Grandma's Rolls

A Phillips family favorite.  My Grandma Lucy made wonderful rolls that made Thanksgiving complete.  When I was a kid the Phillips family would meet at Grandma's house for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  To keep up busy (and out of trouble) Grandma would give us kids the scraps of this dough to play with at the counter (in sight but out of the way).  If we wanted we could for the dough into festive shapes (snowmen and reindeer etc.) and then she would put them in pans and bake them for us.  I thought this was great!

This past holiday season my uncle Merritt shared his recipe the Grandma's Rolls on facebook.  It didn't take long until other members of the family noticed that his recipe that he had gotten form Lucy was different than other Grandma's Rolls recipes (all from Lucy).  Some year we will need to do a rolls bake-off to find the winner but until then I will share with you the recipe for Grandma's Rolls (the real recipe of course!).  I  am bias toward this recipe because 1) it is the only one I have used and 2) my mother wrote the recipe while watching Grandma make rolls so I trust it knowing that, in fact, she did make rolls this way-- at least once.

Another way I know they are the best rolls ever... I'm eating one right now. 

Here is a half recipe (for when you don't have a dozen people to feed)  Now it's a little involved but it's worth it!

Grandma's Rolls via Kristen

yields one full 9x13 pan of dinner rolls and a pan of cinnamon rolls (also tradition) but it varies based on how thick you roll the the dough etc.

You will need 1/2 Cup Mashed Potatoes (no lumps)if you don't already have some you'll want to start that first.

pour 1 can Evaporated Milk in a large liquid measuring cup, then add regular milk until you have 2 1/4 Cups --- then in a saucepan scald the milk and let it cool until it is now longer hot, but still warm.

Proof the yeast by dissolving 2 Tbs. Yeast into 1/4 Cup Warm Water and 1/2 Tbs. Sugar

While the yeast gets puffy,

Ideally in a large mixer (Grandma had a Bosch, I have a KitchenAid)

Beat 3 Eggs and combine with 1/2 Cup + 1/3 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil

Add the mashed potatoes and the now just warm scalded milk and the puffy yeast

Once those are incorporated

Add 3/4 Cups Sugar and 1/2 Tbs. Salt

Slowly we add the Flour (6-8 Cups of it) 1/2 cup at a time allowing the flour to mix in between.  You want to be careful not to add more flour than is necessary to keep the lightness of the rolls we are looking for.  I try to add just enough flour so the dough is no longer shiny.  It will still be a bit sticky but will not stick to the side of the bowl.

Dab the top of the dough with a small amount of oil, cover with plastic wrap or towel and let rise until about double (about half and hour in a nice warm spot but it can take longer). 

When the dough is about ready you want to prep the space that you will form the rolls.  Liberally apply flour to a clean smooth surface (a counter top or a very large cutting board).  Melt a stick of butter and brush the bottom and sides of the pans you will be using (I like to have a butter assistant).

With flour on your hands pull off a portion of dough and roll approximately 3/8-1/2" thick with a rolling pin or a cylindrical drinking glass. With a biscuit cutter or the opening of of a drinking glass cut out as many circles that you can (my uncle Merritt cuts them into squares... he's very efficient, but I have not tried it that way).  Dip the bottom half of the circle of dough in the melted butter and place in the pan buttered side down and fold the unbuttered half on top (I just brush butter between the layers as I fold them over).  Transfer the unused dough from counter top to a plate to wait.  Repeat until you have filled the pan with rolls.  Brush the tops with butter and cover to let rise until they are the size you want your dinner rolls to be (it's disappointing if your in a hurry and put them in too soon hoping they'll rise a little more while they're in the oven).

If you only want dinner rolls just keep going until you run out of dough (you can re-roll the scrap dough).  Since the scrap dough will have slightly more flour incorporated I like to use it for cinnamon rolls.  To do so I roll out a large rectangle of dough as thin as I am comfortably able.  The thinner the dough the more layers in the finished roll and the less space between sweet cinnamonny goodness.

Then slather it with melted butter, it helps the goodies stick.  There are a few ways it can go from here.  I typically apply a cinnamon and sugar mixture (fresh cinnamon is best)-- enough to soak up the butter but not dry-- and crumble on some brown sugar.  If you want you can add raisins and/or chopped walnuts/pecans etc.

