March Cooking Maddness - Sound Familiar?

Well hello there! 

Today is the last day of the month of February and I'd say as far as my cooking challenge, February was a HUGE success! I baked, and baked, and baked, and BAKED cinnamon rolls. After all, it was 'Cini fo yo sweetie' month. Here is the skinny, (OR NOT) on all the rolls... 

Last Monday I made 66 pans of rolls:

• 35 Regular 
• 5 Caramel Apple
• 5 Orange Rolls
• 11 Chocolate Chip
• 8 Caramel WITH apple frosting (yes this is different) 
• 2 Pans of mixed ... 

The week of February first I made Another 10 pans 

• 1 Caramel Apple
• 3 Orange Rolls
• 3 Chocolate Chip
• 3 Regular 

Also, in that same week I made another set of 10 pans

• All Regular 

I'd say that I used approx:

•  35-40 lbs of flour
• 13 lbs of butter
• 18 lbs of powered sugar
• 2 bottles of maple extract
• probably 5 gallons of milk
• .... not to mention countless bags of sugar, sprinkles of cinnamon, and lots of electricity for baking. HOLY COW.

So. Now for March... March is dessert month... I know, who could hardly stand it, but alas dessert month it is. I have a few things in mind, but here is where YOU COME IN. 

• Rainbow Cake
• From Scratch Pie
• _____________
• _____________
• _____________

Let me know your fave (and CHALLENGING) desserts! 

WOO!

How About a Steak?

"In that moment of glorious surrender, was the moment You broke the chains in me. 

Lifted out of the ashes... I am found in the aftermath..."

We are found in the aftermath, and we have a choice to live it or forget it. I choose to live it. I am so incredibly blessed by the outpouring of kindness and support that I have received these past few days.

Whether it has been with the 'Baking My Way to Orange" project or through a series of places I have gotten the opportunity to speak, everyone has just been fabulous and so kind! Special thanks to Amy, my dear sweet friend who rolled, and rolled, AND ROLLED dough yesterday! You rock sista! Thanks to the parents, the Women, and beautiful girls who listened to my story, to God's story about His masterpiece. What love you have given to me, thank you friends and thank you Jesus.

Now, on a much lighter note, yesterday I baked 66 pans of cinnamon rolls. That comes out to be somewhere between 500 to 600 rolls... BAHHA. Crazy times! Can you believe that is only for the February delivery date? Yeah, me either. So. Blessed. I might really pass-out now! hahah

Well I am looking forward to cooking something for dinner tomorrow night that does not include butter, cinnamon, or maple flavoring... I think my poor sweet Mixer, Kitchy (yeah she has a name, and she wears a bow) is wore out! So maybe some steak for me... cinnamon rolls for everyone else!

Here are some pictures from the blessed event! Much love to you all! Until then,
Sara
Ps. Maybe a post this week on my sorted, or lack there of, love life!

Kitchy, on her way to Grace to bake!

Still smiling after 66 pans...

Rolls and Rolls!

Before they were rolls!

Grateful? Yes I am!

Ever just feel in the mood to write something? Well that is how I am feeling right at this moment. I think it is because as of late I have so many things that I am grateful for and I just really wanted to share them. This might not be as "riveting" as previous posts... hahah... if that is what they are anyway, but I believe, more than ever that each day we ought to think about what we are grateful for. So, here are some of things that I have been especially grateful for this week: (and some of them are even a little silly)

• The fact that the Dollar Store had exactly as many pans as I will need for my first BMWtO delivery date
• Orange is all around. In my thoughts, in conversations... & this is FABULOUS
• My bestie decided that Houston is home... BIG revolution (I know it was for me too)
• I got to spend some awesome time with two fabulous people, Suzy & Emily
• Perry Noble will be at Orange
• "What you see, depends on what you are looking for"... this hit me hard this week, and boy I am sure glad that it did. Thank you SFMS & Valentines Day for humbling me!
• Sunshine... you forget the warmth it provides until you feel it for the first time after a long winters cold.
• Target - for the sweet reminder of Home
• Mama - for a wonderful Valentine card
• The fresh scent of bleach, and knowing how truly clean my house is... ahhhhh 
• Studio Movie Grill - A standing date with my roomies on Sunday nights... 
• Aftermath - knowing that worship isn't just about Sunday mornings... car rides are good too.
• Seeing parents of our middle schoolers engage in much needed conversations
• Girl Scout Cookies for breakfast
• Realizing I am exactly who I am meant to be. Right NOW. 
• Sonic Happy Hour

And last but not least

• You, for checking in and being with my on my journey! 

Just FYI... 12 months of cooking ... it's still happening... I will blog sometime this next week, complete with photographs of this months challenge... and how FITTING that it turns out to be cinnamon rolls! Bahahhahahahhahhahahhaha

60 glorious pans are being baked THIS Monday! Hallelujah!

Much love to you all. Think about the things for which you are grateful, and not just in this moment, but every day...

Off to spend some sweet time with my favorite 7th grade ladies!

-S

... Yes! This is a really "SUPER" good idea...

THIS is the video and note that I sent to the people over at ORANGE. They are giving away two free round trip airline tickets to the person with the most creative fund-raising strategy! MAN... AM I LUCKY! Cause, DUH mine IS the most creative. I know modesty right! But seriously, it is a really SUPER good idea, and I would love to win those tickets! WAHOOOOOOOO! 
** I can just close my eyes and my peeps and I learning, worshiping, and re-charging! Get. EXCITED!

