Resurrection Rolls: An Easter Recipe

While I was working on next week’s meal plan, I came across a video I made 5 years ago that was never published.  Brandon who is now 9, was just 4 years old and while I was watching the video today, Grant (5) walked over and said, “Hey, is that me?”   I’m a little envious over my hair and smaller waistline (which is coming back thanks to Fit Mama.)  This video was taken a few months after we moved into our fixer upper and about a year before the illness that would leave me bed bound for months and never quite the same physically or emotionally. It’s a little nostalgic and surreal to watch it.   I’m excited to get back to that healthy place again and each day is closer than the last.

Traditionally this recipe is made with canned crescent dough, and if you are a busy mama and the thought of making homemade dough puts you over the edge, just buy it.  Really….it’s ok.   Making your own isn’t too hard though and the dough can be made in a stand mixer or bread machine on the dough cycle.

In my meal plans, I automatically break the recipes into 4 different sizes.  It’s not that my subscribers couldn’t do the math. but I don’t want them to have to think about that.  Then they can use their energy interacting with family around a table full of good food.

Crescent Rolls

Ingredients

Servings

2 4 8 12
Butter or coconut oil, melted 2 Tbs 4 Tbs 1/2 cup 3/4 cup
Yogurt or applesauce 2 Tbs 4 Tbs 1/2 cup 3/4 cup
Eggs 1 1 2 3
Milk or water 4 Tbs 1/2 cup 1 cup 1 1/2 cups
Sugar 2 Tbs 1/4 cup 1/2 cup 3/4 cup
Salt pinch 1/2 tsp 1 tsp 1 1/2 tsp
Yeast 1 tsp 2 tsp 1 Tbs 4 tsp
Hard White Whole Wheat Flour 1 cup 2 cups 4-5 cups 7-8 cups

Cinnamon Sugar

Ingredients

Servings

2 4 8 12
Cinnamon 1/2 tsp 1 tsp 2 tsp 3 tsp
Sugar or Stevia 2 Tbs ¼ cup 1/2 cup 3/4 cup

If you are gluten free, you can try an all-purpose gluten free flour with xanthan gum in place of the wheat.  I haven’t tried it personally but the butter and egg content will help this dough stick together and it should work well.

  1. Place the ingredients for your crescent rolls in the bread machine overnight (in the order listed, except add the flour before the yeast.) Set a time delay dough cycle so that they will be ready in the morning about 1 hour before breakfast.

2. Turn your oven on to warm (between 100 and 120 degrees)

3.  Roll the dough ¼ inch thick and cut with a 3 inch biscuit cutter. OR break off a ping pong ball sized piece and flatten it into a circle with your fingers. Place a marshmallow in the middle of the dough and wrap it completely sealing the edges. The marshmallows are perfectly white, showing Christ’s purity as he was placed in the tomb. Some recipes I’ve seen have the children roll the marshmallow in butter and cinnamon-sugar showing the embalming of Christ and his anointing with spices.  We skip this step–but you can do it if you like.

4. Spritz the rolls with cooking spray or brush with butter. Roll the balls of dough in cinnamon sugar and place on a greased baking sheet. Sit the rolls in the slightly warm oven for 20-30 minutes or until they have risen slightly.

5. Remove the rising dough and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Before eating, instruct the children to break open their rolls. They will find tomb is empty!


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An important fact about Playdough

I was shopping for birthday gifts this week for a little boy that’s about to turn 3.  Is that even possible? This boy is particularly fond of playdough.  Sometimes I like to make my own, but this time I wanted him to have some with vivid bright colors and decided to splurge for the real thing.

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There was a 4 pack at the store for $2.96.  I know I can get a 4 pack at Dollar Tree for, well, $1.  It’s off-brand.  The dough is fine, but the packaging is poor.  The lids don’t fit well and the dough drys out pretty quickly once the seal is broken. It’s his birthday and all–I wanted to get the good stuff.  But then I said that already.  Now don’t laugh, but the $3 price for something I could get for $1 was bothering me.  I stood there for awhile checking out all the options.  Then on the end cap I spotted this:

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Individual cans of Playdough in 11 color choices for $.50 each.  I needed a snack or something, could this be right?  I could buy 4 cans in any colors I wanted for $2.  Or I could pick a 4 pack of colors they selected for $3?  Another mother walked by like it was no big deal and filled her cart full of the individual cans.  She said, “Easter Baskets.”  As if that would explain her sudden interest in so much Playdough. (Which is a genius idea, BTW.)

“Excuse me,” I said.  “But is it right that I can get these for $.50 each or buy a 4 pack for $3?  Are the cans the same size? ”

“Crazy, Isn’t it?”  She said as she confidentially pushed her cart away.

I bought one of each color, and used them for Easter Baskets too.  I think I should note that these individual cans won’t scan at checkout and every one must be typed in individually, because each color has a unique number.  If you go through the self checkout, start typing the number with a 6 then leave off the final 8.

Pins I Love 4-5-14

 Click the photos to go to the source and find out more:

carrot play doughSugar Free Easter Basket Gift Idea

clean a glue gun

DIY Rainbarrell

We are getting new gutters. It would be a great time to set something like this up!

Crochet Alphabet letters

These would be great in the diaper bag for times we have to wait (like at vision therapy.)  Maybe make 2 sets for matching games.

Easter Toad in Hole

Use a daisy cookie cutter for a Spring theme “toad in the hole”

Blessings bags

Keep these bags in your car for giving to the homeless.

