Diana's Famous Rolls

Before my lovely friend, Diana, gave me this recipe, I had never had much luck with rolls.  But this recipe rocks 1) because it's delicious, and 2) because it's forgiving.  The first time I made it, I actually added four times too much water (don't ask), and after adding more flour, they still turned out!  The next time I made them, I followed the recipe, and they were amazing--AMAZING.  I will probably never look for another roll recipe again because I love them.  Here they are:

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Diana's Famous Rolls

* Yields 4 dozen rolls

2 cups milk

8 Tbsp butter (one stick)

2 Tbsp yeast

1/2 cup water

3 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp salt

6 - 6 1/2 cups flour

Butter for brushing tops of rolls

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, scald the milk.  Remove from heat, and throw in a stick of butter to melt.  If it's taking a long time to melt, put it back on the off-but-still-warm burner until it melts completely.  Meanwhile, soften your yeast in the water. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, sugar, and salt.  Add milk mixture, and stir to combine.  Add yeast and water mixture.  Stir in the rest of the flour (6 - 6 1/2 cups) until it forms a nice, soft, smooth dough.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.  

3. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions, and grease 2 cookie sheets.  Roll out each dough portion into a large circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut the circles into 12 "pizza slices" or triangles.  Roll each slice, starting with the large end, into a crescent shape.  Or, if you want, they work just as well in regular round roll shape.  Place rolls on the baking sheet and brush with butter.  Cover, and let them rise until doubled (about 30-40 minutes).  

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake rolls for approximately 12 minutes, or until they're golden brown.  Brush with melted butter as they come out of the oven.  This will not only give them a buttery delicious flavor, it will actually prevent too much steam from escaping, leaving you with super moist rolls.  Cool, huh?

5.  Yum!  Devour those rolls.

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

I had a few friends recommend the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion to me a while back, and I finally went and checked it out from the library.  I also had a Christmas cookie exchange party this week and wanted to bring something amazing, so I looked through the Baker's Companion for ideas.  Lo and behold, this candy cane cookie recipe jumped off the page at me and shouted, "Make me!"  So I did.  I have to give you fair warning--they're kind of labor intensive.  But they ended up being pretty fun once they were done.  Who knows?  Maybe making these will become a Christmas tradition.

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Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies
(from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion)

5-1/3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract or flavoring
2 cups flour (or 8.5 oz, if you're measuring by weight, as they suggest in the Baker's Companion)
Red food coloring
Sugar for sprinkling (optional)

1. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening on a high speed for 30 seconds.  Add the sugar, egg, and milk, and stir until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Mix in the baking powder, salt, vanilla, and peppermint.  Stir in as much flour as you can.
2. Now that you have your dough made, put 1/4 of it in a separate bowl, and use the food coloring to dye it red.  Now separate the remaining dough into two equal parts.  Leave one of them plain, and dye the other light pink.  Separate each color of dough into 6 equal portions.  This is where, for me, it was easiest to just roll them all into little balls, stick them on a plate, and put them in the fridge to chill overnight.  If your dough happens to be easier to work with than mine was, you can continue on ahead at full speed.  I found though that chilling the dough made a huge difference in the coming steps.

3. When you're ready to assemble the cookies, lightly flour a large work space and preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Roll each dough ball into a rope 12 inches long.  Lay your strips of dough side by side, alternating colors, until they form a large rectangle.  See picture below.  Take a floured rolling pin and roll it across all of the strips of dough.  This will push the ropes together into one big rectangle of candy cane-y goodness.  You want the rectangle to be about 14x9 and about 1/4" thick.  Now you have one giant rectangle of striped dough.  Pretty nifty, right?

4. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the dough into diagonal strips about 1/2 inch wide.  Now cut each strip in half, so you end up with strips about 5-7 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide.  Place the strips on an ungreased cookie sheet, and carefully curve one end down to form a cane shape.  As a side note, make sure you turn them the right way so that they look like a J.  Christmas is about Jesus, after all.  Sprinkle them with sugar, if desired.
5. Bake them at 375 for 7-8 minutes, then remove them from the oven.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Don't overcook them or they will become ultra crispy very quickly.  Be ye warned.  Also, be careful as you're taking them off of the cookie sheet because they can be kind of fragile, and you might end up with a lot of broken candy canes if you try to rush it.  
6. Merry Christmas!  Eat your Christmas-y, pepperminty, candy cane cookies!

How to Price-Match at Walmart

I've had a lot of people ask me lately about how I grocery shop and feed my family on a small budget.  So now I reveal to you my biggest secret (or at least the one I've been most excited about lately)...

Price-matching!

