My Favorite Dinner Rolls

I LOVE homemade dinner rolls.  I usually only make them around the holidays, but this Christmas I made them and have been on a roll ever since.  Haha…anyway…I’ve made these rolls several times recently and they are sooooo good.  Soft, light, and buttery.

Homemade Dinner Rolls

This recipe will make 24 rolls, so if you can’t eat that many in a couple days they also freeze well too.

Step 1: Dissolve 1 tablespoon of yeast in 1 cup of warm tap water (105 to 110 degrees) with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Let it sit for about 10 min.  It should get bubbly, that means your yeast is working.

yeast

Step 2: In a microwave safe bowl put 1/4 cup of butter (cut into small pieces) 1/4 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of milk and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes.  The butter should be mostly melted.

butter milk sugar

Step 3: Place the melted butter, sugar and milk mixture in a mixing blow.  Add salt, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, the egg and stir well.

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Step 4: Add the yeast to the mixing bowl and stir well.  Keep stirring and add a couple more cups of flour.  This is were I change the paddle to the dough hook on my mixer.  Keep mixing while you add the last two cups of flour.  Let the dough hook knead the dough until it comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

kneading the dough

Step 5: Scrape the dough off the dough hook and plop the dough out on a floured surface.  Knead it just a few times to bring it all together and form a nice ball.  Place the dough back in the mixing bowl.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place to rise.  I put mine in a warm bowl of water to speed up the rising.  It took about a half hour.  If I don’t put it in the water it takes about an hour.

dough

Step 6: Punch the dough down and put it on a well floured surface, knead it a few times to push out all the air bubbles. Then divide the dough in half.  Take the first half and roll it out into a circle.

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Spread butter (about 2 tablespoons) over your dough circle then use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into four equal pieces, then cut those pieces into 3 slices each.  You will then have 12 triangles.

cu into 12

Take each triangle and roll them up starting with the wide end.  Place them on a greased jelly roll pan.  Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.  You will end up with 24 crescent shaped rolls.

24 rolls

Step 7: Cover the pan of rolls with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise (about 1 hour).

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Step 8: Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.  When they are golden brown take them out of the oven and run a stick of butter over the top……yummm.

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5.0 from 1 reviews
My Favorite Dinner Rolls
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon of yeast (one packet will work too)
  • 1 cup of warm water (105 to 110 degrees)
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ cup of butter divided in half (plus some for brushing on your finished warm rolls)
  • ¾ cup of milk
  • 1 egg
  • ½ tablespoon salt
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 4 to 4½ cups all purpose flour
Instructions
  1. Step 1: Dissolve 1 tablespoon of yeast in 1 cup of warm tap water (105 to 110 degrees) with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.
  2. Step 2: In a microwave safe bowl put ¼ cup of butter (cut into small pieces) ¼ cup of sugar and ¾ cups of milk. Microwave for 1 to 2 minutes until the butter is mostly melted.
  3. Step 3: Place the melted butter, sugar and milk mixture into a mixing bowl and add the salt, egg and cup of whole wheat flour. Stir well.
  4. Step 4: Add the yeast mixture to the mixing bowl and stir well. (change to a dough hook on the mixer) Now add the flour stirring will between each cup until the dough pulls away from the edges of the mixer and sticks to the dough hook. This will happen somewhere around 4 cups of flour.
  5. Step 5: Scrape the dough off the dough hook and plop it onto a well floured surface. Knead it just a couple times to make a nice, smooth ball. Place it back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place to let it rise.
  6. Step 6: After your ball of dough has doubled in size, (30 to 60 min) punch it down and place it on a well floured surface. Knead a few time to push out all the air bubbles. Divide the dough in half and roll 1 half out into a circle. Spread about 2 tablespoons of butter over your circle. Using a pizza cutter cut your circle into 4 equal pieces then cut each piece into three triangles. You will have 12 triangles. Roll each triangle up starting at the wide end and place them on a greased jelly roll pan. Repeat with the other half of your dough. You will end up with 24 rolls.
  7. Step 7: Cover your pan of rolls with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise. (about 1 hour)
  8. Step 8: When they have about doubled in size bake them in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. When they are golden brown, take them out of the oven and run a stick of butter over the top.

