Cottage Cheese Rolls

Today my brother-in-law entered the MTC and I had a luncheon for him at my house before so we could all say goodbye. It was super hard because I had two little ones to watch but I pulled it off. I was really grateful for my husband's cousin and my other brother-in-law who came early and helped me out. The menu was super easy but I wanted to share some of it with you. I made chicken salad sandwiches which pretty much just consisted of chicken, cashews, grapes (cut up) and miracle whip (the only kind of spread!). I made some cottage cheese rolls to make the sandwiches with. They are super easy and I am pretty sure I have told lots of peeps about them but now I am going to blog about them.

Cottage Cheese Rolls

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

2 TBSP yeast

Combine the water and sugar in your Kitchenaid mixer and then sprinkle the yeast on top. Leave it for a couple of minutes while you get the next part ready.

1 16 oz tub cottage cheese warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minutes

2 eggs

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Blend these ingredients in your blender so that they cottage cheese is nice and smooth. Add to the yeast mixture. Blend well.

4 cups flour

Add the flour and mix with your flat blade attachment. This is a very VERY sticky dough so don't think you need to add more flour. Let it raise on the counter for 45 minutes or in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Take half of the dough after it has been raised and on a floured surface roll it out into a circle. Brush butter on the top and then cut into 8 pieces. I use my pizza cutter to do this and it makes it easier for me. Roll from fat end of the piece to the skinny end so it looks like a cresent roll. Place them on your cookie sheet that you have lined with a silpat. (I sometimes make 16 instead of just 8 because I don't need such HUGE rolls but for sandwiches they are perfect that big). Let these raise for an hour and then bake at 375 F for 10-13 minutes.

This is what the whole thing looks like when you add the chicken mixture. They were super delicious!

St. Patrick's Day!

We made some really cool cookies today for St. Patrick's Day. I got the idea from Utahdealdiva.com. Here are the pictures and then I will give the recipe.

St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

green food coloring

green sprinkles

In your mixer cream the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and food coloring ( I added quite a bit of this to make it really green but you will have to just experiment).

Roll out about a softball sized ball of the dough into a long snake (about 1 inch in diameter). Roll into the sprinkles and then cut about a 1/4 inch piece off for each petal of the clover leaf. Then take a half of a circle and make it into the steam.

Cook for 10 minutes at 350 F.

You can frost them if you like but I think they are so cute without and super tasty.

These were really fun to make and they were pretty easy. I am sure you could make all sorts of holiday cookies this way!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

Chicken noodle soup

So, today my daughter got sick at the grocery store. We were going to have some sort of crock pot dinner tonight, maybe curry chicken but then I thought it would be better to do some sort of soup. I have made chicken noodle soup in the crock pot before and it is always super yummy.

Crockpot chicken noodle soup

4 stalks of celery

1/2 bag of baby carrots ( I use the baby carrots because I always have them at my house and they are a little bit sweeter.)

1/2 large onion

2 cans chicken broth

1 can water

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 chicken breasts

1/2 bag broad egg noodles

Cut up all the vegetables really small (that is the way I like it, you can cut them up however large you want to). Put the veggies into the crock pot and add the liquid ingredients and the chicken. Let cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. Take out the chicken and shred and put back into the crock pot and cook for an additional 1/2 hour. Add the noodles and cook until al dente (about 10 minutes). Taste it and add salt and pepper as needed.

I love to make bread or something to go along with soup so you can soak it up. That is what we are having for dinner tonight.

Meatloaf night!!

I love making this meatloaf because it is super easy and I can make it while I teach and it is ready when I am done. The 4 ingredients are always in my pantry which I also love. It is just a crowd pleaser, even if you haven't liked meatloaf in the past this will break your prejudice of it.

4 ingredient meatloaf

1 lb ground beef

1 pkg stove top stuffing mix

1 can evaporated milk

1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 F. Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and then put it into a bread pan. Cover with Tinfoil and then cook for 50 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and cook for another 10 minutes.

I really do think this is the best meatloaf recipe I have ever made. I do have to give credit to Aunt Sharla because I got it for her but I make it all the time and it is just a favorite of my family.

I love using this glassware because then I can see if the meatloaf is done, or any loaf for that matter.