Soup's Ready! Rolls are NOT!

So I didn't get to posting last night...maybe it was the hour it took me to make the soup, or maybe it was defeat I felt when I saw my cookie flat potato rolls that were as dense as a brownie...yes that dense. But either way I didn't post last night.

So this morning, I'm here to celebrate the soup! Yummy! I have to say every time I make this I stuff myself till I'm nauseous, and then think I'll never eat that again. Then morning comes and I make that trip into chilly kitchen, and open the fridge door and think "Yum! That soup sounds so good right now."  I've made it a few times now. Its one of those great winter/fall Sunday meals, when you don't have anything better to do then peel 6-8 baking potatoes, and spend 15 minutes cooking bacon and chopping celery. However, yesterday I decided to make it while it was cloudy and predicted to storm all day. So what happened when I started to cook?? A miracle occurred!  The sun broke through all those clouds, and made it warm sunny day at 70 degrees. But either way the soup was amazing. I'm not posting the recipe at this time since it is my Aunt's and I don't have prior permission, and she may want this to be a secret since she just opened her own restaurant in Oak Harbor, WA. But lets just say its like a loaded baked potato in soup form, and will do nothing but expand you waistline, but despite knowing that you still want to eat the entire pot.

Now my rolls were a COMPLETE flop. I'm choosing to blame it on my yeast. It don't think it was as fresh as it needed to be.  I followed the recipe exactly, and let it rise for 2 1/2 hours and still didn't get much lift, but I was determined to try to get this on the right path. So I waited and waited, and after 15 minutes LOL,  I decided to make them into rolls and hope they would rise during the next step. Nope, those things were so flat, and when they came out of the oven (I prayed some baking god would smile on me) they were flat as a cookie and as dense as a brownie. It was horrible. God love my husband, he managed to eat 3 with his soup. I, however, managed to choke down 1/2 of mine. The recipe does seem to taste like a potato roll from the store, but next time I'm using fresh yeast.  So I'll keep you updated and let you know if they rise next time. Or maybe one of you will have the baking gods smile down on you and get them to rise!

Tender Potato Rolls (Ha!)

1 medium potato, peeled and diced

2 cups of water

1 package of active dry yeast

1/4 c honey

1 T. vegetable oil

1 1/2 t. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

6 cups all-purpose flour

Place the potatoes in a small saucepan, and cover with the 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce, heat: cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving cooking liquid. Set aside liquid to cool to 110-115 degrees F. Mash potato (don't add butter or milk); set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in the reserved cooking liquid. Add the honey, oil, salt, egg, 4 cups of flour, and mashed potato. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 7-8 minutes. Place into a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 36 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place on a greased 15x10x1" baking pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees f for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Tips: A great tip from my bestie, Jaime, is to spray the tops of the rolls with cooking spray which will make them softer, the same goes for bread for a softer crust which is great for picky kids.

Also you can bake this in muffin tins and get a easy roll shape.

Finding my direction while following the directions

Finally the day has come! My husband is off on day shift, the kiddo's at school all day, and I am home alone..well as alone a person can be with 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a bird...but still alone. So its gloomy and the forecast is calling for rain. So I've decided to hole up in the house today and get down to some cooking.

I'm going to make potato soup, potato rolls, and a small salad for dinner. Something to warm up my families cold, tired faces tonight. I've made the soup probably 3 times, but the rolls are a new recipe. I'm just hoping I can make them as well as the ones you buy. But each time I make something I tweak it and make it work for me, which more often than not improves them. Sort of like life.

In life I make mistakes, I say something I shouldn't have (even though sometimes I mean it), but I have to go back and tweak it. Make it all right again. Make it better than it was before. So now here I sit trying to think what direction to take this blog. I don't want it to be only recipes, but reflect the pride of making something with your own two hands, and  to show how the kitchen can be a place of sancuary, even if its part of the job (atleast for this stay at home mom).

But right now I'll take my baby steps and say that every night this month..yes all 7 nights lol..I have had dinner on the table made by me, and me only. Well no, that's a lie LOL! On Saturday night it was Isabelle's slumber party and we did happy meals. So six nights.  :) BUT I have to commend my husband, who all through our 8 and 3/4 years together has HATED doing the dishes, has been doing them every night right after dinner, while I package up the leftovers, make lunches, and clean off the table. So I give the star to him today!

So later tonight I'll post pictures and recipes, and give a review. But for now, while its quiet and I have hours before dinner,  I think an hour of I Love Lucy reruns, a cozy sofa, a cup of tea, and a snuggily border collie is calling to me. :)

Cooking Mama!

It's BBQ night :)

Yesterday I went and bought a months worth of groceries (aside from the occasional veggie and milk products), and was shocked to see the $300 bill. However, we were out of everything from flour to toliet paper! So I'm think that's not really that bad, considering the pantry, snack cupboard, fridge, and freezers (both) are stocked full. I've got over 25 recipes planned out for dinners, along with breads, desserts, and drinks. So now comes the time to cook it all.

