Awesome Roll Recipe

I know I've been posting a lot of recipes lately and my apologies for that. I promise to get back to a variety of blog posts. I'm always on the look out for bread machine recipes and I found a really good one. Oh my golly goodness! I made these the other night and all I can say is, "wow!"  These are delicious.  Enjoy!!!

Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls (in Bread Machine) Ingredients ¼ cup warm water temp between 80-90 degrees F 1 cup milk temp between 80-90 degrees F 1 teaspoon salt 1 ½ tablespoons butter 1 egg ¼ cup sugar 3 ½ cups unbleached bread flour 1 envelope dry active yeast Method Place ingredients in bread machine in order listed. If your bread machine suggests a different order then follow that order. *Ensure your liquids are the proper temperature by using a thermometer. If liquids are too hot they will kill your yeast. Set bread machine for the dough cycle. Once complete, remove dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle with a 1/2" thickness. Fold the dough in half and let rest for 15 minutes. Use a pizza cutter and cut into 18 squares. Place on a cookie sheet (I lined mine with a silpat mat) and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. When you remove them from the oven brush the tops with butter to make them shine.

Source Must Have Mom.

I made these yesterday because I was out of chocolate chips and my youngest was dying for some cookies. They turned out really well.  Nice taste.  Like a butter cookie with a little extra.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup butter

• ½ cup packed brown sugar

• ½ cup white sugar

• 1 egg

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 ⅓ cups flaked coconut

Method

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine sugars, butter, egg and vanilla.

2. Gradually blend in the flour, baking soda, and salt, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

My Digital Art Journey

I’ve bought myself a pen tablet with the display—it’s like having my very on sketch screen—and I’m finding that it is a great way to let my brain rest from writing.  Not only that, but it seems to be helping my writing. It’s like one form of creativity boosts the the other.  I had never thought of it that way before.  I did realize that usually when a person is good in one art they often excel in other arts as well.  I started as an artist, ended up a dancer and now a writer.  

I no longer dance and yes I miss it, especially tap which was my preferred genre of dance, but I have started dabbling in art again. I’m determined to learn how to do digital art.  And oddly, just getting into that has made be drag out my sketchbooks and my watercolors.  I’m also thinking about buying some oils and canvas. But I digress.  I am going to learn how to do art on the computer. So far so good, but it’s definitely different.  

Shading and coloring is both easier and harder on the computer.  Harder because the colors don’t bleed like on paper and smudging is not as natural...  But if you mess up you just press undo, go to your last saved, or delete the layer. 

Sketching? umm... yeah...  LOL  It takes getting used to. With a rubber nib on the stylus you get more drag, like a real pencil, but I have to admit I still prefer good ole paper and graphite. And lets face it kneaded erasers have always been fun to play with. 

So I’m dabbling again and I couldn’t be happier.  I guess the point I’m trying to make is, you should always do a little something for you.  Don’t get so bogged down in work that you forget to have fun.  Having fun feeds the muse!  And a happy muse gives you really good material!  And for those of you who aren’t writers?  It’s good for you too.  I encourage you to find something just for you and have fun with it.

I’ve decided to share some of my failures and triumphs on my digital art journey on my tumbler account for those of you who are interested. You can find it here: JL's Tumbler Blog along with my first post.  My digital Bob Ross painting :)