Catching Up!

I've been racking my brains these last couple of days, trying to remember what I've made since my last post, and honestly I mainly stuck to tried-and-true recipies. I did try out a couple new ones though!! 
This one for Blueberry Sweet Rolls with a Lemon Glaze were soooo yummy!! here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Rolls

• 2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package Red Star Platinum Yeast or any instant yeast* (1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) water
• 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (cow's milk - I used skim)
• 2.5 Tablespoons (40g) unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, at room temperature

Filling

• 1 and 1/3 cups (225g) frozen* blueberries, not thawed
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Sweet Lemon Glaze

• Juice from 1 large lemon*
• 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar (or more)
• 1-2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) half-and-half (or heavy cream or milk)

Directions:

1. Make the filling first: Combine the frozen blueberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. Gently toss around and let sit while you prepare the dough.
2. Make the dough: Set aside 1/2 cup of flour. In a large bowl, toss the remaining flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Set aside.
3. Heat the water, milk, and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot to touch. About 115-120F degrees. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough. I only needed 1/3 cup, but you may need the full 1/2 cup. Dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.
4. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl (I used non-stick spray) and let rest for about 10 minutes.
5. Fill the rolls: After 10 minutes, roll the dough out in a 14x8 inch rectangle. Pour the sugared blueberries on top and gently spread them to cover the dough surface. Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 11 even pieces and place in a lightly greased 9-inch round pan. I used a pie dish, lightly sprayed with nonstick spray. Loosely cover the rolls with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2-3 hours. Here is what I do: heat the oven to 200F degrees. Turn oven off. Place rolls inside oven and allow to rise. *Do not* refrigerate the rolls at any point during or after rising.
6. After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. I covered the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.
7. Make the glaze: Right before serving, top your blueberry rolls with glaze. Mix all of the glaze ingredients together. If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar and then add salt to cut the sweetness, if desired. If you'd like it thinner, add more lemon juice or cream. Pour over sweet rolls.
8. Makes 11 cinnamon rolls. Rolls are best enjoyed the same day, but stay fresh and soft in a covered container for 5 days. Glaze the rolls immediately before serving. The recipe may be made the night before through step 5. Allow the rolls to stay at room temperature before baking.

Overnight instructions: The dough may be made the night before through step 5. Allow the rolls to rise at room temperature for 12 hours. If they rise *too* much overnight, gently press them down a bit before baking the next morning.
*If you replace Red Star Platinum with regular active dry yeast, you rise time may be 50% longer.
*You must use frozen (not fresh) blueberries in this recipe.
*Leave out the lemon juice if you do not prefer lemon glaze. Replace with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

These were seriously amazing! I found the recipe on pinterest (God I love that site!!) and it sent me to here : http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/06/14/blueberry-sweet-rolls-with-lemon-glaze/
I 110% recommend these to everybody! haha I'm 98 3/4 % sure everybody will love them! My family sure did! They were gone within a couple of hours. 

And then there was this one for Pirogi casserole. I made this for a pot luck at work and it was a hit as well :) 
Here's the recipe (also found on pinterest lol) 

Ingredients

• • 9 lasagne noodles, uncooked
  • 4 cup hot mashed potatoes
  • 1/2 cup (1/2 of 250g tub) Philadelphia Herb & Garlic cream cheese spread
  • 6 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 pkg. (80 g) Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Recipe Pieces, divided
  • 2 cup Kraft Double Cheddar shredded cheese, divided
  • 
    

Cook Time30 min.

Prep Time30 min.

Yields12 serv.

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Cook noodles as directed on package, omitting salt. Meanwhile, combine mashed potatoes, cream cheese spread, onions, 1/2 cup bacon and 1 cup Cheddar.
3. Place 3 noodles in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover with 1/3 of the potato mixture. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining bacon and Cheddar; cover.
4. Bake 30 min. or until heated through. Uncover; bake 3 to 5 min. or until Cheddar is lightly browned. Let stand 10 min. before cutting to serve.
5. Kraft Kitchens Tip: For a change of pace, substitute cottage cheese for the mashed potatoes.

you can find the recipe here if you want to see pictures :) http://realwomen.phillycanada.com/recipes/542663/Easy-Pierogi-Casserole

definitely use the noodles that have to be cooked first though. I was running low on time so I didn't and while it was still great, it just wasn't up to par. Trying again soon the right way!!