Its been alot easier having a list on the front of the fridge, where I can skim through it and see what I want to make, then take the meat out to defrost, or start the slow cooker.

Then making lunches, for Izzy and Nick, come during dinner clean up, which saves money since Nick doesn't need to run to the snack machines, and Izzy doesn't have to buy lunch unless its something she really wants.

So tonight I decided to make my own "rice-a-roni". I hate thinking what might be in that little seasoning packet and how much salt is in there. So I made mine salt free, from a recipe I got out of a make your own spices cookbook. Then I barbequed up some chicken pineapple kabobs that were nice and light on a hot night like tonight.

Rose Manor Rice Seasoning

2 T. dried parsley

2 T. dried basil

2 T. chicken boullin granules

2 t. onion powder

3/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. dried thyme

Adjustments/Suggestions: I would use a little less basil (it was pretty strong), but you can always try it the first time and make your own changes.

Seasoned Rice Pilaf with Rose Manor Rice Seasoning

3 1/2 T. Rose Manor Rice Seasoning

1 1/2 c. uncooked long grain rice

10 pieces of spaghetti, broken into 1/2" pieces

2 1/2 c. water

1 T. butter

Brown rice and spagetti in butter, add seasoning and then water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Adjustments/Suggestions: This makes ALOT. We have a family of 3, and my husband is a 2 helping sort of guy and this still would be too much. So I'd half it unless you want to use it later in another dish or have lots of leftovers. I also used 2 T. of butter...yeah not so healthy but almost neccessary. I also used noodles they had in little packs in the hispanic foods section for 33 cents each. They were prefect. But I'm sure think spaghetti noodles work too.

Chicken Pineapple Kabobs

4 chicken breasts

1/2 c. soy sauce (low sodium is best)

2 T. sesame oil

1 can of pineapple chunks

Cut chicken into pieces. Put in plastic baggie and add soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. Put chicken and pineapple on skewers and cook on the BBQ.

Adjustments/Suggestions: These were yummy and easy, and I also topped with sesame seeds right before pulling them off the BBQ.

Prep Work

Hat Rock State Park, Oregon

So with the end of the month, I'm left with a pile of recipes that I'm missing one ingredient for. I hate that! But tomorrow is a new month, and I'm going to go stock up on everything I need to complete all these recipes. So look for new blogs, and recipes soon.

School also started and I'm starting to pile things on my plate, working as a para educator substitute, signed up for PTA events, and going for a board position on the PTA, plus throwing a huge slumber party for Isabelle's 8th birthday this weekend (um where did the time go??)

But I'm still going to have my days free as of next week, since Nick goes back on day shift, and Izzy's in school all day long. Time for some good home cooking :)

Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread

Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread...is the yummiest creation so far! Sweet, but no more than all the other fruit breads. I love this, even though it was an adventure to make considering, I made two trips to the store, once for flour (I was 1/4c. short and didn't want to risk it) and then again when I cracked the last egg and saw that it was a bloody still born! (EWWWWW) So finally I got it in the oven and fought my nemisis...bread that's cooked all the way through...mine ALWAYS wants to be gooey in the middle. Its still cooling on the rack, so I'm not sure if I won that battle..but with a corner missing..I'm impatient ok..it sure tastes good! Now the recipe says a regular bread loaf pan, but mine is occupied with another creation so I doubled the recipe and cooked it in an 8x8, and had a little extra batter left..no big deal.

Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread

courtesy of http://www.recipegirl.com/

2 cups all-purposed flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 c. mashed ripe banana

1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 c. nutella

Preheat the own to 350 degrees F. Spray 8x4 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In mixer, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until well blended.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended.

Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don't over mix).

Spoon Nutella into a medium dish and soften in the microwave about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter into the Nutella and stir until blended.

Spoon unblended banana bread batter alternately with the nutella bread batter into prepared bread pan.

Swirl batters together with knife.

Bake 60-70 minute, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the oven at 45 minutes to check the top of the bread for browning. If its browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil for the remainder of the baking. Cool for atleast 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cook.

So this sunny, summer afternoon, I'm busy thinking about all the foods I'd like to make. My recipe pile is growing, and so is my drive to cook more and more things myself. So I thought I'd make a list.

1. Peanut butter-this is extremely dangerous considering that I LOVE peanut butter, and especially with apples which are coming into season.

2. Applesauce- going to go fast in this house!

3. Pears (canned)- Pears are my daughter's absolute favorite fruit so she will benefit from this the most.

4. Bread- I'd really like to make a nice healthy bread like once a week..maybe sundays..for Isabelle to use for sandwiches in her lunch box, or healthy toast in the morning. Plus I'm sure Nick and I will gobble it down right away too.

5. Chorizo sausage- my husband loves this, and I just found a recipe to do it without having to mess with casings and gross things like that. I may like to cook, but I have a thing about touching meat..I just can't do it.