Before you roll it up decide whether you want a smaller number of large cinnamon rolls or if you want a larger number of smaller rolls-- that will determine which way you roll up your rectangle of dough.  (starting with the long side for small rolls or starting with the short side for larger rolls... it's all in the number of revolutions)  When you roll it up you want to keep it snug and even forming a log shape.  To get a few more rolls out of it I sometimes roll the log back and forth to stretch it out a little more.

(you could toss this baby into a buttered loaf pan to get very tasty bread with a cinnamon sugar swirl-- my sister has done this-- when she used to eat gluten-- she liked it)

For rolls you take about 12" of sturdy thread and slide it under the log about an inch from the end.  Bring the ends of the thread upward and around the log so they align on the top.  Now pull the ends of the thread to slice a disc off the end.  Place the disc swirly side up in a buttered pan.  Repeat the thread action until you're out of dough.  The first and last disc turn out a little wonky but no body cares.  When the pan is full pat the tops with melted butter and sprinkle on some more of the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Cover. put in a warm place and let rise.

With your oven rack in the middle position, preheat your oven to 400 degrees while the rolls are rising and when they are about doubled in size bake for 15-20 minutes (but start checking them around 10 minutes just in case, you don't want to go though all this and then burn them... that's really no fun).

The cinnamon rolls in the back had not been baked yet and needed to rise a bit more.  Turkeys are still 99 cents per pound around here so we're having a mini Thanksgiving this week-- yay for cooking a lot one day to feed us for a week.  It's weird to cook a turkey and not have company over... but I guess it's weird to cook a turkey for a Monday night.

Oh, and you can freeze the dough too!  So far I've had it work best to freeze it just before the first rise, thaw it in the fridge overnight then shape into rolls, rise, bake, yum!

Butternut Squash Soup

I want to like squash. I really do! The only problem is that I don't-- with the exception of pie of course. That is until this soup! Now I have hope. Hope that perhaps I have a gateway into squash! We'll see how that goes but for now I know now there are two squash dishes I enjoy-- and one isn't even a dessert. I'm so proud!

I used Alton Brown's recipe. I garnished with bacon and used a stick of string cheese as my spoon. This soup can be made with other types of squash or even cans of pumpkin puree. The fist time I made it I did not have enough butternut squash so I used a can of pumpkin to supplement and it worked well. My batches turned out really thick which is good in many ways except it makes an exceptional mess if you let it bubble on the stove without a lid-- so don't do that.

In the video he shows a great way to cut up hard winter squash... seems much safer.

This was a double batch of soup I made so I could can a portion for later so now I have five pints waiting for when I feel like having it again. Yay for pressure canners-- we'll see how they do from the shelf.

Brown Sugar and Happy Rants

The other day it occurred to me that it has been at least six months (possibly more) since I bought brown sugar although I use it almost everyday. I don't remember when exactly but I started making my own I have kept at it quite possibly because it's incredibly easy... easier than remembering to get it from the store.

Jayna was the first person I saw make brown sugar. I had never thought about making it before and assumed it was regular sugar that was slightly less processed than white sugar. I didn't know I could be making it at home, I was just missing an ingredient.

I don't know much about Molasses. It is a byproduct of the sugar refinement process. Brown sugar is simply sugar with some of the molasses mixed back in-- we can do that!

1 Tablespoon Molasses for every Cup of White Sugar (you can make adjustments to your personal taste with less of more Molasses).

I've used blackstrap molasses and I am happy with it although I haven't tried any other kinds. I've learned that blackstrap has more nutrients (I'm not sure how much more), made from older sugar cane (can blackstrap come from sugar beets?) and can have a bit of bitterness to it so I have to be careful not to over do it. Sulphered molasses is made from green sugar and so is treated with sulphur fumes to refine the sugar (I don't have a real understanding on this)-- sounds unappealing to me. Regular molasses is made from ripe cane (and sugar beets) and is lighter in color than blackstrap. My next jar of molasses will be the regular kind so I can see how I like it.

A jar costs under $4 and lasts a really long time. According to my estimates one 12 oz. jar will turn about 10 lbs of sugar into brown sugar.

This is a 4 cup batch most recently made. This brings to another reason why I love my KichenAid and it also brings me to my BladeBeater which makes it even easier to love my KichenAid, not that it was ever all that hard but it's even that much better. Gone are the days of stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula (I've even seen Martha Stewart do this on her show-- poor Martha-- such a hardship).

