The rolls you'll want to make for Thanksgiving this year. cont'd

Hi! If you're just joining me, I'm talking about yeast crescents. Basically, making them and eating them. If you missed the first part, it's here.

Here's how the dough looked when I got up this morning. That's how it should look.

Next you're going to be rolling out the dough so you want a large floured surface so it doesn't stick.

(Just a side note. See those tomatoes in the background? Those came from my aunt's garden. They were picked green right before the first freeze we had a couple of weeks back. I really had my doubts that they would ripen, they were just so hard and green. But what do you know, they're actually ripening. In fact, some of them are rotting. I'm hoping I can get to them before they're a total waste.)

Just plop the dough ball onto the floured surface. It will start to shrink a little when you handle it because the risen dough has lots of air in it and when you start to mess with it, that air comes out. 

Now divide the ball into two balls. 

Take one of the dough balls and begin to roll out into a large circle. I'm sorry a lot of these pictures are blurry. I had 3 cups of coffee this morning so I'm a little shaky.

Here's the dough all rolled out into a nice, big circle. You want to shoot for 12-15 inches across, but it's not important enough to get out a ruler. Just make it look like a large pizza crust.

Now, speaking of pizza, this next part is kind of fun. In fact, if you have kids around, and you're not a control freak, you can let them help with the next couple of steps. Take a pizza cutter and cut the circle into 12 pieces. 

This is what it should look like when you're done cutting. Of course, if your kids helped you out, it may not look like this, but it's no big deal because each one of those pieces will make a roll and they can be any size. Technically, this recipe makes 2 dozen rolls, but you may end up with more or less than a dozen and that's perfectly fine.

Now we're going to make crescents. Take one of the triangle pieces and spread out the top two corners a little and then roll it toward the small end.

Hey, look, a crescent!

Now you can curve the ends around so you'll have more room on the pan.

And here they are, ready to bake. You know, I've never made a batch this small before. In fact, tomorrow, when I make these for our Thanksgiving dinner, I'll be making 8 dozen. There's a sea of bowls and pans and there's flour and melted butter everywhere. It's quite a sight.

Set your oven to 375 degrees and while it's preheating, cover the rolls with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set it somewhere warm to rise again. If you wanted to freeze these for later, you could do that now.*

I put them on top of my stove because the warmth from the oven preheating was just enough heat to help them rise. I left them there for about an hour and a half. Are you're wondering why there are twice as many rolls now as in the previous picture? Remember when I separated the dough into two balls? I forgot about the other ball. Now there are 2 dozen rolls instead of 1.

When I took the towel off to check on them, they looked like this. Aren't they just so cute and chubby?!?

You can butter them before putting them in the oven or you can wait and butter them afterwards, OR you can butter them before and after. In fact, that's what I would suggest. Then put them in the oven and set your timer for 12 minutes. If you're not sure how your oven performs, check on them at 10 minutes and then every few minutes after that until you get the brownness you want.

After 12 minutes in the oven, this is what mine looked like. I used my little oven on top and apparently, it doesn't cook very evenly, but that's no problem because in our family we have two teams - team doughy and team done. So there's something for everyone on this pan.  I can't believe I just made a reference to the Twilight series. I'm not even a fan, but it's all anyone can talk about right now.

Don't forget to butter them again. This is just my opinion, but where bread is concerned, I don't think you can over butter.

Now would you look at that. That's perfection, right there. In fact, if you don't feel like you have enough things to be thankful for, make these rolls at once and you'll have one more thing to add to your list. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

*Put the pan in the freezer just like it is and leave it in there long enough to flash freeze them, then you can put them in a ziploc bag and they won't stick to each other. When you get ready to thaw them, just lay them out on a pan like they were and set them somewhere to rise.


Here's the recipe in case you just want to copy it:

Yeast Crescents

1 package dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Put warm milk in a small bowl and sprinkle yeast and sugar on top. Let rest for about 30 minutes. It should be foamy if the yeast is good. Pour milk mixture into a large bowl and beat together. Mix in eggs, butter and salt. Add half of the flour and mix well. Add remaining flour and mix until smooth. Cover bowl and let stand overnight at room temperature. The next morning, divide the dough in half and roll each into a 9 to 15 inch circle. Cut each circle into twelve equal wedges (a pizza cutter works great for this) and roll up beginning at the wide end. Shape them into crescents and place on a greased baking sheet and let stand until ready to bake. (Rolls can sit for up to 6 hours at this point.) Bake in a preheated, 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with butter if desired. Yield: 2 dozen

The rolls you'll want to make for Thanksgiving this year

About 15 years ago, my mom and I went to a Christmas cooking class together. I've forgotten most of the things we learned to make that year, except for one. I have 2 words for you. Yeast. Crescents.

I had been one of those people who didn't make bread. I just didn't. It was a complicated and delicate process and I just didn't have the knowledge or the discipline to be a bread maker. Besides, I thought, I'm too young to make bread. I have a life. There'll be plenty of time for that later when I have nothing to do but cook and clean and well, make bread.

