Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

so I tried a new recipe a few weeks ago and loved it and I thought I would share since it is chilly weather and perfect for it! this recipe comes to you courtesy of a food blog I came across. pretty much AMAZING! hope it helps you enjoy the cold weather a little easier if you are not as excited about it as I am! :)

Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 5 1/2 cups flour, divided
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup nutella
• Cinnamon

For the glaze (for three 8″ pans of rolls):

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 6 Tbsp milk

In a large pot, whisk together the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. Scald the mixture (heat until just about to boil), and then turn off the heat. Let cool 45 minutes to an hour. When the mixture is lukewarm, whisk in the yeast and let it begin to dissolve. Stir in 4 1/2 cups of the flour, and then cover and let rise at least an hour.

Next, add in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Turn out on to a floured surface and gently knead in the extra cup of flour. Form the dough into a rough rectangle and roll thin, maintaining the rectangular shape. In a small bowl, add the nutella. Cut the butter into chunks and then add it to the bowl as well. Microwave on low heat just until the butter melts. Stir until smooth.

Spread the nutella and butter mixture over the rolled out dough and follow with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough toward you, keeping it as tight as possible. Pinch the seam to seal it at the end. It’s okay if some of the filling oozes out.

Spray three 8" round foil cake pans with cooking spray. Cut the rolls approximately 3/4" to 1" thick, and lay them in the pans. Let rise 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the rolls 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown. To make the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar and milk and stir until smooth; it should be thick. Split the glaze between the three pans and generously drizzle it over the warm rolls.

SNOW!!!

Snow is here again! and that means skiing, snuggling up in blankets, hot chocolate, skiing, snowmen, Hershey's candy cane kisses, skiing, holiday baked treats, comfy sweaters, skiing, almost the end of semester, snow angels and oh, did I mention skiing..? I'm so excited! :) winter is my favourite time of the year! I was up at the ski resort getting all set up for another year of ski patrol, and it got me even more excited. there isn't a ton of snow up there right now and skiing won't be too terribly wonderful next week when the resort opens, but I'm excited regardless. another year of faceshots coming, I can feel it now! :) I got my skis all tuned in anticipation for the lovely little flakes to start falling. on a side note, I have been slightly obsessed with this song lately.. I already loved it before, but then fell in love with it all over again with the way these two did the cover for it.

Time for School again

It's that time of the year again, time for Fall semester to get underway. this semester is different, however. it's my LAST fall semester of my undergraduate career!! :) yay! it's about time too.. been a long time coming. there's something to be said about the smell of new books, the feel of new pens, and all new syllabii being read for a whole week... haha not much changes. but there is a bit of excitement in the air for a new semester. however, give it another week and people are going to be complaining about homework and tests already; the smell of new books and the feel of new pens will have worn off by then. good luck to all the rest of you out there starting another fun-filled semester at college!

Life is Messy

do you ever wonder when things are going to happen in your life? like when you are ever going to graduate college(or simply decide on a major for some), when you are going to have a career instead of just jobs to get you by, when you are going to have a significant other, when you are going to buy a house, the list goes on. don't get me wrong, I love the things going on in my life, but sometimes I play the wondering game. tonight was one of those nights for me. I have a lot of great things going for me right now; I have a wonderful job that is giving me experience I can't put a price on, I have a fabulous family that will stand by me through anything, I have many little luxuries that I don't always deserve, I have some amazing friends that would do anything for me, I have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and I have the opportunity to get a higher education. so honestly I have no reason to complain, and I'm not, however I wonder when the next steps of life are going to cross my path and what they might be.

Chair-lift porch swing? yes please!

I am the proud owner of a ski lift chair!!! :)

This is my project for the summer- to figure out how to turn this chair into a porch swing. It's going to be amazing! :) Park City took out one of their two-man chairs and decided to put a three-man chair in so they sold all the chairs from the two-man. as soon as they told the employees that they were selling the chairs, all 90 chairs were sold in a matter of 24 hours! so I feel lucky to have gotten one. I've poked around online and found a few variations on ways to frame a ski chair into a swing, and I'm not sure which I like better- wood or metal. I like how durable the metal frames look, but I also love the natural mountain-y feel of the wood frame, so I'm torn. Do I want to go with painted, not painted, wood or metal.. I just don't know! here are some pics of two variations that I have found so far.

I really like both options and think I might end up with a combination of the two, however I still have no idea how I am going to get it made and who will be able to do it for me. So I guess I just need to look around for people who would be willing to help me come up with an idea for the most reasonable price. any ideas anyone?? :) all I can say is whenever it gets made, I will never want to get off it.

Got me some Faceshots this year!

Another ski season is drawing to an end. my skis are up in the corner of my room looking very lonely. but on the bright side, that means that another school semester is coming to an end as well! :) and also a clean room and organization.. always seems to come around when I have finals to study for. haha but here are a few of my highlights of the 2010-2011 ski season:

Super Deep snow last day of the season! that sign is pretty tall and it's half-buried

Riding up the Jupiter Chair for a lovely powder morning! :)

Me in my Patrol outfit

Hiking up to the Peak

at Snowbird on a wonderful powder morning!

Sitting atop one of my favourite views on the moutain, at the top of the peak

It's been a wonderful Ski season and I'm so glad we had so much snow this year! its always fun to have a powder day and we had endless amounts of them this year :)

Taking Counsel

so I know I just posted about an hour ago, but I had one of those 'ah ha!' moments and had to share. I've grown up my whole life knowing that we cannot know all the mysteries of God, nor can we map out our whole life step by step and expect it to come out exactly as we plan; that's not God's way. As I was reading the Book of Mormon tonight I came across some verses that just re-iterated that fact to me. in Jacob 4: 8-10, Jacob puts these facts very eloquently.

"Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How un-searchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him: wherefore bretheren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of his word, man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, adn to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, accounting to his will and pleasure? Wherefore, bretheren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel form his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom and in justice and in great mercy over all his works"

In layman's terms, Jacob is telling us that God is all powerful and created us and everything in this world, and if he is powerful enough to create us, then he is powerful enough to make anything happen. So who are we kidding when we make our own plans and tell God what is going to happen! as we trust in His will and allow things to come as they may, we will have the comfort of knowing that all things are done in His wisdom and power. He is kind, loving, and merciful, but most of all, knows what is best for each of us individually. I have been formulating my own plan in my head for the past year or so as to what is going to happen in my future, and as important as it is to make our own decisions and plan out what we can, it is even more important to allow God to reveal things to us that He knows should happen in our lives. He knows me better than I know myself.