Overachiever

When I sat down last night after supper to start working on a new baby quilt for some friends expecting this fall, I fully expected to be showing you a chaotic shot of scraps today as a sign of my progress. Maybe even some cut piles. But as I sat and started sewing I suddenly realized.

I

Finished

All

The

Blocks.

Yes, I do realize "all the blocks" are 12 nine patches for a baby sized quilt. But I am still feeling pretty proud of myself in the baby quilt progress area.  And this is my first "scrap" quilt. I usually have this anal retentiveness in matching everything perfectly. But inspired by some flickr pics I decided to take a baby step out in my quilting and pull from the scrap boxes I keep, but only open to throw more in.  

I couldn't have done it without the dedicated help of my faithful companion.

So today, feeling pretty proud of myself, I went in search of some backing with the intention to maybe even get those blocks sashed together this weekend, finish the top, and get it basted. I couldn't find any backing fabric to meet my specifications. Does that mean I left the fabric store empty handed? You should know me better than that.

I found these.

And then as I was walking from the cutting table to the register. I couldn't resist these.

It's a sickness. Have I ever mentioned I literally burst the doors off my fabric closet?. True story. I'll have to tell you sometime.

I decided to pick it up a notch and actually invest in a free motion quilting foot. Turns out that letting your husband convince you to buy a fancy pants Husqvarna Viking Platinum 750 (I promise I had good reasons for leaving him) means that when you want to augment the capabilities of said machine it also costs an arm and a leg. Ugh. It has never ceased to aggravate me that with the money I dropped on this machine specified as quilting I still have to buy the damn free motion QUILTING foot separately.

Toe Up and Proud Of It

I have long been a strong holdout aganist knitting socks. (Long as in the four years of my knitting life.) I have adamantly declared that, while I respect those who knit socks, it was not for me in any way, shape, or form. Long hours spent with tiny needles to knit something hidden under my pants legs that I would probably lose in my battle with the sock monsters that live throughout my house? No way, Jose.

You may want to sit down for this.

Last night I cast on for my first sock. Not only did I cast on, I taught myself how to start a toe up sock. It only took me about three hours or so of fails.

And it is the cutest damn start of a sock you have ever laid eyes on. (I recognize I may have "my beautiful first sock" syndrome. You know, kind of like how every mother thinks her baby is the most absolute end all adorable baby ever to grace this earth?)

And it's not even for me. It is for my husband. Love takes the form of US1 needles, boring sock yarn, and a few hours to cursing toe up construction to be followed by hours and hours and hours and hours of construction.

Love is dangerous. 

Pattern: Regular Guy Toe Up Sock (Ravelry Link)

A Bounty to Contend With

I love this time of summer. While it’s hot (and it’s seemed hot here a lot these days), I love when my friends and families gardens start being harvested. Something about having food growing by people I love makes the things I make with them seems even homier.
And the things keep rolling in. I can’t say no, I mean come on. But getting back from my trip to Chicago I was crunched to get to these veggies before they went bad. So for today

Cucumber,

And zucchini,

And green beans,

Oh my!

I’m actually going to concentrate on the zucchini this post, as I feel this is the best product of the three. While I was playing with my phone out at the campground last week and looking around allrecipes.com I came across this recipe for Zucchini Blueberry Bread. Then a few hours later I was handed a few zucchinis. And then I remembered that blueberries were on a killer sale at the store. It was meant to be and who am I to argue with fate? I recommend you give this a try if you have some zucchini sitting around begging to be used. Or if you have to go buy some. Whatevs. And recommend putting a crumbly top on this bread. Because a little more sugar and butter never hurt anyone. Well, maybe that's not true, but it still tastes excellent.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini (apx 2 zucchini)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.

Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Servings: 4 slices per mini loaf (generous slices, yes)
     Calories per slice: 345
     Carbohydrates per slice: 50g (Sugars 30g)
     Nutrition Data based on nutritiondata.com calculations


Sticking with the allrecipes.com theme I made up some Garden Green Beans. I’m not sure I’m a fresh green bean kind of girl. They were okay, but maybe you’d like them better.

