New Year Intuition

I write this as I am currently waiting for pizzas (plural, yes) to be delivered to me. I was craving some real food and since my kitchen is full of ham leftovers, eggs, and bread, I wanted to "splurge" and get something delicious. I figure that I am listening to my intuition to get some veggies and cheese goodness but not so intuitive on spending the money.

I think the biggest thing beyond just having new year's resolutions is listening to what your inner voice tells you. Our intuition is often so overshadowed by what we think we should be doing and what we think other people want us to do. Most of the time when we listen to ourselves, we know what is right and what will make us happy.

It hasn't been the most productive few days into 2011 for me but I know that this is just the lull. This lull comes after a week of just hanging out at home (save for a few errand days), not having the attention span to work on bigger projects, and also just seeing my syllabus for one class last night. Oh, it is starting yet again! As I looked over the pages and pages (and pages) of reading to do for next Monday and what my life will be like for the next four months, I had some doubt of how successful I would be. Isn't that terrible? One email and some slacking behavior and I am already questioning my future! It's ridiculous.

So I must constantly remind myself this year that even as I complete (or don't) my goals, I am doing what is best for myself and listening to my inner voice. There are some days which I know I can do better and there will be some days that I am a straight-up rock star. Today may be more the former than the latter but it's all good.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” --Albert Einstein 

“I feel there are two people inside me - me and my intuition. If I go against her, she'll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely.” --Kim Basinger 

     “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." --Alan Alda

“Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer.” --Robert Graves

Sugar Heaven

Again, looking at my Food Bucket List, I wanted to attack something that always intimidated me but something warm and comforting as well. Cinnamon Rolls.

I grew up strictly enjoying the taste of cinnamon rolls via the Pillsbury tube. They were always delicious and indulgent but seeing those huge cinnamon rolls also left something to be desired.

I am totally intimidated by baking or cooking with yeast. It freaks me out! There is temperature and freshness and all sorts of things to think about. I feel like maybe, just maybe, I have actually conquered it though! I have proof....just see my fridge and freezer! Okay, on to the pictures.

I used the much talked about and applauded Pioneer Woman's recipe via RhodeyGirlTests. She divided the recipe in half which turned out to be so much more than enough. I substituted one cup of whole wheat pastry flour for one of the cups of all purpose flour and added in some walnuts to the filling. I also WAY overdid it on the cinnamon but I happen to love me some crazy cinnamon action so nothing too bad.

They turned out great AND I have some in the freezer in case I want some sugary goodness on a random Wednesday morning.
**Note: the wine bottle is there as a substitute rolling pin. I wasn't drinking and baking, no sir. Well, at least not this time!

Cookies Galore

Yes, my first post of 2011 (yikes!) is going to be about Christmas baking. I have a huge queue of blogging ideas but haven't gotten around to any of them yet. Be prepared-I will be catching up this weekend!

So from my Food Bucket List, I have started to make progress. One of the things on there was to make sugar cookies and frosting from scratch. I totally wasn't feeling the baking vibe but decided that I should just try and see how far I get. I made chocolate peppermint cookies and Mama Pea's Cookie Dough Balls. For the sugar cookies, I used the recipe from Bake at 350. I will say that although the frosting came out decently well, I definitely undercooked the cookies which resulted in them being way too soft. Good to know for next time!

I don't have step-by-step instructions since Bake at 350 does that very well but here are some of my designs:

A little shout-out to my new state

Recently discovered the MACRO setting on my camera!

Naked!