Refrigerator Yeast Rolls

Last week was one of the BUSIEST weeks of grad school so far. I had 3 homework assignments to do, an exam to take, and a paper to write. I managed to get it all done, BUT unfortunately I wasn’t able to cook for the family like I normally do. And the saddest part…I wasn’t able to blog!!!

A couple of weeks ago, my mom gave me this recipe for Refrigerator Rolls. She received this recipe in home economics class in high school...that would be about 30-something years ago. You can tell from the picture that the recipe has been used!  She said she used to make these rolls all the time. I decided to try them, and I really enjoyed them. She recommended rolling the dough into small balls and using a muffin tin to bake them in. I put three balls in each one, which made for some nice looking rolls! These rolls are pretty dense, not light and fluffy as I was expecting them to be, but the flavor is great!

Refrigerator Rolls

½ cup boiling water

½ cup shortening

½ cup sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 package dry yeast

½ cup lukewarm water

3 cups all-purpose flour

1. Combine boiling water, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend well and cool. (I combine in same pot that I boil the water).

2. Add egg.

3. In large bowl, sprinkle yeast into lukewarm water and stir until dissolved.

4. Add egg mixture.

5. Blend in flour. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

6. Shape into rolls or small balls as described above. Place on greased pan (or muffin pan) and let rise for about 3 hours in a warm location.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (The directions say to bake for 12-15 minutes, but I found that this was too long).

Gadget of the Week: Rotisserie/Convection Oven

This rotisserie/convection oven is a great gadget to have in the kitchen. It does take up counter space, but luckily I have an unused corner that I could put it in. The one I have is made by Euro Pro. It was a gift from my father-in-law, but from my research, they run somewhere around $100. This is something I would have never purchased myself, but I’m very glad that I have one now!! So, what are the pros and cons of this gadget? Here you go…

Pros:

1. The rotisserie function is awesome. The chicken is so moist and juicy and full of flavor! We simply sprinkled some Creole seasoning on the chicken before cooking. That’s all it needed!
2. The oven function is wonderful. You have 2 bake racks, so you can fit about 8 pork chops in it. Again, they are very moist and juicy! Actually nothing that I’ve baked in this oven has been even the least bit dry!
3. It has a lot of settings which include warm, bake, broil, toast, and of course convection and rotisserie. I’ve also heard they bake cakes very well, but I haven’t tried this yet!
4. There is a crumb tray at the bottom as well as a basking tray. Between those two trays, all of the grease or crumbs are caught and it makes clean-up super easy!
5. Did I mention that clean-up is super easy!?
6. It has a 60 minute timer and also has a stay-on mode. (I usually use the stay-on mode).

Cons:

1. It gets very hot! The handle stays pretty cool, but the rest of the oven it too hot to touch. I always make sure I don’t have anything on it or close to it.
2. The words around the dials are very hard to read. This seems to be a common complaint about this oven, from the research I’ve done. I have to get pretty close to it to read it, and I don’t have vision problems at all. It would probably be very hard for someone with vision problems to read.
3. It’s definitely bigger than a regular toaster! It does take up a more counter space, but it’s not so big that you can’t leave it on the counter all the time.

OVERALL, I think this oven is a great buy. It works great for us when I’m cooking things like pork chops or chicken and we have a family of 5. Instead of having to fire up the big oven, this oven can be used to save on electricity! Another way to be green!

Crock Pot Roast

This is my favorite way to cook a roast, and it’s in the crock pot, so that’s even better! You can prepare it in about 5 minutes and then leave it to cook all day. It’s so tender and perfect served over rice or mashed potatoes! Sometimes I throw in some potatoes (chopped) a couple of hours before serving. Good stuff!

I apologize for not getting any plated photos of this dish...everyone was so eager to eat, and we didn't have any leftovers!

Crock Pot Roast

2-3 pound roast (I used round roast this time but my favorite roast to use is chuck)
1 onion
1 package onion mushroom soup mix (I used Lipton brand)
1 (10.5 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 ½ cup water

1. Place roast in crock pot.
2. Chop onion and place in crop pot on top of and around roast.
3. In a separate bowl, mix onion mushroom soup mix and water. Then add cream of mushroom soup and mix well. Pour over roast.
4. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Free Everlast Energy Bar at GNC

Click the link below to get your printable coupon and head to GNC to get a free Everlast Energy Bar!  Unfortunately I don't have a GNC here, but I wanted to post this so that others can take advantage of it!  Expires January 31, 2010.

