“Breakfast Roll” Fiascoby Angie
26 Jan 2010
4:01 pm2
Sorry this post won’t be quite as exciting as the last one, but it has a happy ending as well!
My dad gave me this super cool new cookbook for Christmas called “The World Wide Ward Cookbook” and I had picked out a wassail recipe (since this morning would be cold and rainy) and a recipe for “Breakfast Rolls” that I wanted to try, as each of us in the RS Presidency was bringing treats to our Visiting Teaching Interviews today. The process for the rolls is much like cinnamon rolls, but instead of spreading butter, cinnamon, and sugar on before rolling them up, you spread cream cheese, ham, onion, cheese, etc. Instead of topping them with glaze or frosting, you brush with butter and sprinkle on poppy or sesame seeds.
My husband tries regularly to convince me that having guests over is not the time for a try-me-night. Somehow, I keep making the same mistake. Neon Sign Here: GREAT STRESS ATTENDS THE PROCEEDINGS when unknown recipes are tried on people you like very much but don’t know as well as your family. The wassail was great, but I had serious problems with the rolls:
1. Rather than a recipe for roll dough, it just said, “prepare a batch of your favorite yeast roll dough.” Well, my favorite rolls are my mom’s light and fluffy Sunday Dinner Rolls, and they have yeast in them… but they didn’t work. At all.
2. I decided to make the dough in the bread machine ahead of time, like I always try to do because I’m super lazy (and, in my defense, it has never before failed me). Unfortunately, it came out of the machine closer to a batter.
3. No matter how much I floured my table, hands, rolling pin, and the dough itself, it stuck to everything. When I thought I had things rolled out perfectly and spread and sprinkled everything on and tried to roll it up, it was stuck fast to the table again. With a spatula and lots more flour, I finally had everything rolled… but it oozed itself into a long, flat-ish loaf instead of a rolled up log.
4. As I sliced it up (achieving long ovals rather than lovely little rounds), each “roll” fell to pieces, stuck to everything it touched, and globbed itself into a lump of ingredients on the sheet pan.
5. Rather than rising, they settled into comfortable, gooey little puddles.
I think Heavenly Father was sustaining me because I would generally, at this point, have been in tears with frustration. I was up at 6:30 and fighting with these “rolls” until after 8am, I didn’t feel great, and I had other things to take care of before leaving at 8:45. Somehow, I held it together and decided that I didn’t care what they looked like and if they were just awful, I could live with that. I could always throw them out, and the presidency and first couple of sisters would be the only ones to know that, as much as I love cooking, I can’t BAKE my way around any kitchen in existence.
Amazingly, incredibly, absolutely flabbergastingly, they were a hit. They were light and fluffy like my mom’s rolls, and they were savory and cheesey and buttery. You would never know by looking at them that they had ever resembled a roll, but every single person who tasted them said they were great and they were almost all eaten up by the time we were done at noon. I re-christened them “Breakfast Biscuits,” and will definitely be making them again (without trying to roll them). Give me a few days and I’ll post my revised recipe on Sugar & Spice.
Car Chaseby Angie
19 Jan 2010
2:01 pm6
Well, it’s been a really long time since we’ve written, but I hope you’ll forgive me because I’m making up for it by writing a really exciting post.
Today I was a witness…and I’m not talking about sharing my testimony. Today I gave a police statement about seeing the culprits of a home invasion fleeing the scene of the crime. Kjelene and I were leaving Jollene Berghoff’s home after our Visiting Teaching appointment today at about 11:50. As we pulled up to the stop sign at the corner of Lobelia and Central, we saw two young adult men running toward the corner, then across the street in front of our car. As they ran, one of them glanced behind him and we realized that another man, a little older looking but still in is 20s or so, was running after them and yelling and dialing on his cell phone all at the same time. Kjelene rolled down her window and asked the guy with the cell phone if he needed help and yes said yes – his house had just been broken into.
Well, we had been about to turn right, but Kjelene whipped her car around to the left instead (south) and started to follow the first two guys, who were just climbing into a truck down the street. The truck started up fast enough that there was obviously a driver in it waiting for them. It sped off, but Kjelene followed and tried to keep up, calling out license plate numbers and details about the truck to me – I pulled out a pen and a little notebook I had in my purse. The pickup swerved around a FedEx truck and Kjelene tried to stay right behind him (we were honked at, vehemently, by Mr. FedEx), but when she saw that they plowed left onto Northfront without even slowing and flew around the blind corner toward Vasco, she decided that the chase was up for us and we’d better call the police with what little info we had.
