Tuesdays At The Table - Cinnamon Rolls

Happy Tuesday!  I have a little confession.  I LOVE breakfast foods!  Some of the best foods are typically served at breakfast - but I really like to do breakfast for dinner.  :-)  Here is one of my all time favorites.

For our first theme week - I'm hoping you can share your favorite dessert next week.  What do you think?

Cinnamon Rolls

1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons shortening
3 cups of self-rising flour
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of butter (or margarine) softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup pecans (chopped)

Cut shortening into flour with pastry blender (or a fork or two) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead lightly.

Roll dough into a 20x14-inch rectangle; spread the softened butter on dough, leaving a border of about 1/2-inch. Combine sugar and cinnamon; mix well, and sprinkle over butter. Top with pecans and roll up jelly roll fashion (starting on one of the long sides); press edges and ends together securely. Cut into 1 inch slices; place cut side down in a buttered 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes.

Vanilla Glaze
1 1/4 cup powered sugar
3 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoons vanilla

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla; drizzle over warm rolls.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Checkin' In...

Hi Gang!  Thank you all so much for your words of support over the past few days. They mean so much to me.

Mom is doing well.  Really well. Like "holy crap" well.  Surgery went off without a hitch on Thursday and she woke up from anesthesia talking.  Friday morning we discovered that her drain had a leak.  That sucker got fixed quickly!

Saturday morning she came home, and is resting comfortable.

Now, let me share something with you that struck me funny.  Our hospital is a teaching hospital.  It's not uncommon that you get asked the same question by 5 or 6 different people (nurse, surgical nurse, nurse anesthesiologist, head anesthesiologis, surgeon & surgical resident).  Mom's fabulous surgeon - Dr. Nimkar has a new surgical resident.  She's so new that she didn't remember what Dr. Nimkar looked like, took the chart out of Dr. Nimkar's hands (presuming that she was the nurse; not that it makes it right!!) and proceeded to ask if we had seen Dr. Nimkar yet.  Dumbass!!

Surgery Day...

Hello, lovely ladies.  It's Thursday; surgery day for my sweet mom.

I know it sounds weird...but I'm kind of excited!  This mastectomy - while painful and invasive, will mean that margin revisions are all over with and mom can move forward with her other treatments.  One more step to being cancer-free.  :-)

She's ready.  No second thoughts. And I'm proud of her!

I've already threatened my brother and father that if they drink or eat in front of her (you think it's funny - I've seen the nastiness that occurred the last time my dad did it) pre-op - that I will kill them.  Or throw them out into the waiting room.  My choice.  Or mom's.  Whatever works.

I also have two books, knitting and my Nintendo DS ready for what is going to be a very long day.  I'd like to bring my computer... but I know that I have a hard time sitting still and don't want to lug my laptop with me on walks.  I will be tweeting though - so feel free to distract me from time to time.

If you are so inclined, please keep my mom in your thoughts/prayers.  I appreciate it, and I know that she does too.

Tuesdays At The Table - Corny Chicken Bake

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  Can you believe it's February all ready?  The year is flying!  Be on the lookout at the end of the month for a special TATT theme week.  :-)

I admit it.  I'm a Taste of Home junkie.  The first time or two, I follow the recipe to a "T".  But I'm not much of a rule follower in the kitchen and find it hard to do the same thing twice.  Below is a recipe that is from the Winter 2010 magazine, and my adjustments in italics.

Corny Chicken Bake

3 cups crushed corn bread stuffing
1 can (14 3/4 oz) cream style corn
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 celery rib, chopped
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1 can chicken stock
zest and juice of an orange

I doubled this recipe.

In a large bowl, combine the stuffing, corn, onion, celery and chicken stock. Spoon into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish.  Top with chicken.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, mustard and orange zest & juice.  Spoon over the chicken.  Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

January Book List & Contemplating A Swap

I can't believe how fast January has flown by.  Anyone else wondering where the month went? 

