Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls! YUMMY!

You seriously would never know these were gluten free. They were so delicious. Even if I didn’t have to make them this way I probably would. They also seem to be a bit easier to make.

Enjoy!

4 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup coconut sugar or cane sugar
1 cup coconut milk, slightly warmed (Note: Not coconut milk from the can. I use So Delicious Coconut Milk. It’s in the refrigerator section by the half gallon milks. However you could use regular milk.)
2 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups arrowroot flour/starch (I actually combined the arrowroot with tapioca starch.)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free)
4 teaspoons xanthan gun
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast

Filling

1/2 cup whole cane sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
Combine them in a small bowl.

Icing

3/4 cup powdered sugar (I put mine in a coffee grinder and grind it till really fine.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
milk for consistency
4 oz cream cheese (softened)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Add in the milk, coconut oil, eggs, , and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients and add to the wet mixture, start on low and then beat on high until no lumps remain.  The dough should resemble a bread dough at this point, but will be slightly soft and wet.(Approx. 1 min.) You should be able to touch it with your fingers, leave an indentation, but not have it stick to you.

Lay 2 pieces of plastic wrap on your workspace making sure to overlap by a couple of inches. Place 1/2 of the dough onto it and cover with another layer of wrap. Roll the dough out between the layers of wrap with a rolling pin until it reaches about 12 inches by 12 inches square in size. Or in my case a nice roundish circle!  Take the top layer of wrap off.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar cinnamon mixture over the dough.

To roll, lift the edge of the wrap and help the dough roll over itself. Try to get it as tight as you can.

Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into eight even pieces and place into a buttered 9×13 pan;  Repeat with the second half of the dough.


Bake for 20 minutes.
While your rolls are cooling make your icing. Combine your sugar, vanilla, and milk; mix well. Add your softened cream cheese. If to thick add a bit more milk. This should be pourable icing.
Pour icing over cinnamon rolls while they are still hot.

ENJOY!

Friday Funnies! The Sisters!

HAPPY FRIDAY MY FRIENDS!

It’s that time again. Time to laugh, time to smile, time to jiggle that middle!

If you would like to play along, feel free to link up your family friendly funny below. It can be a funny story, video, picture, etc.

Let’s spread some funny!

This joke cracks me up. All you blondes out there, I love you, please take no offense. I’m just sayin’!

 The Two Sisters!

      Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch. Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble. In order to keep the bank from repossessing the ranch, they need to purchase a bull from the stockyard in a far town so that they can breed their own stock.
They only have $600 left. Upon leaving, the brunette tells her sister, 'When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul it home.'
The brunette arrives to the stockyard, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for $599, no less. After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph office and says, 'I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I've bought a bull for our ranch. I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home.'
The telegraph operator explains that he'll be glad to help her, then adds, 'It's just 99 cents a word.' Well, after paying for the bull, the brunette only has $1 left. She realizes that she'll only be able to send her sister one word.
After a few minutes of thinking, she nods and says, 'I want you to send her the word 'comfortable.'
The operator shakes his head. 'How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her just the word 'comfortable?'
The brunette explains, 'My sister's blonde. The word's big. She'll read it very slowly ... com-for-da-bull.'

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

The Profile Picture! Time to Vote!

Just a little while back I wrote a post about my profile picture.Your input was very helpful and because yesterday my hair was clean and my skin was clear and the planets were all aligned  nicely, I went ahead and had my daughter take some current pictures of me.

Here’s a few things I discovered.

I’m getting old.

I have more gray hairs then 3+ years ago.

I need some new hats.

I’m getting old.

Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Okay!

This is embarrassing but here we go!

Let’s start out with my current picture. Here it is in all it’s glory. It kinda goes downhill from here. LOL!

By your advice in my prior post I decided to entertain different hats.

Here’s my “I’m ready to go out on the boat” look.

Then you have the “military hat” look. Cue slight smirk to go with it. OY!

I know you want to know what it looks like backwards. LOL!

Then there’s the hat my husband bought me that I won’t wear out in public! In case you can’t read it, it says Heart Throb across it! Ha!

How about “a hat that’s two sizes two small for my noggin” look?

I look like a mushroom!

Then there’s the “I’d play me some sports but the risk of pulling something at this point is to high” look.