Printable Coupon

This Week's Menu - Jan 17-23

Happy Tuesday everyone! It’s actually Monday night for me since I haven’t made it to bed yet! I’ve been working on some Economics homework that’s due tomorrow night. And now I’m thinking that I’m pretty dedicated to this blog since I’m posting at 2 a.m. AND I have to work tomorrow!

I wanted to post this week’s menu so that I can hold myself accountable! It’s been working very well so far! I’m leaving Saturday night open because I’m thinking of inviting some friends over and I want to take a little more time to plan just in case! Also, I skipped yesterday because Jason had to work and Chase and Macey were with their Grandmother. Since it was just Madison and me, we ate leftover soup and cake!

Monday – Chicken and pastry*, lima beans, biscuits*

Tuesday – Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday – Chicken enchiladas* & Spanish rice*

Thursday – Country Style ribs in crock pot*, green beans, & macaroni & cheese

Friday – Hamburgers & Fries

Saturday – Lunch – Sandwiches
                 Dinner - ???

* Recipes coming soon!!!

Rich Chocolate Icing

This cake was requested by my husband a few nights ago, and I finally had a chance to make it last night. The icing is rich…so rich in fact that it knocked me off my feet last night! It seriously did...but that’s only because I have to avoid caffeine and this icing is loaded with chocolate, which means it’s loaded with caffeine! It caused my heart to race and I went straight to bed! Yes, I knew better, but I couldn’t resist :)

My husband took the cake to work tonight and everyone enjoyed it. They really liked the icing.  It's not the smoothest icing to decorate with, but it did ok with the little bit of piping I did.

Rich Chocolate Icing

6 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup Crisco shortening

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

5 cups powdered sugar, unsifted (This is equal to 2 pounds minus 2 1/2 cups OR 1 pound plus 1 ¼ cups.  If you wish to sift, do so after measuring)

1/2 cup milk  (you may need to add a little more, depending on the desired consistency)

1. In small saucepan, melt baking chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly (until it is warm)

2. In mixer bowl, mix butter and shortening until blended.

3. Pour chocolate into butter mixture and mix well.

4. Add vanilla.
5. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture.
6. Gradually add milk and mix well.  (You may want to alternate milk with powdered sugar because the mixture will become dry as the powdered sugar is added.)

Fun at One First Birthday Cake

I made this cake for a customer to coordinate with the “Fun at One” theme. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish this cake! I had to make it Thursday night, and my daughter had a ton of homework to catch up on that night. So, at 11 pm, I was decorating this cake and calling her spelling words out to her at the same time! I was so tired, my hand was literally shaking! Not good when you’re decorating a cake! It's not one of my best cakes, but they liked it when they picked it up Friday, and hopefully the birthday girl liked it too! That’s really all that matters!!

Seven-Layer Salad

The end of the week is almost here and I’ve only posted one recipe (well two if you include the pizza sauce)! Don’t worry…I’ve been cooking up some good stuff; I just haven’t had a chance to post! Grad school does that to me! I have some assignments that I’ve been working on this week. I started doing some research for my hospitality management class today and kept running into food, which caused me to forget what I was supposed to be searching for…event planning. Food is definitely part of it, but that’s not the part I should have been focusing on today!

Oh well, I did learn that Pastry Chef Alain Roby released a new cookbook. He is the chef at Hyatt Regency Chicago and has been featured on Food Network many times. He’s donating a portion of the proceeds to the Saving Tiny Hearts Society. His recipes are supposed to be fairly easy, but elegant at the same time. I’d love to get my hands on a copy! You can go to the website at http://www.chefroby.com/ to order the book. You can actually view 3 pages from the cookbook on that website. If you have very good eyes or a magnifying glass, you can read the recipes :)

 

* (I am in no way affiliated with this cookbook)

Ok, back to MY recipes! I know a lot of people are trying to eat healthy now that it’s a brand new year, so here’s a healthy recipe….a seven-layer salad! There are so many variations to this recipe and of course you can adjust it depending on what you like, but for some reason I always feel like I HAVE to have 7 layers!  Well, you'd have to change the name if there weren't 7, right!

