Sour Cream Rolls

I know there are thousands of yummy roll recipes out there, but I wanted to share this one from my friend Lisa Pett. It's so soft because of the sour cream in it. I like it because with my busy schedule right now with a newborn, it is convenient to break up the work ... make the dough at night ... and shape/bake in the morning. It just takes a little planning ahead. I've also done it all the same day - letting it rise 3 hours before shaping and 3 hours after.

Sour Cream Rolls from Lisa Pett

Ingredients:
1 large carton of sour cream (2 cups)
1/4 cup shortening
Heat them together in a little pan, but don't boil.

Place in mixing bowl and stir in:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten

Directions:
Take 2 packages of dry, fast rising yeast (2 TBLSP) and dissolve in 1 cup of luke warm water. Then mix with other ingredients in large bowl. Add 7 1/2 cups flour, and knead.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil and place a dishtowel over it. Place bowl and contents, well covered, in a refrigerator overnight (or in a cold oven for 3 hours) and until the dough has doubled in bulk.

Make rolls and place in roll pans, cover with dishtowel and let raise for about 3-4 hours. ***However, I have made them and let it rise in a semi warm oven to go faster and it works just fine too.

Don't make them too small. If you fold them over, put a little butter between the folds. Bake 9-12 minutes, depending on oven, at 350 degrees. Bake until rolls are light brown--not dark brown.

(tips from lisa:

**I cut the dough into 4 equal parts and then roll it out into a 16 inch circle. Then I use a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 16 even triangles. I roll them up like Crescent rolls and butter them with a melted butter and a pastry brush hot out of the oven.

This dough is an excellent base for cinnamon or orange rolls.)

Pear Crisp

Just wanted to give a shout-out to this Pear Crisp recipe from Pioneer Woman. I made it and it was tasty. As always, go to her site for scrumptious photos of this recipe.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 4

Ingredients

FILLING INGREDIENTS:
4 whole (to 5) Large Pears (Bosc Work Well)
⅔ cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
_____

Topping Ingredients
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
⅓ cups Sugar
⅓ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cups Pecans, Very Finely Chopped
1 stick Butter, Melted

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, core, and dice pears. Place into a bowl and stir together with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Stir together. Drizzle melted butter gradually, stirring with a fork as you go until all combined.

Pour pears into a baking dish; top with crumb topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Place pan on top rack of oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Credit for this recipe goes to my sister Amy. She mentioned that she made these (original recipe found in the Nestle cookbook) and shared the recipe with me. I made them today and even the kids loved them.

CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Solid pack pumpkin
1/4 cup Melted butter
1 Egg
6 oz Semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup Finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, combine milk, pumpkin, butter and egg; add to well in flour mixture.

Add chocolate chips; stir until dry mixture is moistened. Spoon mixture into greased muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 tsp. nuts over each muffin.

Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans, completely cool on racks.

This recipe makes 12.

Stuffed Mushrooms

1 lb large mushrooms, cleaned, remove stems
1 cube butter with garlic powder
8 oz cream cheese
3 chopped green onions
1 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Melt 1 cube of butter and add garlic powder. Mix cream cheese, onions, Parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese. Stuff mixture into mushroom stem hole. Dip all mushrooms into garlic butter. Bake at 300 for 10-15 minutes. Then broil until brown. (I didn't think I needed the whole cube of butter. Next time I'm going to start with a half a cube and add more if that isn't enough. I had too much left over and hated to waste it. ) Enjoy! They are super yummy.

Caramel Apple Salad

This recipe is from our friends in Chicago, Kathy and Jerry. They took us to our first apple orchard, years ago in Michigan. Fresh picked apples are so yummy!

1- 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
4 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1- 8oz. cool whip (room temp.)
2-3 apples, diced
1 c. salted peanuts

Drain pineapple, save juice. Mix pineapple and marshmallows. In medium saucepan combine:

cornstarch
sugar
egg
vinegar
pineapple juice

Cook until slightly thickened over medium heat; cool and combine with cool whip. FOLD in the marshmallows and pineapple mixture.

