Sunday recipes

Sundays are special days in our home. We generally spend the day together worshiping and serving at church, relaxing at home, enjoying the great outdoors, and eating great meals together.

I have often read of the importance of traditions and our Sundays are full of them.

For our morning meal we enjoy smoothies and cinnamon rolls. My breadmaker helps me with the cinnamon rolls so I don't have to get up at four in the morning to prepare this special treat.

The day before I put the following in (this is equivalent to a two pound loaf, and is the same recipe I use for my bread):

- 4 cups white wheat flour
- 11 ounces water and 2 Tbsp whey or yogurt
- 4 Tbsp ground flax
- 2 Tbsp honey (optional)

Flour, water and whey combined

I let my machine mix those ingredients together and then I pour the yeast (2 1/4 tsp) on top, being careful to place the yeast in a hollowed out pocket dusted with flour on top of the dough.

yeast sitting on top of the soaking flour

I set it to the dough setting with the timer to finish up around when I plan to get up in the morning.

Ready to go!

In the morning I dump it on the counter. I have found that shaping it into a rectangle before rolling makes the finished product more the shape I was looking for.


I roll it out into about a 10 inch by 20 inch rectangle. The rectangle gets buttered with about 3-4 tablespoons of butter and sprinkled generously with cinnamon (I don't measure, I just sprinkle it right on).


Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sucanat evenly on top of that.



Roll up from the long edge, pinch the edge to seal, and then slice at one inch intervals.



I place 10 in a pan for that week and the rest into the freezer for another week. (more on freezing dough, here).



I let that rise for 45-60 minutes, until about doubled in size.


Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes and drizzle with a powdered sugar icing.

The finished product! Or, finishing the product . . .


They always start our Sunday off in a memorable way.


After church we enjoy a big family meal with rolls, salad, fruit, potatoes, a cooked vegetable, and either turkey or pot roast.

Here is my Pot Roast plan:

The night before I put into my crock pot (this varies a bit depending on what I have on hand):

6 cups water
5 potatoes (some white, some sweet)
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
2 celery stalks
1/2 onion quartered
2 1/2-3 1/2 pound roast (we love arm roasts right now)

I let this cook on low all night long. I have to put it somewhere the smell won't reach my bedroom, otherwise I keep waking up to it. It smells delicious, but I need my sleep!

Before leaving for church I add in 1/2 pound carrots and 1 cup green beans (fresh or frozen).

When we get home from church I bake the rolls and pull out the salad and we are ready to eat. This has been a wonderful, and really easy meal for Sunday afternoons.

When we have eaten what we need for lunch I remove any vegetables left behind, add in a couple peppercinis and let it simmer in the crock pot the rest of the afternoon. I then store it in the fridge for hot beef sandwiches some day later in the week.

Just a few more recipes and you will know all of my "secrets." Cooking always will take time, but I like to keep it as simple, healthful, and delicious as possible.