Drool Worthy Dinner Rolls

Excuse me, really quickly, while I wipe the drool from my chin.

OK that's better.

I cannot even begin to explain to you how absolutely delicious these rolls are.

Browned and crusty on the outside, light and doughy on the inside, taste homemade.

The best part?  THEY ARE NOT!  Well besides the fact that they are put in the oven after letting the frozen dough thaw. Yeah that's right, I said frozen!  

Why would I ever make rolls from scratch, when I can have these!?! 

Again...drooling...

Make these.  That's an order.

ENJOY

Dinner Rolls

Rhodes frozen dinner rolls.

olive oil

sea salt & pepper

fresh rosemary

Follow package directions to thaw dough and let it rise.

Once risen, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with S&P and rosemary.

Bake according to package directions.

Devour! 

Logan Rating: *****

Curried spinach and tofu

This, ladies and gents, is tofu and guess who ate it...???

No not the dog, because it was so nasty we put it in her dish...

LOGAN!

Logan ate this tofu dish.

Granted I also made chicken for him, but he still ate tofu, I almost fainted.

This was the first recipe that I made out of the new cookbook...

And I must say, so far, I'm impressed!

One thing that I LOVE about this book is that each recipe has a calorie count.

While some of you may be like my husband and you don't need to know how many calories you are consuming, I am not.  I am going to be a bridesmaid in August and I need to get moving!

So this book, which has delicious low cal foods, is my savior!

This particular recipe has 294 calories per serving and it accomplishes that by swapping high cal coconut milk for reduced fat sour cream.  And I must stay it was still a hit!  Success!

ENJOY!

Curried Spinach and Tofu

2 T vegetable oil, such as safflower

1 med onion, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

S&P

1 T curry powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 packages (10oz) frozen chopped spinach (do not thaw)

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream

2 packages (12.5 oz each) extra firm silken tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 in cubes

Cooked rice, preferably basmati, for serving (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high.  Add onion and garlic, and season with S&P.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to brown, 5-7 minutes.  Add curry powder and ginger; cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add spinach and the water; bring to a boil, breaking up spinach with a spoon.  

Reduce heat to med; simmer, stirring occasionally, until almost all liquid has evaporated, 10-12 min.

Stir in sour cream and tofu; cook just to heat through, 3-5 min (do not boil).  

Serve with rice, if desired. 

Serves 4.

I served this with these very popular rolls, which were incredibly easy to make.

I got the recipe from this wonderful lady's cookbook.

Buy some frozen unrisen rolls at the store.

Follow the instructions on the bag, but before putting them in the oven to cook brush them with olive oil or butter and sprinkle them with fresh chopped rosemary and sea salt.

You will be an extremely popular person, I promise!

Here they are after spending about 4 hours rising!

Right before going into the oven! YUM!

All 9 of these were devoured by 3 of us...so good!

Logan Rating: ****

St Patty's Day Feast

Not the greatest photo, but boy oh boy was this the greatest meal!

I was introduced to this traditional meal by my uncle Dug two years ago on St. Patty's day, and wow was my whole world opened up after tasting this!

I had never had corned beef, except for the cold cuts that you can buy at the grocery store. 

This corned beef is incredible, its easy to make and the taste is absolutely unbelievable!

I could sit here and type about how I dream about this on a weekly basis, how I drool when looking at the photos or about how if marrying a slab of beef was possible I would probably do it...OR you could make this for yourself and you would just KNOW exactly what I mean.

I know that St. Patrick's day is still approx. 11 months away, but who says you can't make corned beef and cabbage on a monthly basis? 

I accompanied this meal with some boiled red potatoes and an incredible Irish Soda bread, that Rylie proceeded to enjoy all to herself the morning after this meal...I would be lying if I said I didn't almost shed a tear when I saw the crumbs lying about the kitchen floor.  Disaster!

This recipe comes out of an old crock pot cookbook, if you don't have it, you should!

Mike Roy's Crock Cookery

Corned Beef and Cabbage

1  3-4lb corned beef

2 cups water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp pickling spice

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp horseradish

1 onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 head cabbage

Place corned beef in the crock cooker.

Mix together the water and all ingredients except cabbage.

Pour mixture over meat.

Cover and cook at Love for 10-12 hours.  Remove corned beef and keep it warm.

Strain juice, and return ti to the cooker along with cabbage which has been cut in wedges.

Cover and cook on High for 20-30 min, or until the cabbage is done. 

Serves 6.

Irish Soda Bread recipe here, I left out the orange zest and currants. 

BE SURE NOT TO OVERMIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OR OVER-KNEAD!!!!!!!!!!!

Homemade Bagels!!!

While this is not part of the challenge, I had to share these with you!  

Look at those babies!

I know what your thinking...

"you're crazy"!

And yes, I am a little crazy, but I promise you these are SO easy!

They are a tad time consuming, just because you have to let the dough rise to ensure you get nice puffy doughy delicious bagels.

BUT they are not hard and they do not require a ton of hands on time.

You will be amazed.  You are saying "pfff" to the computer screen right now,

"yeah right Paige, homemade bagels, easy, I don't believe you".