Add apples and peanuts. Refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Lemon Rice Pilaf

3 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed and minced
2 carrots, pared and shredded
1 1/3 cups uncooked long-grain rice
3 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Melt butter in sauce pan with tight fitting lid.
Add garlic and carrots; cook, stirring frequently until carrots begin to color, about 5 minutes.
Add rice; stir.
Add broth, zest and salt.
Bring to a boil and simmer covered, about 20 minutes.
Fluff rice.

Crispy Chicken Costolleta

Ryan loves the Crispy Chicken Costolleta from the Cheesecake Factory, so I found this copycat recipe that is pretty similar.

Crispy Chicken

4 chicken breasts, cut horizontally, and pounded to about 1/4 inch thick, or use chicken cutlets.
Lemon zest of 2 lemons
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons Freshly grated Parmesan (optional)
2 eggs, whisked with 2 T water
3 Tablespoons flour
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Zest two lemons. Bake zest for about 5 minutes until dry. On one paper plate combine flour, pepper and salt. On another paper plate combine eggs and water, whisk until combined. On another paper plate combine dry lemon zest, bread crumbs and cheese. Place pounded chicken in the flour, coating well, followed by the egg mixture and the bread crumbs. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Place chicken in pan and cook on each side about 5 minutes until middle is no longer pink. You will need to work in batches, adding more oil and butter as needed. Keep chicken warm in oven at 250 degrees.

Lemon Sauce

2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup plus 1 T fresh lemon juice
1/8 cup chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Over medium heat in a fairly large saucepan heat canola oil. Add minced garlic and saute about 3 minutes. Add whipping cream and boil until reduced by one-third. Add Dijon, lemon juice, chicken stock and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.

Serve chicken with lemon sauce.

Fruit Dip/Topping

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• a handful of Strawberries smashed or pureed (2-3 TBSP)
  
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whipped topping

Blend together the cream cheese, strawberries, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and whipped topping.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Thanks to Martha Stewart for the recipe below. I have discovered sweet potatoes recently and really like them. The only thing I changed below is to use skim milk instead of half-and-half. Also, I used unsalted butter. This recipe is easy and delicious!

Ingredients

Makes 3 cups

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. Set a steamer basket in a large saucepan. Fill with enough water to come just below basket; bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Place sweet potatoes in steamer basket and cover; steam until tender, 15 to 25 minutes. Drain, and return to saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring half-and-half, butter, and brown sugar to a simmer, stirring to combine; remove from heat. Add to drained sweet potatoes, and mash just until smooth; season with salt and pepper.

Wheat Berry Waffles or Pancakes

Tricia's friend Matt made these for us when I went to KC. They were so good.


1 c. Wheat berries - rinsed and drained
1 1/2 c. Milk
1/3 c. Oil - applesauce may be used for half the oil.
1 egg
1 Tbsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Pure maple syrup or honey

Put milk in blender. Add wheat berries and blend for 5 mins. Add oil, egg, salt, and maple syrup. Blend for 15 seconds. Add baking powder and blend just to mix in. The batter will start to rise. Bake as waffles or pancakes.

As an alternate to butter and syrup, you can serve the waffles with the following - applesauce and whipped cream and pecans
Or rasperry jam and sour cream
Or diced fruit and whipped cream.

Fun Variation of Lasagna

Lasagna Rolls

by: Giada De Laurentiis

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Pinch ground nutmeg

Lasagna:

• 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese (I used cottage cheese because it was cheaper)
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped ( I didn't use this but I bet it would be tasty)
• 1 large egg, beaten to blend
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for salting water
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella (about 4 ounces)

Directions

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk. Increase the heat to medium-high. Whisk the sauce until it comes to a simmer and is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Whisk the salt, pepper, and nutmeg into the bechamel sauce.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Whisk the ricotta, spinach, 1 cup Parmesan, prosciutto, egg, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.

Add a tablespoon or 2 of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water. Boil the noodles until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Arrange the noodles in a single layer on a baking sheet to prevent them from sticking.

