Grandma's Yeast Rolls

I always love it when I'm able to get a recipe out of my grandma.  She's one of those grandma's who seems to cook by instinct.  Nothing is ever measured, and it's all in her head.  I did manage to get her to write this down as a birthday gift for me.  Her rolls are always the star of the meal at Thanksgiving. You can use this recipe for more than just rolls, it works for sandwich bread and for burger or hot dog buns. 






Grandma's Yeast Rolls

¼ c, Warm Water
1 T. Sugar
2 ½ t. Yeast
1 c, Scalded Milk
1 c, Water
¼ c, Crisco Or Oil
1 t. Salt 
¼ c, Sugar

Directions:
Combine ¼ c. warm water, T. sugar and yeast.

Combine scalded milk, 1 c. water, oil, salt and sugar.  Allow to cool.  Add milk mixture to yeast mixture after cooled.

Add 2 c. flour and beat until very smooth.  Add 1 more cup, beat,  Continue adding ½ c. at a time until dough is very stiff.  Then knead on a lightly floured counter top.  Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled.  Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 even pieces.  Take each piece and divide in two, rolling each piece into a ball. Place two balls in one muffin cup.  Once pan is full and all rolls are made, allow to rise another 30-45 minutes.

Bake at 375 for approximately 12 minutes, until golden brown.  Brush with butter last minute of cooking, if desired. 

Pasta in Creamy Garlic Sauce (Chicken and Broccoli version)

Although this meal is REALLY easy to put together, it does require a little bit of planning ahead. That's because the sauce (which you can make in about 5 minutes) needs to sit for several hours for the garlic to really get nicely infused. Otherwise, your sauce is just going to taste like milk:( But this is a great meal for making all the things ahead of time, and then throwing it all together in a snap later in the day (or even the next day). This is really, really easy to make!

Creamy Garlic Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 c. water, divided

2 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 c. heavy cream (in India, use 1 c. Amul cream and 1 c. milk. This is not good with 2 c. Amul cream...trust me)

1 Tbsp. fresh parsley (or 1 tsp. dried parsley if you have it...I've made it without this before)

salt and pepper to taste (I also use Tony's creole seasoning)

2 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Directions

1. Pour half of the water into a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the garlic and garlic powder, and boil until the water has almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, parsley, salt, and pepper. At this point (before I add the cornstarch) I take it off the burner and allow it to cool, then put it in the fridge. I usually do this in the morning if I’m going to make this for dinner, or you could do this before you go to bed and let it sit overnight in order to make it for lunch.

2. When you are ready to make your meal, see the rest of the directions below.

Ingredients to add to the sauce:

2 baked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (I season mine with Tony's before baking)

1 small head of broccoli, cut into small pieces and steamed

3 cups of cooked pasta (macaroni, elbow, etc.)

When you're ready to assemble your meal, remove the garlic sauce from the fridge.

3. Add the cornstarch to the sauce and slowly heat it. Add all your other ingredients (I add the chicken and brocolli first, and then add the pasta so that I don't get too much in there. You want the sauce to nicely coat everything). Heat everything through til you get the sauce to the thickness that you want.

To turn this into a veg meal, leave out the chicken and add a variety of steamed vegetables (carrots, summer squash, etc.).

This goes nicely with French bread and Carrots with Rosemary Butter.

Enjoy!