I bet you’re wondering where the original hat is. Well due to some unfortunate events over the past 3+ years the hat has undergone a shape change and just didn’t sit well. BUT because I love ya and I’m already making a fool out of myself I’ll show you the picture I took in it any way.

WAIT

.

.

.

.

FOR

.

.

.

IT!

.

.

.

YUP!  I really can’t say anything other than it’s the way I roll.

So there you have it. My attempt at a new profile picture.

Now this is where you come in. You’ll notice if you look at all the pictures, that I have numbers in the lower right hand corners. Tell me, should I leave well enough alone and stay forever young in my current profile picture OR update it with one that is more current and believable? LOL! I won’t be offended. I have thick skin. Hee! Hee!

LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

The Garden Bounty!

Oh we are having so much fun with the garden. All my hubby’s hard work is really paying off.

Here are a few pictures of some of this weeks harvest.

Yummy cucumbers!

Anyone need some radishes. We have TONS in the garden.

We are weeding out some of the carrots so that the ones in the ground can grow bigger, but we were still pretty impressed with these ones.

We’ve been eating lettuce and chard for weeks now. So yummy!

Oh man, do I have a green bean recipe for you. It’ll be on my cooking blog this week! Keep an eye out.

Little man helped me prepare some green beans for blanching and freezing.

Ready to go in the freezer!

The joy of having a home grown salad!

And last but not least. Do you remember the mystery tree we had?

Well come to find out they were indeed peaches. They are small but oh so good.

More updates to come!

Have a glorious day!

31 Days To Clean Challenge!

There has been a buzz around my little corner of blogland lately about Sarah Mae’s new ebook called '>31 Days To Clean. I happen to have entered a giveaway for the book on my friend Christin’s blog and won. Yay! Christin is having a “31 Days To Clean Challenge” using Sarah Mae’s book.  So I took it as a sign and I’m going to jump on into the challenge. It officially starts on May 1, so there is plenty of time to get on board. click on the button below to learn more about that.

The book itself is only $4.99 and it is very well laid out. You just take one day at a time.  You can also keep informed on  Facebook by “liking” their sites.31 Days To Clean FB Pageand Joyful Mothering (Christin’s page)  Anybody out there going to do this? Just curious to who’s on board.Have a fabulous day! 

Good Friday!

In honor of Good Friday, I am cancelling Friday Funnies today. Save your funny and you can link it up next Friday!

Have a Blessed Day!

Are You a Reluctant Entertainer? Giveaway! Winner Announced!

The Random Generator has picked #21 which is Tara from Home is the Heart of the Family! Congratulations Tara!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered.

When my friend Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer contacted me about having a giveaway for her new book, I jumped at the chance.  I knew that my readers would love a chance to win a signed copy of her book. Plus with Mother’s Day on the way, this would make a great gift!

I had bought this book about 3 weeks ago and I love it.

I love to entertain but she touches on some things that I have never really thought about. If you are leery of entertaining, she gently takes you by the hand and leads you one chapter at a time on how you to can entertain successfully.

Here at the Table of Contents:

1. Real Entertaining for Real People

2. Joy Busters and Joy Building

3. Overcoming the Pitfalls of Perfectionism

4. Simplifying Entertaining

5. Discovering Your Inner Martha

6. Engaging the Five Senses

7. The Heart of Hospitality: Conversation

8. More Than Dinner Parties: Deeper Connections

9. From Reluctant to Gracious Living

If you’ve never met Sandy I suggest you cruise on over to her blog and check it out. You won’t be disappointed. Hospitality spills out with every visit.

But here’s the real question. Would you like to win a signed copy of her book? Hopefully you’re answer is yes.

Well here’s how you can win.

1. Leave a comment telling me your greatest entertaining fear or entertaining flop or blunder.

2. You can “like” her FB page if you so desire. It’s not required. Just come leave a separate comment telling me you did.

3. And for my faithful followers, just tell me that you follow me in a separate comment and that’s an extra entry. Just cause I love ya!

Contest will run until this Saturday, April 23 at 12:00 noon EST and is limited to the United States. I will pick a winner that day and announce it at the top of this post.

Good Luck!

Magnetic Menu Board

I have a child who ALWAYS wants to know “What’s for dinner?” So I thought it would be neat to display it on a fun little menu board.  AND because of the lack of wall space in my kitchen I decided to make it magnetic so it could go on my fridge.