Walmart.  It's a controversial store...but they price match!  I used to be anti-Walmart when it came to grocery shopping.  I was not a fan of giving up my full grocery store experience...at first.  Let's face it.  It's kind of a bummer when you grocery shop at Walmart.  Where are the free samples?  Where is the super duper fresh produce?  Where are the happy people that put your bags of groceries into your cart for you and then offer to help you to your car?  Well, they're not at Walmart.  So for a while I refused to shop at Walmart for groceries, even though my husband insisted that I could get things cheaper there.  But then money got tight and I started looking for ways to save a few more dollars.  I ventured into the grocery section of Walmart with skepticism.  In order to prove to my husband that I wouldn't save that much money at Walmart, I started keeping a spreadsheet of the prices of items we normally bought and how much they cost at each store.  And after a few weeks of doing this, I realized that Walmart actually did have lower prices on a lot of things.  But it wasn't until I started price-matching that I saw the real difference.  And now that I do it every time I go grocery shopping at Walmart, I'm more than willing to give up my free samples and super duper fresh produce and happy people helping me with my bags of groceries.  I get kind of a thrill out of coming home and saying, "Honey!  Guess how much money I saved this week with my coupons and price-matching!"

I admit that I was too scared to ask how price-matching worked for a long time, but when I saw the lady in front of me doing it one time, I got up the courage.  And now I've done all the dirty work for you.  So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of my labors.  Without further ado, I give you...the rules of price-matching at Walmart.

(Bear in mind that these are the rules as they were explained to me.  As I understand it, all Walmart stores should price-match, but there are some things that seem to be up to the discretion of the individual store.  So if some Walmart worker yells at you for doing what I'm about to explain, I'm sorry.  They're probably just having a bad day because this always works for me.  If you want the exact, detailed policy from Walmart.com, go here.)

• Walmart will match the price of an EXACT item that is advertised by another store.
• The other store must actively advertise the price of that item.  So if you want to price-match something from a store that doesn't put out an ad (like Costco or Winco), it's no bueno.  They won't price-match it for you.
• If the Walmart you're shopping at doesn't carry that EXACT item because they don't sell that brand, you can substitute a comparable brand for the same thing in the same size.  That means that if Kroger is on sale at another store, you can buy Great Value for that price.  Or if Meadow Gold is on sale at the other store, but Walmart only sells Viva, you can substitute it.  Just remember, it has to be exactly the same product in the same size, just a different brand.
• Walmart does NOT price-match with other Walmart stores, Sam's Club, or any store's prices advertised on the internet.
• The ad you're using to price-match must be valid for the same day you're buying it at Walmart.  Sorry, no using last week's ads.
• You DON'T have the ad with you to price-match...technically.  I have only been asked to show the ad once, and I price match every time I go shopping.  According to one cashier, you only have to have the ad with you if the discounted price is more than 50% off the Walmart price.  But if you look it up on the Walmart site, they say that you don't have to have the ad ever.  So if they give you trouble, site that one to them.  I generally bring the ads with me, just in case, but most of the time I just have the prices listed on a post-it note, and I guess they figure if I took the time to write them down, they're probably the right ones.
• You can only price-match if the ad says an exact price, not a percentage off or buy-one-get-one.  
• Walmart also honors other stores' coupons if they have an exact price listed.
• You can price-match produce and meat too.  So if you have a package of chicken that says a total price on it already, just tell the cashier that you want it for such-and-such-price-per-pound, and they'll ring it up for you.  Who cares about the price that's printed on there, anyway?  You're price-matching.  Beauty!
• Let the cashier know you're price-matching before they ring everything up.  I like to separate my groceries into two categories on the little belt thing: the things that are regular price and the things that I'm price-matching.  Since they have to enter in your price-matched items one at a time, they'll be a lot happier with you if you tell them in advance that you're price-matching all of that stuff so they don't ring it up too quickly and then have to take it off and ring it up again.  Plus, that's just courteous.

I hope this helps.  It sure helps me, anyway.  Happy price-matching, everyone!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheels

My sweet mother-in-law gave me some AirBake cookies sheets for my birthday, and to my surprise, it they came with a little cookbook.  I glanced through and quickly decided that I wasn't going to make most of them, but one recipe caught my attention.  I thought about how delicious it looked and sounded for several days.  Finally, I just had to make them.  They didn't look quite as picture-perfect as the picture in the cookbook, but they tasted amazing, just the same.  These cookies take a little bit of work, but they are amazing.  Make a big batch!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheels
(a WearEver Airbake recipe)

*Yields approximately 2 dozen cookies

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp water
8 Tbsp (one stick) butter, softened
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg

1. Combine the chocolate and water in a double boiler and melt, stirring occasionally.  Or, if you're like the me and don't own a double boiler, just put the chips in a heavy-duty ziploc bag and pop them in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds.  Mush the bag, then microwave again for 10 seconds at a time (mushing between each time) until the chips are just melted.  Some people say you can add a bit of water with the chocholate chips, but either way should work.  Set the chocolate aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the peanut butter and the egg, beating until smooth after each addition.  Stir in the flour mixture.
3. Remove a little more than half of the dough and set it aside.  Add the chocolate mixture to the dough that's left in the mixing bowl and stir until mixed thoroughly.
4. On a floured piece of wax paper or plastic wrap, pat each piece of dough into an 8 x 8 square.  If the dough is extremely sticky, put it in the fridge for a few minutes to help it harden up a bit.  Brush the top of the chocolate square with a bit of water, then top it with the peanutbutter square.  Roll up the doughs like you'd roll up a jelly roll, keeping the roll straight and even.  My roll looked a bit...funny.  If any of you have tips for rolling it up so it looks as perfect as it does in the Airbake picture, please leave a comment and let me know how you did it.  Don't worry if yours looks funky though, because it will taste great, regardless.
5. Wrap the dough roll in plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for several hours (or even a few days, if you're not in a hurry).  I actually let mine rest on the rounded holder that I've got for my rolling pin, so then it held its rounded shape along the bottom, instead of flattening out on one side.  If you're totally confused, this is what I'm talking about...

...except imagine that the rolling pin is actually a roll of delicious, peanut buttery cookie dough...
6. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Slice the roll into 3/16-inch slices and place them on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until the cookies are firm and just slightly colored.  Let them cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing them to cool on a wire rack.
7. Take these bad boys to your neighborhood Christmas cookie exchange.  Yum.

Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing

Here it is!  The dressing that pulls a Cafe Rio-esque salad together and makes it taste delicious.  I must admit, the other day I had extra dressing and extra cilantro lime rice, so I just mixed them together to see what it would taste like, and it was amazing.  I'm pretty sure that anything you put this dressing on will taste amazing.  Enjoy!

(P.S. This recipe concludes my knock-off Cafe Rio recipe series.  Alas, I wish I had more recipes, but this is all I've got.  If you have any other recipes, feel free to send them my way by leaving a comment.)

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Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing

(from Kalyn's Kitchen)

1 small bunch cilantro (stems removed)

2 large or 4 small tomatillos

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (optional)

2 cups prepared ranch dressing (if you don't have any handy, you can use this recipe for homemade ranch dressing)

1. Wash and dry cilantro leaves.  You can use a salad spinner or just pat them with paper towels.  Chop cilantro leaves into small pieces (or throw them in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds).  Roughly chop tomatillos.

2. Combine cilantro, tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and jalapeno (if using) in a food processor or blender.  Pulse until finely pureed.  Add prepared ranch dressing and pulse until combined.  If the dressing isn't quite the right balance for you, try adding another tomatillo.

3. Chill for 1-2 hours, then shout hooray and eat your delicious salad.

Cafe Rio Enchilada Sauce

The first time I went to Cafe Rio, my sister actually pulled me aside and prepped me for how to answer the barrage of questions that about to come (and it was a good thing she did, because I couldn't understand anything they were saying they were talking so quickly).  This was what she told me to say:

"Sweet pork burrito.  Mild.  Black.  Enchilada style.  Yes."

If you've been to Cafe Rio before, you know what I'm talking about.  But of all these answers, the most important one--the one I was NOT to mess up--was "Enchilada style."  If you're going to get a burrito, and you don't get it smothered in enchilada sauce, you're going to miss out majorly.  And this, my friends, is why I was so excited to run across this recipe for enchilada sauce.  Now you can smother that burrito at home too with saucy deliciousness!  What are you waiting for?

Cafe Rio Enchilada Sauce
(from Favorite Family Recipes)

1 small (4 oz) can diced green chiles
1 (7 oz) can salsa verde
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Smother that burrito!

Note: You can refrigerate it overnight after simmering, and that way the flavors blend even more.

Sweet Pork

Here it is!  The post you've all been waiting for--sweet pork!  I've actually got two different recipes for this one, so take your pick.  Or make both, if you're feeling adventurous.  The first recipe is the one my family uses.  The second came from my awesome friend, Jenny.  With these recipes, you'll be set to make yourself some enchilada-style burritos, salads, tostadas, tacos... You name it!  When I was in college, our apartment decided to have a party and invite a bunch of people over for pork burritos.  I even went to Cafe Rio and asked them if I could a bunch of those tins that the meals come in--just to make it even more authentic.  I think they charged me for a side of pinto beans or something for them.  It was a rockin' party.  The only problem was...we didn't realize just how much people would love the food, and we totally ran out.  So if you're planning on having a knock-off Cafe Rio party, make sure you make plenty of food so it doesn't all get devoured before you get a chance to try any.  With that said, I digress.  On to the recipes!

