I Think I Found My Zen

The Finished Product

 Hey, so that's right I think I found my zen. The last 3 days I've been a cooking machine. More like a cooking and cleaning machine. First my super hero wife invited me to the cleaning Facebook group hosted by my sister, that has gotten me cleaning my kitchen on a daily basis. It bothered me so much that my kitchen was a mess that, after doing the cleaning challenge for the group (the microwave) using this amazing cloth and water. I decided to wipe down the counters again, sweep the floor and then mop the floor. Next thing I know our first Christmas tree is out the back door and on the side of the house. I somehow fixed the vacuum and vacuumed up all the pine needles and fake snow. 

I'm telling you I have no idea what happened. I didn't get a lot of sleep as per usual, but I actually had a more restful sleep then I have had in a long time. So whatever I am doing, it seems to be working. Saturday night I made a roast (no I did not smoke it, but I did put my own spin on it. Unfortunately, I didn't get it until late in the afternoon so I did not have the time to fully cook it. Sorry I didn't take any pictures. Sunday I used the left over roast and onions to make my Non-worldwide or locally famous chili. As well as using the potatoes and onion as part of a hearty brunch. I'll share the unofficial recipe over on my other page StooBBQ.

Gala Apples and Water

Today I started by making some homemade sugar free apple sauce, because my super hero's weakness is sugar. So we need to get our health back on track. I gotchu babe!! Then I moved onto something I had purchased a month or two ago, because we are always looking for good keto products (maybe we become keto testers?). My super hero's other weakness is cinnamon rolls. The girls loves them! The girl can't have them! So guess I'm learning to bake. 

I'm sure if I really wanted to I could come up with my own recipe for it, but I have to admit the using the Keto Bakes Cinnamon Rolls product was very convenient. Like a good budding keto blogger I took a picture of everything along the way. Instructions were very easy to follow and hey did you know that butter sticks and cream cheese bricks have measurements on them? That is so cool!!!!

The Starting Five

So I followed everything to the letter and even added my own twist. Instead of using regular water I used the water I cooked the apples in for my homemade apple sauce. The best part is I put my new headphones on and danced around and sang to good old classic rock radio on Apple Music. Yes I have come to grips with the fact that I am old. However I don't have to be a grumpy old man.

I dumped the ingredients in to the bowl and added the additional ingredients. I have now determined that I need a hand mixer, because mixing by hand isn't a lot of fun when you have a bad shoulder on one side and elbow tendinitis in the mixing hand. Not sure my super hero is going to be so happy having to keep buying all this stuff for me, but she is sure going to eat good and healthy. I too need to eat healthier, so I guess it's good that I am cooking the food now. 

Top of the pic is the cinnamon roll mix Keto Bakes sends, on the left is the icing package and on the right is the cinnamon package to make the filling. I add 2 tbs. of melted (should have been very soft) butter, 3 tbs. of Apple Water, 3 tbs. of Heavy Cream, 1 tbs. ACV and 3 eggs to the mix from Keto Bakes. Completely off topic (and I know it probably doesn't belong in this paragraph, but I'm not operating under profession grammar rules), but finding my Zen over these past 3 days has really made me think. In  my search of what's next for my life one of the things I a looking for is happiness in what I am doing. So when thinking about how at ease I seem to be when I am in the kitchen I recall that I actually have spent a large portion of my youth and young adult life working in restaurants. Maybe my son got his love for cooking from me, I just didn't know it. Or maybe seeing him do it rekindled it in me. Either way all I know is lately the kitchen now seems to be my happy place. Who knew??? Now trust me I know that singing and dancing in my kitchen is a whole lot different then cooking in a restaurant. I don't know it's something to think about... Anyway...

Once mixed the all the ingredients, I let sit for 5 or so minutes (forgot to set a timer). Then I placed the now keto cinnamon roll dough into a rectangle shape on a piece of Saran Wrap (using water to keep my hands wet so the dough wouldn't stick, I never knew that trick) and smeared the cinnamon mixture on to the dough. Now came the tough part and something I never in my life thought I would be doing. I used the Saran Wrap to slowly roll the dough so the the cinnamon filling is in a few layers of the roll. Again this is all completely new to me and I am learning as I go, but I feel the more I do it the better and more comfortable I will get. You can't tell from the picture, but the dough was to thick, so I didn't get as many swirls as I would have liked. Oh well I'll know for next time.

Get Your Minds Out Of The Gutter!

Once rolled it was time to cut the rolls into slices, another place I need improvement. So mixing, shaping, rolling and cutting all need work. Pretty much everything to do with cooking. Hahaha! It was supposed to make 9 rolls, I some how ended up with 12. Ooops! Then I placed it on a large baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper on it. I don't want my amazing creation to stick. Then it's into a preheated to 350 degrees oven for 23-26 minutes. I recommend checking on it at the 20 minute mark and keeping an eye on it from that point on. I feel they got a little to well done at the 24 minutes for my liking.

Before Icing

Overall I am very happy with how they came out and should my super hero wife like them I can say I will probably be buying them again. I even reached out to them about them offering an affiliate program. So there's that. I'm definitely going to be looking into finding my zen and  the kitchen being my new happy place. I'm curious to see how long it actually lasts. I know my pattern, I tend to start strong and then lose interest after a while. Like I did with learning to play guitar at the beginning of lock down. Until next time... I gotta say Today was a good day.