And lastly, I made some cucumber salad. I feel a bit of a bum even calling this a “recipe”. I used my trusty mandolin (the kitchen device, not the intriguing musical instrument) and sliced my cucumbers up nice and thin. Put some salt and pepper on top. Let them sit in the fridge a couple of hours. Added some dried onions (just because I didn’t have any fresh on hand, that would be even better) and poured some Ranch dressing over the top. This then sits another few hours and the result is always an amazingly simple and refreshing treat. I'm told it's not true cucumber salad. My husband threw out the "ghetto cucumber salad" comment. I do not care.

Any fruits and veggies you have sitting around the house?

Silver Thaw Mitts

I have a finished project. Yeah! True, my finished project is aran weight mitts that made me feel itchy in the heat even as I just took the pictures. But a finished project is a finished project. Itches and all.

I cast on for these mitts last week because I needed a small project with mindless stockinette to carry around in my bag at last week's conference. The Easy Handspun Mitt by Vera Brosgol fit the bill.

While the yarn is not handspun, it does have that chunky look that only Noro can really pull off. This yarn is Noro Silver Thaw. I know the pic isn't great, but this was taken back in the days when I took pictures of yarn only for inventory reasons. In all honesty I liked this yarn better in skein. But, eh. It is what it is.

The original pattern called for a fingering weight yarn, but I went off some rough notes from the designer to make them in worsted. I did the k1p1 inch of ribbing and then I knit five and half inches before I started the thumb gusset. The pattern recommends a tubular cast on. I think this is a cast on you love or hate. I HATE it. So I went with the Jeny's Stretchy Slipknot Cast On.  Okay, I take that back. I cast on in my usual knit on that I first learned back when I was using the Lion Brand tutorials years ago to learn to knit. I stick with what I know. Change can be scary. So, what really happened was I used the Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off  LOVED the results, but put the knit on and realized I really should have did a stretchy cast on. You'd have thought I'd have learned my lesson by know as a former hardcore fingerless glove knitter, but no. I am stubborn and I will have a tight glove rather than change. Until know. I have been converted. If you make socks of gloves of maybe even hats (?) I REALLY recommend you check out this cast on and this bind off is pretty amazing for gloves, mittens, or socks. Or whatever. Okay, point made?

So, yeah to a finished project! Ravelry Project Page

And, speaking of finished projects. I made this necklace with some "junk beads" (a $5 pound of beads bag from JoAnn that I love for it's crazy diversity of glass beads). This really doesn't deserve a post of it's own, so I'll just throw it in here!

Through the Storm Quilt

I’ve mentioned before how quilts tell a story about me [link] in a way few of my other projects do. The one I’m telling you about today is no different. I wish I could tell you a good story about how this was started in celebration or anticipation of some great new journey in life. But it wasn’t. A couple of years ago my marriage got to the point that I knew I was going to have to leave. I started looking at apartments and was very open with my husband I was doing this. I also started a quilt to show both myself and him how serious I was. This quilt. I would make sure to work on it when he was home, telling him ho w it was for my move. Things were very awful at this time. My secret was that I didn’t really want to go. Deep inside I kept hoping things would change. I purposely made this quilt in colors to match our spare bedroom, hoping something would change. But it didn’t.


Pieces of this quilt got rammed into a chest of UFO’s I have in my sewing room and in all honesty I didn’t imagine I would ever have the heart to finish this quilt. A month or so ago I was digging around and I found these pieces. Curious, I brought the pieces downstairs and laid them out on the floor.

Then I found myself starting to sew. As I worked with the pieces and cut the fabric to finish the quilt I began to look at the quilt and while I had previously identified with the grays and gloomy parts of the quilt, I began to be drawn to the bits of yellow peeking through. Looking at the quilt I began to see it as little bits of sun poking through storm clouds. And I committed to finishing the quilt. The top was done by the end of the weekend.

Basting started shortly after.