I raided my craft supplies and came up with this.

A stencil, a 9x12 canvas board, some chalkboard paint and some ribbon.

First you apply the chalkboard paint. Make sure you follow the directions.

Here I had applied the paint, let it dry, “seasoned” it by rubbing chalk all over it and then wiping it off, and then painted the word “Menu” at the top.

 

Next I decided that it needed something else so I got some ribbon and hot glued it around the edge. As you’ll can see, it’s not perfect. But when you’re dealing with hot glue, things rarely are. LOL! But I still like it.

The corners were a little ugly so I wanted to cover them up with something. The only thing I could find at the time was some pom-poms. So that’s what I used.

I then applied some strips of magnet to the back.

Voila! You’re all done.

Here it is, proudly displayed on my fridge.

P.S. That’s not what we had for supper that night. LOL! It was the first thing that came to my head when I was thinking of what to write. Just thought you’d want to know!

Now I’m off to menu plan.

Have a fabulous day my friends!

I’m linking up with:

 

Made By You Monday!

Sunday’s Smile!

Just because it’s Sunday and it’s a wonderful day to praise the Lord, here’s a video that’s been going around that I just love. I hope you enjoy it!

Psalm 149:3

³Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

Friday Funnies! Who’s Guilty!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

How was your week? Mine was actually pretty productive. But enough of that, you’re here to jiggle your middle with a good ol’ fashion giggle!

If you have a family friendly funny to share then please feel free to enter your link below. It can be a funny picture, video, story, joke, etc.

My funny today has actually been around a little bit now but I wanted to post it on my blog so I could find it again when I need a good laugh, because I actually do go back through my Friday Funnies when I feel the urge to giggle.

So let me ask you. Who do YOU think is guilty!

Enjoy!

 

 

The Coffee Table Before and After!

Most of you know by now how much I like Craigslist. I posted about some of the things we’ve purchased off of there, here, if you want to take a gander. Gandering is fun, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, if you’ve been to our home within the past 9 years you might have noticed that we haven’t had a coffee table. The main reason was because of our kids. We didn’t want knocked heads or teeth when they were young so we just did without. Since our kids are a bit older and not prone to falling over unexpectedly, I decided to start searching on Craigslist for a “new” used one.

One thing I knew is that I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Duh! Who does right? Needless to say some people were pretty proud of their junk. Asking crazy prices for a basic coffee table. Long story short, after searching a few months I stumbled across one that I liked and he was only asking $25.00. When we went to pick it up he kept apologizing for all the pen and crayon markings from his kids and all the dings and things that were on it.

The whole time I’m standing there thinking, (Dude, I’m going to sand it and paint it! .) LOL!

So without further ado. The before and after.

After..

I’m slowly bringing our living room to what I’ve got pictured in my mind. It’s not their yet but this is a start. Of course you can see it’s painted white and I did distressed it a little.

Here’s what I’ve got on it right now. Since I haven’t had a coffee table in awhile I’m not sure what to do with it. LOL! What do you have on yours? We can’t put anything to high on there or it’ll block the TV.

I had some baskets that fit underneath to store their Wii games.

You wouldn’t think that it would take getting used to but it is. It’s a bigger coffee table then we’ve had in the past, but I really like it. I think big coffee tables are in right now, aren’t they? Just tell me they are and make me happy. LOL!

So what do you think? You likey?

I'm linking up to:

 31 Days of Painting

One of My Finished Projects….Pillows!

Pillows are pretty easy to make. So you won’t get any tutorial from me. Well at least the basic throw pillow that I make. Which is all I need right now. I have children who LOVE to use the pillows for everything but what they are intended for. LOL!

I feel in love with this fabric. It had all the colors that I am trying to implement into our living area. It brought some life and color to the room. Before that all we had were  blocks of color. We have brown leather furniture and a great big burgundy carpet. BORING! So the pillows are a start.

They even pair up nice with the repurposed pillow I made out of old tank tops. So that was a plus.

I am also working on a project right now that is going into our living room. Once again it was a Craigslist score!

Have you got any projects in the works?

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

Friday Funnies! I’m Introduced to Mr. Acupuncture!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

How was your week? Good I hope. Are you ready for some giggles? I always am.

If you have a family friendly funny to share please feel free to link it up below. It can be a funny joke, picture, story, video, etc.