Butter a 13-by-9-by-2-inch glass baking dish. Pour the bechamel sauce over the bottom of the prepared dish. Lay out 4 lasagna noodles on a work surface, then spread about 3 tablespoons of ricotta mixture evenly over each noodle. Starting at 1 end, roll each noodle like a jelly roll. Lay the lasagna rolls seam side down, without touching, atop the bechamelsauce in the dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles and ricotta mixture. Spoon 1 cup of marinara sauce over the lasagna rolls. Sprinkle the mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan over the lasagna rolls. Cover tightly with foil. Bake until heated through and the sauce bubbles, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the cheese on top becomes golden, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining marinara sauce in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat until hot, and serve alongside.

1-Hour Dinner Rolls

I found this recipe here and with a few minor adaptations, made some scrumptious and EASY dinner rolls that actually turned out (yay!). Pair with homemade jam and butter...YUMMY!

Perfect Dinner Rolls
Adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup, then leveled off

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand about 5 minutes.

Add the oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture, then mix on low speed with the paddle attachment incorporate the flour to create a wet, sticky mixture. Still on low speed, add 1 cup of the remaining flour and incorporate. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 cup flour. On low speed, mix the dough to incorporate the final addition of flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl - turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 -30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate into a rectangle. Cut width-wise into 6 equal strips of dough. Then cut each strip of dough into fourths by cutting length-wise to make 24 little squares of dough. Take each piece of dough and ball it (I fold the insides into the bottom over and over so that it's smooth on the top and in a perfect little ball--I like to call it "mom" style, that's how she taught us!)

Place each ball of into a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan in rows of 4 (I used a cookie sheet). Cover the rolls in the pan and let rise to double while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees F - about 20 minutes. If you want an even more golden color to the rolls, brush them with a little melted butter before baking. Bake for 13-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!

Janey's German Pancakes

In the past few weeks, I've been craving breakfast food....a lot! German Pancakes have the least dishes and easiest cleanup, so I've had the chance to perfect my recipe!!!

2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Tsp. Cinnamon (or more...)

Put everything in the bowl and mix just enough to break up the eggs. Heat the Oven to 425 with a 9" cake pan in it--when the oven is hot, melt 1 notch (is it a tsp or a tbsp?...just the notch on the butter...) in the pan, and swirl it around so that butter covers the entire bottom of the pan. Pour the batter in the pan and bake for 15 minutes.

My favorite toppings are fresh peach jam (if you want some i have a freezer full!) a little bit of powdered sugar, and buttermilk syrup. MMMMMm I might go make another one!

Frog-Eye Salad

Hi! I have tried many of your amazing recipes and love them! I saw Heather's request for Frog-Eye salad so thought I'd share one. I love the recipe on the back of the Acini de Pepe pasta box although it's a little more time consuming and has to chill overnight. I came across this faster, easier version a year ago from Janeal at Cookin' Mamas and have made it quite a few times since. Hope this helps you Heath! and any others out there needing a relatively quick frog-eye-salad fix!

1 1/3 cup Acini de pepe pasta - uncooked
20 oz can pineapple tidbits (drained - reserve 1/4 cup juice)
8 oz can crushed pineapple
2 (12 oz) cans mandarin oranges
3 cups marshmallows
1/2 cup coconut
8 oz cool whip
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 3/4 cup milk
3 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding

Cook pasta in boiling water for 11 minutes. Drain well, rinsing with cold water to cool pasta. In large bowl, beat reserved pineapple juice, milk, sugar and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Gently stir in pasta and remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Five-Minute Jell-o

I saw this recipe today on Hil's Blog and thought I'd make it to go along with supper. It was fun and really only took 5 minutes to make and 5 minutes to set up. I had some cool whip that needed to be used so I stirred that in at the end. We made strawberry-banana jell-o.

See her blog for more details and photos.

Five Minute Jell-O by Hil

Ingredients:
1 small package Jell-o
2/3 c. boiling water
8-9 ice cubes
and Cool-whip.

Put Jell-o and water into a blender. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes. Add ice cubes one at a time.