Then I watched as the teacher showed, right in front of my eyes, how to make the most mouth watering, light and fluffy crescent rolls you've ever put in your mouth. It really was a simple process. Sometimes, it takes seeing something done right in front of you before you can actually imagine yourself doing it. That's what I'm going to do for you. After this post, you're going to be able to make yeast crescents for Thanksgiving and the only thing you'll regret is that your family will volunteer you to make them every Thanksgiving until the end of time.

Let me introduce the players...

There's a cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of salt, a stick of butter, a packet of yeast and last but not least, 4 cups of flour.

Start by pouring the milk into a microwaveable container and adding the sugar. Heat it in the microwave for about a minute and half.

Next, sprinkle the packet of yeast onto the surface of the warmed milk and wait about 20 minutes. Basically, you're going to be looking for signs of life in your yeast. I had some in my icebox that I wanted to use, but I wasn't sure if it was still good.

See there. No good. This yeast has left the building. No life whatsoever. So I went to the store and got a new packet of yeast. Yeast is one of those things that you can't really keep on hand. That's why you test it.

Here's the second batch I did. This yeast is obviously alive and kicking and ready to make some bread rise! See that foamy consistency around the edges? That means that this yeast is happy and healthy and good to go.

Now, pour your milk mixture into a large bowl and stir to combine.

Next, melt your butter and add it.

Then, add the eggs that you've beaten.

And finally the salt.

Mix it all up and get ready to add the flour.

You can start by adding half of the flour, mixing until it's combined

and then add the rest.

Once you really get in there and start stirring, the flour will start to ball up. The stirring will get a little bit harder to do with a spoon so at this point, I usually just finish mixing it with my hands. Continue to mix until all the flour is incorporated into the dough. When you feel like you're done, if it's still sticky, add more flour. You want to be able to touch it and not have dough come off on your fingers.

See what a nice looking ball of dough that is!

At this point, you want to cover it up and give it some alone time. During that time, if the yeast was good, the dough should double in size. I'm not sure how long this takes because I always leave it overnight, but if you're doing this all in one day, it'll probably take a couple of hours depending on how warm it is in your kitchen. I had mine sitting on the kitchen counter and then Mr. Park built a big fire in the fireplace and we went to bed. One time, I got up in the morning to check on my dough and it had risen so much it was overflowing onto the counter, so if you think it may be too warm in your kitchen, you can cover it and put it in the icebox and then set it out in the morning to rise some more if it needs it.

I'm about to go check on the dough to see if it's ready to roll out so come back later today and I'll have the rest of the recipe up. It's gonna be delicious!

Click here for part 2

On going paperless...

One of the items in the 52 Bites list I've been working on is going paperless in the kitchen. This is one of those things that I figured I'd do eventually anyway, so I went ahead and decided to be intentional about it. In other words, I ran out of paper towels and forgot to buy more. Again.

The first to notice was Mr. Park. He was helping me clean up the kitchen one night and he asked where the paper towels were. I told him to just use a rag. That wasn't hard for me because I don't usually clean up my kitchen with paper towels. I'm a dishrag kind of girl. I like to have lots of them on hand and I like a clean one every day. Sometimes twice a day if someone else has been in my kitchen. He rolled his eyes and got a rag out of the drawer.

A few nights later, we had friends over for dinner and one of them asked if I had a paper towel to wipe her daughter's mouth. I sheepishly told her we were sort of trying to go paperless in the kitchen and sorry but I don't have any and here's a clean dishrag. That one was a little harder, but I'd say I was still feeling pretty confident with my new lifestyle decision. Until last night.

Here's the list of events that took place. I assure you, none of this was made up.

1. I awoke at 2:45 am to go to the bathroom. 
2. I went into the living room to check on my daughter who had asked if she could fall asleep to a movie on the couch. 
3. She was out cold and the Highschool Musical menu page was still playing that familiar Wildcat anthem for the one hundredth time so I turned it and the tv off. 
4. I turned off all the lights she had left on because she doesn't like to sleep in the dark. 
5. I heard a noise near the back door that I couldn't put my finger on so I went to check it out. 
6. But first, I turned all the lights back on. (I know you're not supposed to turn on all the lights when you think you hear a noise, but I'm a girl and I forget things my husband has told me when I get scared.)
7. On my way, our cat came around the corner and I realized it was just her using the litter box. 
8. I picked her up. 
9. I smelled something awful. 
10. I felt something moist on my side where I had held her on my hip. 
11. I immediately dropped the cat and looked at my night shirt. Stained. With cat poop. 
12. I know that's not normal so I go over to the litter box and simultaneously discover the source of the horrific smell and that my cat has diarrhea AND had unknowingly backed her rear up over the edge of the litter box and missed it completely. 
13. At that point I asked myself, "Where are those !@#$% paper towels?"
14. I tore my kitchen apart until I found a stack of napkins from Subway and cleaned up the mess before it had a chance to harden on the floor.
15. Changed my shirt.
16. Crawled back in bed.

