Highly Recommended Roll Recipe...that I meant to share long ago...

These are always a hit when served to new people, and they're highly requested by those who have tried them. My mom used to make something very similar, although in my mind's eye, the ones she made were fluffier. In any event, the flavor is VERY similar.

By the way, the recipe calls for 2 cups of water, but if you'd like an even richer dough, try using warmed milk.

Parker House Style Rolls

6 cups bread flour
2 packages yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 sticks/cubes butter
2 cups hot water
1 egg


Directions:
Using a large heavy duty stand mixer with the dough hook installed(or a food processor), combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add a stick/cube of butter that has been melted. Add the water as you turn on the mixer. Add the egg. Keep mixing on medium speed for about 5 minutes. (Helps to activate the gluten in the flour!) On low speed, add the remaining three cups of flour, one cup at a time. At this point, I let the mixer do the kneading for several minutes. If your mixer can't handle the load, remove the dough and hand-knead the dough until the flour is incorporated and the dough has a good texture. Put the kneaded dough into lightly greased bowl. Cover with either plastic wrap or a moistened towel. Let rise until double. Punch the dough down. Take the remaining butter (1 stick/cube) and melt into a 13x9 or larger baking pan. The pan should be a dark coated pan to get maximum browning on the bottom of the rolls. Form into rolls (use your imagination, there are LOTS of shapes to make!). Dip each roll into the butter, flip it over and set into the pan of melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees for ~18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Delicious!

Thought of the Day #56

More of a "Recipe of the Day". I found a recipe online for chicken &
gnocchi soup, and then adjusted it. It originally had less veggies and
a boatload of cream.

So, here goes...the formatting may be off 'cuz I'm emailing this from my
phone. I'll adjust it when I'm back on the computer.

Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
4 cups chicken stock
2 stalks of celery, diced
3 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, diced
1 tblsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
16 oz pkg gnocchi
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not the stuff in the green can!)
1 tblsp cornstarch
salt to taste

*Saute onion, garlic, carrot and celery in oil until onions are
translucent.
*Add chicken, broth, thyme, milk, sour cream, pepper. Heat to boiling.
Add gnocchi and cheese. Boil for four minutes, reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes.
*Mix cornstarch with a couple of tablespoons of water. Add to soup. Cook
until thickened.
*Serve. Serves 6+.
It's easy and sooo yummy. Enjoy!

Busy, busy!

So much going on, so little time to blog.

I've been canning up a storm of goodness -- primiarly apricot and plum. The raspberry onslaught is just beginning. So far I've made apricot jams and butters; canned whole apricots; dried about 7 batches of dehydrated apricots and froze a bunch, too. Then there's the plum jam and plum conserve. The latter is usually super yummy. I couldn't find my original Ball Canning book recipe, but I think this one ought to be just as yummy -- It's primarily plums, oranges, walnuts and sugar. It's a very holiday-y taste.

We've been working at re-doing are front room/entry. It's been covered by ugly wallpaper for 80+ years. Way past time for a facelift! We peeled a good four layers off the wall and three off the ceiling. I've never, ever sweated enough to drip off the tip of my nose....well, until it was 100 degrees outside and I was steamin' my butt off. A good pore cleansing, to be sure. Here's the mid-strip look:



And finally, the post-paint look. We haven't installed the flooring yet nor completely refurbed the woodwork. All in good time! The green is called "Feldspar" It's basically a light Mountain Dew tone. It really makes the woodwork POP from the walls. I picked out the color and loved it, but when I started painting I was a bit....ummm..scared. Now that it's up, I'm diggin' it!

After the wood flooring is laid down, I plan on getting this rug (linky) 'cuz it's funky and even maybe a wee bit arts & crafts like the house. When the room is completely put back together, I'll post more pix.

Finally, we've got a wedding going on this Friday. Ivan's youngest daughter is getting married. Much to-do over this to-do. Luckily, I'm a relatively minor player although I think we're paying for the reception. Ahhh the beauty of a traditional "father of the bride pays for the reception" gig. The truly lucky portion -- it's a super low-key barbeque. Not by our design, but rather the bride's. Gotta love a girl with simple tastes! :-)

Oh, I almost forgot about my weather report. I'm sure most of you heard about the huge fires in Utah. While we've recently gotten rain and have broken our several week stretch of 100 degree weather, I was able to view a sweet fire right near downtown Salt Lake City. Got some cute photos of firemen, I did. Oooh, yes, I did. Ya gotta love the fireman's stance on the left. It was hot, hot and hot in many ways, that day. :-)

Oh, and since you didn't make it to the party...

Have a piece of fruit pizza! It looks a bit like a color blindness test, doesn't it? Enjoy!

Here's the recipe if you're so inclined:

Fruit Pizza

Crust: Shortbread Cookie • 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter and sugar together. Add flour. Knead about 20 times -- don't over knead. Press into pan and bake for 25 or so minutes. You'll want the top of the crust to just start to turn brown ever so slightly.

For the pizza shown above, I needed to double the recipe. If you're using just a regular size pizza pan (12"-14"), one recipe should do it.

Sauce: Cream Cheese Goodness

• 1 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• Sugar to taste -- usually about 3 tablespoons to 1 pkg of cream cheese
• Vanilla and/or fresh lemon juice to taste. It's a personal preference thing! I prefer quite a bit of vanilla.

Mix it all together and spread on cooled crust I doubled the recipe for this large size pizza. For a regular 12" or 14" pizza pan, again, one recipe should suffice.

Toppings: Fruit!
• Any seasonal fruit will do. Especially good are tangy fruits such as orange/pineapple/strawberry. Whatever you think would work well with cream cheese, really.
• Optional - Coconut to give it that "cheese" appearance.
• If you use fruit that browns, apply some "Fruit Fresh" or lemon juice to keep it looking decent.

Refrigerate until served. It can sit out for quite a while and still be safe/tasty.

The Granola Experiment

The challenge -- Apple Cinnamon Granola and Tropical Granola. The hypothesis assumes that two very different granolas can be made from the same base recipe (a FoodNetwork.com favorite).

Here are the formula variations as I created them:

Formula 1 -- Apple Cinnamon Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon Penzey's baking spice
1 cup dried apples, cut up
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, brown sugar and spices. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. (I usually cook it longer to bring out more toasted flavor. Your mileage may vary.) Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add apples and raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

Formula 2 -- Tropical Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1-1/2 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pineapple syrup
1/2 cup crushed pineapple 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried Sunsweet Mangoes, chopped
1 cup dried banana chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. With a can of crushed pineapple in syrup, drain the syrup from the can so that you have 1/2 cup of pineapple syrup. Then measure out 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple. Combine the pineapple syrup and solids with the oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for approximatelyl 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add fruit and mix until evenly distributed.

Conclusion
While both formulas exhibit a pleasing taste and a good amount of crunch, the tropical granola is by far the crowd favorite. Future experiments would have me altering the forumulas in this manner:

Formula 1: adding much more cinnamon and using a crunchy apple chip rather than the Nerf-like apple chunks often found in dried apples.

Formula 2: I'm not sure that the pineapple syrup really adds any additional tropical flair. I would, alternatively, opt for a dried pineapple chunks to be added as with the other fruits. Oh, also, I think putting in some additional un-cooked coconut may also bump up the tropical tastiness.