Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!!

I made cinnamon rolls from scratch this morning!! They were so freaking yummy!!!! 

These are fresh out of the oven. I followed this amazing recipe that I found online a few days ago. 

Then I whipped up a little icing using butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.

My hubby and his friend were both here just as they were coming out of the oven, and at first, my hubs thought that I had just added some things to regular refrigerated cinnamon rolls. He was amazed when I said that I made the from scratch.

I have gotten nothing but yummy noises from both of them as they chowed down on these yummy, oh so yummy, cinnamon rolls! I have already been requested to make them next time friends come over in the morning. =]

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

I made my own pumpkin puree!! It looks, smells and tastes great!! Here is what I did -

First, I bought 3 small-ish pumpkins. These are called pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins at my local Whole Foods. Plus, they were on sale! Perfect for roasting and puree-ing.

I cut each pumpkin in half, scraped out all the "guts" and seeds. I didn't get all the little stringy things out, but I got the majority of them.

I flipped each half upside down in a pan, then put between 1/4" to 1/2" of water in the pan. I was told to roast the pumpkins in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. My oven apparently didn't agree with that. The first pumpkin I didn't put upside down in the pan with water, it was roasted at 350 degrees for almost 2 hours and it still wasn't completely tender. The 2nd one was roasted like the picture for 1 hours and 15 minutes at 350 degrees and was closer to tender, but not quite completely done. The 3rd one I roasted like the picture at 400 degrees for 45 minutes and it was perfect!!

Here is what it looked like coming out of the oven. It smelled lovely, the skin was wrinkled and the pumpkin was fork tender.

Both of the halves, flipped over. You can see some of my fork marks. Super soft pumpkin, nice golden yellow color..

The skin almost completely peeled off, I only had the cut it off around the top and the bottom. I cut the pumpkin up and puree-ed it in my blender. I don't have a food processor, but the pumpkin already had so much moisture in it, I didn't have to add any water. It was just a little more difficult to make in the blender, because the bottom of it where the blades are is so much smaller, but the puree came out amazing!!

This is the 3rd pumpkin!! It made a full-sized butter container of puree. Yummy!

These are the 1st and 2nd pumpkins. They were a little more water-based, but still good. I stuck the container in the fridge, waited until it was nicely cooled and then drained the excess water off the top. Yum, yum, yum!!

Here are my guts and seeds! I followed this link to make roasted pumpkin seeds. Great snack!! =]

They came out great!!

I also went ahead and baked with my pumpkin puree last night, but I'm going to do a different post in the next couple days with my own recipe I made up! =]

Sneak Peek!!

Here's what I working my butt off on yesterday! All day yesterday, actually!

This is all for my 2nd paying customer, who is actually my first felt food customer and my first non-family customer. Woot!! It's all coming out super adorable, especially since I don't follow any patterns, I just eyeball everything and see what looks right. =] I'm excited for the finished products!

Second Paying Customer!!

A friend of mine is ordering fake felt food from me, for her son for Christmas!! I'm making my list of everything I will need at the craft store before I head that way today. My goal is to have everything ready to ship out December 1st. She's getting a good amount too! And I'm very proud to say that the felt food I made for my sudo-niece is VERY kiddo-proof. It's been chewed on, stepped on, gotten wet, thrown around, ad generally played with. It's been holding up great! Nothing has come un-sewn, glue has stayed glued, all that jazz! Once I start making things for this set, I will start taking pictures and posting them.
On another note, around this time of year here in Albuquerque we have the Balloon Fiesta. Hot air balloons from all around the world flock to town, for a week long type of fair. It's been a little windy the past few days, so they haven't had the mass takeoffs that they usually do. This morning they took off from Balloon Fiesta Park, and the wind carried then straight over our apartment complex. And they started to land all around us! So I took some pictures, and I will post them later. =]

First Paying Customer!! =]

I have my first paying customer!! My grandma asked me to knit a baby blanket for her to give as a gift. She told me to use yarn that I already had at the house, and I had a dark blue yarn that it machine washable and dryable. She didn't know the gender of the unborn baby, so I knit a good-sized blanket.

Here is the blue - for reference.

Then, I found out that the baby is a GIRL!! So I edged the entire blanket with white, to give it a girly feel.

Finished!! 

With a girly/baby feel to the edges. I love it!! 

Then I made a cute little hat with some of the leftover yarn. 

I love this little hat too! (Please excuse the tattoo in the pic!) 

Needless to say, I have had my first paying customer! And the day I mailed this off, I got another order, NOT A FAMILY MEMBER - a friend of mine is ordering some felt food for her son for christmas. Super excited to make it for her!! =] Yay for customers!!