I got some pretty cool responses from my 2009 book list.  Two authors thanked me for reading their books.  How cool is that?!?!  I'm always looking for new books to read - so if you have something on your booklist that seems good - let me know!  I'd love to read it too and compare notes.  :-)

Here's my book list for January:

1. Hunted - P.C & Kristin Cast
2. Tempted - P.C & Kristin Cast
3. Dear John - Nicholas Sparks
4. Pilgrims - Elizabeth Gilbert
5. Souvenir - Therese Fowler
6. The Secret of Everything - Barbara O'Neal
7. Blue Bloods - Melissa de la Cruz
8. Masquerade - Melissa de la Cruz
9. Revelations - Melissa de la Cruz
10. Why Moms Are Weird - Pamela Ribon
11. Jupiter's Bones - Faye Kellerman
12. High Tea - Sandra Harper

I wondering if I should start doing book reviews...but think you all might throttle me if I reviewed every book I read.

Now that everyone has made it past the holidays and can breathe a little, I think I want to host a swap.  I mentioned it on Twitter earlier in the week, and want the opinion of those of you aren't my Twitter followers (yet).  :-)  My ideas are: favorite book, stationery, favorite movie, journal, or cookbook swap.  Do you have any other ideas?  I want something easy, fun and perhaps a little spring-y.  Could you envision participating if one of these were chosen?

I See Dumb People....

OK... I'm pretty careful not to complain about work or give away clues as to my company's name.  Today, I'm breaking my self-imposed rules and having a *quick* bitch session.  Bear with me.

Dear, sweet co-worker B - you get emails for a reason.  Most of us know that emails are intended to READ.  Telling me and co-worker C that you don't read them - ON PURPOSE doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Furthermore, declaring with pride that if it's too long or you don't know the sender that you immediately delete said email ticks me off.

We have jobs that require we pay attention.  And not only read, but respond and archive our emails.  I have every.single.email since I started with my company 6 years ago (except for a month of emails that got wiped out in 2007 during a computer upgrade...but let's not go there).  It makes me wonder if you're going to hang up on people if you don't think the questions they are asking pertain to you.  I'd also like you to please pay attention to the details.  We know it isn't fun sometimes - but you get paid to know what is going on with your customer.  Suck it up, buttercup.  Just sayin'.

On another note...I *stupidly* did the math on how much I worked in 2009.  Somehow, I fit just short of 16 months worth of work into a 12 month span.  And I find myself wonder how in the world I did it. Seriously!  I took three of my four weeks of vacation. It could have been worse if I gave up more PTO time.  The final thought on this... Um, can someone please PAY ME for all the extra hours I put in?  Being a salaried employee sucks sometimes.

My rant has ended. Sigh.

But while I'm talking about work - let me share that I don't know what I'm going to do in April.  Co-worker C is going on maternity leave.  I'm so, so, so happy for her!!  She's my sanity at work though.  We're really alike in a lot of ways.  I know that if something is bugging me; it's highly likely that it's bugging her too and vice versa.  I'm going to have to bribe her to bring the baby in to visit - so I can see what is likely to be one of the cutest babies in history and so I can do a microrant.  :-)

Is anyone else having a craptastic time at work lately?

THANK YOU

Last week I did a post about my mom having breast cancer.  I did it "for me", thinking that I wouldn't get much response.

I was sooooo wrong, and it made me realize just how much I love you guys.  From the bottom of my heart - thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you for letting me share; thank you for being supportive; more than anything - THANK YOU for every single comment, every single email, all the prayer and positive thoughts.  You are all amazing!  You shared your thoughts, your opinions, and your experiences.  YOU MADE ME CRY (in a good way)!!  I am so proud to know each of you.  If you lived closer, you'd get hugs and baked goods as tokens of my appreciation.  Let me know if you move closer - both the hugs and baked goods offer are open invitations.  :-)

And now, for a status report....

Mom has heard from her surgeon with some not so great news.  The margins still aren't clear.  Her breast surgeon is fantastic and very informative about the three available options.

1. Proceed with chemo and radiation & see if that kills the still cancerous cells.
2. Opt to have another margin revision.
3. Move forward with a mastectomy.

After some careful thought, mom has decided for a mastectomy.  She is sure of herself and her decision...and we are sure of her.  Surgery is next Thursday.  It's still up in the air if reconstructive surgery will happen now or later.  Either way - she wants her boob job!  Come on.  If you're maintaining a positive attitude through all these procedures - you've earned a boob job!  :-)