Oh, and I found an addiction to alfredo this winter, so I found this recipe for an Easy Alfredo Sauce (mmm mmm mmm!) but I don't know where I found it to link back to, sorry :(

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 oz grated parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
Melt butter in a medium, non stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly. Thin with milk if cooked too long. toss with hot pasta to serve. 


I ordered new glasses last week online from Zenni Optical. Finally got the nerd glasses I've been wanting for ages and they make me look a bit ridiculous haha but thats ok. I'll just use them for bumming around in so I don't break my better looking ones (again) ((leson learned.. don't fall asleep and roll onto your glasses. That usually causes them to break.. oops!))


Alright, I've done enough procrastinating for tonight. Off to do housework ! D:
xo Lisa

In West Philadelphia Born & Raised!

Yep. I'm rapping out to that while cooking today. I'm soo cool eh? Today I'm making Macaroni and Cheese (yumm!) With Roasted Butternut Squash (mac n cheese n squash? Whaat?) 

Here's the recipe before I go any further and forget to give it to you :) 

Ingredients

• 400 g peeled butternut squash, finely diced, about 3 cups
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)
• 1 cup grated white cheddar, preferably aged
• 1 cup grated light mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated gruyère
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Instructions

• Position racks in centre and top third of oven. Preheat to 400F. Toss squash with oil on a baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven until tender, stirring halfway through, 16 to 18 min. Remove to a rack. Preheat broiler to 500F.
• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water, following package directions but omitting salt, until al dente, 7 to 8 min. Drain.
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Whisk in flour. Mixture will be dry and very lumpy. Gradually whisk in milk, Dijon, salt and cayenne. Stir until mixture comes to a boil, 5 to 7 min. Remove pan from heat and stir in pasta,cheese and squash until just coated. Do not melt cheese. Transfer to an 8-inch- square baking dish or 6 individual ovensafe dishes. Sprinkle panko over pasta.
• Broil until top is golden, 2 to 3 min. Serve immediately.

Now I'm making some adjustments to this because I don't have all the "proper" ingredients and I'm too poor to buy them haha

I'm just using plain mozza and cheddar since I don't have light mozza, white cheddar or gruyere. I bet it will turn out just fine with normal cheeses haha

here is the link to where the recipe can be found online even though I copied mine out of a book at work during Wednesdays midnight shift (gag) I'll let you all know how it turned out after I'm finished!

http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/world-cuisine-2/macaroni-and-cheese-with-roasted-butternut-squash/

xo Lisa 

Have You Ever Heard A Snowflake Fall?

It's the most amazing sound. To me it sounds like God is whispering in my ear "it's going to be alright."
The other night it was snowing and it was so beautiful that I just had to go outside and walk. I found the quietest part of my neighborhood and just stood there. It was so quiet you could hear the snow falling all around. It is something I never want to take for granted again. Every time it snows gently like it did the other day I want to take at least five minutes and go outside and just breathe and listen to the snow. Because who knows how many breaths and snow falls I have left?
I learned again this week just how quick a life can go away. I went for coffee last week with my father and the "crew" and yesterday morning I woke up to the news that one of the dear sweet old men who make up the "crew" had passed away suddenly. Jimmy was the sweetest man and will be missed so very much. I knew him for a very long time, but about 6 years ago I got the chance to get to know him even better when I started to date his grandson, Alex. I loved him very much and my heart is broke to know that he is gone. But, Carrie Underwood has this song out called "See You Again" which has given me some measure of comfort because it is true. I will see Jimmy again. Much as I miss him I hope that it will be some time before I do. I have a lot of living to do before I go to heaven :)
On a much happier note.. I did some baking this morning! I made six mini loaves of Banana Bread. and boy is it yummy! haha I made two batches of the recipe to make up the six loaves. One batch had chocolate chips in it (yumm!) and the other had cherries at my mother's request.
This is the recipe that I used.

Banana Bread Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour
• Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

METHOD

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I would tell you how much cherries and how much chocolate chips I used, but I really don't know. I just dumped them in until it looked like enough to me haha. I encourage you to try this recipe though! It is delish! 

Here is the link to where I found it.. .http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

enjoy your day! 

xo Lisa