French Bread Rolls

Bread... it is my weakness! As soon as Fall hits I kinda go on a rampage.  Especially on Sunday, there is just something about Sunday dinner that screams hot fresh bread! I found this recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Melanie NEVER lets me down! These are so soft and chewy, they would be great as sandwich rolls too!

French Bread Rolls
(12 big ones)

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T active dry yeast
2 T sugar
2 T canola oil
1 t salt
4 cups flour

In the bowl of a mixer, combine warm water, sugar and yeast and let proof for 3-5 minutes. Add oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Begin mixing and slowly add the rest of the flour. You may not need it all!  Watch the dough, it should clean the sides of the bowl but still be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch.

Knead the dough for 5 minutes if using a stand mixer or 8-10 minutes if kneading by hand.  Lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in it.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap slightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the dough rise until double (about 1 hour).

Punch down the dough and turn it onto a lightly greased surface.  Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. shape them into balls and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap.  Be sure to cover the rolls loosely so the plastic wrap doesn't flatten the rolls as they rise.  Let the rolls rise until almost double, about 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake rolls for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I found this recipe on this blog and have patiently waited for 2 long HOT months to make it.  At the first sign of a cooling trend (a rainy day) I quickly pulled it out.  I think I have found my new favorite comfort food!  I made mine in the crockpot, so super easy and I just LOVE smelling something yummy cooking all day! So the next rainy day or just a comfort food kind of day give this a try! Here is what I did...

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

(6-8 servings)

3 cans chicken broth (about 5 cups)

1-2 cups water

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used frozen)

1 package Rice-A-Roni long grain and wild rice

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

2 cups half and half

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't use any salt)

Combine water, broth, chicken, veggies, and rice with seasoning packet in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours (until chicken is tender and easy to shred).  Take chicken out and shred and then add it back in.  In a sauce pan, over medium heat, melt butter and add flour (like making a roux).  Cook this, stirring constantly until bubbly.  Slowly whisk in the half and half.  Once this is smooth, add this mixture to the crockpot and cook for 15 more minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.

* I have made this a few times since and I didn't have any Half and Half so I just used fat-free milk.  it turned out great and I think I liked it even better!  It was still creamy and thick just not as rich and maybe even a little healthier :)!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

So Yummy!  I didn't have any buttermilk to make my usual banana muffins so I went on a search for a recipe that didn't use buttermilk.  I found this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  They have never led me astray and this recipe just boosted my confidence in them!  You can really put whatever chips or nuts you want in them or leave them all out but I have to say the combo of semi-sweet chocolate and cinnamon chips was divine!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
(12 muffins)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup mashed, ripe bananas (I used 2 medium)
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/4 t coconut flavor (optional, but so good)
1/3 c milk
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 cups flour (you can use half white and half whole wheat)
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
3/4 cup cinnamon chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.  Beat in the banana, egg, vanilla, coconut flavor, and milk. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour and stir until smooth.  Add the chips (if using) and then divide evenly into the prepared muffin pan.  Bake the muffins at 350 for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I really like biscuits.  The buttermilk kind. The light and fluffy melt in your mouth kind.  But sometimes I just feel like biscuits can be a bit of work. So as my soup was simmering this afternoon and making my house smell delicious, I went in search of an easy buttermilk drop biscuit and boy, oh boy did I find one! They are easy, super light and fluffy and so stinkin' good!  I found them on this website.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

(8 big ones)

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
2 t sugar
1/2 t cream of tarter
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450.  Lightly butter one large or two small cast iron pans or cookie sheet. Whisk together the dry ingredients, breaking up any clumps.  Add the chilled butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork just until everything is blended and a soft, sticky, blobbish dough forms.

Drop blobs of dough into the prepared pan leaving one to two inches apart. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes or until the the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through.  I brushed the tops with melted butter as soon as they came out of the oven.

Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

If I had to pick just one dessert to eat for the rest of my life I would pick cookies.  I crave them daily, I dream about them at night, and I can honestly say they complete me...ok, that is really dramatic and a little over done, but I do LOVE them!  I have seen this recipe floating around a lot lately and I kind of always brushed it off, I am not sure why, especially not that I have made them!  They are completely worthy of my love!  I don't really know where this recipe originally came from but I found it here... mine is slightly altered.

Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

(about 2 dozen)

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding

2 eggs

1 1/2 t vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet and milk)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together butter and sugars until creamy.  Add the pudding, eggs and vanilla and mix again.  Add the baking soda and salt and mix one more time.  Add the flour (this is where I use my hand mixer).  I start with 2 cups and add the last 1/4 cup if it needs it. Lastly add the chocolate chips and mix.  Drop by the tablespoonful full and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.

Chicken Florentine Pasta

It is about time, right?!!! I have been SOOO off the grid lately.  Call it moving across the country, call it summer vacation, call it laziness, call it whatever you want but I think it is high time I get a new post on here. If for no other reason than to NOT have to look at the cinnamon sticks any more!

I have been so NOT in the mood to cook lately, so I am forcing myself to come back slow and easy.  And that is exactly what this recipe is, well the easy part anyway!  I found it over at Picky Palate. My whole family loved it and the leftovers were great too!  I may have changed the recipe slightly...

Chicken Florentine Pasta
(8 servings)

2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove of garlic minced
4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breasts
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
salt to taste
2 cups Philadelphia Cooking Creme (found in the cream cheese section at the grocery store)  I used reduced fat Italian flavored, yum!
1 pound pasta, I used bowtie pasta, cooked al dente
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 in pan with cooking spray.   Place the oil in a large pot and when it has heated up add onion and cook until soft.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Stir in the spinach leaves and stir until wilted.  Add the cooked and shredded chicken and pepper and cook until heated through.  Add the cooking creme and mix well. Lastly, add the cooked pasta until combined. Salt to taste,  I didn't add any.  Transfer this mixture to the baking dish and top with shredded cheese.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted.  Serve with salad and breadsticks.

Cinnamon Twists with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I woke up this morning wanting a cinnamon roll so bad!  But they take way longer to make than I was willing to wait.  So as I sat dreaming, I remembered a pizza place in Provo, UT that used to make cinnamon twists called Tricky Sticks.  They came like bread sticks with frosting to dip them in.  And then I remembered a couple of weeks ago I made these bread sticks.  Well, the wheels started turning and I morphed the two ideas and came up with these! Quick and easy and oh so good!

Cinnamon Twists
(15-20 sticks)

1 1/2 cups warm water
3 T sugar
1 T yeast

Mix this together and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then add:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt

For the middle:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 t cinnamon

Mix the dough until smooth and let it rise for 10 minutes.  Roll the dough, on a floured surface, into a big square.  Brush the softened butter over the lower half of the dough and sprinkle it with the sugar and cinnamon.  Fold the top half down and cut the dough into 15-20 sticks.  Twist each stick and place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Let the twists rise for 15-20 minutes while the oven preheats to 400.  Bake the twists for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 T butter, softened
2 T cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t vanilla
3 T milk

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until smooth.  Drizzle over warm twists and save the rest for dipping!