Yummy Rolls

I borrowed this recipe from my mom, who got it from somebody else, who apparently also got it from somebody else. So I'm not sure where exactly it orginated. But here you go, they are pretty yummy rolls.

2 Yeast Cakes or 4 Teaspoons Yeast
2 Cups Luke Warm Water
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Sugar
6 Beaten Eggs
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
8 Cups Flour

Mix yeast with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of luke warm water. Add melted butter, remaining sugar and beaten eggs. Mix well. Sift in flour and salt. Mix well. let rise at least 2 hours. Stir down and put in fridge overnight.

Separate dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each ball of dough into a large circle. Brush with butter and cut like a pie into 16 pieces. Roll up starting with wide end. Place on buttered cookie sheet, making sure the tail end is next to the pan. let rise 4-5 hours and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Here is what mine looked like on the pans. I did rolls because of what we were using them for.





This is what they looked like after I baked them all.






I ran out of pans because I didn't think I was going to need all the dough and then we did. Enjoy. They are pretty tasty!

Frozen Potatoes

I don't have any pictures, but I've been experimenting with an idea for awhile. I absolutely DETEST throwing potatoes away because I am always using them and I always seem to be throwing them away just to need them the next day. I also hate, almost as badly, paying $1.99 for a 5 lb bag of potatoes when the 10 lb bags are on sale for $1.99. So, I decided that I could peel, dice, and freeze potatoes to be used later. My first experiment turned out okay, but the potatoes started browning before they completely froze and tasted a little funny. The shredded potatoes were nearly a disaster because they had all browned before the freezer got to them. I googled for a solution, and came up with this. I peeled them, diced them or put them through the Salad Shooter, then dunked them in a bowl of cool water mixed with a spoonful of cream of tarter. It worked like a charm! The potatoes are not brown at all, and taste like I just diced them. The shredded ones look pretty too, but we haven't eaten any of those yet. So now I buy the biggest bag of potatoes that are on sale, quart sized bags from Costco, then spend an hour or so freezing potatoes and don't have to worry about it for a few weeks. We have a lot of roasts, so I left some of the potatoes in bigger chunks and just drop a frozen bag in with a frozen roast and dinner is done by the time I get home. Ta-da!

Breakfast on the Run Idea

Libbi has decided that breakfast at school is not what she wants. Usually she compromises for cereal. Occasionally she can talk her dad into breakfast at McDonalds. Well, since it's becoming more frequent, as well as expensive, I decided it couldn't be that hard to make. So yesterday we went on an adventure to make our own fruit and yogurt parfaits.

This is what we came home with:



All Natural Vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, oat and honey granola cereal, frozen raspberries, frozen blackberries and disposable cups with lids. I also got some snack size plastic baggies for granola and berries. This morning we took the lids off of our yogurt cups and the frozen berries had defrosted and we had runny pink yogurt juice. So tonight when we put our yogurt in our cups, we put a small amount of berries in another baggie that we can add in the morning. The thing I liked about this is that Libbi doesn't usually eat all of her yogurt, so this way I can give her exactly what she's going to eat without wasting a whole cup of yogurt. Try it...maybe it will work for you.

Chicken Taco Rice

1 cut up chicken breast or some chicken fillets
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 to 1 package taco seasoning
1 can chicken broth
1 medium green pepper diced
1 can corn-drained
1 cup minute rice

Sour cream
grated cheese
frito or tortilla chips

Makes 4 adult servings

Cut chicken up and cook in a little oil til browned. Add taco seasoning, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add pepper and corn. Return to a full boil for about 2 minutes. Add rice and remove from heat, let sit 5-10 minutes then fluff with fork.
Add as much cheese and sour cream as you like and eat with chips.

We love this dish without sour cream and only 1/2 package of seasoning but if you like it spicier use more seasoning.

Chili Cheese Casserole

A bag of Tortilla Chips, crushed
2 cans of your favorite Chili
2 cups of grated Cheese
1 can of sliced olives (optional)

Start by putting a layer of crushed chips on the bottom of your casserole dish (We save the crumbs and small chips from previous bags). Then, a few spoonfuls of chili topped with cheese and olives. Continue layering with rest of ingredients. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until chili is bubbling and cheese is melted.

My kids favorite! Super easy and great for using up those small corn chips in the bottom of the bag no one will eat cause they can't hold the salsa! Also, a great way to dress up chili.

Steak Stir Fry

I'm always looking for things to make cubed steak into. I don't particularly like cubed steak, I think it's tough and there's not a lot of things to do with it. Since we have Daddy's cows we have a lot of it though, so I've been experimenting. Here's one that turned out really well:

Cubed Steak (ours comes in packages of four)
Olive Oil
Assorted vegetables (I bought some "stir fry" veggies at Costco and don't particularly like them, fresh is better but the frozen are okay) I usually use a red pepper, pea pods, onion, broccoli, carrots, and water chesnuts
Season All for the steak
Kikkoman Stir Fry sauce (I used to make my own, this is better and easier)
Rice

Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of a wok and heat on medium. Cut the steak into thin strips and add to the oil. Let it cook while you cut up the veggies, stirring every once in awhile so it doesn't burn. Cook steak until it's no longer pink, you can drain some of the juice off of it if you want. I did and I probably drained more than I should have. Add the vegetables and continue cooking, stirring occasionally. When you think it's done add the sauce and let it simmer for a little while. The sauce is really strong, I thought it was too strong but Nancy and Dennis liked it. Probably wouldn't have been as strong if I hadn't drained off all the juice from the meat. Serve over rice. I forgot to make the rice when we had it, so we just ate the meat and veggies, but it turned out okay.

Asian Grilled Chicken Salad

I know, this is going to sound like the dumbest thing....it's not really a recipe, but it was the perfect light summer dinner!

What you will need:

3-4 Large Chicken Breast or 6-7 Frozen Chicken Tenders
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Cup Coke or Sprite, but I like Coke better.
1 teaspoon of Lime Juice, but this is optional.

Let Chicken marinate in the soy sauce and coke at least over night. The longer the better. Before putting the chicken breast on the grill, cut into strips so they cook a little faster. Once they are finished cooking, cut into bite size pieces.

We bought an Asian Salad Mix that had crunchy noodles, sliced almonds and dried pineapple chunks. I also bought a bottle of the Asian Salad dressing from Kraft and a can of mandarian oranges.

Mix it all together and there you have an Asian Chicken Salad. I know it sounds so simple and it is, but this blog is about dinner ideas as much as sharing recipes and that one was perfect for the hot weather we had been having. Since Kyle isn't a chicken guy, he opted for steak...I don't know why?!

The good thing about this recipe for chicken is that it's good for warm chicken or cold chicken leftovers. We have also paired this type of chicken with rice and that works also. We have tried to "grill" this chicken on our George Foreman grill and it works, but it's not as tasty as if you grill it on an actual grill.