A Tea Time Treat

I found a GREAT local treat! Carolee's Herb Farm is right outside Hartford City, just about fifteen minutes from my house. They have a huge lavender field and you can go and cut your own bunches of it. They have a beautiful little shop and butterfly and hummingbird gardens, as well as TONS of plants for sale. 

So I went on my birthday with Elliot and we cut some lavender. Then one of my favorite couples came over and had tea with us on yesterday and we were able to have some lemon lavender scones. You can find the recipe at Baking Obsession. I was able to replace about 1/2 cup of flour with whole grains and coconut milk kefir instead of buttermilk. The dough was pretty sticky in comparison to other scones I've made, but the finished product was delicious!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special, especially my husband and bubby!

Some Great Gooey Cinnamon Rolls

I must say, these cinnamon rolls that I made this morning were GREAT! They were my first ever cinnamon rolls and they were probably the healthiest I have ever eaten. I'm not saying they're healthy per se, just comparatively healthy when set up next to your traditional gooey cinnamon roll. We used raw sugar, coconut milk, whole grains, etc. So here's the recipe! Have fun!


Recipe adapted from AllRecipes Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon raw sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 1/3 cup ground coconut
•  
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (you can make your own raw brown sugar by putting raw sugar in a food processor and adding molasses, little by little until it is the color and texture that you want)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, divided
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Warm the coconut milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter and salt; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm. Mix flours and grains together in a separate bowl or measuring cup.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture, milk mixture, eggs and 1 1/2 cup flour mixture; stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in oven on low (170 degrees) until doubled in volume, about 45 min.
4. While dough is rising, melt 3/4 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in 3/4 cup brown sugar, whisking until smooth. Pour into greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle bottom of pan with 1/2 cup pecans; set aside. Melt remaining butter; set aside. Combine remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup pecans, and cinnamon; set aside.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, roll into an 18x14 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter, leaving 1/2 inch border uncovered; sprinkle with brown sugar cinnamon mixture. Starting at long side, tightly roll up (start in the corners and work toward the middle while rolling then work out toward the corners and back in; be sure to roll tightly), pinching seam to seal. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. With a piece of thread, cut into 15 pieces (pull thread under the roll and then wrap around and pull tight to cleanly cut the piece); place cut side down, in prepared pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in volume. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes, then flip onto serving platter. Scrape remaining filling from the pan onto the rolls.

YUM!

To Catch Up

After not posting for awhile, I feel the need to catch up and then hopefully I can be a bit more consistent about this blogging business. Because, you know...I do enjoy it and it is one of the few ways that I keep track of what has happened.
SO. The past few weeks have been super busy and incredibly fun! Let's start with the end of May, shall we? Over Memorial Day weekend we were able to go on an extended weekend vacation. First we went down and visited Mama and Papa Gilmore. The two days with them were filled with fun things - such as, visited to Grandmother Gilmore's to herd baby ducks, swimming and train rides (definitely doing that again!). Then we went on up to Winona Lake for a couple days hosted by our great friend Joe. Fun things included geocaching, tubing, ice cream, and boating (with Elliot saying "woohoo" for most of his first boat ride and being very concerned about people falling off the tubes for most of his second boat ride - he kept saying "Hepp! hepp!" because we were supposed to help them if they fell off...obviously!) Then we went a little bit farther up to Goshen and visited Prairie Trail Herb Farm to get some lavender!!! So fun! They had a plethora of lavender! We also picked up some patchouli....why? Because they had it, and it's cool. THEN! They had this health market right across the street where we were able to pick up a bunch of cool herbs for SUPER cheap, with which I made my first herbal tea! And it was actually good!
The following week was filled with Naturally Free prep to get ready for our first little festival at Stream Cliff Herb Farm. Let me just say that if you have never been to this place, you should DEFINITELY go! It is absolutely beautiful and we had great success there!
That was also the week of our first CSA pick-up! I LOVE our CSA....Victory Acres. And I've found a great website that helps me know what to do with all the stuff I get there. Check out the Crisper Whisperer on SeriousEats.com.
This last week was Evan and I's anniversary week! It's been three years and he is still aMAZing!!! We kind of did a bunch of fun things throughout the week to celebrate, which was nice because then we didn't feel like we had to make sure to get everything in all in one day. I have some beautiful roses still blooming on my kitchen table...and a spa gift that is calling my name! :)