This is not my typical purchase. I bought it for about $25 at Hollywood Hardware on Freeport in Sacramento. While this is pricey for me is not at all pricey compared to just about anything else KitchenAid related. I love it when products show that someone somewhere was really thinking (like baking powder cans-- so simple but illustrates that thought went into it-- I save those cans and refill them with other things that are often needed by the teaspoon). The squeegees on the edges of the flat beater scrape down the sides of the bowl as it mixes and when it's all done then the BladeBeater works as a large spatula that just so happens to perfectly fit the contour of the bowl. The only negative thing I could say about it is that if I'm mixing a small volume then it can squeak-- I can live with that. totally.

It's made in the USA and they make blades that fit different types of mixers and models.

Happy rant leading to another happy rant! yay for awesome mixers and brown sugar!

Now you've made all the way to the end-- thanks! I have a question for you... Would you like to see a post about making yogurt or english muffins/crumpets? I've recently started making both and am starting to get the hang of it. Please leave a comment-- thanks for reading.

Bee-Bop-a-Ree-Bop Rhubarb Pie

We have a neighbor down the street-- one of those guys that's lived on this street for the past 60 years. He used to own about five houses on the street (including the one we're renting now). Now we just owns three (not the one we're renting now) . He's a nice guy. He grows rhubarb but doesn't do much with it so this spring he asked us if we'd be interested. We said "yes." And he said "I'll be right back."

It was a lot of rhubarb he brought over so I made two pies using my apple pie recipe and delivered one back to him. See? It pays to be nice!

Wouldn't this be a good time for a piece of rhubarb pie?

... I think it's quite fitting that my 50th post is about pie...

Two Pints of Cream

We were invited to a waffle breakfast and I was asked to contribute whipped cream topping. And since these were friends that would appreciate it, I decided to whip it 'in house' and since these are really good friends that would appreciate it I picked up and extra pint and made butter.

So I learned that a pint of whipping cream will make a cup of butter and a cup of buttermilk (which I used for biscuits). It's fun to make butter but we'll have to wait until we have good friends that own a cow and so we get cream on the cheap since currently it's not exactly cost effective-- but still nice for special occasions-- and super tasty on waffles with their homemade blueberry syrup!

Bready Goodness

Above is the very first loaf of bread I made using the methods described in a really neat book called: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (it's a pretty nifty website as well). Notice that we had already eaten half of it before I remembered that I wanted a picture of it to share. This book is not new, it came out last year, I read about it on Angry Chicken, I put a hold on the book at the library, and about two weeks ago got the book... I think we may have to buy it as I don't want to give it back.

The book has many base recipes that you may then tweek slightly (mostly in the shaping) to make many kinds of bread and is based on the idea that you can make a large-ish batch of moist dough, keep it in your refrigerator for up to two weeks, and just pull off hunks of dough to bake that day so you can easily have fresh bread in your home without starting form scratch nor running to the store. So far I've only done the basic recipe-- and it is really good-- who knew what four really basic ingredients can do? Water, yeast, salt, and flour-- that's it!-- and oh so good! I'm still working on my technique and we're learning what we like-- as the dough ages it develops a sourdough flavor and aroma which is interesting but we haven't decided if we like it better.

I like how convenient it is although you do have to plan ahead a little-- once you've shaped the loaf you leave it on the counter for 40 minutes-1 1/2 hours (but you don't have to attend to it) then you bake it for about half an hour (for the little loaves that we make). The five minutes the title talks about refers to the hands-on time which is minimal.

I like that I can make loaves the size that we need them and I like that I know exactly what is in them. Another thing that I like about the book, besides it's straightforward nature, is that they also give you dinner recipes that the bread should compliment. I'm always open for good dinner ideas!

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As a side note I wanted to mention one of the many reasons I love my husband:

It was the Saturday before last. I had a busy day. I attended Women's Conference in the morning. When I got home I laid brick borders around the new flower beds (one is 10 feet long, the other is 3o feet long-- Dennis helped!) then proceeded to plant over 100 Gladiola bulbs. I came in, showered, made dinner and a new batch of bread dough to have on hand. At the end of the day I was tuckered out and hadn't done the morning or mid-day dishes so the kitchen was showing signs of neglect (tiny kitchens show neglect very quickly). When the beau came back home I apologized for the kitchen being a mess and walks over, gives me a hug, and says "but the bathroom's clean so 'Thank you!'"