Seven-Layer Salad

1 head of Iceberg lettuce, shredded or broken up into pieces
1 bunch of broccoli, stems removed
1/3 red onion, finely chopped (I personally don't like raw onion, but I really enjoyed the flavor this onion adds to the salad!  Probably the first time I've enjoyed eating raw onion!)
1 bag frozen peas (Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before prep) (I substituted 4 boiled eggs this time, because I did not have peas).
Bacon, fried and broken up into pieces (Or store-bought REAL bacon bits)
¼ cup mayonnaise (or light mayo)
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

12 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (I used mild and sharp)

1. In a 9 X 13 baking dish, layer lettuce on bottom.
2. Next, layer broccoli.
3. Layer red onion.
4. Layer peas.
5. Layer bacon.
6. Mix mayo, sugar, and parmesan cheese. Spread evenly over other layers.
7. Layer cheddar cheese on top.

Must-have Kitchen Gadget: The Electric Griddle

Out of all the things in my house, (besides my husband and kids of course) I really love my kitchen gadgets!  Some of them I just can't live without!  Well, there are some I COULD live without, but I just don't want to!!  I have been thinking about featuring one gadget a week on my blog, so I figured there is no better time to start than now!!  Most of my "reviews" will probably be positive ones, but I will be sure to post any negative experiences as well!

Electric Griddle

The first gadget I'm featuring is the electric griddle!  I don't know how I survived for so many years without this piece of equipment!  If you make pancakes, this is a MUST-HAVE!  You can easily fit 8 pancakes on this bad boy!  It's also wonderful for bacon, sausage, grilled sandwiches, eggs, hamburgers, hot dogs, and so much more.  Stovetop griddles can be used, but they use 2 burners.  This can be used anywhere you have an outlet!  You also have a temperature control dial on the electric griddle, which usually ranges from 100 to 450 degrees.  This griddle also features a nonstick surface which makes for easy cleanup.  Just make sure you use utensils that will not scratch the surface.  Most electric griddles feature a drain try that can easily be removed and cleaned.  The griddles come in various sizes, but the smallest I have seen will still hold 6 pancakes.  I've seen prices ranging from $17.99 and up.

The electric griddle that I own is from Cooks and I've been extremely pleased with it.  The only recommendation that I would make is to take some time to become familiar with your temperature settings.  DON'T follow the recommended settings that are included in the pamphlet because they are too hot.  My griddle was a gift, but I'm pretty sure that the price was just below $30.  It was definitely worth every penny!!

In the book, Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen, Alton Brown recommends Rival and Toastmaster brands because of their accurate thermostats.

Homeade Pizza & Breadsticks!!

One of my meal projects last week was to make homemade pizza crust.  I normally use store-bought crust, but I had some bread flour on hand, so I decided to put it to use! I think my yeast had lost some of its activeness because it didn’t bubble as much as it should and of course my dough didn’t rise as much as IT should! It was still very good and I even made a batch of it for breadsticks. I will be attempting to make these breadsticks again soon with new yeast! These weren’t as soft as I like, but I’m blaming the yeast!!

And….you can’t make homemade pizza without homemade PIZZA SAUCE!! This pizza sauce is very good with just the right amount of herbs…I used it on the pizza and for dipping the breadsticks in. Yum, Yum, Yum!!!

Pizza Crust or Breadsticks (Makes 1 crust or about 10 breadsticks)

 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

2 ½ cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and let stand for about 10 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, salt, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder.

4. Sift flour into yeast mixture. Add oil mixture and beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

5. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and pat into circle. Transfer to a greased pizza pan.

6. Bake for 8 minutes. Then, remove from oven and spread with desired toppings. Return to oven for another 8-10 minutes. (This helps the crust to bake more evenly and prevents the possibility of having a gooey crust).

7. For Breadsticks, form into ball, and then roll out into sticks. Place on greased pan and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all ingredients until blended well. (If you like your sauce thin as our family does, this will cover 2 pizzas).

Can you tell that I LOVE mushrooms???