Within the week I had the quilt done. Then last weekend I was able to get some pictures of it out at the campground. I’m not sure what is going to happen with the quilt. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with me. But this quilt shows a bit of my journey.

Rollin' With My Homies

I hit the kitchen to ensure there would be no lack of freshly baked breads to nourish my family while camping last weekend. I literally came with about half a paper grocery bag full. (And four were left at the end of the weekend.) And I’m just now telling you about it, I know, you hate me. You were just dying to know this. It’s okay, these wounds will heal.

We were camping, so we of course needed some hamburger and hot dog buns. Now, I know it’s tempting to just pay the damn $.99 at the store for some buns instead of waiting through the rising and kneading for ten minutes and all that fun stuff. But I promise you, pinky swear on a double dog dare that these are worth it. Even my brother who turns his nose up to anything that defies Pillsbury kept sneaking these.

Hamburger Buns & Hot Dog Buns Worth the Work

Not Quite Right, but Still Yummy Potato Rolls

My parents were raving about potato buns and were so sad the Amana bakery doesn’t make them anymore. So I decided to surprise them and make up a batch. I was confident I nailed it. Turns out I didn’t.Even though I went to the work of using locally grown potatoes and all the process of boiling and mashing by hand, I still didn't. Apparently the bakery used potato flour to make an amazingly soft and fantastic potato roll. This led to one of these conversations with my grandpa I will cherish forever as he shared baking secrets with me such as the ratio of potato flour to put in bread to give it some extra softness and that malt will do amazing things to the flavor of white bread. We talked for at least an hour around the picnic table and I wish my memory had a record mode so I could relive it for years to come. He shared tales with me about experimenting with bread doughs for better recipes, long hours in hot bakeries, rebuilding bakeries from the group up, and the good times with family over the years of a part of the Amana heritage my family has had a key role in. I was enthralled and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt such a tie with my grandpa before.

Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns Worth the Extra Work
 
The original recipe was from allrecipes.com, but I did some changes to this and I think it made for a tastier bun. The original didn't allow for rising time, which I feel would have made for a much denser bun. I like some fluff.
 
Ingredients
 
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast  (2 1/4 t.)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
 
Optional:
1 egg plus a little water to make an egg wash
Sesame seeds
 
Directions
 
1) In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).
 
2) In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, transfer to a large bowl coated with oil. Turn dough once to coat with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour. (Or half an hour in my oven like sewing room!)
 
3) After dough has doubled, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
 
4) Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. (At this point I coated the buns with an egg wash and sprinkled the sesame seeds on top.) Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 30 to 35 minutes.
 
5) Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
 
For Hot Dog Buns: Shape each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly, and pinch edges and ends to seal. Let rise about 20 to 25 minutes. Bake as above.
 
Calories per bun: Apx. 230

Not Without A Splurge

I made it out of Chicago yesterday. But, well, I have a few more skeins of yarn and bead strands than when I came in. I mean, COME ON! There were all these great shops that yelp.com found around me and and I had an hour or so before I had to flee when traffic got particularly snarly. And let's just face it. I like yarn. So I walked out of Knitche yarn shop with some lovelies.

My booty?

Rowan Pure Life Revive Rav Link

Blue Sky Alpace Organic Cotton  Rav Link

Malabrigo Gruesa Rav Link

AND Bead Heaven was right next door.

No, really. That's the store's name! So, three strands from there came home with me as well.

All the new additions are happy and healthy and enjoying their new home. :)

Back to the mountain of work and the sketchy internet connection after a week of being out of the office...

Irony at Hamburger University

So I've been at a training for the last three days. For maternal and child health leadership. At Hamburger University. Am I the only one who gets a little twinge of irony here as I sit at McDonald's corporate offfices talking about matters of public health? go McDonald's.

I'll be back tomorrow with some regular posting. I even got a little photo shoot done with my quilt last week at the lake. Tata for now. Time to take a walk down Ronald Lane past Lake Fred for some some healthy learning at Hamburger U. But hey, this morning's session is on immunity to change.

And-my yelp app found a yarn shop on my way home...

