Cinnamon Roll Recipe

As per Landee's request:

To be clear--I make the dough in my bread maker but I'm sure it works by hand.

1 1/2 C warm water

2 TBL vegetable oil

1 TBL sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 cups flour

t TBL dry yeast

1 TBl Gluten (very cheap at Winco bulk isle)

The gluten makes for much lighter rolls.

Let rise, roll out-add LOTS of melted, cooled butter and brown sugar and cinnamon--nuts and/or raisins if you like.

Roll up in a log. I cut with dental floss.

Place on buttered cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until light brown (sorry, I never time it--just look)

After they come out of the oven place another cookie sheet upside down on top and turn over. Transferring the rolls to another pan with the sticky side "up" is crucial. Otherwise you'll be chiseling them off the pan once they're cooled. Frost with a glaze of powdered sugar thinned with milk to your preferred consistency. Not as detailed as some recipes but that's how I roll folks. Enjoy!!

Cooking With Clara--cinnamon rolls extraordinaire

First you work the dough--work it, work it. . . .

Then you roll the dough. . . .nice.


Add lots of brown sugar and cinnamon. . . . .(use your mouth to help get it just right)

Roll it up in to a nice log. . . . . a thing of beauty.

Slice and organize perfectly on the cookie sheet. . . . .

Bake, frost. . . .enjoy the fruits of your labor. Does it get any better? No--it does not.

Great Times. Great Times.

Last weekend was super fun, what with Kevin and his family visiting, cousins playing and great together-time. Case in point. . . . . these boys picked tons of grapefruit from my tree. What's fun about that? 1. climbing the tree 2. throwing the grapefruit down 3. climbing the tree 4. collecting and counting 5. climbing the tree 6. washing, polishing, making a mess and having fun. THAT' what's fun about that!


We made a visit to the cemetery. First time they had seen Cris' headstone. They loved it.
And then there was some work to be done--Kevin fancies himself as "the baby whisperer" and it only took a few minutes to win over this baby. They are now BFF's/


Gratuitous picture of my Gramma skills. This is how you keep a hungry/tired baby happy til mommy gets back. Round and round the block. Works like a charm.
Great times--great times.

For those of you living in the snow. . . .

Picked from the trees in my back yard--temperature 65 degrees. Was that mean?

Princess Kimmi--You ROCK!!

FYI--This is Princess Kimmi (my niece) last July holding Grahammy Bear. Are we all clear on who she is? Good

Background story: Last year many aunts and girl cousins decided to contribute quilt squares for a Jeppson Family quilt. That is to say--each person made 18 of the same square and then we all exchanged squares at the reunion. Kimmerz (aka Princess Kimmi) suggested we offer her master sewing services at the family auction for those who didn't want to make their own quilt. Genius!!! I was the first and highest hand raised. Here is the finished product--lovingly assembled by Princess Kimmi and quilted by Uncle Jack (my brother, aka RQM= Real Men Quilt). The pictures doesn't do it justice. Each square is a work of art by the contributor and Kimmerz' borders, corners, filler squares are perfect. Enlarge the picture for maximum pleasure and enjoy the videos. I had to upload it in two parts because the file was too large to send in one piece.







Clara said it all. Thanks Kimmerz. You ROCK!!

Always in my Heart---Always

He left us 6 months ago today---but is never far away.

Cabo recap

As you can see by my face---it was a good Christmas this year. Fun, relaxing, interesting and memorable.
"Wild Canyon Adventures". It's this incredible adventure with 8 zip lines across a canyon. The lines are long--and fast--and super fun. The hard part is the hiking and climbing it requires to get to each line. Kudo's to all of us for enjoying/enduring the adventure.

Proof!!! It was AWESOME.


Sometimes you go tandem, sometimes single. The more weight on the line the faster you slide.

Memzy is having fuuuuuuunnnnn.

Riley was a pro and super helpful. He carried those very heavy "handles" from line to line.

The Man.

Carlitos was ALL over it. The faster the better.

Crackers had fun too.

Swimming with the dolphins. It looked awesome.

Christmas dinner at "La Fonda". It was really good, local food.

Some people insist on wearing socks with their flip flops. Weird.

Awww--the beaches were beautiful.

These are the condos we stayed in. Ours was a ground level one across from this one.

This is the view from our roof-top patio.
Whale watching boat. It was so much fun and beautiful. We saw several whales but they're too far away to take pictures.

Relaxing on the boat deck.

This kid has moves. . . . . .

Sadly, it had to end eventually. It was so much fun and made the holidays wonderful. Thanks so much to Memzy and Shed for inviting me along.