Now it's not that I always keep a spotless house-- that's just not the case! Nor do we as a couple consider it my "wifely duty" just I make an effort since I am at the house a lot more than he is. And since he's so nice about it it makes me want to get more done around the house so then when he is home his time can be spent either building something useful or spending time with me-- not vacuuming-- because he will vacuum if I don't and that in itself makes me want to vacuum. Well played, Honey, well played.

Happy Birthday to Dad

Since he has already received (and eaten) his gift I may now post about it. Earlier this month my dad turned 60-- I'm glad he made it thus far! So for this monumental occasion I made him something he's always said he'd want...

Chocolate Chip-less Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yeah, Dad's an odd duck. I remember growing up and my oldest sister, Heather, would make chocolate chip cookies... she liked doing things like that every now and then-- I'm glad she did. And I remember on several occasions as she transferred the freshly baked goodness from the cookie sheets to the over lapping rows of tin foil that covered a portion of the table (in our house, we never made small batches of cookies!) our dad would walk through the kitchen and say something to the effect of: 'It's too bad you had to ruin them by putting those chocolate chips in there.'

Of course that didn't stop him from eating a bunch of them!

Here are the cookies with the card I sent along. On the inside the card read:

The Bad News: we're all headed there eventually

The Good News: you still have a few years until you get there

I'm glad you liked them, Dad, Happy Birthday!

oops!

You see I recently joined a cooking group and this month's theme was 'guilty pleasures' and after much deliberation (with myself) I decided to make the Gray family favorite Meringue Crust Chocolate Pie for which I needed to whip cream.

The KitchenAide is a cream whippin' beast! After letting it work it's magic for a short while I started to divide the product (as needed for the recipe) when I decided that there was not the volume that there should be so, "I'll whip it some more" I thought and set the whisk to whirlin'. I stop it again and it's lumpy and look like a sad ugly cousin to cottage cheese. "Well I can't use it in the pie now" I said to myself, a tiny bit worried because that was my only cream and the cooking group was the next day and the morning was already booked "guess it can't hurt to keep going now." So I cranked it up again and when I finally stopped the whuring whisk a poured off the thin milky liquid it donned on me:

I had accidentally made butter
I had wondered about that possibility

Now if you've never accidentally made butter I can tell you... it feels odd and a little bewildering with some undertones of exciting.

When I went downstairs to where Dennis was working and relayed the story. I could tell he had a similar feeling. He gave me a hug and with my head under his chin he said something to the effect of 'well, if you're going to 'oops' in the kitchen, making butter isn't that bad."

Here are the other parts of the pie that will have to wait for more whipping cream.

But I was not too worried about cooking group because that day I was trying a recipe I had found online for the Great Harvest Bread Company's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. I fell in love with this bread while we lived in Logan (when you walk into the shop they give you a fat slice of bread to sample with plenty of butter). Any one reading who knows-- yeah, you know! So I had a back up to bring that turned out really well and just so happened to compliment my accidental sweet butter!

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try. It's very moist and dense. This recipe makes two loaves so it great for sharing.

GREAT HARVEST PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

2 1/2 cups white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

16 oz cooked or canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling) (15 oz can will work too)

1 cup oil

4 eggs, beaten lightly

2/3 cup water

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two (9x5 inch) loaf pans or three (8x4 inch) loaf pans. Mix flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside. Mix pumpkin, oil, eggs, and 2/3 cup water together and stir into dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Place batter in prepared pans. Bake 60 or 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lately with my quick breads (mostly banana bread) I've been liberally dusting the tops with a cinnamon/sugar mix and have been happy with the result. :)

[and I would like to thank my cousin Melissa for showing me how to accomplish an effective use of depth of field-- I honestly didn't know my camera could do that!]

More Canning Coziness

I've been wanting to mention this book, it isn't new but I've enjoyed it-- it makes me want to garden. At least it makes me want to garden in theory. For many years I've been spending the bulk of my summers in California while living the rest of the year in another state. This makes gardening... difficult... it seems you need to be in the same place long enough to plant a garden and harvest the garden. silly gardens!

The book is great and they have a website: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/ which is also good.