Note: You don’t have to use a mixer they can be mixed up by hand.  I use the mixer to save time, and lets face it, I’m not that buff.

This recipe was adapted from: How Does She.com

This post was shared at: The HomeAcre HopThrifty Thursday Clever Chicks Blog HopThe Weekend Potluck Simple Saturdays Blog Hop

 

Deeeelicious Peach Cobbler

Peach Cobbler

Peaches are my very favorite fruit…..I think??  I love all fruits…well pretty much I love all food.  Lets just say if I made a list of my favorites, peaches would be right at the top.  There’s nothin like sweet, peach juice dripping down your chin on a nice, warm, summer day. 😀  We are lucky enough to live very near some large peach orchards and it’s peach season!!  I tried this recipe last year and absolutely LOVED it.  I’ve been waiting for fresh peaches just so I could make this cobbler again. 🙂

Here’s how to make Deeeelicious Peach Cobbler:  Peel and slice your yummy fresh peaches and put them in a bowl with 1/2 a cup of sugar and the almond extract. Set that bowl aside and pour your melted butter into a 2 quart baking dish.  Set that dish aside as well and in another bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar.  Then add the milk and stir well.

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Now pour the batter evenly over the butter, do not stir.  Then top it off with the peach mixture.  Now bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes.  So easy!

This is wonderful warm from the oven with some whip cream or vanilla ice cream!

Deeeelicious Peach Cobbler
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of peeled sliced peaches
  • ¾ cup of sugar - divided
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • ½ cup butter - melted
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • ¾ cup milk
Instructions
  1. Mix together the peaches, ½ cup of sugar, and extract; set aside. Pour melted butter in a 2 quart baking dish. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar; stir in milk. Mix well and then pour it evenly over the butter (do not stir). Top with the peach mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.

 

This post was shared at: The HomeAcre HopThrifty Thursday

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are beyond a shadow of a doubt the BEST peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had!

Peanut Butter Choc Chip CookiesI cannot take credit for finding this recipe, it was all my kids.  It all started with this:

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Little Chef came home to find this on her bedroom door.

My boys are smart, when they want cookies they know who to ask.  The next thing I know, Little Chef is asking if I will show her how to look up cookies on Pinterest.  She wanted to  find a “new” recipe.  I did, and just like her mama, Pinterest sucked her in and she was there forever looking through thousands of pins of delicious looking cookies.  I think her brother became worried that cookies were never going to become a reality.  I heard him say something about peanut butter and chocolate chips and bless her cookie lovin’ heart she searched for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and decided on this recipe.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookiesA little while later I walked through the kitchen and stole a chunk of warm cookie (it was a broken piece and NEEDED to be eaten)……as the sweet, buttery, chocolaty, warm, piece of cookie melted in my mouth.  The clouds parted,  the sun shone through, the angels sang and my taste buds rejoiced.  I think I said something like “Holy cow, those are stinking amazing,  I’m NEVER going to be able to stay away from these cookies.”  I really didn’t need to worry about that though, they were completely devoured shortly after that by other members of our household.

Here’s the recipe so you can hear the angels too!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter at room temperature
  • 2 cups creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons of milk
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and mix well then add the eggs and mix well again. Next add the milk and vanilla stir well. Measure all the dry ingredients into a separate bowl and then add to the peanut butter mixture. Stir just a bit and then add chocolate chips and stir until everything is combined. Let the cookie dough sit for a few minutes to firm up. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop 1 or 2 tablespoons of cookie dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet a couple inches apart and bake for about 10 minutes. They will look a little under done. If you leave them on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes they will be much easier to remove to a cooling rack.