How to pack mini-cupcakesHow to pack mini cupcakes for the road 🙂

Easter Sunday

I’m not very good at taking pictures and don’t have a shot of their Easter baskets.  I bought plastic bucket style baskets at Walmart for $.97 each. They look just like ice cream tubs but say Happy Easter and have spring things on them.  I intended to sew covers for ice cream tubs I already had on hand, but I decided it was better to be cheerful and sane and have dinner on the table.  (My 10 year younger self would have made a different choice, lol.)

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The tubs were all the same so I bought a different color of plastic grass for each one.  They will turn these items in in the morning and I will stack everything into my spring bin for next year so I don’t have to spend the money on it again.

Heather Easter 2013

I filled their tubs with:  silly string; bubbles; assorted chocolates from Dollar tree; Easter theme pencils; matchbox cars for the boys; and hair stuff for the girls.  They had choir practice early this morning so instead of hiding them, I stuck them right in front of their faces so when they woke up it was the first thing they saw.  It was very effective–almost more fun than a hunt.

Heather and Heidi Easter 2013

The Easter photos are on the porch at Mom’s house.  Heather’s dress came from Costco ($16.99) and Heidi’s came from Target ($20.00 on sale.)  We also bought Heidi a skinny belt to got with the dress and she wore her shoes from last year.  We would have all been happier if Heidi’s dress was about 3 inches longer.  Hello, Designers.  Are you listening? It was 3 inches longer than the other dresses being shown.

Angela and Darren

I wore a skirt I ordered from Kohl’s when they had 20% off their sale prices plus free shipping.  If I had shopped for it in store I wouldn’t have purchased it because the fabric is so thin that it shows every lump.  I had to iron my slip because the wrinkles from being in my drawer showed through! I love the stripes though.

The tank has lace at the top and bottom and was from my maternity pile (though I don’t think it is a maternity tank.)  The sweater came from Target last week ($15 on sale.) And the shoes I’ve had for years but rarely wear them since they are linen and I’m afraid to get them dirty.  I wore these footbed sock liners with them instead of hose and they were very comfortable all day and not at all sweaty.

Heidi and Heather

It’s hard to see but I found a huge coral stone necklace at Forever 21 that was the inspiration behind the sweater and them some white stone earrings in a similar style at Target.  Anyway, this is probably the most I’ve purchased for Easter–we usually sew and don’t go for jewelry much, but it was a nice change of pace this year.

Grant Hunting Eggs

The boys weren’t into dressing up and since I’ll being buying Brandon (5) a black suit in June to be a ring bearer, we held off on the new stuff right now.

We had a lovely service at church with the children’s choir and adult choir providing ministry.  Darren was an advanced greeter (code name for the security team) so spent the service standing outside wearing an ear wig to make sure that everyone inside was safe.  That left me juggling the children and I’m glad I sat in front of my brother who could grab Brandon by the neck when he got squirrely after I left to take Grant out.

Dub and Grant

After that we headed to my mom’s with my brother and his family for a roasted chicken dinner with scalloped potatoes; homemade rolls; fruit salad; lettuce salad; cheesy broccoli; green beans; and 3 kinds of dessert.  Plus all the chocolate candy we could want.  And I didn’t cook any of it, although I did set the table with my Sister in law’s help.  (Does that count for anything to keep me from total slacker status?)

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It rained a lot yesterday, so Mom planned an indoor egg hunt.  Each child had a unique color egg to hunt for.  That way we could hide the eggs simply for Grant and super challenging for Heidi.

Heather

After the egg hunt we sat around in the living room and took turns talking and napping until the evening was well on.  The children spent the entire time playing out in the yard leaving the house quiet and perfect for adult conversation.  Interesting that not one of them came in muddy after all the fuss of having an indoor egg hunt, lol.

Happy Easter to you and your Family.

Jesus is Alive and is preparing a place for you and me, our loving advocate with the Father who has won the victory!

Weekend Links: Easter

Easter is early this year.  I’m still not sure what to do for Easter clothes for the kids, but I’m thinking a thrift store-a-thon is called for.  Then we might check out Kohl’s, Sears and Penny’s.  And if nothing will do within our budget, I’m reserving staying up all night sewing as a last resort.

Do you already have your Easter outfits ready?  Don’t tell me if you do.  Never mind, Do tell me and then send me where to go for the fashionable and frugal.  I’ve been shopping online at various places like Old Navy and Kohl’s, but am pretty disappointed in what’s available for the teenage crowd.  Hello!  I don’t want my daughter showing up anywhere strapless or haltered and her skirt mid-thigh.  Especially not to church.  She’s gorgeous already and way too valuable to flaunt around. On the other hand, no need to wear gunny sacks or quilts when there’s modest fashion to be found…..uh, where do you find it?

And then, it’s quite possibly going to be cold.  We have 2 feet of snow on the ground today (I’m posting ahead–it’s late February to my fingers but mid March to my readers.) I like the Easter outfits to be something that will boost the summer wardrobe.  So do tell.  Did I ask that already?

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been pinning to help me get ready for Easter.  And note, I’ve been pinning, not so much doing.  But I’m sure the doing will come later.  I’m a good last minute sort of motivated person :).  I have my ideas all jotted down for the kid’s baskets, I’ll share what I’m actually doing later.

 

Source: bhg.com via Angela on Pinterest

Source: juxtapost.com via Angela on Pinterest