I originally bought this as an audiobook for the long drive between where I was in California and where I was going in Utah. I've listened to it three or four times now (most recently during my canning mentioned in the last post) and I've purchased the book which is odd, I know, but I felt the need to have it more as a "reference." I adore the audio book though-- read by the authors, I get drawn in.
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I just came from a friend's house where we made a batch of Cran Apple Butter. It was fun to share the Cran Apple Butter goodness and the fun of canning-- it's really not as hard as some folks would have you believe but I can understand wanting someone there who's done it before. It can be intimidating. Maybe next year I'll try tomatoes, tomato sauce and salsa. I think that will be interesting especially since those are things we use and so is a bit more practical than jams, jellies, and apple butters-- which are all I've done so far. Well, we use the jams just not in large quantities.

Also I heard that the local university grows tomatoes and apples and such that they end up selling on the cheap... it's just a question of timing. I'll keep my eye open next summer. I'm also on the list to volunteer to pick the university crops. I learned about the program too late to participate this season so I'll write about it more when I've actually done it but as I understand it they have volunteers come and pick and the food goes to the local food bank which I think is awesome (and I hear the pickers get to take some home a bit of the bounty as well). I'm looking forward to participating (so she says now).

In other news the beau just turned another year older, yay! We're planning to do more of the birthday stuff this weekend but it was fun to see how many times I could work in "Happy Birthday" into the conversation. Love you Honey!

So evidently my grand idea of writing posts at home and them bringing them to the library has not been as effective as I would have hoped, but at least I'm here now. whoop-dee-doo!

Right now life is a really odd combination of busy and dull. I'm working on some puppets which are progressing very slooowly (see, three 'o's... that means it slower than usual). But there are other projects that lure me away... Like this the day before Thanksgiving

I made a batch of Cran Apple Butter and I'm wanting to make another. The day after I made a batch of Orange Chili Marmalade ... I guess it turned out how it was supposed to... I'm just not a fan.

well, the library computer is about to log me out!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Trying Something a Little Different

With no internet at the house my blog posting has… well... stopped. This will not do. So my new plan of attack is that I write my post on the computer at home and process any images I may use and plop it all on a thumb drive then make my way over to either the local or not-quite-as-local library (the one that opens before 1pm and has double the computers and more than double the books) and cut and paste.

If I didn’t have to drive then the internet would basically be free. So that’s good and kind of exciting however it presents it’s own special sort of hassles to be sure. …I have mixed thoughts about limitations on time on-line. I find I waste less time when I think I only have 30 minutes but if it’s slow and the pop up window asks me if I want another 15 minutes I can’t say no. Then if it asks me again… well, since time on-line is limited it makes it harder to walk away whereas when it’s at home and I know I can come and go it makes it easier to leave it alone because I know if I think of something I need to look up later I can. Lists help but they’re not fool proof and inevitably I find myself later in the day I think of something I forgot to do on-line. There are times when for business I’ll really need to have the internet more accessible so I see the library as a temporary situation. ::fingers crossed::

Now for things I actually wanted to post.

First the toads!!

These three turned up while my beau was mowing the lawn a couple of Saturdays ago. Not wanting to hit them with the mower he brought them inside (one at a time as he found them) and put them in a pace picante sauce jar.

These guys are small and soo cute! The biggest one was about the size of a gumball. So that little was pretty bitty! Of course when the mower was put away we released the trio wishing them well and for them to get fat on the hundreds of crickets in the yard.

I’m not sure what makes so many amphibians fall into the cute category—but there they are.

Next...

STEW! (maybe it’s not best to write about toads and stew in the same post… could make the tags look funny but here we go)

The weather has been cooling off (it’s raining now) and with that comes stew! It’s one of the reasons I can let go of summer and embrace autumn and winter… it’s cozy!

This was the first stew of the season (we’re currently finishing off our second-- a lentil and sage sausage number that illustrates that I need more practice but has become quite tasty). What I was excited about was the pound of Adirondack Blue potatoes I scored at the farmer’s market that week. As I understand it, any food with naturally blue or red flesh is a good source of anti-oxidants… which makes me wonder why not eat more blue potatoes since they’re just as delicious, healthier, and much more fun?

See? Pretty!

This was taken before cooking. The potatoes didn’t stay this purple, the surface turned white but they were still purple on the inside. I like. If we ever garden as much as we discuss wanting to I would love a row of blue potatoes. I’m enamored.