Well BELIEVE It!  And don't take my word for it, try it yourself.

We made sea salt bagels as well as sesame bagels.

I will try mixing things into the dough next time, such as sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, and maybe even jalapenos and some cheese. 

Oh the possibilities...they are endless.

I got the recipe from this book, which I love by the way.

I plan to make many more bready things in the future from this lovely book.

Bagels

4 1/2 cups strong white flour 

2 T sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp fast action dried yeast

1 1/4 cup water

1 egg yolk, to glaze

3 T poppy or sesame seeds ( or any other topping you like)

Put the flour, 1 T of sugar, slat and yeast into a large bowl.  Gradually mix in enough warm water to make a soft dough.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 min (I just mix it in my kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook), until dough is smooth and elastic then put back into the bowl.  Cover loosely with oiled cling wrap and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, knead well (I just do a few turns) and then cut into 10 equal pieces.  Shape each into a ball then make a hole in the center using a well floured finger.  Enlarge the hole by adding a second finger and moving your fingers round and round.

Transfer bagels to 2 baking sheets, sprayed with non stick spray, cover again loosely with oiled cling wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 min more.

When the bagels are nearly ready pour 8 cups water into a large saucepan, add remaining sugar and bring to a boil.   Carefully lower bagels one at a time into the boiling water for 1-2 min each side.  Lift the bagels out of the water with a slotted spoon and put them back on the baking sheets to drain.

Transfer to greased baking sheets and brush with egg yolk mixed with 1 T water and sprinkle with topping.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 min.  Let cool.

MAKES 10

Here's what my bagel making station looked like!

Silk Road

We had a "Silk Road" supper club.

I made red bean curry and homemade naan!  

It was amazing!  

Even though these don't count towards my tally, I thought I must share them with you all.

If you like naan, you should make it from scratch. 

Its SO easy, which I never would have thought.

And curry...oh man...you can just never go wrong!

Recipes here and here.

ENJOY!

Logan gives this *****, even though its not a blog recipe! :)

Down home cookin

This meal totally reminds me of my childhood, my mom used to make chicken and dumplings all the time.  This was my first time ever making this fantastic dish and I'm sorry to say it is definitely better than the recipe I grew up on, but MOM don't worry yours is still good!  I added more of that free cabbage to this recipe in an effort not to waste free food, oh how happy that head of cabbage made me.  

So I have to tell you guys this one is a must make this winter.  It is total comfort food and I'm not embarrassed to say I ate this for 3 meals in a row...dinner, lunch and then dinner again...if there would have been more leftover I may have just eaten this for every meal last week, it was that good!  The dumplings were amazing and the flavor of the soup was perfect, way to go Martha, you done did good!

ENJOY!

Chicken and Dumplings

3 T butter

1 onion cut into 1 in pieces

5 carrots, sliced

1 T fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried

1 cup all purpose flour

1 can chicken broth

S&P

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2 in pieces

2 T coarsely chopped dill or 3/4 tsp dried

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 package frozen peas (unthawed)

In a pot melt butter, add onion carrots and thyme.  Cover and cook until onions softens, about 5 min.  Add 1/4 cup flour; cook stirring 30 sec.  Add chicken broth and bring to a boil; season with S&P.  Nestle chicken in pot; reduce heat to med-low, cover and cook for about 20 min.

Meanwhile make dumplings; whisk remaining 3/4 cup flour with dill, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.  With a fork, gradually stir in 1/2  cup milk to form a moist and soft batter.  (it should be just a little thicker than a pancake batter).

Stir in peas, return to a simmer and drop batter in heaping tablespoonfuls, leaving space between each dumpling.  Cover and simmer until chicken is tender and dumplings are firm, about 20 min more.

Serves 4 

Logan Rating: ***

They are so good, but I'm so ashamed!

Well these brownies were pretty much amazing, however I'm a tad ashamed because they were not low fat in the least...way too much butter!  But it's ok, you have to indulge every once in a while right?  And I didn't eat them all by myself...these are the things I tell myself to make it OK.  Anyway I made these brownies for the Vikings game last week, along with homemade sourdough pretzels and buffalo bites.  It was a very delicious spread!  Now I decided to leave the nuts out of this brownie recipe mainly because while not all brownie eaters like nuts in their brownies all brownie eaters like no nuts in their brownies, it really just felt like the safe move.  So you choose, nuts or no nuts.  

ENJOY!

Fudgy Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter (yikes)

8 oz semisweet chocolate

1 1/4 cups sugar (double yikes)

3/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 8 in square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter the foil.

Place butter and chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water; heat stirring frequently until almost melted.  Remove from heat; stir until completely melted.

Whisk sugar and salt into chocolate mixture until smooth; whisk in eggs until combined.  Gently whisk in flour just until smooth (do not overmix).  Fold in nuts, if desired.  

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.  Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 45-50 min.  Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Use foil to lift brownie from pan; peel off foil and discard.  Cut into 16 squares.

Logan Rating: ****

Here are the sourdough pretzels that we made...these were awesome.  Here is the recipe I used, http://foppish-baker.blogspot.com/2005/12/sourdough-pretzels.html