Making Afros Great Again

 

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Smart Girls Read Clarey



 

Curse of the High IQ

by

Aaron Clarey

 

Now available on Amazon

 

 



Happy New Year!

Photo credit

Cheers to a New Year!

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Merry Christmas!



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Warmest wishes for you & your family

 

Merry Christmas!

 

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Christmas Menu & Dijon Pineapple Ham Sauce Recipe

 

Christmas Dinner Menu

 

Glazed Ham with Dijon-Pineapple Sauce (recipe below)

 

Jalapeno Coleslaw

 

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans

 

Macaroni & Cheese

 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Reduction

 

Pecan Pie

 

 

*****

 

 

Dijon-Pineapple Sauce

(adapted from original recipe here)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup brown sugar

 

1/2 cup glaze from packet included with ham or maple syrup

 

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

 

1 can crushed pineapple, with juice

 

1 tablespoon corn starch

 

whole cloves

 

 

Directions:

 

Heat oven to temperature listed in cooking directions for bone-in ham.  Mix syrup, brown sugar and Dijon mustard until blended.  Spread a portion of the glaze over the ham.  Add cloves to the top of the ham.  Bake ham according to directions.

Before the ham is done cooking, combine remaining glaze with 1 tablespoon corn starch and crushed pineapple in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until thickened.  Serve sauce alongside ham.

 

 

 

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Recipe - Homemade Cinnamon Rolls (Dairy-Free)

A delicious, homemade sweet treat to share with family and friends this Christmas season!  The original recipe can be found here.  I've made the original version with cream cheese frosting before to rave reviews.  But the adapted dairy-free version below is just as popular in our house!

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 cup warm almond milk (vanilla, unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer + 4 tablespoons water (mixed)
• 4 cups all purpose flour

Filling:

•  Brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Earth Balance butter (softened)

Icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance butter (melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons almond milk (vanilla, unsweetened)

 

Directions: 

1. Place Pyrex (or other heat-safe) glass bowl in cold oven and pre-heat to lowest oven setting (for my oven, that is 150 degrees).
2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm almond milk in a measuring cup/small bowl.  Allow yeast to proof for 5 minutes.
3. Add flour, sugar, canola oil and egg replacer mixture to bowl of stand mixer and mix well using paddle attachment.
4. After yeast+almond milk mixture has finished proofing, add to flour mixture.  Stir using paddle attachment until combined.  Switch to dough hook attachment and knead until dough ball forms.
5. Remove warmed Pyrex bowl from oven using oven mitts.  Drizzle with canola oil.  Place dough in Pyrex bowl and turn to coat with oil.
6. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise in a warm place (about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size).
7. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 21 inches long by 16 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick (or eye ball it as I usually do!).
8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
9. Spread layer of softened Earth Balance butter over rolled dough.
10. Liberally sprinkle dough with cinnamon.
11. Liberally spread brown sugar over dough.
12. Working carefully from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
13. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch slices and place in a lightly greased baking dish.
14. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until light, golden brown.
15. While the rolls are baking, combine the icing ingredients.  Blend well with mixer until fluffy.
16. When the rolls have finished baking, spread generously with icing.

Nota Bene:

If I'm making cinnamon rolls for breakfast or for Hubby to take into his office, I prep the rolls up until step 13 the day before.  I cover my baking dish with foil and place the prepped rolls in the refrigerator overnight.  The next morning, I take the rolls out of the refrigerator and allow them to 'warm' on the counter while the oven is preheating.  Once the oven is warm, I bake the rolls as instructed above.  This way the cinnamon rolls are fresh baked and warm right out of the oven.  Which really is the best way to enjoy cinnamon rolls!

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Getting Ready for Christmas!

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Making a list and checking it twice!  Getting ready for more Christmas shopping tomorrow!

Are you ready for the Holidays?!

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