A Celebratory Occasion - Fig Rolls

We have finally hit a long awaited milestone at work so I made fig rolls to celebrate a release rolling out.  :)  I used this recipe with my own less sugary modifications.  Enjoy!

Fig Rolls

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup warm milk

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tb sugar

4 cups flour

1 package active dry yeast

1 jar fig butter (I found mine at Trader Joe's)

1 package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 ts vanilla extract

Makes about 28 cupcake-sized rolls.

- Combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding mix, milk, egg, sugar, flour, & yeast until well incorporated.

- Knead the dough a few times.

- Cover the dough & place in a warm area (no more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit) until it doubles in size.

- Lightly flour rolling pin & surface on which you will roll your dough out on.

- Roll dough out into a long rectangle & spread the entire jar of fig butter on the dough.

- Roll up dough, slice every 1-1.5" & place each slice into a cupcake pan.

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Cover the dough & place the rolls in a warm area.  I like to put mine on top of my stove because the heat from the preheating oven helps the rolls rise.

- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

- To make the frosting, beat the remaining ingredients together while the rolls bake.

- Allow rolls to rest for 10-15 minutes before frosting the rolls.

Cheers to my wonderful team for all your hard work to get Release 4 to roll out! 

Steel Cut Oatmeal With Apples

Breakfast is considered by many to be the most important meal of the day because your body has basically been deprived of fuel for xx hours depending on your last meal.  Skipping breakfast would tack on additional hours of fuel deprivation which then forces your body to recalculate its metabolism rate - it usually slows down your metabolism to conserve energy.  So one of the rules I am absolutely strict about is that I must always eat breakfast.  

Often times I would be on the go so my breakfasts would end up being things like bagels, donuts, & etc - basically high in refined carbohydrates & sugar, low in nutritional value.  As a result, I would be hungry again in an hour & eat multiple snacks to get me through to lunch.  I would like to get out of my grazing habit so I'm trying steel cut oats this week.  Steel cut oats are considered complex carbohydrates, meaning it takes longer for your body to digest allowing slower & consistent release of insulin.  You want to stay away from refined carbohydrates because it makes it a lot easier for your body to process the insulin all at once which causes insulin spikes that signal your body to store fat instead of burn it.  Also, you do not get hungry as easily with complex carbohydrates because your body takes longer to digest it.

Let me tell you, eating oatmeal sure does curb those hunger pangs before lunch.  So much so that I still wasn't hungry by the time lunch rolled around!  I am definitely going to continue eating oatmeal for breakfast this week.  

I made steel cut oatmeal with apples that is made in a slow cooker overnight.  I could eat this all day long because 
A) it has apples (who doesn't like apples?) 
B) apples keep the doctor away
C) tastes delicious
D) involves so little effort to make

Steel Cut Oatmeal With Apples

4 apples, peeled, cored & diced
3 cups milk
1 cup uncooked steel cut oats
1/2 ts cinnamon
2 ts ground flax seed 


Makes about 5 servings.


- Put everything in a slow cooker on low heat for 7-8 hours.

Pumpkin Oatmeal

I'm extremely thankful to have a gas stove because it really came in handy during the electricity outage.  We would have been reduced to crackers, chips & who knows what other snacks that may be lurking around in the pantry.  But with the stove, we were able to maintain a relatively normal diet. 

On Day One of our outage (or Day Five of our snow in), we decided to warm ourselves up with yummy & hearty pumpkin oatmeal.  Yum, yum!  

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 cup oats

2 cups milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Toppings of your choice

Makes 2 servings.

- Heat milk & pumpkin puree on medium-low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning or film forming on top.

- Add oatmeal once the liquid begins to simmer, stir constantly for about 10 minutes.

- Serve with toppings.

Chinese Egg Pancake (蛋餅 - Dan Bing)

Breakfast tends to be my favorite meal of the day - that is when I manage to wake myself up early enough to have enough time to make breakfast.  And of all the breakfasts, I love Chinese breakfasts.  I had gone to Taiwan this past October & my little tummy (which expanded quite a bit during the trip) enjoyed every moment of the trip that when I came back it had Chinese food withdrawal & threw tantrums at me.  My stomach & taste buds were not happy campers until I made Chinese egg pancakes, called 蛋餅 - dan bing.  蛋餅 is basically a savory pancake with green onion & egg.  It's a simple breakfast that is just oh so heavenly & should be shared with everyone so that they can all discover just how amazing it is so here's my version of 蛋餅.  Yummers!!

Chinese Egg Pancake - 蛋餅

1/2 cup flour

1/6 cup hot water, barely boiled

1 ts canola or vegetable oil or unsalted butter

1 stalk green onion, finely chopped

2 eggs

salt to taste

Makes 2 servings.

- Combine & quickly stir flour & water until just combined.

- Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about a minute & let dough rest for a few minutes.

- Divide dough into two equal parts.  Take one part of the dough & roll flat on a lightly floured surface until the dough is about 1-2mm thick.

- Spread 1/2 ts oil onto the dough from end to end.

- Sprinkle salt & half of the chopped green onion onto oiled dough.

- Roll up dough into a long log & tightly wrap the log around like a coiled snake.

- Roll out the coiled dough into a flat circle until it is about 1-2 mm thick.

- Place pancake onto a heated & lightly oiled pan on medium-low heat.

- Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the pancake begins to barely turn golden & flip to cook the other side & beat one egg while the pancake is cooking.

- Take the pancake out of the pan & pour egg into a lightly oiled pan.  Quickly swirl the pan to spread the egg on the bottom of the pan & place the pancake on top of the egg.

- Cook until the egg is done then roll the pancake up, place on a plate & cut into several slices.

- Eat immediately!