A Cold Friday Night

As a child one of my favorite memories included Mom in the kitchen making cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls and chili. It was a wonderful treat on a cold winter night.

Winter isn't here yet, but preparing for winter is always a good thing. The chili base is from the tomatoes from our summer garden.

Lots of chili powder to add warmth to the cold, windy, wet day.



These dinner rolls are a little sweet. They were one of the staples found in the home where I grew up. When Mom made a batch of cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls she made several batches and put the extra in the freezer for the next time. Both recipes were just as fresh when they were thawed and re-heated.

At My Own Two Hands Bakery we make all our items fresh. If it has been frozen, we'll use in on our table, but we won't ship it to you. You'll get the freshest products possible.



A meal with homemade chili and dinner rolls wouldn't be complete without a cinnamon roll or two. These rolls compliment the meal.

Do you have a favorite meal surrounded by dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls? If so, please share it with us. Because the one thing we all have in common, the necessity of eating food.

Jody

Reflections

We all have missed opportunities in our lifetime.

There are times when we don't accept the hand offered in friendship. Usually, we never know what we're missing. By the very act of ignoring that offered hand, we think we know and usually we're wrong. Especially if your reasons aren't yours but a reflection of others opinion.

What do we do when we realize the hand isn't there any longer. The chance to undo your choice is gone? And what if, by some small miracle, we realize the hand offered in friendship belonged to someone who was amazing in so many ways. Flawed? Of course. Amazing? Absolutely.

In honor of a missed chance, Lori and I will work on a new creation. It will be our twist on a Friendship Bread. Two favorites, usually not found together, combined into one great taste. We hope once Reflections Friendship Bread is available that you'll buy one for yourself and one for that person who you just knew could never be your friend.

Even before our Reflections Friendship Bread is available, take that hand that's offered. Give it a whirl. Until you open up just a little to that person, you'll never know if you were right or wrong.

Happy reflecting.

Jody

Hi all, it's my first post on the new blog. I have to say my recipes are screaming at me to get in the kitchen and get busy, while my creatively stifled writer side demands I do this.

What to do.... what to do...

At the moment I am working very hard on resurrecting my personal roll recipe, formerly only available in restaurants or by special order. It's a bit rusty, but I won't post until the perfection is back.

I also have plans for spiced pecans, pumpkin bars, dinner rolls, chocolate peanut butter drops (that is a generational hand-me-down - yum), ginger cookies, and .. I could go on forever. Check in often for the lastest. They might be something we have had since we were kids or it might be something right out of Gourmet. Ya just never know.

Welcome! We are both glad you checked this out. Stop in again when you have the chance!

Lori

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls. Most people have at least one favorite memory wrapped around those fresh out of the oven sweet, sometimes gooey, creations.

I'm in the camp of gooey cinnamon rolls. I do eat cinnamon rolls that have icing topping them, but my all time favorite are the ones that are gooey, gooey, gooey. Those were the ones my mother made. Sometimes the carmel gooey was oh so perfect. Sometimes, well, sometimes it wasn't oh so perfect, unless you wanted an all day sucker. Sometimes there just wasn't enough of the gooey per cinnamon roll. Sometimes there was the perfect amount.

My mother followed recipes...when it was convenient for her. Other times she winged it. The gooey portion was always on the fly. Which is why it was always a gamble. But when she got it right, oh, my, gosh, it was worth the failures.

Cinnamon rolls was one of the few things that she was never able to teach any of us. We all loved her cinnamon rolls. We all stood beside her, trying to learn. Wanting to learn her secret, because even when the gooey was wrong, the rolls were still fabulous. She gave each of us her secret recipe. She stood over us and we made them. She had two daughters who failed to learn the secret and three daughter-in-laws who failed to learn her magic. But each and every one of us tried and tried and tried to make cinnamon rolls just like Mom made. Each of us failed at duplicating her cinnamon rolls.

What we've each done is find other recipes and try to get as close as possible to her magic with cinnamon rolls. We've each added our own twist to cinnamon rolls. One, the other half of My Own Two Hands Bakery, went completely rogue and perfected a cinnamon roll with icing on the top. Me? I still love the gooey cinnamon rolls. Today, is my attempt to make sure I haven't lost my touch. In a few minutes a pan full of gooey cinnamon rolls will come out of the oven.

And here they are. Gooey, cinnamon rolls. For me, they bring back to a time when my mother was still alive and presenting her magical cinnamon rolls to us. A time when the stress of having a job, family, obligations was just a far off dream. The biggest concern I faced during those days was wondering if I'd get picked first, somewhere in the middle or last for kickball.

Visit our website or our Etsy Store to order a pan of your own memories. And go back to a time when life was simpler, easier and carefree.

Feel free to share you own memories of fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls. Or leave a message letting us know if your preference is gooey cinnamon rolls or ones with icing on top.