Homegrown Mom

In Which I Come Clean…

May 24, 2011 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Homemaking for Girls

If you’ve been following the Homemaking for Girls Series, you might have noticed something is a little off. I intended to post daily in May, but I haven’t actually been doing that. Instead, I’ve been getting posts in as I can. We’ll still be having 30+posts on Homemaking for Girls, but they’re not going to be delivered as seamlessly as I’d hoped.

I thought I might just squeak by without anyone noticing, but that doesn’t feel honest. And while I doubt that the majority of you would even notice, I am thinking of the lone one or two that might be wondering, What the heck?

But my regular peeps probably aren’t surprised. (I can hear you now: “Oh honey, we saw this one coming. 30 Days in a row? Puh-lease!”)

The truth if it is, Homegrown Mom is an active, exciting, wonderful part of my life that feeds my creative spirit and is a big part of what I consider my ministry.

However, my first and foremost ministry is my family. I don’t always do the greatest job of balancing the two, and if I’m going to err, I try to err on the side of neglecting the blog as opposed to the other way around. And let me be clear, sometimes it is the other way around. I screw up both ways.

If you know me and love me, then you know I am not one of those supermom bloggers that can rise before dawn, work from home, homeschool my kids, run all the errands, attend all the activities, keep my house sparkling, and plop a loaf of homemade bread on the table at the end of the day, to boot.

And I am fine with this. I gave up that dream ages ago. (Though I still somehow manage to work it out on paper occasionally. What’s up with that?) What I’m not fine with is putting something out there and not following through. So, please buy into it when I say, in my own little flaky way, this is still a 30 day series.

Just not necessarily 30 Days in a row. Wink, wink.

Three things I’ve learned this month:

1. If I ever decide to do a series again, I shall make sure I have all the content written and posted and scheduled to go out before I announce the series. Ahem.

2. Accepting guests posts is a lot more work than I realized. Kudos to those of you who run group blogs. I. could. never. The email, the email… how do you do it?

3. I really, really love my readers. Someday, all of you are going to wake up and realize I am not a professional and I have no business doing this bloggy thing. Until that day comes, I am blissfully happy to have you all here humoring me. And yes, I realize blissfully happy is somewhat redundant. But sometimes the truth is.

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Teach Your Daughters to Make Cinnamon Rolls

May 21, 2011 By Homegrown Mom Filed Under: Homemaking for Girls

Welcome to 30 Days of Homemaking for Girls at Homegrown Mom, Sponsored by Plan to Eat – Simple Meal Planning

Today’s Post is from Kristie

The ability to make yeast breads from scratch is a skill that I learned directly from my mother. I’ve often been thankful that she took the time to teach this art to her daughters.

And now, I have daughters of my own. At the ages of five and three, they love to help in the kitchen! And while it is sometimes more work for Mommy, there are so many great skills and lessons that are passed on while baking together.

Making cinnamon rolls involves a wide variety of cooking skills: stirring, kneading, using a rolling pin, and frosting. It is also an exercise in patience, as you must wait for the dough to rise. And as always, cooking is good practice for counting and measuring.

Even at their young ages, my daughters were able to help with nearly every step of the cinnamon-roll-making-process. We made a bit of a mess, but we had a lot of fun along the way!

Here’s the recipe that we used:

Combine 2 ½ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons salt,

2 packages yeast and ½ cup of melted butter. Mix well.

Then pour in 2 cups of hot tap water. Add 1 egg and beat for two minutes.

Add 3 additional cups of flour (in ½ cup increments) and stir well.

Knead in another 1 cup of flour

(or enough flour that the dough is easy to work with and not sticky.)

Place in a greased bowl and let the dough rise for 1 ½ hours.

Punch the dough down, and then let it rest for 15 minutes more.

Roll the dough out into a rectangular shape.

Cover with melted butter (about ½ a stick) and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Roll up the dough.

Cut the dough every one inch.

(This was Mommy’s job! I find it works easiest to use a steak knife.)

Place in a greased pan.

Let the cinnamon rolls rise until doubled

(approximately 40 minutes.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Now it’s time for frosting!

Mix together:

2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

½ cup milk, and 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Continue mixing until the frosting is lump-free.

Add more powdered sugar as needed, until the frosting reaches the desired thickness.

Spread the frosting across the warm cinnamon rolls.

Now, it’s time to enjoy!

My daughters love to sample our finished project and were excited to share them with Daddy when he arrived home!

As you can see, it’s never too early to start baking with your daughters. I love knowing that I am passing this skill onto the next generation. Even more, I love the conversations that we have while working together!

Kristie has been married to her fantastic husband for nearly 9 years. Together, they have two delightfully energetic daughters. She is a full-time SAHM and a part-time children’s minister in Minnesota. Kristie records her thoughts on her blog, A Mom By Any Other Name and can be found on Twitter as @mnmommy.

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Using Technology to Teach Homemaking

Welcome to 30 Days of Homemaking for Girls at Homegrown Mom, Sponsored by Plan to Eat – Simple Meal Planning Today’s Post is from Angie Technology can often be seen as the very antithesis of traditional homemaking. It can be easy to let technology take over our lives, as we may spend too much time [...]

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Two Simple Words

Welcome to 30 Days of Homemaking for Girls at Homegrown Mom, Sponsored by Plan to Eat – Simple Meal Planning Today’s Post is from Jennifer When I was a young girl, I used to be an avid letter writer. The kind of writer who sits down with pen in hand and decorative designer stationary paper [...]

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A Homemaking Co-Op

Have you thought about joining or starting a homemaking co-op? I shared a post last week on Raising Homemakers about the co-op our group is starting next year. Last year, my friend Stacy asked me if I wanted to be part of a homemaking co-op she was setting up for a few high school girls [...]

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Strawberry Scones

Welcome to 30 Days of Homemaking for Girls at Homegrown Mom, Sponsored by Plan to Eat – Simple Meal Planning Today’s Post is from Lacey There’s something about baking that just makes me happy. Maybe it’s a stress-reliever. Maybe it’s the delicious results. Maybe it’s getting to make something yummy for someone else. Whatever it [...]