If desired, add some Cool Whip or yogurt.

Mix then pour into a bowl. Add fruit, if desired. Cool in refrigerator for 5 minutes.

*For a bigger portion, use 1 large package Jell-o, 1 1/3 cup boiling water, and 16-18 ice cubes.

Zucchini Cakes

We have had an abundance of zucchini's in our garden this year and so I have been in search for fun new ways to use it up. These are tasty. Here's the link from pioneer woman (I love her).

Zucchini Cakes

1 Large Zucchini

1 TBSP garlic

1/2 - 3/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup cheese (Italian (this is what I used), Parmesan or Romano)

2 eggs

Kosher salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Wash and cut the ends of the Zucchini, shred it using a cheese grater. Squeeze the shredded zucchini in a towel until you have removed as much liquid as possible.

Put zucchini in a medium sized bowl. Add garlic, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir with a fork till well mixed.

Heat olive oil (about 1/4 in deep in skillet) over medium heat. When the oil is hot enough drop a glob of batter into the skillet and flatten it a bit. After about 2 min flip the cakes over (they should be nice golden brown). Cook on the other side for about 2-3 minutes.

Serve with dipping sauce (we used ranch. - yum!) Enjoy!

Paula Deen's Key Lime Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

I am not a big fan of cake but I liked this one. I also think this cake would be good with a key lime frosting to bring out more of the lime flavor. The white chocolate frosting was good I just really like limes.

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons key lime zest
3 eggs
1/4 cup key lime juice, fresh
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

White Chocolate Frosting
6 (1 oz) white chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tea. vanilla
5 cups confectioners sugar

1. Preheat oven to 340. Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) cake pans.
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and lime zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in juice until combined.
3. In medium bowl, combine cake flour and baking soda; sift. Gradually add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
4. Pour evenly into prepared pants, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread white chocolate frosting in between layers, and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with Key lime wedges, if desired.
5. White Chocolate Frosting:.
6. In medium bowl, combine chocolate an dcream. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 1-1/2 minutes total); let cool completely.
7. In large bowl, combine white chocolate mixture, butter, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar until fluffy.
   

BBQ Chicken and Ranch Pizza

This has become my favorite pizza and since discovering it about a month ago I have made it three times. One time I didn't have any ranch dressing so I made some. I found this ranch dressing recipe on Pioneer Woman, I had to tweak it with what ingredients I had but it turned out really good. Also, I didn't have fresh herbs so I used dried. I may never buy ranch dressing again.

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
1 cup Barbecue sauce, divided
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup Ranch dressing
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Pizza dough

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken with 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce; mix until combined. Spread the remaining barbecue sauce on rolled out pizza dough. Place red onion and chicken mixture over sauce. Drizzle ranch dressing over chicken then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Creamy Chicken and Chile Enchiladas

1 lb uncooked chicken (or already cooked chicken)
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, cut into cubes
1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chiles
1 can (15 oz.) black beans
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drain off a little of the juice, but not all of it
Flour tortillas
1 or 2 cans (10 oz. can) Green Chile enchilada sauce; depends on if you like a lot of sauce or not
shredded cheddar cheese

Heat Oven 400 deg. Grease 9x13 inch pan.

In a nonstick skillet cook chicken over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink. Stir in cream cheese, green chiles, black beans, and diced tomatoes; reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until blended and cream cheese is melted.

Spoon chicken filling into tortillas; roll up and put in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 min.

Butternut Squash Casserole

This "Casserole" is really very much like a dessert but has squash in it. So you could call it a veggie. :) My friend made it for our dinner group and it was so yummy we all had seconds. She said they have this instead of candied yams for Thanksgiving. I hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS

• Flesh of 1 cooked butternut squash – about 3 c.
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup margarine, melted

TOPPING

• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
• 3/4 cup coconut
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine topping ingredients and set aside.
2. Blend all ingredients (except topping) in a blender or food processor.
3. Pour into a greased 9x13” pan.
4. Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes, then sprinkle topping over all and return to oven.
5. Bake another 10-20 minutes, or until casserole is set.