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A Beautiful Day To Do Nothing At All

It's pretty amazingly gorgeous out here at the lake. I'm sitting here in a fantastically comfortable lounger with a beer at my side and my knitting on my lap. The activity of the day was a drive to my brother's girlfriend's for some volleyball in the pool to avoid melting through the 90 degree temps.

At the moment a blissful breeze is coming off the lake and the most pressing matter is getting up to make supper. Tonight's menu includes some of my homemade potato rolls, grilled vegetables with an olive oil & lemon juice marinade, sirloin steaks, and grilled pita pockets filled with garden vegetable cream cheese. We be feasting.

May this post find you happily relaxed doing something you love!

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A Midsummer's Night

Tonight is the first night I've made it out camping with my family. It's been a long time coming and summer is getting away from me.

Growing up we lived at the campgrounds. The rangers all knew us as we sped around on our bikes, playing by the lake, sand castles on the beach, all of the trails memorized like the streets of our hometown. We had our little campground gang of kids who considered the campground a second home like we did. We knew what made good firewood, how to catch crawdads, and after our parents went to bed we could fling flaming marshmellows with deadly accuracy.

These are the frames of the reel of my youth. As I got older there were stolen kisses outside the reach of the firelight and giggled confessions with friends under the thin veil of a tent.

As I sit here in a lounger between my mom and grandma, "shooting the shit" with my grandpa, it becomes easier to let the hard lessons of feeling my way out in the scary world of "being a grownup" melt away. Life just feels so much more simple here.

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Droid Addiction

Sorry folks. I'm now the proud, distracted, app overloaded owner of a Droid. Yep, even this post is from an app. Will return when novelty of new techno toy wears off. Tata for now. Muah!

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A Goodbye

Dear Baked Goods, Fried Foods, and Beer (yes, beer),

We have had some good times together. Really, I have enjoyed your company. You are always there when I need to eat my feelings and on those weekends I am bored you always entertain me. I haven't been able to imagine a life worth living without you in it. That is why this is so hard for me. It's time we take a break and I think I need to see some other foods for awhile. I think our relationship has possibly crossed the line and it's just not healthy anymore. We need to work on some boundaries. When we both get to a place we are able to maintain those healthy boundaries maybe we can try things out little by little, but I need my space for awhile. It's not you. Okay, that's a lie. It is you. This hurts me more than it hurts you. I'm going to see how things go with a lower calorie diet for awhile. If we don't make this break now I'm afraid we'll grow to hate each other and some things you just can't take back. Like those pictures of me I just saw on facebook. Those are forever (because they aren't mine and the best I can do is untag.)

It was fun and we had some amazing times together. I wish you the best.

Love always and forever,

April

P.S. Beer, I may try to fit you in. I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye to you yet.

Ready for the Weekend...

...is it here yet? Contrary to what you may think, spending Friday working on a semi-annual report for the state does not make the weekend come any faster. Not even if you decide to work from home. Not even if you sneak over to Ravelry for a bit. Not even if you take a "lunch break" to go to the The Yarn Shoppe so you can get one more skein of Ella Rae Bamboo Silk so you can cast on for a freaking adorable shawlette you found when sneaking over to Ravelry and must must must start this weekend. Like as soon as it's 5:00. Okay, really at 4:00 because you have to get an oil change.

It's still not here. I have a pretty aggressive to-do list this weekend.

1) Cast-on for that shawl.
2) Get my oil changed.
3) Make hamburger buns.
4) Grill out and eat some of the leftover sweet corn.
5) Finish the binding on my quilt.
6) Work on the shawl.
7) Go to the Freight House Farmer's Market.
8) Get some tomatoes and other veggie delights at the market.
9) Make some tomato sauce for the freezer.
10) Not go buy a pressurized canner due to lack of confidence I wouldn't cause an outbreak of botulism.
11) Work on the shawl some more.
12) Pick up the winter clothes strewn about the bedroom from when the closet was "transitioned" about a month ago.
13) Work on the shawl a little more.
14) Clean the rest of the apartment. Well.
15) Got to church.
16) Go out and spend some time with the husband.
17) Work on the shawl.

