Rhodes Rolls
Have you heard of these rolls? My husband’s grandma, Jean, loves them and swears by them, along with a college friend of mine, and apparently everyone at Thanksgiving because I went to the store to pick some up and they were completely sold out. Well since I didn’t want to make rolls from scratch for Christmas I bought a bag to try out. They are SO SO good! They are light, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside right out of the oven. And if you made enough there should be leftovers, and they are even delicious for days after. They lose that crisp but stay moist and yummy in the bag.
The down side? TIME! It takes 3-5 hours just to let these rolls raise! Then only 15ish minutes to cook. Is the time worth it? I’d say yes. I suggest making a ton on Saturday or Sunday and bag them for the rest of the week. I don’t know that I’d rush out and get these for a huge holiday bash just because they take up so much counter space for so many hours. But they are super yum and a sure crowd-pleaser.
Product Review: Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix
Yay for cookies! We my husband isn’t much of a peanut butter fan (like at all) so I don’t make peanut butter stuff much because he doesn’t eat it. But I made this mix and I think it turned out really well. I love peanut butter and chocolate so that’s what I did. I couldn’t find normal Hershey Kisses at the store so I used their all Milk Chocolate Bells – yum – instead.
They turned out great! I do have to warn anyone that if you make these with the bells and you eat the cookies warm… the bells pretty much explode with chocolate gooey-ness all over; so consider yourself warned! Also I advise doing small balls of cookies rather than large so you can get more chocolate per bite! Overall I think this mix is a winner and I suggest it for anyone!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
I have been looking for a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread recipe for a while, along with the cookie recipe, etc. I found this on Allrecipes.com and we think it’s delicious! The name on the site is Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread, however I would suggest a few changes, they will be after the ingredient list. Overall a delicious and yummy, moist bread that will be a hit. I actually did mini loaves of bread to give out to friends for the holidays. The original recipe says it makes 3 loaves, and it ended up making 8 minis.
Ingredients
* 3 cups white sugar
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2/3 cup water
* 4 eggs
* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
I didn’t have mini chocolate chips so I used regular, and did milk chocolate instead of semi sweet. I also put in some extra chips and did not include the walnuts – yuck.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9×5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.
I used mini loaf pans that were dark. I kept the temperature at 350 and it took about a half hour for them to cook.
Peanut Butter Cookies
I have been searching for my friend Nicole for a delicious Peanut Butter Cookie recipe and unfortunately I haven’t had time to try this one out but it sure looks yummy! This picture and recipe come from Baking Blonde, called The Best Peanut Butter Cookies. Period. and they are on my list to make. I’ll have to update once I actually get these made and have a review for you but I couldn’t deny you or Nicole the opportunity to make these should you feel the need.
In the meantime I will be running to the post office to mail gifts… 8 months pregnant with a toddler. Wish me luck.
Sweet & Sour Chicken
This is a crock pot recipe however I’ve done this in a large pan for a faster cooking time before and it worked out great. This is a super yummy recipe but you have to give yourself extra time to do the prep work and browning. The chicken is still great if you don’t have time to flour and brown, so if you’re in a rush don’t worry about browning the chicken it still turns out. Also, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, sorry! But rest assured this is one to add to your recipe book!
5-6 lbs chicken
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 6oz can lemonade concentrate
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp cold water
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1. Combine flour with salt. Coat chicken. Brown chicken in oil in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Combine lemonade concentrate, brown sugar, ketchup and vinegar. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on High 3-4 hours.
4. Remove chicken. Pour liquid into saucepan. Return chicken to cooker and cover to keep warm. Skim fat from liquid.
5. Combine water and cornstarch. Stir into hot liquid. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.
6. Serve chicken and sauce over rice.
Product Review: Campbell’s Chili
I have to say that for years I’ve been searching for a yummy canned chili and time and time again I haven’t found what I was wanting, until now. I bought this a month ago or so and we liked it so much I bought more and we had chili over our baked potatoes last night and it was De-licious!
The kind I bought was the Campbell’s Chunky Chili with Beans. It has a good ratio of beans and meat along with a tasty sauce. I also added cheddar cheese and butter to my baked potato – yum! This is definitely a “highly recommended” from me as it’s the the ONLY canned chili that my family asks for. So try it out this cold holiday season, over baked potatoes, Fritos, fries or whatever. It’s a fast, yummy way to fill you up on a cold day!
