Perfect Dinner Rolls

I was in a baking mood today!  As you may be able to tell by all my posts today!  It's finally fall here in Arizona, which means I can bake without dying of heat.  I'm so excited to try out new recipes, and put on that winter weight!  haha.  I will be hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year.   Me.  I'm making Thanksgiving dinner all by my lonesome, so I am starting to try out my recipes now.  This is the first one I tried, and I have to say it's a winner! 

By the way, I'm searching for the perfect Thanksgiving recipes, so if you have any please send them my way.  I'm looking for delicious sweet potato, green bean casserole and stuffing recipes.

Yield:  36 rolls

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups warm milk

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons salt

7 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:

	Pour milk into a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle yeast over the surface. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Beat in the sugar, eggs, 1/2 cup butter, and salt; blend thoroughly. Gradually stir in the flour to make a soft dough. Cover bowl, and set in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
	Punch down the dough, cover the bowl, and allow to rise again. Repeat this step two more times.
	Break off 2 to 3 inch size pieces of dough, roll lightly into round shape, and place in prepared baking dish, edges touching. Repeat to make 36 dough balls. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.
	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
	Bake rolls in preheated oven until tops turn golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. When rolls are finished baking, drizzle melted butter over the top, and serve warm.

This is a time consuming one, but it's worth it!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield:  about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla. Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in remaining sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Criss-cross with fork tines.
Bake at for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool slightly, and remove from pan.


I baked my cookies for only 8 minutes. 10 just seemed like too long and I like my cookies chewy! And I was right! 8 minutes was the perfect amount of time.

Italian Sausage Grinders

This recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine.  These babies are so good, they've made it into our dinner rotation!  And best of all, they are so easy!  Try them out for yourself.

Yield 12 servings

12 Italian sausage links
3 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups water
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp each dried parsley, basil and oregano
12 brat buns (I just bought regular hot dog buns, which I'm fairly sure are the same thing)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, brown sausages in oil; drain.  Stir in the water, tomato paste, tomato sauce, garlic, sugar and seasonings; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

Serve sausages on buns with sauce; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Apple Crisp

Here's another dessert I served last week.  Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Yummy!


Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 2 quarts peeled, cored and sliced apples

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until crumbly.
3. Take half of the mixture and pat it into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Cover crumb mixture with apple slices, then sprinkle apple slices with remaining crumb mixture.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are tender.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

I have been craving pumpkin pie lately.  It's my favorite thing about fall.  Last week I hosted a Scentsy party at my house, and I wanted all the food to be fall themed.  So, of course, pumpkin pie was high on the list on desserts to be served.  I did not anticipate the huge brick wall in my way.  NO ONE is selling pumpkin right now.  I guess the pumpkin crop got wiped out last year so there is only a little supply left, so the stores wont be putting them on their shelves until closer to Thanksgiving.  So...  I had two options.  I could not make it, or I could buy an actual pumpkin (why are there real pumpkins in the stores and not canned pumpkin?  Did the Fry's worker lie to me?) and make it from scratch.  Well, I didn't want to do any of those things, so through the magic of Facebook,  I tracked down a can.

So, here is the recipe for my delicious-almost-didnt-happen-pumpkin-pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 2/3 cups evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, pumpkin puree, evaporated milk and eggs; blending until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared unbaked pie shell.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 minutes then lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue to bake for about another 40 minutes or until pie is firm. 

This pie was amazingly delicious and I hope you guys can track down some pumpkin so you can try it! The only thing I suggest is to cook the pie at LEAST 15 minutes longer than the recipe says. Enjoy!

Apple Dumplings

Well, it's finally September and that means fall is finally here!  That means cooler weather (finally!) and cooler weather means that I'll be more in the mood to cook!  I already have a bunch of new recipes to try, so check back often!  On Sunday I made these babies:

8 servings

2 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and quartered 1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent rolls 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter 3/4 cup white sugar 1 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Wrap each apple piece in one crescent roll. Place seam side down in an 8x8 baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon.  In medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, and orange juice; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over rolls.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden and apples are tender. Spoon sauce over rolls when serving.

I made this recipe as written and I thought it was fantastic!  The only problem I had was that my crescent rolls were butter flavored.  I DO NOT recommend this.  It made the dish taste too buttery, which I didn't think was possible.  So buy original crescent rolls and you'll be golden!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Yield: 6 servings

MEATBALLS
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg, beaten

SAUCE
3/4 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled
tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder and beaten egg. Mix well and form into 12 balls. Store, covered, in refrigerator until needed.



Yummy. :)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve.

*This was amazing! I really loved it. My only suggestion on this one is to be sure to buy lean ground beef. Mine turned out a tad oilier than I would have liked. Also--this wouldn't be hard to make healthier either! Use ground turkey instead of ground beef, and use whole wheat pasta!*