We drove back to the house they had come from and called our information in to 911. The police asked us to stay there, so we did, and we talked to the homeowner and his wife while we waited. Apparently (this just gives me the shivers, I can tell you), they both work but she was home sick today. There was a knock at her door, but she never answers it when she’s home alone, so she ignored it. Then she heard someone coming into the house – they came in through the kitchen window! She ran upstairs to her bedroom, called her husband who works close by, and locked herself in her closet with their gun. She also called the police, but since it was from a cell phone, help was not forthcoming very quickly from that corner. When it sounded like they were coming upstairs toward her room, she fired the gun, there in the closet, and successfully frightened the intruders enough to send them running. Her husband had arrived home just as they were taking off to their waiting friend in the pickup.
So! The police came and attracted the attention of several supportive neighbors, and Kjelene and I waited in the car in the pouring rain. We took turns giving our statements to the police (they wanted us to be separated when we did so, so we took turns on the porch) and were sent home shivering with cold and adrenaline. They asked us if we would recognize the culprits in a line-up! So that may or may not be the end of that.
Isn’t Technology Cool?by Jim
15 Nov 2009
8:11 pm1
So here I am at 30,000 feet writing a blog post. I’m currently on a flight back to California after a short stay in Utah. Angie’s grandmother passed away a week ago and we came out for the funeral. It was good to see everyone, even though the circumstances were somber. Grandma’s husband passed away about thirteen years ago, so I’m sure she is much happier now.
While I was waiting to board the plane a girl was handing out little promo cards for free wifi on the flight. I graciously accepted one and now I am tapping away on my iPod in-flight. Very cool. They should have done this years ago.
Food Storage Made Easy!?by Angie
25 Oct 2009
7:10 pm2
Well, here goes. I have a new favorite website, and a new project to take up my life: I am finally going to stop making excuses and actually plan, purchase, and eat our food storage. I recently discovered the Fun With Food Storage Network, and am now hooked.
This week, I experimented with powdered milk: I bought some, first of all, and I mixed some up and blended it half and half with regular milk. Jim’s mom did this while he was growing up, and it was not remembered with fondness, but it’s actually not bad. That’s going to be our plan from now on, so we can start stocking up on powdered milk and actually rotate it. In the long run, if you buy the powder in bulk, it ends up costing much less than a regular gallon at the store! I’ve also tried it in a couple of recipes: I used it to replace the sweetened condensed milk in Key Lime Pie, made a white sauce to replace cream of chicken soup in crock-pot chicken alfredo, added it to my Mom’s delicious meatloaf, and even used it in Kraft Macaroni and Cheese – and it was great every time! Hooray!
Keeping Busy… Sort ofby Angie
13 Oct 2009
1:10 pm1
I have been getting a little bit of cabin fever lately, but spending three hours at church on Sunday really did me in, so I know I’m not ready to be up and about yet.
Today, I decided to pull out my crochet hooks and yarn, which have been gathering dust for over a year. I have about 2 feet of a leper bandage that I started many moons ago, so I set to work on that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t exactly remember how to do the loops and knots, so I would try it one way for about 1 1/2 rows, then pull out 2 rows and start over trying it slightly differently.
I figured out a pattern that my fingers seem to recognize, but after half a dozen different tries, my bandage was shorter than when I started, and it still didn’t look quite right. Does it really matter? It probably wouldn’t, except that there is now a distinctly visible line between my inch of the new “pattern” and the rest.
I finally looked it up on youtube, and apparently I’m doing it right now… So, who knows what I was doing before. Sheesh.
Follow-up Appointmentby Jim
6 Oct 2009
1:10 pm2
I’m here at the hospital posting on Jim’s iPod. (Isn’t wireless internet great?) I just finished with Doctor Spain and he says I’m A-OK! A few more weeks of taking things easy and I’ll be as good as new. Yay!
Take That to the Bankby Angie
1 Oct 2009
12:10 pm6
Our offer was chosen! This is only the first step in a very long process, though. Now, the seller will package up our offer with all of their paperwork and send it to their bank and lender to see if it is approved. This will likely be a long wait – probably several months. In the mean-time, here are a few more pictures
