The older you get, the faster time flies....

...At least that's certainly the way it feels these days. 

I'm not totally sure where the last four months have gone, besides from the bottom of the calendar to the top, but they were, for the most part, a GREAT time!  I hope you can forgive me for not posting more sooner!  Hopefully I can catch you up in posts shortly.

Just another trip to the field...This side mirror will never tire of seeing this road...

A dear friend over at Sandhills & Cow Patties recently put it out there that she was looking for recipes for Cinnamon Rolls to curb her Hubby's appetite for them.  Then he corrected her and asked for CARAMEL Rolls instead.  (Apparently he's never had a Wheat Montana Cinnamon Roll that I dream about to know they can be better sans caramel!)  I know these are not Caramel Rolls, but I think they are better since they are bite size, take less work, don't need a fancy pan and are great for mornings when working cattle is top priority (which is what she wants the recipes for anyway).

I probably wouldn't have tried the recipe, but D pulled it out of a little magazine we get up here called North Dakota Living.  Good luck with yours!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!  Sorry I don't have any pictures but the last time I made them and meant to take a picture they went from pan to hands and mouth too fast to get a good picture!

CARAMEL PULL-A-PARTS

2 Frozen loaves of Rhodes Sweet Bread Dough, thawed
Cinnamon
Sugar

Syrup:
3/4 cup Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter (don't substitute Margarine)

Cut dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Put into a greased 13x9 pan to rise. 

After rising, combine syrup ingredients and stir in saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until sugar dissolves; DO NOT BOIL.  Pour syrup over rolls and bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes.  Flip pull-a-parts onto a cookie sheet to serve.


MY NOTES:
Make the balls fairly small as they rise quite high and quite fast, and you don't want them too much higher than the pan (which is why my tops were almost burnt before my bottoms were done the first time I made them (I had too big of balls to start)).

If the caramel isn't going in between the balls of dough, use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes between the dough balls to separate them.

Melt the butter THEN add the sugar and ice cream so that you aren't waiting on the butter to melt.

In our  9" x 13" pans it usually only takes a loaf and a half of dough to fill the pan, so if you're able to cut yours in half you can definately get two pans out of a bag of dough.

Good Luck ~C~ on your quest for good Caramel Rolls!  I hope all who try this recipe enjoy them!

Always ~
Christine

Penny. Penne!

We have returned!  We survived coastal Alaska, Victoria, BC and each other in the group!  I'm pretty sure I have close to 2000 pictures to go through now, but hopefully a couple of them turned out well enough to have printed on Canvas to be some new art in our house. 

 

We also celebrated D becoming a Godfather for the second time this year!  Congrats BRP!  We love you so much!

 

This recipe we tried awhile ago but it definately would have been perfect for a busy post-vacation week.  This one came to us on one of those catalina things that prints out when you buy certain foods/items at the grocery store and the cashier hands it to you with your receipt.  I did not feel like there was enough of the cooking cream to place on top so I just mixed it all in with the sauce and topped it off with more Mozzarella.  Next time we make this I'll probably take two tubs of the cooking cream out so I have enough to put on top as well.  I hope you enjoy this!  This would also be a good one to make up in the morning or night before and have sitting in the fridge ready to go in the oven when you get home at night.  (Sorry no photo...as this didn't come from someone else I can't borrow theirs and the camera was still down when we made this one!)

Baked Penne


1/2 lb. Extra-Lean Ground Beef
1/2 cup EACH Chopped Onions & Green Peppers
1 (24 oz.) jar Spaghetti Sauce
1 (10 oz.) tub Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme, divided
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
3 cups Cooked Penne Pasta

Heat oven to 350*F.

Brown Meat with Vegetables in a large non-stick skillet.  Stir in Spaghetti Sauce, 3/4 cup Cooking Cream and 1/2 cup Mozzarella; cook and stir 2 -3 minutes or until Mozzarella is melted.  Add Pasta; mix lightly.

Spoon into 2-quart casserole dish.  Top with remaining Cooking Creme and Mozzarella.  Cover.

Bake 20 minutes or until heated through, uncovering after 15 minutes.