After a crazy July that included three nights in a hotel because of fumes in our apartment from renovations being done next door, a week of Vacation Bible School, a trip to visit family in NJ and a longer trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Great Smokey Mountains , to Norris Damn in Tennessee and side trips to Cumberland Gap and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge TN, we are back home and slowly settling in and getting back into our family rhythm. Bed times are getting earlier, I’m babysitting again after a three week break and things are going more smoothly. While most of our July activities were pretty fun, they did leave our whole family feeling really unbalanced and out of sync and I think we have all welcomed our return to rhythm.
One big thing that I had been wanting to implement in terms of rhythm, but had not been completely successful with was establishing a baking day. I decided that our baking day should be on Saturday so that we can have some fresh baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday mornings as we are heading off to church. This also is an effort to get us to eat a little healthier on Sunday mornings. Cinnamon rolls made with xylitol and whole wheat bread seem a bit healthier to me than the doughnuts we are otherwise tempted to grab at church. They also make a quick easy breakfast for the one day of the week that we tend to sleep in a little. This week W and I made pumpkin pie brioche dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I also used their recipe for cream cheese and honey frosting, but used maple syrup instead. For the cinnamon roll filling I used a mixture of xylitol, cinnamon and coconut oil. Because the dough needs to set, I ended up making the bread (for French toast) and the cinnamon rolls out and baking them in the evening after W was in bed. W and I did however also make a queens cake which is a type of pound cake that is flavored with citrus and has currants mixed all though the batter. The recipe comes from a little cookbook sold at Colonial Williamsburg. It’s a special cake to me since the favors at my wedding included a little package of mini queen’s cakes.
W loves “baking day” and I realized it was really the first time I’d done very much baking with him. He thought the mixing and stirring was so much fun and he is such a little helper in the kitchen. Ultimately my goal is to make up the bread dough for sandwich bread and brioche the evening before so that W can help shape and bake our bread and treats, and then to make one other item that he can help me to mix up on baking day. I think this stands to be a really wonderful part of our family’s weekly rhythm!
Oh, and the cinnamon rolls were sooooo good!!!
ohhh they look amazing!!!!!
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