Josie and I were having so much fun in the kitchen, making our very first homemade cinnamon rolls, when we realized we had forgotten the best part… the icing!

I hollared for Emma’s help and told her we needed a good icing ASAP. She grabbed some milk, some confectioners sugar and started doing her thing ~ before I could ask questions, she was giving me a taste from the end of the spreader…

Holy moly was it ever delicious and I mean the most perfect consistency! If you are looking to whip something up to amaze your people ~ you are gonna wanna try this recipe!

Also, my Josie and I got fancy but not too homemade… we grabbed a couple tubes of crescent rolls, rolled them out and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. After that, we cut long rows about one inch apart and began rolling, connecting one end to the next until we had used up all of our cinnamon sugar coated strips of dough. We placed it neatly in a pie plate and baked according to the crescent roll instructions. While cooking, we would press down the oversized cinnamon roll with the back of a spatula to keep an overall height.

I had all intentions of capturing our delicious masterpiece but I never had a chance! My crew grabbed it up as soon as it was iced.

Such a fun and simple way to make any morning extra special!

Okay y’all, just the other night Andy discovered Hot Pepper Jelly dumped over a block of cream cheese and I think I saw his life change…  I had no idea he had never tested this southern staple at parties before.  I mean ~ a block of cream cheese and a jar of jelly!  It is the easiest bliss you will ever create.  So…  he loved it!  I mean, hanging over the plate and scooping up the concoction on his crackers, his fingers, his fork… he just couldn’t get enough.

So, I did what any good woman would do…  I came home and tried to replicate this for my man in my own kitchen. Now, this was gonna be challenging…  It wasn’t just Hot Pepper Jelly.  It was Marilyn’s Hot Pepper Jelly, with ingredients picked from her garden!  Now Marilyn is one of those fine Southern ladies that can just pull short ribs and bacon grease out of her back pocket all the while she is tossing together a slaw put together from the garden.  I will just say that it is good to know her.  She can cook.  And throughout the year I’m lucky enough to get to taste her delicious southern creations.  So, the bar had been set and I was really hoping for good results.  Guess what?  I did it!  

So delicious and super easy!  A great first if you are wanting to try your hand in canning.  I am a sucker for small-batch canning…  Only because I get an itching and want to do it right then and usually have to use whatever is on hand, resulting in small batches!  My precious mother-in-law had sweet red peppers perfect for harvesting and using in this recipe.  I picked up some jalapeño peppers from a local farm stand. And with a few other items needed, I was ready to get started.   Now, I have only been canning for a few years and still figuring out the whole preserving and processing part.  I have a sweet lady who lives down the street and she has taught me TONS; a good bit of old school canning that seems to work perfectly for me.  She’s been a wealth of knowledge and I think she gets a ton of joy from ALL my questions!  (or either she thinks I am crazy…)  Mrs. Hazel! Eighty-something and still gardening for her family and community.

I’ll be honest, I hate pressure cookers and scared to death to use a pressure canner… but I know the day is coming I will have to figure it out!  I know there is a real science to preserving food and I wish I needed to be more precise…  but, I am a nobody’s-died-yet-I-and-heard-it-pop-so-it’s-gotta-be-sealed kinda girl.  So, good luck with the recipe!  

Something so pure and simple about growing and canning your own food.

♥Originally published on October 9, 2013.  Revamped with a little love for you today!