I think I'm going to "half cross-off" item #15. I will still purchase paper towels, BUT I will stash them in a place that I alone know about. While you're hiding Christmas presents, I'll be hiding paper towels. That way, in emergencies, like the one mentioned above, I'll have access to them, but for everyday things like wiping sticky hands and cleaning kitchen counters, we'll stick to rags.

Then I'll feel better about being a little less wasteful, but in the event that I need to clean up cat diarrhea, or vomit or anything else where I want to clean it up, toss it in the trash and be done with it,  I'll have a stash of paper towels for that purpose.

Baby steps, Bob. It's all about the baby steps.

Note: This post is dedicated to my hardcore, cat-loving friend, Leilani. I'm sure her highly intelligent cat-children would never misjudge the edge of the litter box and make a mess for their momma. You can read more about them here.

Skills

Pretty exciting night at the Park house last night. Watched a documentary about Egypt and then for the after-entertainment, my husband showed off his awesome skills.



Yeah, you heard right, he's humming Devil Went Down to Georgia. Guess he's planning on getting really good at this. ;)

Lists

Lately, I feel like my life is ruled by lists. Maybe it's because I just can't be held accountable for stuff that's left to float around in my head anymore. I've always been a list maker. Something about it feels like half the work is done, if I can just write it all out on paper. Of course, I know it's just the easiest step in the whole process, but let's just let me have my theories.

I remember when I was single and didn't have a lot of money to buy frivolous things, as opposed to now when I roll down the car windows and let the wind carry it off just for fun ;), I would order catalogs and when they came, I would sit and pore over them, page by page, check-marking and circling until, when I got to the end, I would fill out the order form as if I were buying all the stuff I had just circled. Then I would tear out the order form and throw it away. For some reason, that satisfied me. Kind of like window shopping in my own apartment.

Back to today's lists. You won't find me poring over catalogs anymore, probably because I spend all that time on Pinterest, but I do still find it therapeutic to make a list. I don't expect anyone to really care about my lists, as they're usually just for me, but I've been wanting a little bit of accountability for them so I think I'll post one every now and then. This one was inspired by Jules and her 31 Days of William Morris posts. She kicked the whole thing off with a list of things she wanted to do in her house to live more closely by the William Morris quote, "Have nothing in your house you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." It got me thinking about all the projects I have around here that I haven't put a deadline on. And without a deadline, it might as well be dead. This list will concentrate on my kitchen.

Redo my chalkboard wall the way I originally planned it in my head.

Patch chipped corners and repaint walls.

Make/buy some sort of cabinet or shelf for the computer desk nook.

Trim out areas of baseboard that were never trimmed out. Just noticed this the other day. How is that possible?

Trim island in beadboard. 

Trim bar area in beadboard.

Hang something, anything, from the window. Valance?

Reorganize pantry.

Scrub all cabinet fronts and baseboards.

Inventory kitchen items and discard what I don't/won't use.

Art on walls.

Re-evaluate kitchen table and chairs. More useful in another room?

That's all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for bearing with me while I empty my brain a bit. If you want to help me accomplish any of these, you know where to find me. ;)

Instagram Sunday

Yesterday was filled with the sights and sounds of my family. After reading this post, I just wanted to be with them. I'm so thankful that God saw fit to bless me with a fantastic husband and 4 beautiful, vibrant children. I got laundry done, my kids dug a fort in the sand, April did what she always does when the weather's nice - took her clothes off, and Mr. Park got some firewood chopped. And later in the day, we saw a horse-pulled, covered wagon pass in front of our house.

These are the kinds of days that make me thankful for my life.


Note: If you want to read more about Compassion International or the bloggers who are in Ecuador right now, click here. And thanks to Nester for sharing.

Resist the devil...

Sometimes, life with my husband is like a treasure hunt. He's a poet and a songwriter, so I often find little slips of paper here and there with partial song lyrics or thoughts scribbled on them. Sometimes I read them. Sometimes I don't. Either way, I usually put them in the box on his nightstand so he'll have them for later. 


This morning, as I was toasting bagels for the girls, I saw a note, in his familiar hand, tucked under an empty canister waiting to be filled with more sugar or coffee. I can't remember which. This note looked like an actual note to me so I  read it. Here's what it said...

"Resist the devil and he will flee."

True.

But not the whole truth.

Resist the devil and he will very slowly pick up his things, one at a time, all the while offering you another chance until finally, with one last nik-nak in hand, he will mount the lead camel of his caravan, and saunter out of your life. But even then you may find, later that night when you're all alone, placed cunningly on your night stand, a coupon with no expiration date - redeemable at any point the rest of your life.

Last night I was at a meeting with friends and Elliott was home with the kids, so I'm not sure what happened to inspire this little gem, not sure I want to, but  I'm glad I found it.


Have a great weekend. As for me, I'll be working on my 52 Bites list.


Starting with #16.