Soft White Rolls

Amazingly enough, it's holiday season again - time for family dinners and potlucks galore. I don't remember where I originally got this recipe. I've made it for various sit-downs at my family's house for years now. It's slightly work intensive (and super messy. messy) but well worth it.

Soft White Rolls
1 1/2 C water
1/2 C milk
1/4 C butter
4 C flour
1 pkg yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
flour for dusting

Heat together water, milk, and butter over low heat until butter is melted. Cool to warmish hot. Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk mixture all at once. Using a wooden spoon, stir until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 5-10 minutes. The dough starts out rather gooey, so it's best not to wear rings for this step. Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour. Grease two baking sheets. Punch down dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 1-2 minutes. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a 10x4" loaf. Cut each crosswise into 10 equal pieces. Shape each into a roll. Place on baking sheets 3-4" apart. Cover and let rise 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Bake until lightly browned, 15 minutes. Adapted from Great American Baking

These go well with turkey or roast beef (my family's Thanksgiving and Easter staples). Simply phenomenal with honey butter. Perfect slightly warm but keep well for several days.

Happy upcoming holidays!

Birthday re-cap.

I am not sure what I did to deserve such an amazing birthday week, but it has truly been one of the best. There has been just an outpouring of love and well-wishes from friends and family and I feel so grateful.

I got gorgeous flowers, hand-delivered at work by The Fiance. He put the bouquet together himself - flowers he remembered from our wedding floral proposal and some of my faves. And I had birthday cupcakes and football tickets waiting for me when I got home. My team didn't win and we sat in a torrential downpour all night, but it was still awesome. Oh and don't forget the present he gave me earlier in the week (stapled gift wrap and all).

I had a day off work and did nothing, and then rested after. And drank wine and ate yummy food with girlfriends that night. Sounds like a pretty good weekend, right? That's not even Saturday yet!

Sunday my parents came to town for dinner with us and The Fiance's family. We had amaaaaazing Italian food, followed by cookie cake (so much for that "healthy eating" thing this evening. I am really pumped to go to Borders tomorrow and spend FMIL's gift card (probably on Pioneer Woman's new cookbook ... and probably a baking book too ... and maybe more. I have a list). And then come home and snuggle up to the gift my parents got me.

Before I moved to St Louis over two years ago I dropped a huge bag full of my college t-shirt collection of at my parents house. I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to make a quilt someday of my favorites. And then I completely forgot about it. I have a million shirts - what's the joke? How many sorority girls does it take to change a lightbulb? 20. One to change the bulb and 19 to design a tshirt to commemorate the Lightbulb Changing Mixer Date Party.

Seriously.
My mom went through my shirts and managed to pick the perfect 12 items that perfectly encapsulated my college experience. There's one from a party I planned as Social Chair, one from the year the Tigers went to the Elite 8 in basketball, one from when I was a member of Greek Week Steering Committee, one I designed for my house as Recruitment Chair, one with the school's fight song, and one I actually remember buying as a high school senior on the visit when I decided I was going to be a Tiger. Out of probably 100 shirts, she had no way of knowing those would be perfect. I absolutely love it. It's one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.
I am such a lucky girl. I am continually amazed at just how much. I said before that I am often inspired to count my blessings, and my list just seems to keep getting longer.

This was a banner year for me, and a better birthday than I think I deserved. I can't wait for what's to come!

Man vs Food!

Man vs Food is probably one of the best shows to come out of the Travel Channel. The Fiance and I love it. It chronicles host Adam Richmand traveling the country, sampling local food favorites and taking on fantastic food challenges. He's eaten a 72 oz steak in Amarillo, a monster burrito in Las Vegas, and a dozen milkshakes in St Louis.

And now ... he's coming to Springfield, IL!

That's right, my little hometown will be featured this week on the show. Adam will be sampling local faves like the Horseshoe (which I have raaaaaved about before, and will be our rehearsal dinner fare) and the Cozy Dog corn dog. He'll be taking on the Fire Brand Chili challenge at the Joe Roger's Den Parlor, which is one of the oldest eating challenges in the country, and just about as bad as it sounds, Being that the last cool thing that happened in Springfield was Abe Lincoln, this was a pretty big deal for me.

The Fiance, not being a Springfieldian, is also surprisingly enthusiastic. That, my friends, is because he loves horseshoes. I introduced him to the sandwich early in the relationship and he was hooked. If you miss the show, a horseshoe (or if you're not as hungry, the half-sized ponyshoe) is an open-faced sandwich consisting of Texas toast, meat of choice, crinkle fries, and creamy cheese sauce. It's one of those foods where you know you're probably harming yourself by eating it, but man, it hurts so good. My personal fave is bacon and tomato. The Fiance? You guessed it: buffalo chicken.


We are particularly enthused to watch the show in part because we have recently booked our rehearsal dinner at one of the many Springfield eateries that have the 'shoe on the menu (seriously, even Steak n Shake sells them there). Since most of our bridal party and family are from out of town, we thought having a dinner that revolved around the local specialty was a great way to welcome everyone in for the occasion. We'll be serving buffet-style, a horseshoe bar if you will ... and we will.

