Stop Hunger Now Volunteering + Yosemite (Recipe: Bite-Size Cinnamon Roll Cookies)

Last week, I volunteered at a Stop Hunger Now event held on RTI’s campus. It was a pretty awesome event.

Stop Hunger Now is an organization that helps break the cycle of poverty for meal recipients through education, skills development and health care, while they also receive much-needed nutrition. Stop Hunger Now’s goals are  to provide as food and life-saving aid to support sustainable education and development programs, and to create a movement of educated volunteer advocates that are actively involved with poverty and hunger related issues.  The majority of the organization’s meals go to support school feeding, vocational training, early childhood development programs, as well as to orphanages and medical clinics.

Since the organization was founded in 1998, they have provided over 180 million meals in 65 countries. This year, they will package 45 million meals, and ship over $9 million in donated aid, mainly vitamins and medical supplies.

The organization is based in Raleigh, N.C., and they operate meal-packaging programs at 19 cities in the U.S. and in South Africa, Malaysia, India, Italy and the Philippines.

They have engaged over 500,000 corporate, student, civic and faith-based volunteers in meal-packaging. In just under two hours, a group of 30 to 40 volunteers can package 10,000 nutrient-rich meals for the undernourished globally.

Our RTI group packaged 10,000 meals in less than an hour! We were on a roll! I would definitely volunteer with this organization again.

In other news, Envy got a new best tournament average at the GDG tournament! Her average for the weekend was 4.143! My little girl keeps getting faster!

Oh! And A and I purchased this beautiful painting from Shawn Hart! Isn’t it just stunning?! Shawn used one of the pictures I took while we were in Arizona visiting Ellie and Matt earlier this year for inspiration! The Superstition Mountains! And then A and I decided we should buy it! We just love it!

And I owe you some more California pictures! (I know, I know. These are going on forever! But I still am making my way through all of them!) Here are some pictures from our drive to Yosemite! Look at how dry everything is! It was nuts! You can tell how the waterline used to be so much higher!

And here are some pictures from our drive into Yosemite. We stopped to take lots and lots of pictures at all the lookouts. 🙂 I love national parks! And Yosemite was amazing. We are already planning our next trip back!

Our first short “hike” (if you can even call it that) was to Bridal Veil Falls! Well, it was not really a falls anymore. Because of the drought, you could only see a flicker of water. Can you even see it in these pictures??

  

1 year ago: All About Envy (Recipe: Fudgy Chocolate Brownies)

Quote of the Day:

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve always imagined.”            -Henry David Thoreau

BTW–I love this quote. Absolutely love it.

Last week I made these cookies for a potluck dinner we were having with some friends while watching a couple more episodes of GOT (Game of Thrones). We are on Season 3! These cookies are so small that you just pop them into your mouth! For me, this is very dangerous.

Bite-Size Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon until blended.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
• In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, yeast and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture.
• Divide dough into four portions. On a floured surface, roll each into an 8×6-inch rectangle; sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons brown sugar mixture. Roll up tightly jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
• Preheat oven to 350*. Cut dough crosswise into 3/8-inch slices. Place one inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• In a small bowl, whisk confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to make the glaze. Dip tops of cookies in the glaze. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Adapted from Taste of Home