Easy Bake Rolls

Sometime has come.  I made a batch of my rolls this morning so we could have some with the wonderful soup that I made yesterday for dinner tonight.  Here is the recipe.

Easy Bake Rolls

1 pkg. yeast, 1/4 cup warm water (combine, set aside)

1 stick butter, melted

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

4 cups flour (or a little less)

In 1/4 cup warm water, dissolve the yeast and set aside.

In a sauce pan melt the butter.  Mix together the milk, eggs, sugar, and salt.  Add this to the melted butter and stir to combine.  Heat till warm, stirring to keep the eggs from cooking into clumps.

After pouring the butter/milk/egg mixture into the mixing bowl, mix in 2 cups of the flour.

Add the yeast mixture, then the remaining flour. (1 1/2 to 2 cups). I use a mixer that has a dough hook.  I use the dough hook after adding the yeast, when mixing in the remaining flour.  Beat the dough on high speed for a few minutes to "knead" it well. The dough will be very soft. The refrigeration process enables it to be rolled out and handled without adding too much additional flour. So don't be alarmed that it looks like it needs more flour added at this point.

Place the dough in a large, greased bowl.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and and a towel.  Put in refrigerator for 6 - 8 hours to thoroughly chill the dough.

Divide the dough in half.  Roll each half into a large circle on a floured board.  Cut like a pizza into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece from the large end to the point.  Place on a greased pan with the point on the bottom. (Optional: Brush with milk and sprinkle with poppy seeds.)  Let rise for 2 hours. (Depends on how warm your kitchen is.  Sometimes I put a small pan of water in the oven with the rolls and turn on the oven to 400 degrees for 1 minute then turn the oven off.  This helps the rolls raise faster.)

Ready to raise

 

Ready to bake

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  You may switch the pans half way through to help each pan brown evenly.  I put 12 rolls on a jellyroll pan.  I use 2 pans.  This recipe makes 2 dozen rolls.

I like to brush melted butter on the finished rolls when I take them out of the oven, then cover with a towel to keep them soft.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

We all know that chicken soup is good for the soul.  As a matter of fact, there are books with that phrase in the title.

I happen to believe that chicken soup is one of the best comfort foods when the weather gets chilly.  I've been making huge batches of my favorite recipe and I'm going to share my recipe and take photos as I do it.  Here goes. First the recipe...

Sandy's Chicken Soup with Homemade Noodles



1 - 2 1/2 - 3 lb ready to cook broiler, fryer chicken, cut up

3 quarts water

1 medium onion, quartered

a few sprigs of parsley (I use the dried kind)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. whole black peppers

2 cups uncooked fine noodles

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup shredded carrots

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed

1/4 tsp. dried oregano, crushed

Place chicken in Dutch oven, or deep kettle.  Add next five ingredients.  Simmer, covered for one hour.  Remove chicken from broth. Cool and remove meat from bones; dice meat.  Strain broth; return to kettle.  Bring stock to boiling; add remaining ingredients, except chicken.  Return to boil.  Cook, covered, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until the noodles are tender.  Add chicken; heat.  Makes 2 1/2 quarts.



I use organic chicken



Cutting up the chicken






Removing the skin

 I've adjusted the recipe a bit. I put in some celery stalks with the initial cooking and after straining the broth I add some more parsley, additional chopped onion and celery when adding the carrots. I use a pepper grinder instead of whole black peppers. Also, I supplemented the water with some chicken broth.
When removing the skin, to get a better grip, I use a paper towel to grasp the skin.



Some of the onions and celery







 




Beginning the one hour cook time









Simmering








Homemade Noodles

Don't be afraid to make your own noodles as it is really easy and so much better than the packaged ones!  Here goes...

1 beaten egg

2 Tbls. milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup all purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, combine egg, milk and salt.  Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  On a floured surface roll dough to a 16" x 12" rectangle.  Let stand for 20 minutes.  Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut into 1/4" slices. Let dry for 2 hours. (I have used them right away though.) They can then be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated till needed.  I only make them when I need them, so I haven't put them in the fridge.

When the soup is boiling good, dropping a few at a time so as to prevent them from sticking together, add the noodles to the broth and cook uncovered for 8 - 10 minutes.  Lower the heat and simmer while the noodles cook.  This recipe can be made with 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup white flour. 



Mixing the egg, milk and salt



Mixing in the kamut flour







As an alternative I used Kamut flour instead of the white flour for a batch of soup.  I found that about 3/4 cup of the Kamut flour is sufficient.  The rest of the ingredients remain the same.  The noodles turned out very well and would be a good substitute for people who are avoiding gluten.



After cutting, spead out to dry



If you have a pasta roller, it makes the job a little easier, but isn't necessary to make great noodles.







Rolling the dough, multiple times



Cutting the noodles

 



Here is the finished product, ready to freeze.  I made a very large batch to have a few meals in the freezer.  I serve this soup with my homemade rolls.  I'll post that recipe sometime.

Yummy!

Salmon Anyone?

I was not raised near the ocean and fresh seafood.  The only fish I ate was canned tuna and canned salmon, which my mother made salmon loaf out of.  We also had catfish and bullheads that we caught fishing in the local rivers.  They had tons of bones which I didn't like and I never would eat the salmon loaf she made. I didn't like it and grew up determined that I didn't like salmon.  Now that I've had fresh or frozen salmon, I have changed my mind somewhat.  Fish still isn't my favorite food but I have found a terrific salmon recipe that just begs to be prepared once or twice a month.  We're told to add more fish to our diets and you might like to make this recipe that I got from a Weight Watcher's cookbook.  Again, try it and let me know what you think.

Salmon with Coconut-Tomato Sauce

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tablesppon minced peeled fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup drained canned petite diced tomatoes

1/2 cup light (reduced-fat) coconut milk

Pinch cayenne

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 pound skinless salmon fillets, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons lime juice

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1.  Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 30 seconds.  Add diced tomatoes, coconut milk, and cayenne; bring to simmer and cook, covered, 5 minutes.

2.  Add cherry tomatoes to skillet and simmer just until tomatoes begin to soften, 1-2 minutes.  Sprinkle salmon with salt.  Add salmon and lime juice to skillet and cook, stirring gently, until salmon is just opaque in center, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in cilantro.

Serving suggestion.  To soak up the creamy coconut sauce, serve the salmon with brown rice. (2/3 cup cooked brown rice per serving will increase the PointsPlus value by 3).

Serving size 1 cup     6 PointsPlus value

250 Cal. 13 g. Total Fat, 1 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 72 mg Chol, 423 mg Sod, 7 g Carb, 3 g Sugar, 1 g Fib, 27 g Prot., 31 mg Calc.