Bread , the staff of life..

I'd always had great plans for our Thanksgiving feasts. Like actually making the dinner rolls... among other things. But when it came down to crunch time.... I usually ran out of energy and those plans went out the window. BUT, this year... Elly May was doing most of the work as I was sort of side lined with health matters . Good thing too because this way we got actual , home made , delicious rolls. She spent hours making them... but it was so worth it.
The dough, made the night before. A double batch , which she decided to combine into one bowl despite some peoples voiced concerns about future rising issues and overflow. No matter, it all fit at the time.

Of course, this is what greeted her the next morning. I think it was worth it just for the wow factor. The blob is out to get you!!!

Deft hands make rolls.

Lots and lots..

And lots... of rolls.

Only so many will fit in the oven at a time , so they were done in batches.

More rising..

Think we have enough ? They were grand . And there are plenty for leftover sandwiches.

Kitchen Rambles

Well, no... he isn't part of the kitchen stuff but he is cute , so there. He likes to look out the window to check out what is going on.

Sick person soup. :-) I like to have broth on hand for whatever I feel like doing. It comes in extremely handy when you are sick and need to throw something together fast. I'd made this broth up before I fell ill and then I was able to just throw some onions, garlic, carrots , pre-cooked rice and a touch of cilantro (at the end) for a very nourishing and comforting soup.

Elly May was reading "Her Father's Daughter" again by Gene Stratton Porter again and there was a recipe for cactus candy she wanted to try. So we found some at our local farmer's market and she went to work peeling them. Not as easy as it might seem at first.

They are rather flabby when finished..

They get chopped and soaked in cold water overnight. You end up with this really mucousy liquid that is not unlike dog drool... anyway, that gets drained and then the nopales pieces are simmered in a sugar water mixture until it all cooks down . Then they are laid out to dry into little candies.. I didn't have any but I hear they are super sweet.

Bread.. the staff of life.

Aren't they beautiful?

A crown of rolls.. she made these for the lamb stew we had .

It was very very yummy. I even had lamb bones left over from 2 lamb legs we'd had earlier in the year at Passover and I made lamb broth out of those after roasting them. We had bought a whole lamb (well , it was frozen and in pieces..) from Chaffin Family Orchards (same place our chickens come from) and it was (and still is) absolutely delicious. Very very tender and not gamey at all.

Dog pile.. I can't see how this is comfortable but they seem to think it is. I know I wasn't that comfortable. They are heavy bruisers. But we all wuv each other vewy much. :-)

Things that have no rhyme or reason

These made fantastic French Dips . And that there is a really really good bread book if you are looking for one.

We want some meat...

Cinderella does her own birthday dishes.. She said she likes scrubbing pots... whatever .. More power to you sister. ;-)

She makes her own cake too..

She could too. (It was on the cake in the fridge by the way.. she doesn't care if you touch the counter..)

When we were racking plum wine.

Doggie treats... with liver. It smelled... like liver.

Just because. Freeze frame!!! More like Raid frame I guess...

Foccacia

Elly May at it again. Butter, garlic, rosemary and thyme..... inhale...This didn't last very long either.

Elly May's Baking Adventures

Elly May is rather obsessed with bread. Eating it, baking it, playing with it. Lucky for us. Here are some of her latest projects... Sticky buns with a challah dough base.. should have taken a picture of all the smoke in the kitchen with this one... it was rather impressive. Some of the sugary topping leaked over the edge of the pan and a pan had not been placed under to catch such drips... so they ummm, kind of burned. And there was smoke billowing out of the oven which made J. J. a complete wreck, trembling in the corner. We knew he didn't like fire (he barks at flame) but didn't know smoke would have such a deleterious affect on his psych. Poor guy. But boy were those good sticky buns!

Challah . This lasted about 5 minutes..

A far off planets surface... heh...no really. Just yeast and honey.

More challah in a "turban" shape. Oh if you could smell!!

Croissants..