top.

On the left: homemade pesto, pepperoni, spicy Italian sausage.
On the right: homemade pesto, sliced roma tomatoes and black olives.

On the left: tomato sauce, spinach, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives.
On the right, tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives.

I topped them all with an Italian pizza blend of cheese. I sprayed my charcoal with a little water to bring down the temp and then placed the pizzas back on the grill with the lid on for about 4-5 minutes. Watch them VERY closely! I did throw mine under the broiler for about 1minute inside to brown the cheese a bit.


Add a little fresh basil from the garden and enjoy! This was so yummy, and even the places that looked a little too black, did not taste burnt at all. A super fun project that will be repeated many times this summer!