night stand redo

I found a cheap nightstand at Goodwill so bought it spiders and all.
Then realized it stunk like an old barn and possibly other things so I let it sit in the garage for awhile. Then I deep cleaned it and let it sit awhile longer. Then I gave up on thinking I could get the smell out and just decided I would cover it with Primer and paint.
I forgot a before picture until I started working.And TA DA! The End result!Not to shabby right?

Christmas Coffee Cake

Since I can remember my dad would make this Coffee Cake every Christmas Eve for us to enjoy Christmas morning. Since I no longer live close to my parents I now make it for my family. The recipe makes 4 sticks and between my family and my sisters we can easily devour them all.

You can choose to do a simple filling like apple or cheery pie but what I really like is my dad's thick creamy pudding and some raspberry. Take a look at the yumminess!

I only make this at Christmas to keep it a tradition, keep our waistline, and avoid overkilling it for everyone else. (I'm not sure if you could ever eat too much of it but I never want to know.)
But in case you are looking for something unique and VERY YUMMY feel free to try it for yourself!

Candy Cane coffee cake (Mom Hacking Betty Crocker Cook Book)

2 Cups dairy sour cream

2 packages active dry yeast (1 package =2 ¼ tsp)

½ Cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

¼ cup Softened margarine or butter

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 tsp. Salt

2 eggs

About 6 Cups of Flour

Heat sour Cream over low heat just until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, ¼ Cup Butter, the sugar, salt eggs, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto well floured surface; knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour.

Heat Oven to 375 degrees. Punch down dough; divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into a rectangle, 15x6 inches; place in greased baking sheet. With scissors, make 2 inch cuts at ½ inch intervals on long sides of rectangles.

Fill with desired filling (apple pie filling, pudding and rasp)

Crisscross strips over filling stretch dough to 22 inches.

Bake 15 to 20 Minutes or until golden brown. While warm, brush with butter and drizzle canes with thin icing. Makes 4 sticks.

Rich Vanilla Pudding (I 1 and 1/2 or double the pudding since I like A LOT!)

(Modification by David Hacking)

3/4 Cup sugar

2 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1cup milk

1 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs (well beaten)

2 Tablespoon butter (a little more if you want)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Microwave: in quart casserole blend sugar, cornstarch & salt. stir in milk, mixing well. Micro on high 5 to 7 minutes stirring every 3 until thickened.

Stir small amount of hot pudding into eggs then pour eggs into mix stirring well. Micro 1 to 3 minutes until smooth & thick. add butter & vanilla.

Or you can do it on the stove top. Just cook in the order it calls for and keep stirring so it doesn't stick to bottom of pan.

So after a long wait you get egg bread!

Sorry for the delay in posting. (For the two of you who read this! LOL) I have a few projects that I still have yet to post but life has gotten in the way of many new ones.
Today I just wanted to post about a "comfort food". With the craziness that has been going on it does not change the fact that one must eat and one day when I looked in the fridge and only saw eggs and bread I remembered one of my child hood memories. Egg bread.
Basically you butter a piece of bread, cut a hole in the middle (I used a child cup to do this but you could use a biscuit cutter) Put on a warm skillet crack an egg in the middle and cook to desired doneness (I know it isn't a word.)I like mine runny so I can dip the crust in it. And I like jam on the buttery rounds.Some like ketchup some like syrup. You can decide.
What is one of the foods that you made as a child?

Making a Sewing/craft Table

I have been putting my sewing machine on the computer desk to sew. No it is not fun but it beats having to clean it up every time nap time ends. So when I came across this Tutorial at Running with Scissors I knew it was about time I built a sewing/craft table. We already had an extra Bi-fold door in the garage so I thought I was in fat city. I bought the wood and built the base. I was SO excited when the base turned out as this is the first piece of furniture I have ever built!So you can only imagine my Horror, disgust, anger, frustration, embarrassment when I put the door on top of my table base only to realize that my door was smaller than the one in the tutorial and did not even cover my newly built base. I guess I thought of everything but to measure my door.I went back and forth on what to do. I had an old coffee table I could use the top of but I would still have to redo the base since the base was a door height in length (nearly 80 inches). The Hubs said "just go buy a piece of wood to go on top" but really that went against my "plan" to do it cheap and with what we had on hand.
Then I saw two heavy press board shelves that a neighbor had given us for garage shelving but that we ended up not needing. We had no use for them so TA DA my new table top. Sounds easy enough but the shelves had divots on each side so I have to saw each side and then try to match the two piece as close as possible so I wouldn't have a huge seam in the middle of my table. It was another gut wrenching experience. I always thought sawing a straight line would be so easy but I guess I need more work at it because it took me a long time to get the two pieces close to flush (that is right not even perfect.)
I did still make one big mistake. I was getting frustrated when attaching the top to the base. The screws were just not working and I could not figure out why (really lack of skill and knowledge was mainly to blame). So at one point I took a big nail and hammered it into the table. The only problem is I didn't countersink before doing this and after realizing my mistake I was not able to get it out so my table does have one little round nail head on the top hahaha. I also didn't know how to countersink nails so I left the nail heads exposed primed and painted it but then was talking to a friend who told me how to countersink so I did that and then had to repaint it. But then I put the wrong protective coating on it which turned it yellow so I had to sand it all down and paint it again.
Lets say it is far from perfect but for my first time building a piece of furniture I think I did pretty well with what I had!I only show you half the table because the other half has all my sewing and craft stuff piled all over crazily until I get a chance to finish projects and organize. Once I get things more organized and hopefully decorated I will take a picture!

