Sunday, April 8, 2012

Rolls, Bread, and Veggies


These Soft Yeast Rolls were loved by the whole family.  There was no hesitation to reach for a second and third serving.  They're THAT good.  They go well with butter, cheese, and of recent I've had them with Nutella.  Absolute YUM!!!
Soft Yeast Rolls
By The Virtuous Wife
Ingredients
2 cups of lukewarm water (105 degrees) 
3 Tbs dry yeast
1/3 cup powdered (dry) milk
5 cups flour (separated)
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 Tbs salt
1/2 cup sugar

Step 01
In a bowl, combine the water, yeast, dry milk, and 2 cups of flour. Let sit for 5-8 minutes. This is called preparing "the sponge" for the dough.

Step 02
After the "sponge" has risen and puffed up, add to stand mixer. Add the oil, salt, and sugar.

Step 03
Begin mixing in the remaining 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time. It will be an elastic, sticky dough.

Step 04
Grease a bowl with cooking oil (1/4 cup of a cup, usually) and put the sticky, unkneaded dough in the bowl. Cover with saran wrap and let rise until double in size (about an hour).

Step 05
Once it's risen, punch down, and turn it out on a floured surface. Knead the dough once or twice, just to get it shaped into a ball. Divide the dough in half to make it more manageable. 

Step 06
Roll the dough into a log shape and begin pinching palm-full sized rolls off the log. Shape them into circles and lay them in a greased baking dishes (I used a 9X13 and an 8X8 dish). The sides of each roll should just touch the others.

Step 07
Cover the dishes with saran wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20-25 minutes. Until double in size.

Step 08
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until tops of rolls are golden brown. Butter the tops of the hot rolls when they come out of the oven. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!       

The rolls before going in the oven.

Also made Baked Veggies.  Simple and extremely easy.   Choose any veggies you like: asparagus, tomatoes,
onions, zucchini, assortment of colored peppers, and carrots.  Cut and mix in a bowl with olive oil and garlic salt.   Place in baking sheet.  Bake at 400° F until potatoes are soft.  Broil for 4-5 minutes.  Add salt as desired.

My mom's secret banana bread recipe.  The recipe usually call for crushed walnuts but I was too lazy to
go to the grocery store.  Nonetheless, the banana bread is moist and delicious.  Secret recipe indeed.
 
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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Let's Go Out To The Kitchen




When I was 8 years old, new to the Americas, I saw this commercial on television and got hooked singing the song "Let's go out to the kitchen..."  I remember being thin and getting criticized for it.  Adults kept telling me to eat because I looked anorexic.  As a young impressionable kid who sought love and approval, I made myself eat even though I didn't want to.  Then I gained the weight and was still criticized for being chunky - by then the damage was done - I couldn't get out of the kitchen.  ha ha!  So I stayed to this day.  :-D

In essence, I love the kitchen and all the cool stuff that can be created there.  It's not only a form of art, but a party for my taste buds.  One of the most satisfying things in the world is to taste a variety of impeccable foods.  Even to travel and dare to risk eating street vendor foods with optimistic caution is exciting.  Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to travel to do so - then blog about it.

Saw this helpful little snippet on pinterest about finding your mistakes into baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie from the website itself.  It's very useful and good for someone who loves to bake cookies such as myself:

PROBLEMS
From the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
 There are many variables in baking.  Pictured are cookies with various problems using the same dough (with flour adjustments in numbers 3 &4).

  1. This cookie is done just right. It is pictured to compare with the rest.
  2. This dough was not refrigerated.  It is still good but a little flatter than it should be.
  3. This dough contained too much flour and did not spread much at all. It is interesting to note that the dough looked identical to the correct dough, but was much stiffer and drier.
  4. This dough had too little flour.  It spread too much and didn’t bake evenly.
  5. This dough was over-mixed.  It had a poor color, baked flat and had a strange consistency. 
  6. This dough was formed too small.  It was overcooked at eight minutes. It is fine to make smaller cookies, just bake them for less time.
  7. This dough was formed too large.  The outsides were done while the middle was too high and underdone.
  8. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too hot.  The outside was overdone and the inside was slightly underdone.
  9. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too cool.  It fell flat and became too crisp without much of an inside.
  10. This dough was frozen when baked.  It took longer to bake and didn't cook as evenly.  To use frozen dough, set on cookie sheet at room temperature while oven is preheating, 15-20 minutes.  It takes the frost off and bakes perfectly.

Check out the website, it's pretty awesome - and don't forget to follow me on pinterest.
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Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Look of Spring 2012

At VV Park.
Looks like heaven on earth.
Magnolias in Bloom


Like I said in my other blog,  I made a BIG (rookie) photography blunder.  I learned something new with my Nikon so I decided to test it out and many of my photos turned out blurred.  Total failure.  It taught me a lesson though, never experiment with photography during important events (my mother in law is visiting from Ukraine).

Anyway, some photos were salvageable so here they are.  It's nice to take photos again.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was so relaxing.