Tip: These are amazing cookies anytime but if you want to see the clouds part and hear the angels sing you have to try them when they are still warm. 🙂  The only small draw back to these cookies is that they are pretty delicate, I would not recommend these for baking and shipping in the mail…..they would be awfully tasty crumbs though!

This recipe was adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

This post was shared at : Weekend Potluck – Clever Chicks Blog Hop HomeAcre Hop From The Farm Blog Hop

Fish Tacos With Cabbage Slaw And Homemade Tartar Sauce

Fish Tacos 3This is a great spring and summer dish, I love the light, fresh cabbage slaw.  It goes great on any taco, burrito, etc. or it tastes just amazing all by its little self. 😀

Start off by making this easy homemade tartar sauce and set aside.

Homemade Tartar SauceNext chop up the cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, and fresh cilantro.  I didn’t have green onions so I used a white onion, it was good but green onions are better. 🙂

Fish Tacos With Cabbage SlawAdd lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and stir.

Cabbage SlawTake a little taste and add salt and/or pepper if needed.

Now cook up the fish of your choice.  I salt and pepper tilapia fillets and cook them on medium heat in a little olive oil for about 4 minutes on each side.

TilapiaPlace a half of a cooked tilapia fillet on a warm soft taco shell (flour or corn).  Place half a cup or so of the cabbage slaw on the fish and top it off with the tartar sauce!

Fish TacosSo delicious, so fresh tasting, and so easy. The fresh cilantro makes my heart sing!!

Fish Tacos With Cabbage Slaw And Homemade Tartar Sauce
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 4 cups cabbage copped into small pieces
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes
  • ⅓ cup thinly sliced green onions
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon pepper
  • enough fish fillets to feed your family, I use a half a tilapia fillet per taco
  • corn or flour tortillas (6-inch)
Instructions
  1. Put the cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro into a large bowl add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and stir well. Take a taste to see if you need more salt or pepper.
  2. Lightly salt and pepper the fish and cook on medium heat in a little olive oil for about four minutes on each side. When fish flakes easily with a fork it is done.
  3. Place a piece of fish on a warm tortilla add ¼ to ½ cup of the cabbage slaw and top it off with some homemade tartar sauce!

I adapted this recipe from MyRecipe.com

 

Easy Homemade Tartar Sauce

Fish and tartar sauceWe don’t have fish too often, but when we do I like to have tartar sauce to serve with it.  A couple years ago I realized it was rather stupid to keep buying bottles of tartar sauce, use them once and place them in the fridge for next time.  “Next time” usually didn’t come until it was to late to salvage the rest of the bottle or it had been long lost in the depths of the refrigerator.  So I found this easy homemade tartar sauce recipe and we have been using it ever since.

Easy Homemade Tartar Sauce
 
Author:
Recipe type: Condiment
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of mayo
  • 2½ tablespoons sweet relish
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir.

Tartar SauceIt tastes WAY better than store bought and if we have any leftover I add a little ketchup and it makes a WONDERFUL dipping sauce for fries, tater tots, or pretty much anything you would use ketchup on.  We put it on hamburgers the other night…..yummm!

Fry SauceA great tasting, easy, tartar sauce with no waste!

Chicken Noodle Soup With Homemade Noodles

I’m excited to share this one with you!  I’ve made chicken noodle soup many, many times but this one is by far my favorite.  I think it’s the homemade noodles and homemade chicken stock…..yummmmm!

Chicken Noodle SoupStart out by chopping up a medium sized onion and a cup of carrots.  Add them to a big pot with olive oil, minced garlic, parsley, basil, and thyme.  You can add celery too, somebody in our house doesn’t like celery so I leave it out.

SoupSaute for a few minutes until the onions are cooked.  The carrots will not be done yet, but they will finish cooking in the stock.  It will smell amazing!  Add the chicken stock, shredded chicken, salt, and a bay leaf to the pot.

Chicken StockLet it simmer for a half hour or so, while you make the noodles.  Here is the recipe for homemade egg noodles.  I use about half of that recipe in this soup.

