Yeast Rolls

If you have followed me for very long, then you know that I do not part with my recipes very often. This is a rare occurrence, so pay attention! This dough has just enough whole wheat flour without causing it to lose the great sweet roll essence. My favorite aspect about my dough is its range of use. It can be rolled out, filled with cinnamon, sugar, nuts, butter, etc and rolled into amazing cinnamon rolls - yes, absolutely AMAZING. Or, can be used for dinner rolls. You can add herbs or brush with herbed butter. This recipe makes enough for at least two uses - I usually use one half at a time. Since the dough must rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight, I typically use the first half for cinnamon rolls and save the other half for dinner rolls the next day or later in the week. The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week, but as with all things containing yeast, the sooner you use it the better! When you pinch off the portion you intend to use, give it a quick knead on a lightly floured surface, just until it has some elasticity to it.

We make our dinner rolls using three small balls of dough per aperture in a muffin pan. They look like this:


Let rise at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until almost doubled in size:


Bake at 400 degrees, 20-25 minutes.

Unique Birthday Cakes

Fried Rice

My family loves Fried Rice. This version of Fried Rice is versatile as we often eat it as a main dish, but it works well as a side dish too. Sadly, I don't make it often enough. When I do make it, we start by crumbling 6-8 slices of crispy bacon in the bottom of a large bowl - sounds tasty already, doesn't it? Set this bowl aside while you cook your raw ingredients, which are: chicken, red onion and bell pepper.




In a hot pan, sizzling with two tablespoons of bacon fat (yes, bacon fat) cook your diced chicken breast, season with salt and stir frequently. When chicken is almost done, add the veggies (NOTE: veggies will cook much faster than chicken so adding the veggies at the same time as the chicken will result in soggy veggies, which we don't want...well maybe you do, but I don't).


Cook and stir until onion and bell pepper become tender, but not soft.


Pour three softly beaten eggs over the mixture, cook until eggs are done...



Pour your chicken and egg mixture into the large bowl with the crumbled bacon, set aside. In your skillet, over med-high heat, melt two tablespoons of butter. Please don't clean your pan first, you want all of the flavor left behind from cooking the chicken, onions, egg, etc.


Now, load up your pan with cooked rice (about 4 cups, cooked). We prefer brown rice, but white will work just as well.


This is where we incorporate the "fried" element of fried rice. Keep your pan hot, flipping sections of rice over, almost like a pancake, while achieving the brown "fried" texture...this should only take about five minutes, at the most.


Add the rice to the large bowl containing your chicken mixture and crumbled bacon. Stir well to combine all of the ingredients. Serve with soy sauce and enjoy!

Of Babies and Birthdays....

A Cake from My Week

Client wanted an "antiqued" looking cake with a wagon, in brown and creme with red accents - hence, the hand brushed letters and old school wagon:

Who Doesn't Love Cake?

Who doesn't love cake? Especially when a baby is involved! Here is one of my most recent baby shower cakes:

Valentine's Day Cookies

I love to flood and layer cookies with all kinds of fun and elaborate decorations. However, when the two little people need lots of V-Day cookies for school, I keep it simple...after all, it's doubtful that 25 first and second graders are going to be examining the decorations! Below are some of the super-simple cookies we decorated. My daughter loves the color combination of pink and green, so we varied a bit from traditional V-day colors.

Sweet Treat

Chocolate and nuts are one of my favorite combinations. I recently found myself with an abundance of almonds that I had purchased in bulk and needed to use. First, I toasted them for 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven:


Next, I melted milk chocolate chips in a double broiler:


Add one tablespoon solid vegetable shortening (this allows the candy to set up properly later):


Heat and stir until chocolate is smooth:


By this point, my nuts have toasted and are mostly cooled. Chop to desired coarseness:


Stir nuts into melted chocolate:


Spoon into miniature baking cups:


Don't rush - wait until they are completely cool and they will be easy to remove from the baking cup. Enjoy!