Rolling Along

Creamed spinach pinwheels for Superbowl Sunday. I defrosted frozen creamed spinach and added a little shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan and Panko breadcrumbs. Smear the mixture on puff pastry and roll jelly roll fashion. I froze the "log" for a bit to make slicing easier. Once sliced, bake them on parchment paper. Parchment paper is my latest discovery. Nothing sticks and clean up is easy. I need to buy a case of that stuff.

I pinned this recipe for Texas Roadhouse Rolls a while ago. I halved the recipe like she did. Gobs of rolls. I put a bit less sugar as we were eating these with Italian sausage soup and I wasn't sure a sweet dough would mesh with the savory soup. The dough is wonderful to work with and rich enough to warrant a few "oooh, fresh rolls?" from the peanut gallery. I used skim milk, but a richer milk would add some yummy calories. It took me a year to get used to skim milk. Now if I drink whole milk, it tastes like ice cream. True story. But really, if you go through the trouble of making rolls, you should use full-strength milk. They're not bad with skim, but go the extra mile.

Yeah, I'm a bread baking machine. The sour dough bread a couple of days ago wasn't the best. A whole week babysitting that starter, and the bread was so-so. I tossed it. But I did get a new pottery bread baker, so I made some beer, dill, cheddar bread the night before last. Oh yeah, it was good. That's butter in the middle of the rough loaf. Killer. I tend to like these artisan loaves better than the white bread stuff. This bread will be off the chart toasted with a poached egg on it.

The Italian sausage soup was good too. Brown a pound of Italian sausage and remove to a bowl. Drain excess grease if your sausage rendered a bunch. You'll need a little fat to saute the veggies. Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic to pot. I had a bit of a red pepper leftover, so I threw that in too. Saute veggies a bit and add a can of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, a bay leaf, and Italian spices. Let simmer 20-40 minutes. After simmering, throw in a drained and rinsed can of your favorite bean and whatever pasta you like. Frozen chopped spinach too. We're trying to avoid making a salad! Get all the veggies in one dish so you don't have to make a salad. Garnish with fresh Italian parsley and shaved parmesan. Serve with crusty bread or those Roadhouse rolls.

I didn't take a picture of the soup last night, but here it is for my breakfast. Like most soups and sauces, it's even better the next day.

The paper pieced heart block turned into a potholder.  Now what kind of bread can I make today?