Downtown Bank Entrance

Another view of downtown

Trees budding

Allergy season looks so beautiful

Down by the Riverside

We went to the Putnam Museum where they have dozens of life size animatronic dinosaurs in their exhibit.
It was too cool.  There were a few occasions that caused me to jump.  It was scary yet exciting.


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Friday, March 16, 2012

From Mess To Success


When we moved in our house (newly weds) I didn't really cook much so we only had the staple spices:  salt, pepper, garlic salt, and oregano.  Then all of the sudden I was cooking like a mad chef and buying different spices left and right - spices I've never even heard of.  Then we had a baby and everything got shoved here and there.  Suffice it to say that it became a mess that it finally pissed me off.  From a mess to success - the small spices are arranged alphabetically, and the bigger spices are arranged by how often they're used.  The 3-Tier Spice Racks are inexpensive.  One costs less than $3.00 at Wal-Mart - prices may vary.

One small step for me, one giant leap to being a new mommy.  There's still a lot of cupboards to organize, so let the Spring cleaning begin!
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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Candies From Heaven



Russian candies are where it's at!!!  We got a call from our friends, Angie and Jenica, a few days ago asking if we wanted something from a Russian store in Colorado.  Um... ABSOLUTELY!!!  And might I add, we stocked up big time with these treats.  I hope it will last for a while... right?  lol.  We're now thankful to have someone to supply us with goodies.

The above are Chocolate Covered Plum and Chocolate Covered Apricot Russian candies.  The plums are my favorite.  What's awesome about Russian candies are that they're not too sweet - gotta love them.  There are other types of Russian candies out there but these are what Dre wanted.  Hopefully next time we'll order an assortment of goodies.

Family Updates:
Well, we had a baby boy - the most adorable baby boy EVER!!!  He keeps life interesting and busy.  Visit our baby blog and check it out:  http://ellababybump.blogspot.com.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Baking With Aunt Cheryl and Mom



       

Yesterday Aunt Cheryl came over to my parents' house to bake with mom and I. Looked forward to this event ever since I found out about it a week ago. Anyway, Mom is not accustomed to baking cookies and desserts in general, so it was pretty much her first time to really bake. It was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed Aunt Cheryl showing us baking secrets and ultimately just spending time with her. Love her. She's so awesome.


Peanut Blossom Cookies
1 C. white sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. margarine
1 C. peanut butter
2 eggs (beaten well)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. soda (dissolved in 1 T. boiling water)
Pinch of salt
3 C. flour
1 pkg. chocolate stars or Hershey's Kisses

Cream sugar, margarine, peanut butter and eggs. Add soda-water mixture, vanilla, salt and flour. Roll mix into balls. Roll balls in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Add candy stars or kisses.


Chocolate Peanut Clusters
16 oz dark chocolate chips
16 oz butterscotch chips
2 tbs gulf wax
1 lb (or more) peanuts

In a bowl, melt the dark chocolate chips, butterscotch and gulf wax in the microwave for 4 minutes. Mix. Further melt in the microwave for another 1 - 2 minutes until smooth. Mix. Add in the peanuts and mix. Scoop out chunks into wax paper and let it sit overnight.


Best Ever Christmas Cookies
1/2 C. margarine
1/2 C. crisco shortening
1 C. sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1 big tsp. vanilla
3 C. flour
1 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 C. milk
1 tsp. salt

Combine ingredients as per normal. Refrigerate overnight. Roll out and bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden.
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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Simple Christmas, The Lazy Cat, and Kindle Reads

 




This year (compared to the last) we decided to keep the holidays simple by putting up the small Christmas Tree with limited decorations. This is so I wouldn't have the burden of cleaning up after giving birth towards the end/beginning of this/next year. It's kind of nice yet at the same time I wish that I was able to do more. I've been so easy to tire lately that Dre has been doing a lot of the housework (feeding the pets, bending down, lifting heavy things, cleaning, cooking, etc.)

So anyway... above is the lounging cat. He loves that arm rest and can be found at that location the majority of the time.

KINDLE CURRENT READS
In all other news, Dre got me a Kindle so to occupy my time since I'm now just sitting pretty at home. I love the thing and have been voraciously reading to my heart's desire.

My Current Reading List: 

The Art of Happiness, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Handbook for Living
- Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler, M.D.
>> I use this book more of a devotional, reading a chapter a day in order to feed my mind and gain some sort of enlightenment. It helps because it shows how to achieve happiness.

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
>> I love books that allow me to gain a better understanding of history and culture. This book caught me by surprise due to its content and storyline. I can't put it down! A must read.

Sargasso of Space (Solar Queen, Book 1) - Andre Norton
>> This book was recommended by my husband and also fulfills my love of science-fiction. I've only gotten through the first few chapters and it's good so far... I can't wait till the real action begins.

UPDATED BABY BLOG
Thursday, December 1, 2011

A few days ago, we received a package from Dre's Mom. Talented Grandma Mila knitted these booties and outfit for Baby A. They're so precious and adorable - practically melted my ... (read more after the jump)
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