Egg NoodlesAdd the noodles to the simmering pot, the fresh noodles will cook in just a couple minutes.  If you made your noodles ahead of time and added them dry, it will take a bit longer.  When the noodles are done remove the bay leaf, add salt and pepper to taste and your soup is ready to serve!

Chicken Noodle Soup With Homemade Noodles
 
Author:
Recipe type: soup
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 medium sized onion, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 quarts chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups shredded chicken
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • homemade egg noodles
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a big pot saute onion, carrots, thyme, parsley, basil, and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are cooked through.
  2. Add the chicken stock, shredded chicken, bay leaf, and salt to the pot and simmer while you make the noodles. (let it simmer for at least a ½ hour)
  3. Add the fresh noodles or dry noodles that you made ahead of time to the simmering pot and let the noodles cook thoroughly.
  4. Remove the bay leaf and add salt and pepper to taste.

 

chicken soup with homemade noodlesThis makes a hearty meal for four people. I usually double it and enjoy leftovers. 🙂

Sweet Relish Deviled Eggs

With all the egg recipes I’ve posted you would think I’d have shared a deviled egg recipe a long time ago.  The truth is, I never had a recipe before; I just kind of added whatever, and then a little more of whatever until it tasted good.  So I decided I needed to take the time and measure everything so I could share the recipe.  Little Chef wanted to help as usual, so I let her peel the eggs.  While she was doing this I left the kitchen for another chore.  When I returned she already had them peeled, washed, cut in half, the yolks were mashed up, and most of the ingredients were in the bowl.  When I told her I had wanted to measure the ingredients, she looked at me like I was from Mars.  So I explained that I wanted to share the recipe as a blog post.  She rolled her eyes…..that happens A LOT since she turned eleven last month.  It seems the older she gets, the more ridiculous I get.  Anyway, I decided to just look in the bowl and “guess” at how much of what she had put in and go from there.  Her eggs turned out VERY yummy, so I was hoping I had “guessed” correctly.  The next weekend I made the eggs again using the “new recipe” and took pictures along the way. They tasted just like Little Chefs yummy eggs!  Maybe I should have called these “Little Chefs Sweet Relish Deviled Eggs”?  Maybe not,… I don’t need the eye roller getting a big head or anything.

Sweet Relish Deviled EggsStart off by hard boiling a dozen eggs.  Here is my tip on how to boil and EASILY peel farm fresh eggs.  It’s a life saver if you have very fresh eggs and you don’t want them mutilated when you peel them.  After you have peeled the eggs, wash them, cut them in half and place the yolks into a bowl.

Deviled EggsMash the yolks with a fork, add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.  Then taste it….salt?…pepper?…more relish?  It’s all up to you!

Making Deviled EggsThis came out a little lumpy, so I used the immersion blender on it for a few seconds. (Love that thing!)

After it’s all mixed up, spoon the filling into a plastic bag, seal the bag, cut a small hole in the bottom corner, and squeeze the yolk filling through the hole into the empty egg whites.  For years I would carefully spoon the filling into each egg, the plastic bag method is WAY faster, and much more fun!

eggsSprinkle a little paprika on top and you’re done!

All DoneHere’s Little Chefs recipe for delicious “Sweet Relish Deviled Eggs”:

5.0 from 2 reviews
Sweet Relish Deviled Eggs
 
Makes 24 deviled eggs.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 dozen hard boiled eggs peeled
  • ½ cup mayo
  • ¼ cup sweet relish
  • 1 tablespoon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons horseradish sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • paprika for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Cut your peeled hard boiled eggs in half length wise.
  2. Place the egg whites on a tray and the yolks in a mixing bowl.
  3. Smash the eggs yolks with a fork.
  4. Add the first 5 ingredients to the yolks and stir.
  5. If it's to lumpy for your liking you can use an immersion blender to make it a little smoother.
  6. Do a taste test and add salt and pepper if needed.
  7. Spoon the filling into the egg whites or use a plastic bag as described above.
  8. Sprinkle each egg with a little paprika.