DELICOUS Dinner Rolls

I've really missed keeping up on my little food blog. Life has been taking one exciting turn after another and I am ready to have some time for the things I love.

I really love food. I love creating food. I love the process of fantasizing about a recipe, shopping for just the right ingredients, and then putting it all together in the kitchen. I think my FAVORITE thing about making food is sharing it with people I love.

My husband is my favorite person to cook for, probably because I love him the most-est in the all the world. One of his favorite foods is rolls. A long time ago, (ok, like 3 months ago) I told him I'd try a new roll recipe just for him.

He went nuts. They came and went so fast that I kind of forgot to post about them. After looking through all my pictures of food that I've taken with the intention of putting the recipe on my blog, I realized I never put these up! How could I miss the rolls that disappeared so quickly??

I grabbed this recipe off that place where people look at food porn all day and it led me to This Recipe. I followed the instructions exactly and so I put the exact instructions here so you could have the exact same delicious roll, so kudos to the original source! (That's why they are in italics, because my conscience tells me to make sure everyone knows I COPIED this word for word! It's the bibliography student in me)

Rolls with a lovely Date Stamp. Score!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
at least 1 cup of butter

Instructions:

1. Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
2.  We are going to add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
3. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
4. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it raise.
5. When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
6. Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
7. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
8. Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough. 
9. Roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls            
10. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes, It may take longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.   

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1950's Rich Waffles

When I say Rich Waffles around my husband, he starts drooling and then he starts asking what he can do to help me make them. Since I am dedicating the next several recipes to my sweetheart, this one is for him. These are by far his favorite waffles.

I found this recipe in my 1950's Better Crocker cookbook and although it suggests using bacon fat for an even richer taste, I usually follow the regular richer instructions which call for an extra egg and extra Crisco, just cause we like to eat healthy at our house :)

These waffles should be served at a fancy restaurant. I would serve them to the President if he came to my house for breakfast. They really are rich. I've never had a waffle that compares. Not even the special malt waffles I used to eat at the 4-star ranch I used to work at compares to these.

Don't think about it, just make them for breakfast, or for a late night snack and I promise you that you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 1/2 C Buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 C sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C melted shortening. That's right, pull out the tub-o-Crisco. (The cookbooks says "Fresh bacon fat is good in waffles.")

Instructions:
1. Beat eggs well. 
2. Beat in the remaining ingredients.
3. Pour batter into heated waffle iron. Makes 8 waffles. Now go impress your family with your waffle skills.


Printable Version

 

 

Dan's Chicken Roll Ups

 One time I was trying to bridge the gap between my husband's favorite foods and my own favorite foods. He is a self-proclaimed vegetable hater and I am a lover of vegetables. He hates spicy, I love my nose to run when I eat curry. I hate boxed dinners, he loves Velveeta shells and cheese. What's a girl to do? I called my mom.

I called my mom and my grandma and wrote down every recipe that involved bread, white creaminess, cheese, and one or two vegetables. I am crazy about my husband and have found out he actually likes more foods than either of us originally thought!

This recipe series is devoted to him. He makes me laugh from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep. If these chicken roll ups make him happy (I admit I can eat more of these than him because they are SO delicious) then I will fore-go my veggie medley surprise just for him. Love you babe!

This recipe is a combo of my mom's and my favorite food blogger's, The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 C sour cream
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp dried chives
1 1/2 Tbsp minced onion
2 stalks chopped celery (for veggie lovers)
2/3 C chopped or canned mushrooms (for veggie lovers)
3 C diced cooked chicken breasts


Roll Ups:
2 (8 ounce) cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/4 C melted butter
2 C Italian seasoned bread crumbs


Gravy:
1 can (14.25 ounce) cream of chicken soup
1 package chicken gravy mix
3/4-1 C water 


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a hand mixer, combine the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add salt, pepper, dried chives, minced onion, celery, mushrooms, and diced chicken and stir until all smooth and creamy.


2. To assemble your roll ups, roll out the crescent roll triangles until they are as wide and long as possible. Fill each roll with 1/4 C of the filling and then tuck the sides around the filling and roll up towards the skinny end of the triangle, tucking as you go.

 

3. After rolling, dip the tops and bottoms in melted butter and then roll them around in a bowl of bread crumbs to get that yummy crunchy coating. Shake off any excess crumbs. Line them up on a greased cookie sheet as you go.

 

4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

5. Prepare the gravy in a small pot on the stove. Combine the cream of chicken soup, the chicken gravy, and 3/4-1 C water. Bring to a simmer and then keep warm until you are ready to serve warm on top of the chicken roll ups.

