Catch Up

I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our time in SC. It was only the 2nd time in 6 years that we've been able to spend Thanksgiving together as a family. Usually, Mike is gone somewhere. He actually was gone, but we met at his Dad's house. lol. I had hoped to post my holiday baking pictures before we left, but it didn't happen. I swear, traveling with 5 kids gets harder the older they get. It shouldn't be that way though, should it? I digress. Here is the best pumpkin bread you've ever tasted. It's not healthy, but it is super yummy. We added wal-nuts and chocolate chips to the mini-loaves. Definitely will be doing that again.

Benjamin was my helper with the pumpkin bread. I think he likes to help me bake only so he can lick the beater.

Next, we have rolls. Oh my goodness. These are delish! I made a test batch a couple of days before we left, the kids scarfed them down like there was no tomorrow. I'll be making these again for sure. Here's the recipe, just in case you would like to try them.

Anne’s Sunbeam Rolls
Cooking Time 12-15 minutes Preheat oven to 375Makes 24 rolls
Ingredients:
1 Cup milk1/2 Cup butter3 eggs1 tsp salt1/3 cup sugar41/2-5 Cups flour4 1/2 tsp yeast (2 pkgs)
Scald milk. Melt butter in hot milk. Let cool to room temp. Dissolve yeast and sugar in a small amount of water. Add the yeast -sugar mixture to the cooled milk mixture. Add eggs and flour. Mix thouroughly. This makes a wet dough. Knead until shiny, adding flour if necessary. Oil the dough. Cover and put in a warm place to rise until doubled. (About 1 hour) Punch down. Divide dough into three pieces. Roll, with a rolling pin, each piece into a circle (about 10 in. diameter.) Cut circle into 8 wedges. Pull off one wedge. Starting form wide end towards the point roll into a crescent. Place on a greased cookie sheet in 3 rows. Cover and put in a warm place to rise until double in size. Brush with butter.( Optional sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds)Bake about 12 minutes until golden brown.
**These rolls can also be made into hamburger buns with delicious results.

We also made an apple walnut bread. This was good, but I don't know that we'll make it again. Much healthier than the pumpkin, but no where near as good. Mikayla was the kitchen helper this go around.

I finally got around to taking a little better photo of the February Lady Sweater. I started the sleeves tonight. I really need to hurry up. I have so many other things to complete before we leave. Atleast this picture shows the color a little better. It really is heathered. ;-) I do love this sweater. I'm thinking I"ll make one for myself at some point.

We did a photo shoot at Heritage Park in downtown Columbus a few weeks ago. I'll share more photos later, but for not, here's a picture to get you in the holiday spirit.