Let’s Spread Some Funny!

I thought it would be fun to tell you about my acupuncture visit I had the other day. So here it goes.

 I actually made this appointment because I didn’t want to take the traditional route when it came to my skin cancer (basil cell). With the recommendation of a friend I made an appointment with a doctor that specializes in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.

My visit went something like this. I show up on time and start to fill out my information. Within minutes we are chit chatting about EVERYTHING. She proceeds to tell me that I should be a stand up comedian and before we know it her NEXT appointment shows up. Oops! I guess we both had the gift of gab. Very quickly we shuffle off to the examining room. I lay down and she starts rubbing different spots of my body with rubbing alcohol. In my mind I’m REALLY hoping that these aren’t all the places she’s going to be sticking needles. Alas, they were. Bam! Bam! Bam! She was like a power house acupuncturist. Before I knew what hit me she was done. And before I could ask her anything she told me to “relax”, dimmed the lights and walked out the door.

So here’s your mental picture. There I am, laying on my back. Both fists are clenched and are resting on my stomach. At this point I’m not exactly sure where all the needles have been placed and it’s too dark to see. I’m afraid to move. No clock, no watch, I have no idea what time it is. What I do know is that my nose itches. Now my forehead. Soon after my foot starts to cramp and I have to pee!  I looked around for the hidden camera because I was sure that it had to be somewhere. Did I mention I’ve never had acupuncture before? I did manage to scratch my nose without poking myself in the eye but by the time she got back (half hour later) I thought my bladder was going to explode. Did I relax? You know, I’m going to have to say no on that one.

So when I was checking out I told her I wish she would have taken a picture of me to show you gals and she quickly said, “Oh next time you come in we just stick some needles in you real quick and take picture.” Um…Gee, Thanks! Can’t wait!

So there you have it. My acupuncture story. Do you have one?

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

A ME Update

Well I thought I’d just give you an update on what’s been going on with little ol’ me. Because you care right? Yeah, I thought so.

Do you mind if I use bullets? It just makes the jumbled mess in my brain appear neater and more organized!

So here it goes in no particular order.

• I quit coffee 3 days ago and had a headache for 2 days but I’m good now. (Will explain later!)
• I had acupuncture for the first time 4 days ago. That’s a story in and of itself. Maybe I’ll save it for Friday Funnies! LOL!
• We lost power for 6 hours yesterday.The good news is that the only casualty was a chicken that I was cooking in the crockpot. *sigh*
• I went thrift store shopping and scored on some goodies.  I’m making some projects out of one thing that I found that might inspire you to use your imagination while looking at things differently.
• I picked green beans out of our garden yesterday.
• I still haven’t had to use our dryer in almost two months now and I’m still enjoying line drying. I just can’t explain it but I love it.
• I made a pillow yesterday out of some pretty fabric that I bought at Hobby Lobby. Pictures to come soon.

Well I can’t think of any more mind blowing things that happened to me recently so I guess I’ll end it here.

What’s been going on with you?

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

How Does Your Garden Grow….

I thought I’d give you a little update on our garden progress. Here is the first post so you can compare picture if you so choose.

My husband has had quite a time with mole crickets. They love to feed on the roots of our  plants. So he did have to resort to putting some poison “around” some areas to head them off.

I took these picture about 2 days ago after 2 days of really good rain. It’s like the garden sprung to life.

We are all ready eating the romaine lettuce and the chard. Both are delicious.

There are a lot of green beans that are ready to be picked and the onions are looking good .

There are a lot of little ears of corn starting to “pop” up. Ha!  Our cucumbers have tons of flowers on them and a few that are already an inch long.

We’ve never grown peas before so we aren’t sure if they’re doing well or not. LOL! They’re still green and growing so we figure that’s a good thing. It’s hard telling how our carrots are doing but the tops are tall and green so we’ll see.

Not pictured are tomato  and bell pepper plants. He just planted those so they are still really small.

Our hope is to till out more land for our squash and melons for our summer crop. We also want to plant more strawberries and blueberries. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I have to tell you that it sure is exciting eating the fruits of your labor. My husband has worked so hard and he loves it when he sees his efforts before us at the dinner table.

Do you have a garden and if so how’s it doing? I know different areas have different growing zones so some of you might not have even planted anything yet.

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!