A Recipe

I know.  This is NOT a cooking blog.  But now that I have a kitchen to cook in ...  sorry, but every now and then you're going to be hit with a recipe or two.  So here are a couple I've tried recently.

First Off:    I've had a battered newspaper clipping hanging around my recipe box forever, thinking one day I'd like to at least give it a try.  Finally succeeded on Sunday.

Cherry Pastry

Source:  Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah
Contributed by:  Kirk Soelberg - who, at the time he entered this, was a senior in high school.  That was about 20 years ago ...

What I decided:
1.  It tasted better cooled down and cut into bars instead of a large piece on a plate with whipped cream squirted all over it.
2.  It was very easy to put together.
3.  I only had a regular size can of cherry pie filling on my cupboard, but when I make this again, I'm going to try it with a large can instead.  I would have enjoyed a few more cherries.
4.  I made it with sugar-free pie filling, and that worked just fine. 
5.  I also made it with butter instead of margarine

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SECOND:  CINNAMON ROLLS

Can you smell them?  These go straight to the hips, but they are so light and so flavorful an occasional indulgence is a must.  This is a modified dinner roll recipe I got from Edna, my terrific mother-in-law who freely shares all recipes with me.  The main difference is that I added vanilla, which the original recipe doesn't include, increased the sugar from 1/2 C to 3/4 C and reduced the eggs from 3 to 2.  And of course, added all the yummy cinnamon roll toppings.  I use a Kitchen Aid mixer that's a higher power model.  Bosch mixers would work well.  I would not try to do more than the first couple of cups of flour, however, if I were using a smaller powered mixer.  The last few cups could be kneaded in by hand.  The one thing I've learned is to use time rather than additional flour to make the dough manageable.   In my convection oven I baked it at 385 degrees for about 12 minutes.

One more thing - not a recipe, just a pretty thing I did:

 Rod Works and I must come to an understanding.  I bought the green vase a while ago to put on top of the calendar holder in my kitchen.  It was very reasonably priced at around $5 and I love it.  But I didn't  have the right combination of flowers to go into it.  So yesterday I went in to get some silk flowers to make a floral arrangement for it.  $45 later I exited.  The only thing I can say is I had enough to do something in Tonya's little brown pottery and still have enough left over to plop them in a vase and use for a floral centerpiece, too.  I just fell in love with the green dahlias and the anemones.  Think I need to plant some live ones of those this year.  Why are vases so cheap and silk flowers so expensive?   Next time I'm definitely waiting until I have a coupon, or scouring Michaels for discounts, too.