Easy to make 2X4 Pumpkins!

I love fall decor that can go up in October an not come down until you decorate for Christmas. Pumpkins are one of those items that fill this slot. So when I was directed by some good friends to this Tutorial over at Brown Paper Packages I could not resist. I had a bunch of beat up 2x4's in the garage that needed to be used so really this was perfect! (If you look at the middle pumpkin you will see there are two nail holes in it they were use 2X4's but they had character!)
So grab your saw or just say please to the man at home depot and ask if he would do it and make your pumpkins today!

Old Fashioned Overnight Cinnamon rolls

The only Cinnamon rolls I have ever made were special allergy free ones. I have since always wanted to try making some so when I came across the recipe I decided now was the time. What I love about this recipe is you can do the work and the mess at night and have it cleaned up and so in the morning you get a huge reward of a clean kitchen and Yummy Cinnamon rolls! (You can make them in the morning and let them rise all morning-afternoon and cook them in the evening as well.)

I was lucky enough to have the sun rising when they came out of the oven! What a great day it was! (if only blogs had smells!)
This recipe also tells you how to do an orange roll which I will try in the near future! You can make them with cream cheese frosting too!

OLD FASHIONED OVERNIGHT CINNAMON ROLLS Makes 24

Ingredients:	2 1/2 Tbsp yeast 1 c warm water 2 3/4 c flour 1 c non-fat powdered milk powder 1 c instant mashed potato flakes 1 c sugar 2 tsp salt 2 eggs 1/2 c butter, melted 2 1/2 c water 5 - 7 1/2 c flour Cinnamon Filling: 3 Tbsp melted butter 1/4 c. brown sugar 1/4 c white sugar 1 Tbsp cinnamon Orange Filling: 1 stick softened butter 3/4 c. white sugar grated rind of one orange Icing: 1 1/2 c powdered sugar 2 Tbsp softened butter 1/4 tsp vanilla 2-4 Tbsp milk
Directions:	Dissolve yeast in 1 c. warm water. Set aside. Combine the next set of ingredients (2 3/4 c flour to the salt). Mix on medium speed for 10 seconds and then add the next set of ingredients (2 eggs to 2 1/2 c water). MIx on medium speed for 10 seconds then add the yeast mixture and 5 - 7 1/2 c. flour. When it is done mixing and kneading (6 minutes of kneading), let it rise until double (about 2 hours). Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll the first into a rectangle 18 x 15 inches. Spread filling of choice evenly over the dough. Roll the dough. Cut into 1 1/4 inch wide slices. Place on pan leaving plenty of room to expand. Repeat with the second portion of dough. The night before you wish to bake the rolls, place on greased pan leaving plenty of room between the rolls for expansion. Cover with cloth. Put pan in cool location to rise over night. IN the morning, bake at 350º for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Frost.

Hootenanny Pancakes

You have to make them just because their name is SO fun to say and they are so easy! This is a fun oven pancake that is fast to throw together and yummy yummy!
They are not "sweet" by themselves which means they are great wrapped around a apple chicken sausage or some fresh fruit. (Kind of like I super easy crepe).
I failed to take any pictures of the finally product we ate them so fast (once you start it is hard to stop!) But here is what they look like in the oven!

Aren't they so funny all bumpy and bubbly! I hope you enjoy some of these for Breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Hootenanny Pancakes 1 c. milk 1 c. flour 6 eggs 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 6 Tbsp butter
Directions: Heat oven to 400º Melt butter in a large cookie sheet in the oven. Whip the rest of the ingredients. Pour mixture into pan and bake 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares and serve immediately. Put fruit, jelly, jam, honey, or syrup on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.