Writing a Pen Friend Letter

 Tonight I'm going to write a letter to a dear friend.

Jamie bought me some pretty stationery for Christmas and I was so excited to ask my friend if she'd want to be pen friends.

I've been so busy with new baby Brenna and life that I haven't had the chance to ask her yet!  However, a couple days ago I received a letter from her asking me if I wanted to be pen pals!  Crazy, huh?  God must be setting something up here!

So, tonight I'm going to sit down with my pretty new stationery, a couple pieces of Valentine's Day Candy Corn Fudge I made yesterday,

and the pretty tea set Jamie got me for our first Christmas (the beginning of my collection!), and write a pen pal letter to my sweet friend.

I've decorated this table with a pretty bird cloth as she loves birds.  I have lots of birds in my home and they remind me of her friendship.

 I'll record our correspondence in the pretty journal Jamie bought me for Christmas and store all of my writing supplies and special letters in this gorgeous writing desk he surprised me with also.

I'm so excited to renew my love of writing letters~~Thank you to Jamie and my friend for the inspiration!  

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Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Need a soft and chewy gingerbread recipe? My mom and I came up with this delicious idea for soft gingerbread about 10 years ago while talking on the phone.  I like to make these at Valentine's Day but they're delicious all year round!

Apple Cinnamon Rolls from Great Grandma's Kitchen

For the past month or so, I've been posting recipes in a series called Great Grandma's Kitchen.  I was given a box of my great-grandma's and great-great-grandma's recipes and cookbooks, and have been trying some of them out.  Today I'm going to share a disaster with you...and then redeem it with a great recipe!

One thing I learned from my great-grandma's recipe for Apple Rolls is that what she wrote and what she meant might not always have been the same thing!

When I found this recipe and read it over, I could tell right away that following it exactly would have scary results.  I decided to do it anyway---just for fun...

I used my Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer/slicer to prepare the apple slices.  I love this tool and imagine my great grandma probably had one too!

The recipe said to roll out the dough and place apple slices on top.  This was mistake #1:

Then I was supposed to roll it up like cinnamon rolls, slice, place in my pan, and cover with "sauce":

Finally, the baking:

These were pretty scary looking but my sweet kids ate them up anyway!

So...after a few minor  major adjustments, I made a second batch and got these:

And finally, this:

Which one would you like the recipe for?  Hee Hee Hee... I will give you the bread machine version that I made up.  If you don't have a bread machine, you can adapt a regular cinnamon roll recipe and use my filling and frosting parts of the recipe.

Bread Machine Apple Rolls

1 c. warm milk
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/3 c. melted butter
4 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Place items in bread machine in order listed and run on the dough cycle.  Roll out dough in a large rectangle and mix the first three ingredients of the filling and spread filling evenly over dough. Then sprinkle with chopped apples.

filling

1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbs. + 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. softened butter
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped

Roll up into a long "snake" and slice off rolls to desired thickness.  Place in well-buttered baking pan.  Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and allow rolls to rise for 30 min.  Remove wrap and bake on 375 for 12-15 minutes.  Mix frosting ingredients with an electric mixer until well blended and fluffy.  Before serving, cover rolls with frosting or melt frosting to drizzle over as icing.

frosting/icing

3 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 c. softened butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

Wow---now that I've written this all out for you, I want to go make another batch!

This week at Beverly's Pink Saturday we're celebrating with a Valentine's Day theme.  Check out Cainan and Selah's photo shoot in their new Valentine's Day outfits!

Making funny faces at Mommy!

 I hope you'll join me this week for my Homemaking Link-Up Weekend.  All posts related to the home are welcome:  crafts, recipes, DIY, encouragement, musings---I'm excited to see what you've got to share!  Please take a button to display on your blog so your friends can come visit too!


<a href="http://www.bloggingwhilewaiting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc418/lostinavalon1/Homemakinglinkup.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a> Last week was the biggest yet at my linky party!  Thank you so much to everyone who visited and welcome to those who are new!  Here are a few of my favorite posts from last week:

Ruth from Antiques and Teacups showed off some of her tea towel collection.  This is a really informative post with some great images.  I have been sent several tea towels by friends overseas over the past few years---but I'm using them!  Oops...I didn't realize they were a collector's item.  Oh well---at least I'm enjoying them!

Debbie at Debbie-Dabble shared her Valentine's Day tree.  I am always enchanted by the neat way in which she decorates her home.  Her blog and photos are so inspiring!

I think this Welcome sign from Navy Wifey Peters is so adorable.  What a great way to honor her husband and his service!

Lisa from The Self Sufficient HomeAcre showed how she made her own cheese.  This is homemaking at it's finest---I'm impressed!

Hope In Every Season is on Facebook!  If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.

Thank you, Mel, for featuring me on Inspiration Wednesdays @ MamaBuzz.   

Thank you to the girls at Ivy and Elephants for the feature!

Thank you to Melody from Countrified Hicks for featuring my recipe on her blog!