January 18, 2010: Harvest Monday's Dinner

I had my heart set on freshly baked yeast rolls and homemade soup to go with the salad fixing's I'd picked this morning. It almost didn't happen! As I gathered my ingredients for the rolls, I couldn't find the jar of yeast. It always resides in the refrigerator, but I cleaned that out and didn't find the yeast. I found a few other things I'd lost.....like the small container of yogurt that had rolled behind the meat keeper. It had an expiration date of mumble.mumble.mumble. Nevermind. Well, at least the refrigerator got cleaned.

Next I looked in the pantry. I had this vague memory of removing the yeast from the fridge some time back, needing the room on that door shelf for something else. So the pantry would have been the logical spot to place the yeast jar. Not that I'm always thinking logically. I do, on occasion, have a senior moment. Or two. The pantry shelves got cleaned, top to bottom. No yeast.

The tall cupboard, where I keep small appliances, cookbooks, plastic storage containers and a loaf of bread? Not likely, but that was the next place I looked. Cleaned it out from top to bottom. No yeast.

The drawer and cupboard in the microwave cart. No yeast.

The dish cupboard. No yeast.

The pots and pans cupboard. No yeast.

The coffee, beverages and booze cupboard. No yeast.

I had almost given up and decided I'd have to use that tube of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, the one I'd been saving for wienie wraps, when I decided to take one more look in the pantry. Not that I thought I'd missed anything the first time around, but....maybe I did. Looking at the contents of the shelves, I thought to myself, "Doesn't that box of powdered milk look taller than normal?" I reached back and lifted the box......off of the jar of yeast that had somehow found a spot beneath it.



Soooo...the rolls got made, just in time for dinner. A pan of plain ones for the evening meal, and a pan of cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast. These are about the unhealthiest rolls one can make, lots of white flour, sugar and artery clogging butter, but they are oh, so good! If you'd care to partake of this sinful deliciousness, here is the recipe I use.

Food Processor Dinner Rolls
Servings: 16 rolls

1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
........
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1 egg
3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. powdered milk
1 tsp. salt
........
1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 stick)



Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Set aside until bubbly.

Combine remaining ingredients, except melted butter, in work bowl of food processor. Add yeast mixture. Process until well mixed, about one minute. Check dough and add extra flour if the dough is too sticky (you want it to be very soft and just slightly sticky). Process one minute; let it rest for five minutes, then process one more minute.

Scrape dough into a well greased bowl, turn to smooth and grease the surface (it helps to grease your hands to form it into a ball). Cover lightly with a clean cotton towel, and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down; cover with towel and let the dough rest for five minutes.

Grease two 8" cake pans. Divide dough into 16 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place 8 in each pan (one in center, seven around the outside). Brush with melted butter and cover with a lightweight cotton tea towel.

Let rise until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Brush tops with remaining butter.

NOTE: I usually make one pan of dinner rolls and roll out the other half of the dough, spread with butter, sugar and cinnamon, roll it up and cut it into 8 slices. Place in the round cake pan, bake as above. Make a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla, butter and a bit of milk and drizzle over the rolls while they are still warm.

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I had wanted to make a pot of chicken tortilla soup to go with the fresh dinner rolls, but Mr. H decided to open a can of chicken noodle soup for his lunch, so I thought chicken soup twice in one day might be overkill. Instead, I made a pot of chili. I won't repeat my favorite chili recipe, as I have given it elsewhere in my blog, so I'll just point you to the post....Crockpot Chili

As it happened, I didn't make my favorite chili recipe. As much as I love it, I didn't have time after spending half the day looking for the yeast. Instead, I opened up a couple of cans of some yucky store bought brand and doctored it up with a bit of my home canned salsa and some cheese. Hey, a girl has to do what a girl has to do. It wasn't the star of the meal, anyway. The star of the meal was..... TA-DA!

THE SALAD.

That lettuce I picked this morning. To die for. I've been growing the Red Romaine in a pot all winter, just so the pet rabbit would have fresh, healthy greens. It was beginning to taste a bit bitter anyway, so I didn't really feel like we were missing much. After picking enough Red Sails to go with the green and red Romaines, I decided the rabbit could eat pellets, and we would have our first fresh, 100% garden grown, salad of the winter. I used half the lettuce with a couple of green onions and a few radishes, tossed it with a light vinaigrette, and topped it with sliced garden fresh tomatoes. It didn't take long for the two of us to wolf down that entire bowl full, then grab the greens from the refrigerator and finish them off! I think the rabbit will have to make do with store bought greens from now on. We didn't even notice the Red Romaine being bitter at all.



25 comments:

  1. This dinner looks so yummy Gran! I will have to try this dinner roll recipe. I've been regularly making the Dakota bread and bringing slices to work for breakfast. I've never used powdered milk before...I wonder what purpose it serves in this recipe.

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  2. Thomas, a lot of recipes use scalded milk. I find it so much easier to keep powdered milk around to use in my bread recipes. I think it probably aids in tenderness, as well as adding a bit of extra protein. The original recipe, which I changed quite a lot, didn't call for milk at all. This entire recipe can be tossed into a bread machine to mix it up, too. I just use the food processor, because I don't have a bread machine in my AZ kitchen.

    Wa-mart carries Great Value Instant Nonfat Dry Milk that comes in a box of 10 pouches. I sometimes keep them in the freezer, and just keep one pouch out for bread baking. It keeps forever that way. Actually, here in the middle of nowhere AZ, I mix the powder up in a quart jar of water and use it on my cereal and in my coffee. It's not bad at all once it's well chilled, and I don't have to worry about buying a gallon in town, that will probably sour before it's used up.