Turkey Pot Pie
Wondering what to do with all those turkey leftovers? I made turkey pot pie and it was wonderful! A recipe my husband said that I had to write down so we could have it again.
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Filling Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 can milk
2 cups turkey – cut up
1 small can (8oz) corn
1 small can green beans (cut up) (feel free to use your favorite veggies)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese *Note: this is not enough cheese to make the filling taste cheesy but to make the texture creamy and thicker. If you’d like to taste cheese you’ll need to add more.
“Pie” Topping Ingredients:
1 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
(This is actually half the normal pancake recipe on the box)
Mix filling ingredients together in a casserole dish until the milk is stirred in completely. In a separate dish mix pie topping. Pour topping over the filling and bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until the top is golden.
My First Turkey Adventure
Well as you all know this was my first Thanksgiving in charge of the turkey, it was big, and daunting and I took it out of the freezer 3 days too late. But it was in the fridge for 3 days so we had to thaw half the turkey.
Wednesday night I put the turkey in cool water, for 2 hours; changing the water several times. It felt quite thawed and I was really tired because I knew we’d be up at 4am getting it in the oven. So I put it back in the fridge and at 4am my wonderful husband got up with me because I didn’t think I could mess with turkey insides because of my pregnant status. I was right.
After about half an hour of thawing the inside of the turkey with more water submersion and after my husband pulled out the neck, etc I lost it. I was starving and the only thing I could smell was turkey blood and raw meat… yuck. I went running for the bathroom while my husband finished the turkey preparations. The turkey got in the over about 10 to 5am when all was said and done and was done in plenty of time for our appointed party/food time at our friend’s house. Yay! Glad it’s over and the turkey was really yummy. I am thankful for pop-up timers!
Apple Raspberry Pie
I have this broken up into two parts, the crust and filling. I hope you enjoy and make some yummy pie this Thanksgiving!
Pie Crust -makes a total of 4 pie crusts
Crust Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup Crisco
1/2 cup cold water (or Sprite)
Directions:
1. Sift flour add shortening and salt.
2. Cut together.
3. Add cold water a little at a time and mix with fork until dough holds together.
*Don’t overwork dough.
4. Lightly flour counter and rolling pin
5. Take out a handful of dough (about the size of an orange)
6. Coat ball of dough with flour and roll out to thickness of 1/8 in-1/16 in and size of pie pan
7. Put dough in pan, pat in and cut off extra
I found this filling recipe on Allrecipes.com. It was originally a crisp that I converted to a pie and I made just a few changes.
*This filling make for a really big pie. I used my largest pie pan and it was still mounded, this could make 2 smaller pies.
Filling Ingredients:
4 apples
1 cup raspberries
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp flour
Directions
1. Core, peel and slice apples. I used my apple peeler/corer.
2. Put apples, raspberries, brown sugar, and flour in a large bowl and mix together.
3. Pour into pie crust.
4. Add another crust on top, be sure to slice some marks in the top so the juice has somewhere to go.
5. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until crust browns.
Dinner Rolls
True to my word… a wonderful roll recipe from the kitchen of my Grandma. She also makes cinnamon rolls with this recipe and you can freeze these for later use if you want.
2 cups warm milk
2 packages (Tablespoons) yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening/butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
5-6 cups flour
1. Mix warm milk, yeast and sugar. (I set these aside for a minute or two so the yeast can be activated.)
2. Add shortening/butter, salt, egg, and 5-6 cups flour and mix.
3. Let raise 1 hour.
4. Roll out half of the dough into a rectangle shape and cut into wedges. I use a pizza cutter to cut wedges, it’s much fast and easier than using a knife.
5. Roll wedges from wide to thin.
6. Warm some butter (about 1/4 stick) and coat dough with it. Let rise for an hour.
7. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden or if you have dark non-stick sheets cook at 300 for 25 minutes.
*Note: these rolls cook fast on bottom than the top so once the tops start to get golden take them out or the bottoms will burn.
*For Cinnamon Rolls
Spread butter on rolled-out dough and put a generous amount of cinnamon and sugar and cut into rows. Roll rows and use string or thread to cut into individual rolls.