More than likely I will accomplish no more than half of that list. And I'm sure we can all guess what will make it to that half.

Ready? Okay. Damn, still have a few hours of work. Should probably add work on the report to that list since I'm obviously not making much progress.

Oh. Did I mention I'm starting a new shawl?

Well, at least I have ice cream for the rest of the workday. That counts for something? Right? (As you can see, the diet is, umm. Maybe Monday?)

I Will Only Eat One Baked Good a Week, I Mean a Day...

Remember that scene from Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood where Vivi is pleading with Mother Goddess and swears to only drink once a day, I mean a week. Hey, it's good to understand our limits, right?

Well. I, April, swear to only eat baked goods once a week, I mean a day. Okay, maybe not even that much. I need to go on a diet. For real. This is a constant struggle between skinny(er) and butter I am engaged in. I mean is a life without baked goods, pasta, and beer a life really worth being skinny in? Will feeling satisfaction and not wanting to push delete when I see pictures of me from behind (or from the side, or from the front) on facebook REALLY be worth giving up the satisfaction of a pie crust made with real butter or yummy yeasted breads straight from the oven? Will going down a size of jeans really be enough to push away my cravings for pasta and beer? I mean, is it really worth it?

Welcome to my version of the struggle between good and evil.

I am going to try to be better. Really. No, REALLY. I even did a (little) workout last night. And I mean, we all know if the heat and rain would let up I would TOTALLY put more than the 10 miles I've clocked in this year on my bike in like an afternoon. Right?? Of course we know. I'm even snack on grapes right now. (Okay, I had some strawberry cheese struesel this morning.)

You'll hold me accountable, right? As long as we can still have some bread and baked goods and beer so life is still worth living. Apparently I get to have 1,500 calories per day to lose weight. So I can choose to just have a couple of cupcakes some days if I'm willing to only have water the rest of the day, right?

At the end of the day, I'm with Joy.

Rocking Open Space Technology

**WORK ALERT** **WORK ALERT** **WORK ALERT**

You've been warned.

So, today for the first time ever I rocked facilitating an Open Space Technology gathering. Why, thank you.

I will admit. I was pretty much cold sweating a bit there over if I would be tarred and feathered for not having an agenda. I stared at the invitation for a community conversation email going out to like 150 or so people for a few minutes. I actually had to look away as I pushed send. What, you are a dorky community organizer like me and want to see the invitation?

Dear Community Members,



The _____________ would like to open our monthly July 7th meeting time and space to invite you all to join us in a community conversation around moving forward in caring for our community’s children and families. We all are aware these times have been stressful on us all and on community families and many of us are unsure what the months ahead hold. However, we believe that as a community what we can do is come together to have a space to acknowledge the barriers we have and name the elephants in our rooms, but also to recognize and celebrate the assets and resources that remain in our community and come together to sustain a strong community united in supporting children and families. We may not know all the answers, but we feel the best place to start is with the conversation.
This invitation is open to anyone in the community who would like to join in this conversation around sustaining a strong community united in supporting children and families. Please feel welcome to pass this invitation on to others in our community. We will be meeting from 8:30-10:30am on Wednesday, July 7th. We will also open the space for a conversation from 5:30-7:30pm on this same day. We will be serving a light meal at these conversations, so we do ask that you RSVP if you are able to join us so we can plan accordingly. We will be meeting at _____________. The direction of this conversation will be led by you community members who choose to participate and based on the topics the group chooses to have conversations around. Please feel welcome to bring any topics pertaining to sustaining a strong community united in supporting children and families you wish to discuss.


We hope to see you on the 7th! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

But guess what happened. People replied. Some thanked us for going out on a limb and offering the space for people to be real. Then I had a whole 'nother round of panic as I realized that this was really going to happen and I was going to have to facilitate a room full of scared people who were probably going to be upset and what if I couldn't answer their questions or no one wanted to talk about anything? And then I breathed. And then I pulled this book off the shelf and brushed up on my open space technology facilitation know-how. Then I hauled tables all around a room and set up the space just so. And then this morning came and people were here.

