Cinnamon Nut Buns

Aunt Terri also known as Aunt "T" is the QUEEN of cinnamon buns. My sister and cousin, Timmy (her son), beg her every Christmas to make them. She'll spend countless hours making her cinnamon buns. She wakes up all throughout the night to knead the dough and let it rise...needless to say she's nuts BUT she does make an awesome cinnamon bun. So whenever I think about making cinnamon buns I think of the long process that Aunt "T" goes through and I never think I can top hers. So instead of making the recipe that she makes I decided to make these cinnamon nut buns. I'm not really sure why they're called cinnamon buns because the whole recipe only has 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in it. So I'll have to think of another name for them. Maybe sticky buns? or The non cinnamon bun? I don't know it will come to me.

This recipe really interested me because it's a really clever spin on the traditional cinnamon bun. The filling is a combination of dark brown sugar, walnuts (or pecans), semi sweet chocolate chips, & cinnamon all mixed together in the food processor. The glaze is also different from traditional cinnamon buns. It's dark brown sugar & butter!

I was very satisfied by the way these turned out. It was a lengthy process but well worth it.

Of course this clever recipe came from Martha. You can find the recipe here

Pizza! Pizza!

We tend to turn to Pizza a lot during the week for a quick meal. I find it hard to find a good pizza sauce at the store so I thought I'd try to make one. It's much easier than I thought. Although I don't have a food mill so the sauce was a little bit chunkier than I prefer but the flavor was very good.

Ingredients:
2 28oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes

In a medium skillet heat olive oil. Crush tomatoes using a wooden spoon (your clean hands work just as well) add salt, pepper, oregano, & red pepper flakes to your liking. I added more red pepper flakes since I like a little spice in my sauce. You can omit them if you're not a fan of heat. Cook until thick, about 30-4o mins. Let cool and pass through a food mill unless you're in the mood for a chunky sauce.

A Soupy Kind of Day: Cream of Broccolli

Another great day for soup. I especially love winter cooking. This was a very simple soup to make and a bit healthier than the broccoli cheddar soup I usually make. You can substitute cauliflower, mushrooms, or asparagus. I'm sure I'll be making it with asparagus in the near future.

The recipe came from Martha's Cooking School Cookbook but can also be found here

Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup

This is by far one of my favorite soups! I made it a while ago and have been meaning to do a post about it but just got to it now.

You need to try this soup!!! I know many people don't like garlic but roasted garlic has such a sweet flavor and adds great taste to this soup.

This is a time consuming recipe and does make A LOT of soup but I promise you'll be so happy you made it! YUM! It's great if you're having a get together and need to serve a lot of people or if you're looking for a meal that provides for a couple days.

You can find the recipe here

Turkey & Bean Chili

As you know or can probably tell from this blog, I'm a fan of chili. I usually turn to Rachael Ray for chili recipes but wanted to try this recipe out for a while. There are a lot of flavors that I was surprised for a chili recipe (i.e., cocoa powder) but I was very pleased with the hearty meal.

The chili simmers for a while allowing the cocoa powder and spices to really give the meat flavor. I was pleased with this recipe and will turn to it in the future. The only thing I did differently from the recipe is substituting the bacon for turkey bacon and the pinto beans for black beans.

You can find the recipe here