Lion House Rolls and Monkey Bread

I love home made bread.  I've blogged about it before.

These rolls are famous in Utah and among the Mormon culture.  There is a reason for it - they are sooooo good!!!

There are videos on you tube on how to roll the dough, but I never got the hang of it.  It is a little intimidating.  This is how I do it. (I also changed the recipe a little bit because I never seem to have dry milk.  Sue me.)

Okay, I'm jumping the gun a little.  I was starting out to make Monkey Bread (a caramel pull-apart bread dessert - think extra gooey unformed cinnamon rolls, but not as cinnamon-y) and I realized that I would have some extra dough.  Thus, Lion House Rolls for dinner.  Score.

If you don't want to make the dough (you really, really do) use Rhodes frozen dough.  Allow 2 loaves of frozen dough to thaw, use one loaf for the bottom layer of the Monkey bread and one for the top layer.

*When I was little I used to say "cimmanon" instead of cinnamon.  When I spell-checked the blog, every cinnamon was spelled "cimmanon".  Guess I'm still childlike ;)*

Lion House Rolls

1 can evaporated milk plus enough warm water to make 2 cups

2 Tablespoons dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 egg

5 to 5 1/2 cups flour, all-purpose or bread

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine water, milk and sugar.  Add yeast.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast blooms.

Add butter, egg, 2 cups of flour and the salt.  Mix until the ingredients are wet (I use a dough hook for the whole process.)  While mixing, add the rest of the flour - you may not need it all.  Dough should be soft, not stiff.

Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one Tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl..Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out.)

Cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size.

Sprinkle cutting board with flour and place dough on floured board.  Turn dough over so it is floured on both sides, and gently flatten to about 1 inch thick.  With a rolling pin or your hands, roll and shape into a rectangle about 18 inches long, 8 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.  (I have never measured the dough - or used a rolling pin.)

With a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut dough in half lengthwise.  Then cut dough in strips about every 2 inches.

Starting with short end, loosely roll one piece of dough.  Place roll on parchment-lined pan with the short end down.  Cover and let rise a bit.

Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.  Brush tops of rolls with butter.

Monkey Bread

Prepare one recipe of Lion House roll dough, allow to rise once.  Divide dough into three equal parts, using 2 for the Monkey bread.  Make the rest into rolls.

2 parts Lion House roll dough

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 large package (6 ounces) vanilla pudding mix (not instant)

3 Tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon-sugar

Coat 9x13 inch pan or large Bundt pan with non-stick vegetable spray.  Tear 1 part of dough into small pieces and drop randomly in bottom of pan.

Melt butter and add remaining ingredients, except cinnamon-sugar.  Stir until well blended.  Pour 2/3 of this mixture over the dough pieces in pan.  Tear second piece of dough into pan to fill in empty spots.  Pour remaining sauce over dough pieces, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place until double in size.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool 10 minutes, then invert onto large platter.



Tomato Soup

It's a week into August and the tomatoes are ripening.  Looking at my counter covered with beautiful tomatoes, I wondered what else I could make with them.  I've already canned bruschetta and chili sauce (that turned out really good, btw).  Then it hit me, tomato soup!  Campbell's does it.  My kiddos love it.  Why not?

I turned out soooo good.  I used fresh basil from my friends garden and tomatoes from mine.  Yum.  The recipe is supposed to make 6 quarts, but everyone was home and it was lunch time.  2 quarts gone.

We don't regret it.

At all.

PoppaH made grilled cheese to go with the soup (it's a classic for a reason) and we all chowed down.

Tomato Soup

makes 6 quarts

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1/2 cup flour

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (loosely packed)

7 cups chicken or vegetable broth

14 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped (they are supposed to be peeled, but I don't peel tomatoes - it might be against my religion, idk.)

3-5 teaspoons salt

3-4 Tablespoons honey

freshly ground black pepper
Bottled Lemon juice

In a large stock pot, melt butter and add oil and chopped onion.  Cook until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour and tomato paste and cook another minute or so.  Add chopped basil, broth and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender (seriously, you have to get one of those things, they're fantastic) or transfer your soup to your blender in batches until it is a smooth as you like it.  Trust me, get the immersion blender.

With the pureed soup in the stock pot, season it with salt, pepper and honey, tasting as you go.  

If you are using vegetable broth, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart jar.  This adjusts the acidity of the tomatoes so it is safe to can with a boiling water bath. Once it is perfect, transfer the soup to hot, sterile quart jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe rims and top with hot lids and rings.  Place the jars in a hot water bath for 25 minutes.

If you are using chicken stock, you will need to pressure can this to according to the directions of your pressure canner for chicken broth.