Then there was an internal panic attack that people wouldn't want to stay or complain about what they were doing. But they didn't They had topics they wanted to discuss and suddenly I was making my rounds from group to group that were having real conversations about how we sustain a community united in supporting children and families. Conversation was buzzing everywhere. People were sharing with each other and learning from each other. It was a euphoric moment for a community organizer. And we did it.

Some Tastes of Home

It's probably not everyday some gets a craving for corn cob jelly. Well, first you'd have to have heard of it, which may the rarity in itself. I spent some years as a teen working in a bakery that is the retail bakery of the line of Amana bakeries most of my family has worked for. Summers were filled with Dutch Crunch Bread slathered with Corn Cob Jelly. Amazingness. I was a little weirded out at first, I shall admit that. But I would venture to say you haven't lived until you've had this combo. Simple in it's deliciousness. Eclectic in it's existence. So I'm sure you can see why it's close to this heart (and stomach!).

So I was actually looking for a recipe for some potato rolls like the bakery used to make after my parents were raving about how good they were and lamenting that they are no longer made. But I'm sure we shall discuss these further later. I have today off work and after scouring the internet, putting in a call to my Auntie Renee who used to manage the retail bakery that sells the bread to get some advice on some discrepencies I saw between different recipes (I wanted it to be as close to THAT BREAD as possible) I headed off in search of some canning jars and white rice flour.

The results. They rocked. Well, okay. The bread is cooling right now so I haven't actually tasted it, but it looks just like I remember, so I'm pretty confident.

Let's start with the jelly...

Corn Cob Jelly

12 sweet corn cobs

8 cups water (the original recipe calls for only 4 cups, but this left me with only 1 cup of liquid in the end)
4 cups sugar
1 box fruit pectin

Bring water with cobs, to a boil, boil for l0 minutes. Measure 3 cups liquid and strain through a cheesecloth.

Put strained fluid into a large saucepan, add pectin. Bring to rolling boil. Add sugar, bring mixture back to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes, then skim. Add food coloring, if desired. (My pics do not have food coloring added.)

Pour into scalded jars and seal. Jelly will be clear and taste like apple-honey.


Now, for the bread.

Dutch Crunch Bread


Bread


2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water 

1 cup warm milk

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2.5 - 3.5 cups all purpose flour

Topping
(from The Bread Bible)

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup white rice flour  (I found this in the health market section)



1. Place sugar and yeast along with the warm water, warm milk and oil in your bowl. Mix for 30 seconds and let sit a few minutes until dissolved.

2. Mix salt with 2 1/4 cups flour and to the bowl, mixing on medium until the dough comes together.

3. Switch to dough hook and slowly add the last 1 1/4 cup until bowl pulls away from the side of the bowl. I ended up adding a total of 2 3/4 cups.

4. Knead by hand until tacky and smooth or on medium with mixer. 

5. Place dough in an oiled container and let rise until it has doubled, approximately an hour.

6. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Shape into 8 balls and place on lined baking sheet, and cover. Let sit for 15 minutes.

7. In the meantime, mix up topping. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Add in vegetable oil. Then rice flour. Whisk all ingredients together until you get a thick cake batter-like consistency. It should be smooth. Let sit for the rest of the 15 minutes, plus another 10 minutes.

8. Rolls should have risen a little bit by this point. With a brush, spread topping all over each of the rolls. This should be done in a thick layer. Brush a generous layer on each roll, using up all of the batter. This step is why you need parchment or a silpat on your baking sheet.

9. Let rolls rise for another 20 minutes until puffy. In the meantime, preheat oven to 350F.

10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool.

The original recipe recommends you  let them cool before tearing into these little lumps of deliciousness because the topping tastes a bit weird until it's completely set and cooled. Now I'm just waiting for my moment of justification for the 3+ hours I spent in the kitchen this afternoon..

Servings: 8
Calories per little loaf: 312
Carbs per little loaf: 59g
(per nutrititiondata)