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.