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Cafe Rio Sweet Pork #1

5-6 lb pork roast
1 Tbsp cumin
1 cup brown sugar
20 oz bottle Dr. Pepper (caffeine free works just as great too)
12 oz bottle red taco sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Cover, and refrigerate overnight to marinate the meat.
2. In the morning, pour the contents of the bowl into a slow cooker (or at least the roast and enough marinate to cover it).  Cover, and cook on low 6-8 hours.  Remove the roast, shred, and return it to the slow cooker.  Cook for another hour on low.
3. Sweet pork heaven!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork #2

Pork roast
1 can Coke
1 cup brown sugar
1 small (4 oz) can chopped green chiles
1 (7.75 oz) can green el pato sauce

1. Place the roast and just a bit of water in a slow cooker, and cook on low overnight.
2. In the morning, shred the roast and place it back in the slow cooker, along with all of the remaining ingredients.  Cook on low all day (or until you just can't take it anymore and you HAVE to have some sweet pork right now!).
3. Sweet pork heaven!

Pico de Gallo

This is another knock-off Cafe Rio recipe that you could use for all sorts of things.  It's simple and delicious.  It's like one step...two if you stretch it.  Have fun!

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Pico de Gallo

4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Yum.

Cilantro Lime Rice

My mom had us all over for dinner last night for knock-off Cafe Rio.  If you haven't had Cafe Rio (or Costa Vida), then get yourself to a state that has one and eat some delicious food!  We did our own little version of their pork salads.  I was in charge of bringing the rice.  I was a bit skeptical about making a knock-off recipe, but it turned out amazing.  As part of a pork salad, it's to die for, but it also makes a nice side dish for any Mexican-type meal.  If you are a poor, unfortunate soul that hasn't ever tasted Cafe Rio, make this.  Actually, everyone should make this.  I know, I know, this is only the rice, but there are more Cafe Rio-ish recipes to come...so stay tuned!

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Cilantro Lime Rice

2 cups rice
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 cups chicken broth (vegetable broth also works well)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup cilantro leaves (with stems removed), snipped into small pieces

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and rice, and saute, stirring, until it starts to get golden brown.  Remove from heat, and stir in broth, water, and salt.
3. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish, and spread it all out evenly in the pan.  Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 1 hour.  When I made this, I was running late, so I just upped the temperature to 375 and baked it for 45-50 minutes, and it turned out just great.  
4. Meanwhile, juice your lime.  When the rice is finished baking, stir in the lime juice and cilantro.  Serve immediately (hopefully as part of your amazing sweet pork salad--recipe to come!).

Orange Rolls

This recipe comes to you straight from the lovely ladies at my church.  These orange rolls are delicious, and maybe I just haven't been around enough in the orange roll world, but I've never seen orange rolls assembled this way.  I think I actually said, "Whoa!" when I saw how they were putting them together.  And boy, were they tasty.  I ate so many of them that I actually started to feel sick.  They were amazing.  Enjoy!

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Orange Rolls

Dough:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 pkgs yeast (or 4-1/2 tsp yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
3 eggs
7 cups flour

Filling:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
zest of one orange (just grate it on the small side of your cheese shredder)

Glaze:
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of one orange
Powdered sugar

1. Scald milk by heating it in a small saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan.  Don't get it so hot that it boils.  Technically, since we have pasteurized milk now, you can skip this step, but it actually breaks down the proteins in the milk, which gives you a better dough in the end. Throw your cold stick of butter into the milk.  This will melt the butter and cool the milk to the right temperature.
2. In small bowl, combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water.  Let it sit and dissolve for a moment while you mix together the sugar, salt, eggs, and flour in a large mixing bowl.  Add the yeast mixture and the milk.  Mix until well-combined, cover it with a towel and let it rise until doubled in size.
3. Make the filling by combining butter, sugar, and the zest of one orange.
4. When the dough has doubled, roll it out into a big rectangle and cover it with the filling.  Cut dough into 1-inch strips (a pizza cutter works great here).  Stack 3 strips on top of each other until you've used up all of the strips.  Now take the pizza cutter and cut each strip into 1-inch squares.  Place the squares turned on their sides into greased muffin tins (one square per muffin spot).  Cover, and let rise until doubled.  It should look something like this...

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake rolls for 12 minutes.
6. While the rolls are baking, combine vanilla, almond extract, butter, the juice of the orange you zested, and enough powdered sugar to make it the right consistency.  This will depend a lot upon personal preference.
7. Glaze those rolls!  When your rolls come out of the oven (if you have incredibly heat-resistant fingers, which I do not), you can grab them and just dip the top of each roll into the glaze.  This will just barely coat it and leave it shiny and delicious-looking.  If you're like me and can't take the heat, just wait for them to cool and then drizzle it on.
8. Eat them now before everyone else does!