Creamy Chicken Rice Soup

I was intrigued by this recipe because it has evaporated milk in it. And I think it turned out really good! Give it a try:

1 tsp of olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion
2-3 carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
5 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1 cup cooked chicken breast, diced ( I put some garlic powder and salt and pepper on the chicken)
1/2 cup rice
1 can corn, drained
2 tbsp corn starch (this didn't make it that thick, so you could do more)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk

Heat oil in the bottom of a big soup pot. Add diced onion, carrots and celery. Cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir constantly for one minute. Add the chicken stock, boullion, basil, bay leaf, chicken, and rice. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes over medium heat. Add corn. Stir together evaporated milk and corn starch until well incorporated. Add milk mixture to soup. Let soup simmer for a few minutes before serving.

P.S. I got this from fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com.

Crescent Rolls

This is like, the best roll recipe I have ever tried! They are soo soft and tasty! The recipes makes a lot, but it is easy to just do half. Today I did the whole recipe and I froze 3 dozen rolls. So we'll see how well they freeze. They really don't take that long to make- here's the breakdown: 20 minutes to mix up, 2-3 hours raising, 15 minutes cutting and shaping the rolls, and 20 minutes for baking.  Not bad for such good rolls.

Crescent Rolls
(from the Food Nanny- Liz Edmunds)
makes 2 cookie sheets- 48 rolls

4 T. yeast
1/2 c + 2 T. warm water
Mix together and let sit for 10 minutes.

Mix together very well in separate bowl:
6 eggs
1 c. oil
1 c. sugar

Warm 2 c. milk in microwave- just til warm NOT scalding!

Add egg mixture and warm milk to yeast mixture. Mix all together until combined.

10-11 c. flour
2 T. salt

 Add 1-2 c. flour at a time until combined together. Mix/knead for 5 minutes. Allow to raise 2-3 hours.


...2-3 hours later...

Separate dough into 6 even balls. Roll each ball into circle the size of a dinner plate. Cut into 8 pizza wedge pieces. With each wedge, start rolling from the wide end, tucking the skinny piece on the bottom. Place 3 rolls across and 8 down on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover with clean dish towel and allow to raise til doubled, about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 deg. with rolls raising on top of oven. Bake one sheet at a time. Now the recipe says to bake 6 minutes on bottom shelf of oven, and then 5 minutes on middle rack. I think this made the bottoms WAY too brown. So the 2nd time I made these, I just did 10 minutes on the middle rack. Bake until PERFECTLY golden brown. Brush tops with melted butter when done baking. Voila Stella- its your new roll recipe for the Wengels! :)

Oh, and I bought dough enhancer and tried it- I am not sure what it really does, but whatever it does, the texture was a lot lighter and softer when I used it. So if you see it at the store, give it a try!