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  3. Sounds delicious!! And now your refrigerator and pantry are all clean, too. I'm so glad the lettuce was good.

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  4. ha, you're a riot granny! expiration date of mumble...you had me laughing out loud. i'm happy you found what you were searching for, and those rolls look delish! =)

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  5. Stefaneener, it's too bad I didn't get as far as the bedroom closets to check for that yeast ;-)

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  6. Kelli, they were really good, even though certainly not very good for me. Oh well, as long as it's not something I eat daily, I'm not going to worry too much about that, LOL!

    The yeast is back in the refrigerator, where it belongs.

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  7. Looks great Granny, what time did you say dinner was? ;) Can you imagine how many people do not cook today let alone from the garden. Yesterday we had eggplant parmesan and a salad from the GH and the day before stuffed peppers and a salad. Eggplant and peppers were from the freezer. John

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  8. Utter perfection! There's nothing like home baked bread, chili AND your own garden salad. Too perfect.

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  9. I think if I ate the salad and cinnamon rolls for dinner I'd be happy. My family loves cinnamon rolls. Though they aren't happy with me making them as I tend to use whole wheat flour. It really does spoil the taste a bit. I ought to get over it and just go for totally bad for me when so inclined.

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  10. Very yummy looking meal! Cinnamon rolls are my absolute downfall - if I made that recipe I would eat way too many of them all by myself!

    Could you look for yeast in my pantry too? It needs cleaning out!

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  11. A perfect meal, I love that you still have fresh tomatoes to add to your salad.

    Those would be perfect rolls for us to make when our daughter in law visits as she will not eat wheat bread. I am going to email myself the recipe...thanks.

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  12. John, I'm almost out of canned goods from my garden (here in AZ). I still have tons of stuff at home....on the shelves, under the bed and in the freezer! I wish I had my frozen peppers here, I'm hankerin' for a fajita.

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    Ribbit, not quite perfection. The canned chili was less than perfect ;-)

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    Daphne, I ended up with just a couple of bites of chili, then forgot about it and wolfed down two helpings of the salad and 1 1/2 of those big rolls. I'm just getting ready for a cinnamon roll with my morning coffee.

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    Kitsap, I'm sorry....I have to look for the yeast in my closets today. Your pantry will just have to wait ;-)

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    Mr. H., my Mr. H won't touch anything but soft white bread, with the exception of the Dakota Bread recipe I posted earlier, and an oatmeal bread that I've not yet posted. I love the crunchy, wheaty breads and make them for myself (and grandchildren, when I'm at home). But, I must admit, I also love home made white, especially for sandwiches.

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  13. As our 10-year old granddaughter would say, "grandma you are a crack-up". I'm still laughing and especially 'the rabbits can just eat pellets'!

    I was in the kitchen yesterday preparing dinner, turned and walked in the pantry, Pete followed me in (and with that there is little room to turn around), but I turned to him and drew a blank. What was I doing in there? Whew! I don't know what happens, but, as soon as I return to the position from whence I started, it becomes clear.

    So glad you got your pantry and refrigerator clean. ;) still laughing. By the way, those rolls and the salad look scrumptous.

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  14. "What was I doing in there?"

    LOL, Di! That happens to me all too often!

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  15. Your rolls look so good, I shall try the recipe soon! My Mom is constantly reorganizing the kitchen even though she rarely cooks. I am on a constant hunt for things...

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  16. Dan, I thought your Mom cooked all the time! She does have a recipe blog, doesn't she?

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  17. Enjoying your blog. We are in Apache Junction 3 months out of the year from cold IN. Your salads look so yummy. Could I grow anything here in just the three months? Nancy

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  18. Cozythyme, it would really be touch and go. I planted the lettuce, radishes, spinach, carrots, onions (from a bunch of store bought) and beets on 10/30. I'm just now getting a few baby lettuce leaves, and I've been getting radishes and green onions for a couple of weeks. Nothing else is even close. What worked the best was the pot of lettuce seedlings I brought down with me. I've been harvesting those leaves all along. I bought the two tomato plants after I got down here, and they have only been semi-successful. One has given me several tomatoes, the other has only ripened one. They both seem to be dying now.

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  19. So glad you found your yeast, I hate when stuff is stashed in the wrong place. The worst part about it is I usually can't blame anyone but myself!

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  20. Hi Granny! I've been following your blog (and envying your garden) for quite some time. I had to de-lurk just to let you know those cinnamon rolls look fabulous! And if making them means we'll have to have yeast rolls for dinner one night, well.. I'm sure my husband won't complain! :-)

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  21. Thanks for the info. Takes us four days to drive down and we wouldn't have room to bring a pot of anything with us! I did wonder tho as see someone has tomatoes in a pot here in the campground. While here I am an armchair gardener thinking of all the things I will plant when I get back home! I enjoy your blog! Nancy

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  22. Kelly, it's not unusual for that to happen to me at home, but this kitchen is pretty small, so that old saying "there's a place for everything...." really applies here!

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  23. Caffeinated Mom (love that name!), hi! Believe me, my husband didn't complain one bit! They are so easy to whip up in the food processor, he thinks I should make them more often. Unfortunately, they aren't fat free.

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  24. Cozythyme, I bought my tomato plants at Lowe's, and they were not the healthiest. I've been told the best place is Baker Nursery in Phoenix. You might try a tomato plant next winter, and also plant a pot of radishes and one of lettuce. Just be careful to keep them out of the hot sun, I think I fried my tomatoes :-( I know some people like fried green tomatoes...but not while they are still on the plant!

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  25. She baked about once a week and cooks on occasion when she is not work 6-7 days a week. I do 99% of the food cooking.

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