6. A million and one new recipes for dinner and cookies lol!! Seriously the stack is so high now I think I'll be set for months!

Everything seems to be going well. Not only is my pantry stocked, but with all the home cooking I'm doing the fridge is full of yummy leftovers. So when I have a night (like last night) where it was just me and Isabelle, and I didn't really want to cook, we still had a hot homemade meal made of leftovers. Plus is was way better than a big mac and the roll that would put around my waist! lol! This isn't so hard. Just keeping in mind that my mom did it, and my grandmothers and so on..and there for I should be happy we're not so far back that I'm growing the wheat and grinding it, and making butter with my churn LOL!

Introductions are due!

As I looked back at my blog I thought..what if someone actually sees this that's not related to me lol! They'd never know anything about me. First I'm a mother of one..yep..one..a 7 year old daughter. Then there is my other half..a correctional officer with a huge appetite. We've been together almost 9 years and will continue to be forever...that is as long as he continues to pick up his socks! (Hear that honey!) I love photography, although my budget prevents me from getting the $600 camera I dream about..so I make do with the one I have. And since I have a billion and one photos, I have to do something with them..so I scrapbook. Maybe I'll even post some of my projects...who knows.

This year my daughter is going to be in school full time. I've been a stay at home mom since the moment she was born. So where does an empty house leave me? With A LOT of empty time. So I'm going to use my time to devote myself to home cooking, cooking almost everything from scratch, trying endless new recipes, and learning to can veggies, fruits and sauces. But even to top that..and less to be blogged about because who really wants to read about cleaning..is my goal of keeping this house as clean as possible. Until recently it has been an uphill battle, but now that my toilet is free of tiny, Dora the Explorer potty seats, bath crayons scribblings on the bathtub, tile floor and even bathroom mirror, so now I might have a shot.

Then this fall I'll be tending to my flower beds...learning to plant bulbs, prepping the vegetable garden for the future planting season, and planning out all my veggies for next spring. I plan to cook, can, preserve, and EAT as many as possible. 

But I have to say, I used to not care about canning, or growing my own produce. But in the last year, with food recalls, and skyrocketing food prices, too much sugar and salt, and growing waistlines, I decided that fresher, local and prepared by my own hands is the better route. Canning is no longer for grandma's, great grandma's, hicks making moonshine, or the poor....even this month's Better Homes and Gardens acknowledges that. They say the same thing as me..time for fresh and tasty!

All stocked up!

One whole shelf in my pantry is full of the yummy canning goodies I made with my mom this week.

We've got fresh peaches canned with no-sugar apple juice to make a healthy snack for my daughter.

Then lots of dill pickles that will ready for tasting in 8 weeks.

And then salsa...which will be tried tonight since I'm anxious to see how spicy it is after the jalapenos burned my hands for about 4 hours.

So tonight is Mexican night, fresh salsa from scratch, fajitas made with my own seasoning, no-fry refried beans that I'm cooking in my slow-cooker all day.

Its looking like a yummy night at our house!

Fajita Seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together.

I use this mix as a rub mostly. I brush olive oil over the meat, then rub on the spice mixture and barbeque my meat while I sauté the onions and peppers in a little olive oil  in pan on the stove. Then add the meat when done, add a little water to the veggies and a little extra mix and TADA! Fajitas!

SALSA BABY!!

This is my mother in law's salsa recipe which is so good!  She used to can hers every summer and send a bunch up to us. However she had to sell her house 2 years ago and since then we've missed the salsa. She always grew the ingredients and didn't see the need to buy them now that her garden was gone. So I'm passing it on...just like her enchiladas and pico de gallo. It smelled up the kitchen and made me crave some serious mexican food.

And yet I paid dearly for this colorful mixture of veggies and spices. I made the STUPID mistake of cutting 1/2 pound of jalapenos without gloves! NEVER AGAIN! My hands burned so bad for hours I thought I was gonna go crazy.

Just so you know...no matter what google tells you Elmer's glue doesn't help it seems to trap the heat worse LOL! Ice made my hands burn worse, water only helped when it was colding and constantly running, milk was the best, but luckily my hands are finally burn free..a little tender and I learned a huge lesson: ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES...you aren't too tough to go without! Believe me!

Let's Hear it for Canning!

So my mom came to visit me and brought me boxes full of tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, and peaches. So today I learned the lost art of canning!

It was a lot of work, I mean A LOT! It took almost all day to get the 14 jars of pickles, 10 pints of salsa, and 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce all done, but it was totally worth it. My family will now have fresh veggies and sauces made 100% from scratch..not a single canned product in my sauce. Plus there is something to be said for spending the day in the kitchen where you feel a kinship with your elders. I have so much more respect from my grandparents and even my mom who canned when I was younger.

But now that I'm prepared with lots of jars, a wonderful recipe book, and the knowledge of how to do, I can see myself canning alot more things.

Friday we're going to do peaches. I didn't have the energy left to can another thing lol! But for tonight I'm stocked up and happy as can be.