 Printable Version

 

Paleo Banana Walnut Muffins

So I'm totally diggin this Paleo thing. I'm not a pro, but I'm learning as I go and it's been a really good thing for me. In one of the books I have about Paleo eating, the author says that with today's technology, one can take nuts or other foods like coconut and grind them into a "flour" and then be combined with other ingredients to create baked goods and that these kinds of foods are very easy to abuse. I think he was suggesting to avoid trying to recreate things like cupcakes, muffins, cookies, and such with nut flours because they really don't fall in line with the philosophy of a Paleo lifestyle.

I agree. They are easy to abuse and tonight I abused these muffins. There are 8 remaining, but there were 12 earlier today. All I can say is Halle-freekin-luia I found these! I've made 2 other muffin recipes and they were so gross that even my fellow hippy-food-lovin friend couldn't finish it.

These tasted like butter to me. They seriously tasted like a delicious buttery muffin. I am so pleased with them that I will make them again. They are so convenient for me because I eat most meals in my car. (lame, but true)

These are adapted from 3 different Paleo Muffin recipes, so I give credit to the the wonderful world wide web.

Ingredients:

2 Brownish Bananas
3 Eggs
1/4 C Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Honey
1/4 C Coconut Flour
1/2 C Walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425. In a mixer, combine the two bananas, eggs, honey, and olive oil.

2. Next, Combine the salt, soda, and coconut flour. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined. Fold in the walnuts.

3. Scoop about 2 Tbsp of batter into a muffin pan that has been heavily coated in cooking spray or lined with cupcake liners. 

4. To prevent burning, place the muffin pan on top of a cookie sheet and then put them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. Every oven is different so keep an eye on these! Cool on a wire rack.

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Paleo Friendly Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

January 1 is notorious for people starting their diets and since I hate following a crowd, I started mine on December 30.

I realize I have already lost a few readers by including the word Paleo in the title, but since I'm trying to follow the Paleo lifestyle for the next 90 days (at least) I figured this would be a great place to keep track of recipes that have worked for me.

I love that I got to cook with my doTerra essential oils! The first and only time I tried to chop my own lemon grass was 6 years ago and haven't touched the stuff since. I have lemongrass oil and decided to use my oil in this recipe to replace the lemongrass.

This soup is so rich and filling that I couldn't even finish my bowl. It could easily be made with what you have on hand. I just used the veggies I had on hand instead of what the original recipe called for. This is definitely going in my "make again" category.

Adapted from this recipe on the Paleo Periodical.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1-2 C frozen stir fry veggies, I like the bag from Costco
2 cups baby chopped baby spinach or other greens like swiss chard
1 drop doTerra lemongrass essential oil or 2 Tbsp. lemongrass
2 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 can coconut milk
3 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. chili-garlic sauce 
3 Tbsp lime juice or the all the juice from a fresh squeezed lime
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, boil uncooked chicken breasts in the 3 C of chicken broth until cooked all the way. Remove them from the pan and shred them.  Return the shredded chicken to the pan and add the can of coconut milk, turning heat to medium.

2. Stir in frozen veggies, chopped spinach, ginger, fish sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and lemongrass oil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

3. Add chopped green onions, basil, and cilantro and lime juice just before serving. Serve in large bowls.

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Sugar Sludge Salad

I have to give my awesome sister-in-law FULL credit for this recipe. I think it rivals the Cafe Rio salad in terms of wanting it over. And over. And over. And over again.

I have had similar salads at parties, but there is something about the combination of ingredients of this salad that make it the best. It has tart green apples, salty cashews, crisp romaine, and a poppy seed dressing that is to die for.

If you have a party coming up, this one will definitely be a hit! It is my new favorite party salad. Don't worry, it's not on your diet, but eat it anyway because it's that good.

Ingredients:
Salad:
1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
2-4 C spinach leaves ( As much as you'd like, no science here)
1 pound Muenster cheese, cubed (Muenster is the BEST, but I have been known to sub Mozz.)
1/2 C cashews
1-2 tart apples, cubed

Dressing (This makes a ton of dressing for later!)
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 T. chopped onion
Blend above then slowly add 1 C. vegetable oil
Add 1 1/2 T. poppy seeds before serving


Instructions:
1. Combine lettuce, spinach, cheese, cashews, and apples in a large bowl. Slowly drizzle dressing over salad until lightly coated. You will probably have enough dressing for 1.5-2 salads so don't be alarmed if you don't use it all. Toss well to coat evenly and enjoy!

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

This blog is under construction, Please be patient as I figure out what went wrong to mess everything up!