I like to add a little half and half or milk to the soup when I open up a jar and heat it up.  It makes it go further and really tastes good.

Or you can invite over a lot of people to eat it up all at once.  Or you can divide the recipe - you knew you would need to use your math skills eventually.

Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake

We had company for dinner tonight - the missionaries.  So, of course, I had to cook things that were experiments so I could use them as testers.  Easy.

When looking in my fridge (which is new, big and totally awesome) I spotted some blackberries that needed to be used, lemons, and a humongous block of cream cheese since I had just been to Costco (you know - the block 'o cheese).  Having just been perusing my copy of John Besh's cookbook, My Family Table, and seeing a recipe for blackberry lemon cheesecake, I decided to make it.

Wow.  Just wow.

Here you go.

You may never wait in line at Cheesecake Factory again.

Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake

3 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 pounds cream cheese (the real stuff)

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 pints blackberries

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 inch springform pan with 1 Tablespoon of the butter.  Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the remaining butter in a medium bowl.  Press onto the bottom and part way up the sides of the pan.

*Next time I am going to make the graham cracker crust using the instructions on the box of graham cracker crumbs and bake it for 10 or 15 minutes before putting in the filling.  This one was a little soggy.*

 In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.  Blend in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate.  Mix in the sour cream, flour and vanilla until smooth.  Divide the mixture between two bowls.

In a food processor or blender, puree 1 pint of the blackberries with the lemon zest and lemon juice.  Pour the puree into one bowl of the cheese mixture along with the remaining 1/2  pint of whole blackberries and mix well. (I didn't have that many blackberries and it turned out fine.)

Pour the blackberry filling on top of the prepared crust.  Bake for 10 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the oven and pour the remaining filling over the top.  Return to the oven to bake for 1 hour, until the topping is set. 

Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.



Frito Pie and Frito Bandito

Frito Pie. This is something that can stir some pretty strong emotions with a lot of people.  It is true comfort food.  Fast and easy.  It even makes a good school lunch, just put the chili in a little thermos, add a bag of chips, some cheese and onion in the lunch bag and you're good to go.

This is how I make Frito pie.  My Frito pie chili is different from my normal chili.  I don't know why - it just is.  I also add beans.  Yes, I do.  I know, I know, there are a lot of purests that say beans have absolutely no place in Frito pie.  To them I say get a life and don't judge me because i like beans that's okay.  Leave them out.  It will be fine.

My mom used to make Frito casserole.  Ah, good times.  It wasn't until I returned to Texas after college that I was introduced to Frito pie and (what I like to call) Frito bandito.

Here's how you build 'em.

 Frito Pie or Frito Bandito

For classic Frito Pie, slit the bag of Fritos (I prefer the side slit technique)

Add a spoonful of chili.  Quickly add cheese so it gets nice and melty.

Add chopped onions (if desired) and eat it right out of the bag.

 For the Frito Bandito, follow the above steps, except the eating out of the bag.  It is usually too full.  Empty the bag into a bowl.  Add the chili, cheese and onion.  To make it a bandito, add jalapenos, sour cream and lettuce.

You might now be considered a Texan!  Hooray!

Frito Pie Chili

2 pounds ground chuck

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (14 ounce) tomato sauce

1 can (14 ounce) diced tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin

3 Tablespoons chili powder

1 can (14 ounce) black beans

1 can (14 ounce) kidney beans

For pie:

individual bags of Fritos

grated cheddar cheese

diced onion

sour cream (bandito)

jalapenos (bandito)

shredded lettuce (bandito)

Brown ground chuck with garlic in a pot over medium-high heat.  Drain beef.

Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, oregano, cumin, and chili powder.

Reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

Drain and rinse beans (otherwise they are a bit slimy).

Add beans to chili and simmer for a final 10 minutes.

White Wine Raspberry Jelly and Sour Cream Scones

After I canned the bruschetta and was cleaning the kitchen, I realized that I had a bunch of wine left.  That is a problem for a household that doesn't drink.  Tossing it down the drain seemed like a waste of good money.  But I didn't want the wine.  I have a house of teens, all of whom I trust, but I didn't want the wine just sitting there calling out to whomever walked by.  (Don't judge me - it could happen.)

Then I thought, "Hmmm, jelly boils a lot. All of the alcohol would boil out."  But I didn't think we would like wine jelly.  Looking in the fridge, I noticed the raspberries that hadn't yet been scavenged by the aforesaid teens.  White wine raspberry jelly was born.  Here is what I did.

First I measured out the wine into a bowl (5 cups).  Then I added the raspberries (about 2 cups) to the wine and mashed them up.