What kind of local flare or specialties are you incorporating into the festivities?

Be sure to watch! You can bet your cheese sauce that our DVR is already set! The show airs at 8 pm, CST on the Travel Channel. Yay Springfield!

"Fried" Onion Rings

Oh onion rings, how I love thee, let me count the ways ... I love them a whole bunch and can probably blame a couple trouble areas I have on this particular food vice. Weight Watchers to the rescue! I pulled this recipe from the magazine originally, but then the website published a new and improved version. These retain all of the flavor and a ton of the crunch. Win-win.

"Fried" Onion Rings

3 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray
1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp table salt
2 large onion(s), Spanish, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and separated into rings
1/2 cup(s) buttermilk
1 cup(s) seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, garlic powder, dry mustard and salt. Add onions and toss to coat.  Pour buttermilk into another large bowl, add onions and toss to coat (use your hands for the best result). Place bread crumbs in another large bowl, add onions and toss to coat. Transfer onions to prepared baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve hot.  Yields about 1/2 an onion per serving.

This is another goodie to have on hand now that we're in the heart of football season.  And they make an excellent burger topping, too, just saying.

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ok, so my real birthday isn't until Thursday, but The Fiance has decided that we should now celebrate Birthday Weeks ... the is probably just his way of setting precedent for his bday in December, but whatever. I'm game.



I came home from work last night to find some presents waiting for me. Some are from my parents, which I am not allowed to open until next Sunday (oh the cruelty) and some from The Fiance, which I was allowed to open immediately. We're both very bad at waiting.

The Fiance had battled rush hour traffic, even while sick with the flu, to pick up the new Nitendo Wii Resort game and controllers. And by the way, it's awesome.

The best part of the presents, of course, was that The Fiance had wrapped them himself ... except he could find any tape. So he stapled the paper to the box.

I love that man. Excuse me while I go kick his ass in Swordplay.

Apple Brickle Dip

It's apple season. I personally swoon for a Honeycrisp the size of my head, but I suppose that's my own issue. If you're like me, the perfect snack entails some sort of dip. I'm not sure I would ever consume fruits or vegetables if it weren't for dip. Again, my own issues, surely.

This is a favorite, though it pretty much negates all healthy aspects of the apple itself.

Apple Brickle Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
10 oz english toffee bits

Beat together cream cheese, sugars, and vanilla. Fold in toffee. Serve with apple slices.

An apple a day right?

Bedroom talk.

Our master bedroom got a makeover! Here is the Before, to refresh those just tuning in.

We painted the walls and trim, and added white crown molding at the ceiling line. The doors were old-school flat panels, and they were replaced with new 6-panels too. God love being related to a builder. Daddy-O couldn't build our house, but he sure as hell made is LOOK like he did.

I refiled my 2008 taxes to claim our homeowner tax credit early ... and spent it literally the day it came in the mail. New bedroom furniture - the first new I have had since childhood, if ever. I ordered bedding too and we FINALLY got the ever-backordered stuff from The Company Store just a few weeks ago. And it's perfect! I mean, it took for freaking ever to get here (6 months) but I think it was worth it.

Here's the After:Our furry little male model, Debonair Tucker Bear is modeling the new bedding (I puffy heart poofy white comforthers) and the new bed too! The furnture came from Ashley - the new Martini Platform Bed. Yes, my bed is named after my favorite reason to pass out in it. Genius.

We desperately need more lamps. They are in short supply. That's what I get for going from a 3 room apartment to a full-fledged Big Grown Up House. That one looks rather silly, no? It's so bitty.

Also from the Martini suite ... it's a media chest, technically. The baskets came from Target and fit perfectly to collect socks and unmentionable. We also have a 4-drawer dresser that matches. I took 6 pictures of the media chest, yes none of the dresser. It looks great though, trust me.

The two chests are still somewhat empty. I have yet to relocate my clothes from the old furniture (now populating the guest room .... we have a guest room!!) to the new stuff. I should, but I figure a little exercise down the hall in the morning won't kill me. That and this might help me actually clean out. If I haven't moved it by the end of winter, it means I haven't worn it, and therefore don't need it. It's like survival of the fittest of the wardrobe.

Isn't it amazing the random things you find at random stores you never intended to set foot in? We found this at Weekends Only and snatched it up. We agreed on it, so we pretty much had to buy it. It's got some gorgeous bottle greens and golds in it that look amazing with the blue walls. I want to buy slash register for some pillows the will pull those colors out. Or maybe some other artwork, so as not to mess up the perfect white poof thing we have going on. My mom has some antigue green glass bottles at her house. My oh my, but wouldn't they look loverly. Hint. Hint. Hint.

Doesn't it make you just want to curl up there and sleep for days? It came together exactly as we pictured it when we were looking at blue paint chips at Lowe's. It may have actually turned out better.