Baking, Menu Changes and More!

Well I had a busy afternoon, in the kitchen, but it was so nice to be back in the kitchen and baking. I don't bake much in the summer! I was able to make some rolls, cinnamon rolls and some pretzels.

The cinnamon roll and soft pretzel recipe came from Laura at Heavenly Homemakers. I am always interested in being able to freeze things before they are finished so I have fresh baked homemade items without all the time it takes to make them. So today I started an experiment, I made ONE batch of the dough for the cinnamon rolls/pretzels. The dough is the same for both of these so I simply made 1/2 into cinnamon rolls and the other half into the pretzels.

The cinnamon rolls - I made up one batch right then (5 rolls) so I would know what fresh baked tasted like - prior to freezing. The remaining rolls I cut up and laid out on a jelly roll pan then put into the freezer. 2-3 hours later I took them off the pan and put into a ziplock bag for the freezer. Next week (probably for Thanksgiving) I will take them out the night before put in a pan in the fridge and then simply bake that morning. I will return and report what I find out and if they turn out as good as they were tonight. I only had one (and didn't make the ooey gooey frosting for them yet) but they were still pretty good. We will have the others for breakfast in the morning.

This is what they looked like on the tray put into the freezer.

Here is what the bag looked like that went into the freezer:

As for the pretzels - both Rebecca and Rachel LOVED them and I thought they were good also but I did not make them thin enough so they ended up being REALLY soft (cooked but still really soft) so I know next time to really roll them out thinner. I put them into a ziploc for tomorrows snack. I did not try freezing any of these (not sure why!) but next time I make them I will try freezing these also.

I also made up a quick batch of rolls (sorry no pictures) using a recipe from Janelle at Home with my Monkeys. These rolls were pretty good for the little time they actually took, about an hour total. I made them up -- mixed in the Kitchen Aid then formed rolls (she said her recipe makes about 2 dozen -- she must make smaller rolls -- I got about 14). I then put them in the oven and turned it on-- they raised up quite nicely in the preheating time. They were done before the rest of dinner.

Speaking of dinners my menu plan for this week looked pretty pathetic (leftovers, and more leftovers!!)

Menu Revisions!

Well Sunday we had Ribs, Baked Potatoes, Carrots and Salad that a sister brought over.

Monday we had a Rotarisse Chicken with Potato Salad, Broccoli and Rolls.

So today we finished off the Chicken Pasta Alfredo that the people from work brought to us, had the carrots, the remaining Baked Potato, the rolls I made and some more of the Rotarisse chicken.

Tomorrow I am making Chicken Taco Soup using some of the broth I made from the chicken - it will be done in the crockpot. The leftovers will be frozen for meals during the holidays when we are to busy to cook a meal!