Over a big pot I strained the wine/raspberry mixture with a fine wire sieve. I should have used cheesecloth, too, but I didn't have any.  If you have some use it.

I let that drip for a couple of hours.  I probably didn't need to leave it that long, but I forgot about it.  Yeah, I'm like that.

When I noticed the wine raspberry stuff sitting on the counter, I prepared my jars and lids and got the boiling water bath going.

I put the pot of wine on the stove and added 7 cups of sugar.

When this was boiling hard, I added 2 packages of liquid pectin (there are 2 in a box) and boiled the mixture for 2 minutes.

I put the jelly (it was a really pretty color) into 10 8 ounce jars, put on the lids and rings and put it in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Lovely.

The next day, I thought that I needed something to go with this lovely jelly.  Sour cream scones!  Lovelier.


White Wine Raspberry Jelly

2 cups raspberries
5 cups dry white wine
7 cups sugar
2 pouches liquid pectin

In a bowl, combine berries and wine.  Crush berries and pour mixture to a dampened jelly bag or a strainer lined with dampened cheesecloth set over a large pot.  Let drip for 1 hour (or more;)
Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars and lids.
Stir in sugar to the berry wine.  Over high heat, stirring frequently, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.  Stir in pectin.  Boil hard, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.
Quickly pour hot jelly into jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe rim.  Place lids and rings on jars and tighten.
Place jars in canner and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.  Remove jars, cool and store.


Sour Cream Scones

1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, cold and cubed
1 egg
raw sugar to sprinkle on top of scone (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.
Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives.  It should look crumbly with pea size chunks of butter.
Mix the sour cream, baking soda and egg.

Stir the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. The more you handle the dough, the tougher the scone. (Press and stick wrap works wonders to keep a bandage clean when you knead.)

 Roll or pat the dough into a 3/4 inch thick round or rectangle.  Cut into 12 pieces.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.



Bruschetta in a Jar

All of a sudden I have a ton of tomatoes.  I have been looking forward to this all summer!  This is the first thing that I have canned with tomatoes this summer.  I chose bruschetta because we love it and also *sheepish grin* I didn't feel like peeling tomatoes to make sauce.  I don't like peeling anything more complicated that a banana.

This bruschetta is really good.  I have made it before.  I am, however, at the mercy of the liquor store when buying wine.  You see, I don't drink.  At all.  So I just describe what I want and tell them how much I am willing to pay and take whatever they give me.  Oh well.

To eat the bruschetta, spoon it on a toasted baguette and garnish with grated cheese or a basil leaf or even a splash of really good olive oil.  It's really good.

Bruschetta in a Jar

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons dried basil

2 Tablespoons dried oregano

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

9 cups chopped plum tomatoes ( I use what ever tomatoes I have)

Prepare canner jars and lids.

In a saucepan, combine garlic, wine, vinegar - white and balsamic, water, sugar, basil, and oregano.  Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Pack tomatoes into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar.  Ladle hot vinegar mixture into jar to cover tomatoes, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Remove air bubbles ( I use a chopstick) and, if necessary add more hot liquid. *I didn't have enough hot liquid so I added wine to each bottle.  Yep, I did.*

Wipe rim.  Put on lids and bands.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes.  Label and store.

This made 5 1/2 pints.

Moroccan Lamb - Tagine style with the slow cooker

When I lived in France, I had the opportunity to attend part of a Moroccan wedding ceremony.  I say part because, from what I understand, the festivities last for days.  I'm not sure which part I attended, but the experience was unforgettable.  I was in a suite of rooms with only women.  These normally sedate and quiet women had shed their veils.  Such dresses!  Such dances!  Such partying!  I don't ever remember seeing the bride, but her family was incredible.  And the food, *sigh* the food was great.  It was my first introduction to Moroccan food.  I loved it - the blend of spices, the variety, sweet and savory.  It was incredible.

In this recipe, you get a sense of the culture.  The slow cooker creates the same kind of gentle cooking that is traditional with a tagine - especially welcome on a hot day.

I used Israeli couscous with this, although the smaller couscous is more traditional.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

2 (or more) pounds of boneless lamb

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

2-3 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces OR 1 1/2 cups baby carrots

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 diced Roma tomatoes

1/2 cup pitted whole dates, quartered

1/2 cup pitted green or black olives (go to the imported olives)

2 Tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

lemon zest from 1 lemon

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 14.5 ounce can chicken broth

3-4 cups cooked couscous (or more depending on your family)

Trim fat from meat.  Cut meat into 1 inch pieces.  Place in slow cooker.

Sprinkle spices over meat.  Toss gently.

Add remaining ingredients to slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4-5 hours.

Serve in shallow bowls over hot cooked couscous.