FIGS AND A WITCH SWAP

This week has turned out to be a week for cooking and baking. My neighbor gave us some figs she had picked off of her fig tree. I'm not really a big fan of figs. I've only eaten figs in a Fig Newton Cookie and that was when someone else bought them and they offered one to me. If I had to choose between buying a chocolate chip cookie or a Fig Newton, well I guess you know the answer anything with chocolate is a winner all the time. In fact I think any other cookie would beat a Fig Newton. So, here I am with this huge bowl of fresh figs and I just don't know what to do with them. My son and DH liked the fresh figs and they ate a few, however, I still have this huge bowl of figs and I know they will not be able to eat all of them before they start going bad. In fact a few of the figs had already started to ripen and were popping open. I asked my neighbor what she does with all the figs she picks and she said that she makes them into fig preserves and she gave me her recipe. Well here is another dilemma, I have never made preserves and canned before. So this week has been a learning experience and a new appreciation for figs. My fig preserves turned out great and I love the taste. My DH now wants to plant a fig tree so that we can pick our own. If thats the case it will be quite a while before I can make preserves with our own figs. (hee hee)
I decided to bake some sweet rolls and use the fig preserves. Below is the recipe for the Fig Preserves and Sweet Rolls.
STRAWBERRY FIG PRESERVES:
3 cups mashed figs ( I found it easier to cut the figs in half and scoop out the pulp with a spoon, then mash the figs)
3 cups sugar
1 pkg. (6 oz.) strawberry flavored gelatin

Mix dry ingredients. Pour over figs and stir well. Cook 20 minutes or until thick. Pour into jars and seal.

SWEET ROLLS:
3 1/2 TO 4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs

TOPPING:
1/2 cup fig preserves
1/2 cup melted butter

GLAZE:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Grease 2 cookie sheets. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup butter until very warm. Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in an additional 2 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.
On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosley with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into 15-inch rope. On prepared cookie sheet, loosely coil each rope into a circle, sealing end underneath. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Carefully brush rolls with melted butter. Make deep thumbprint in center of each roll; fill with 1 teaspoon preserves. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately; brush a second time with melted butter. Cool. Combine powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over cooled rolls. Makes 24 rolls.


ANOTHER GREAT SWAP

Genevieve of Bella Enchanted is hosting another great swap, "Wicked Witch Switch Swap" http://wickedwitchswitch.blogspot.com/ . Deadline to enter is September 1st.

SWAPS, SWAPS AND MORE SWAPS

Here are some great swaps to enter in.

Whimsical Magical Fun, Debb Gathering Place at http://debksg.blogspot.com is hosting a "Fairy Door Swap". Deadline to enter is July 31st.Bella Enchanted at http://bella-enchanted.blogspot.com is hosting a "Magic Wand Swap". Deadline to enter is August 1st.

If I Could Set My Soul Free at http://ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com is hosting a "Wizard of Oz Swap". Deadline to enter is August 12th.

Shawnee at Flirty Apron Swap at http://flirtyapronswap.blogspot.com is hosting another apron swap. This is my third time joining this swap and it has always been a lot of fun. There are some really talented ladies who can sew some fabulous aprons. Deadline to enter is August 15th.

Princesses In Disguise at http://princessesindisguise.wordpress.com is also hosting a Summer Apron Swap.

Hope you join some of these fabulous swaps and go over and visit their blogs.

AND THE WINNER IS........

Congratulations to Nancy at "fete et fleur", you are the winner of my Birthday Give Away! Nancy, email me at aialvarez7@aol.com with your snail mail addy and I will send your prize to you.

Thanks to everyone for your birthday comments and for entering my give away.

A BIRTHDAY PARTY, BIRTH, SURGERY, AND BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY!!!!!

Well it was a wonderful birthday celebration on Saturday July 5th. We had a Garden Party at my parents home. This is my mom, sister and myself. My sister was making Appletinis and Mimosas... mmmm, very tasty. Wish I had one now.


My Dad looks good for having had surgery on Thursday. My sister and I are the bookends in our family, as I am the oldest and she is the youngest. I have four brothers in between.

Here are three of my four brothers, my youngest brother had to leave early before this picture was taken. He and his wife just had their first born baby in June (her actual due date was to have been in August). Baby Bella is still in the hospital as she is a premie. She weighed in at 2lbs and some ounces, not quite the 3lbs. ... but by the time I left San Antonio, she did weigh the 3lbs. Please keep her in prayer.

Here is a group picture of my sister, cousins, aunts and my mom. We played the "No, Know, Knows, Nose" game. My sister copied pictures of each guest when they were younger and put them on necklaces and they were handed to them as they arrived (you can see some of us are wearing them) If anyone mentioned the word "No, Know, Knows, Nose " the person who heard it then takes their necklace away. The person who aquires the most necklaces wins the game and a prize, as well as the person who never gave up their necklace. It was very funny trying to carry a conversation when people are trying to trick you into saying these words. After the game was over everyone took their own necklace with them as one of their party favors.

Being that our birthday party was a Garden Theme, we baked our own beehive birthday cakes and decorated with frosting to resemble honey and some candy bees (You can see a bee between the letters T and H).

We blew out our candles (of course it took me several trys to get my candles out). It was a great party, can't wait to plan for next years birthday party.

Here is what I am giving away for our "Birthday Giveaway".

A partiotic apron, soap bottle apron and a cookbook. I have a few other items also.

It's not to late to enter, just leave me a comment with your email on the previous Birthday Post or on this post. I will be drawing a name on July 11th and annouce the winner's name on Saturday.

BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!!!!! YAHOO!!!

I'm soooo excited, I'm going on a birthday trip to San Antonio to celebrate my birthday on July 5th with my family and my sister Michelle. We both have the same birthday (no were not twins, as I am 20, yes ,20 years older than my little sister). It's kind of hard to lie about your age when there is a 20 yr. difference reminder always there. The bright side is she will soon get to the age where she will not want to reveal her age (I'm still waiting, LOL) the down side is as I get older I can never forget my birthday and how old I am. But what the heck your as old as you feel. Sometimes I feel older than my age. heh! heh!

Sooooo, to celebrate my birthday (our birthdays) I am having a "BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY" ( I will have to surprise you as I haven't decided what just yet, but when I return I will post a picture). I will draw a winner next Friday July 11th when I return. Leave me your email address with your comment so I can reach you.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July!