---- Here is the story, in case you missed it!----


What is that you smell? Oh, why yes, that is the smell of cinnamon, sugar, and oozing butter wafting through the air straight to your nostrils!

I am “Baking My Way to Orange”!

I sat down with complete distress after not winning the Orange Conference give-away during the Orange Tour. Big watermelon tears were just fixing to graze my reddened cheek and I sat there just pondering how it was that I was going to get to the OC in ATL. Then, all of a sudden, I had a flashback to the week prior to Christmas… “It was me, my cinnamon roll recipe covered with sticky butter and flour, standing in my kitchen pulling the 20^th pan of rolls from my oven!” DING… “Sara, I said to myself… You love to bake; people love to eat what you bake. HOLY MOLY. I think I could ‘bake my way to the Orange Conference’!!! Shoot, maybe I could bake my team’s way to the Orange Conference… How many pans would that be?” – And then I passed out.

Well, I am just kidding about the tears and the passing out, but I have already bought the pans and the butter that soon will be oozing violently. I am ‘Baking My Way to Orange’, selling four variations of delish, booty enlarging, cinnamon rolls! The first day, I took lots orders, and my oven is just exhausted by the idea, but man am I excited. I feel so incredibly blessed and cannot wait to be inspired, to worship, to connect, and to learn some new and awesome strategies to change the lives of parents and students at Grace Presbyterian Church! Woo HOO! 

----->  Click here for their awesome website !!!                       >GET ORANGIFIED!  

5 Million People...One Resteraunt...and a Conversation Later

I had been craving a salad, and not just any salad--the Metro Salad from George's Pastaria. It comes complete with grilled chicken and shrimp, romaine lettuce, penne pasta and then to top it off the best BEST most delish Parmesan dressing there is! YUM. Anyone have a napkin? I am salivating just thinking of this magnificent, awesome, completely fabulous meal!  Anyways, crisis averted, I satisfied my desires and went there for take-out last night! SO, and here is the part where I come to my story:

When I left New Mexico one of the things I knew I was going to miss the most was that 'small town feel' of going to the grocery store or the mall or even out to eat for the evening and seeing someone you know. Now you might be thinking, "shoot, the last thing I want to do when I go out is see someone I know", but for me this is one of my favorite parts of small town living! Having moved to a city of almost 5 million people (where I grew up there are only about 30,000 people) you can hardly expect to feel the warmth of people who know you when you venture out to dine, to shop, or to whatever... But last night during the waiting, (with utter anticipation) for my Metro Salad to-go order I had the best kind of encounter... an "it's such a small world" kind. 

As I sat there, stomach growling from the smells... oh the smells that were wafting towards my face from the kitchen close by...a man came and sat down next to me (I think he didn't know, that I knew, that he was the owner, but I did :)) and asked me if I like the restaurant, the wood floors, the quiet feel of a nice dining establishment...? I of course said yes, only because it was true, and then we proceeded to shoot the breeze; talking about cooking, my latest battle wound from the Baking My Way to Orange endeavor, the wood-burning stove that has been in the restaurant since the day it opened, cooking iPhone Apps, and how a plate of spaghetti once cost $3.95 (complete with salad and bread).  We somehow got to the topic of what I did for a living, and I told him that I worked for the fabulous Grace Pres as a Youth Director - and GET EXCITED - this is where I tell you the awesome news... George knew the church, not only did he know about Grace, he is really close friends with our wonderful HR director (who is also my sweet friend)! Ok then, I mentioned to him that I had recently taken my friend’s daughter's senior photographs... and then WHAT?!? He knew who I was! Saying, "you took those photos??! They were awesome!” I knew him, he knew me...

5 million people...one restaurant...and a conversation later...  awesome! 

We chatted. I met his lovely wife and then I left feeling all warm and happy, and no longer just because I was about to embark on the worlds tastiest salad! 

SO go to George's Pastaria and not JUST because the food is great, but because yes, there are still places, even in this HUGE city that the owner says hello, the wooden floors have character, you can sit with friends and have pizza out of a 20 plus year old oven, and even though years have gone by you can still have spaghetti (with a salad AND bread) for only 9 or so bucks! 

...AND you might even run into a familiar face :) 

-Bon Appétit! Sara

And Counting...

I am without words. I mean I know this is a blog so I have to have some... but seriously I feel wordless with gratitude. Yesterday I begun my journey, you know... all the commotion, 'Baking My Way to Orange'... I made samples, talked about Jesus, Orange things, and my love for Middle School Ministry-- and today I am  ___ pans of cinnamon rolls and counting! I think I won't give you a grand tally until it is all said and done, but for today I feel beyond blessed. Who knew that a little butter, some sugar, and a lot of love could make something SO big happen? 

Actually, I knew. Is that crazy, or speculatory?! <--- that is a word I made up today! (Yay me!) ha.

I felt it. It started that day at the Orange Tour, I felt that push, that rush of excitement, because it was in that moment that I knew that God had a bigger plan for the Ministry that I am privileged to get to be a part of. Man. What a feeling....

I cry a lot. I have tears now. BIG happy ones though. 

Well people. Watch out! Here comes pans, and pans, and pans of cinnamon rolls. Good thing just the smell of them is enough for my soul, cause man after this is over you might have had to seriously roll me out of my kitchen, or maybe the kitchen of someone else, cause mine might not be able to handle the factory I am going to have to build to create this much delicious-ness! 

YES! Yay JESUS. Yay YOU who will taste the oozing butter. Yay!

This is just a portion of the mess ONE batch caused! Ha!

Now I am off to do a little jig!

-Sara

Caramel Apple... on the rise!