Fortune-Telling Soup

A.k.a. alphabet soup. What a surprise to find a bag of letters and numbers pasta at Fred Meyer recently. I remember alphabet soup being a big treat when I was a kiddo. I made a simple chicken stock soup with corn for my daughter's dinner last night.

Deep Fried Pickles

On the left, juicy dill pickle chips dipped in a light batter and deep-fried. It's one of the menu items at Smashburger. I attended the social media preview last week at the newest store on Franklin near Milwaukee. The burger on my tray is a 1/4 lb with bacon, cheese and "Smashburger sauce," which has a mustard base. The burger is a "loose burger," not a hard-pressed, pre-formed patty. I'm not a big fan of hamburgers, however, I ate almost the whole thing! The generous slice of red onion is nice, too. We also sampled the sweet potato fries. I liked them better than the regular fries. Although the pickles were interesting, I really could only eat a few before the novelty wore off.

Easter Dinner

We enjoyed Easter dinner at the Helppie's house. New friends, old friends and good food!

Ready for Easter Dinner Showtime

Thanks for following along the semi-live blogging for this Easter dinner rolls adventure. I feel I'm ready for the show to serve these up for Easter dinner. My only tweak will be a few more minutes in the oven when I make a batch Sunday.

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups of warm milk (I warmed it in the microwave for 1 minute)

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup of melted butter

2 teaspoons of salt

7 cups of all-purpose flour

Sprinkle yeast over milk in mixer bowl, and let sit until there is some froth. Add sugar, eggs and butter and whisk together. Use the dough hook and add flour one cup at a time - adding the salt while adding the flour. You may need a little more or a little less flour. Mix into a soft dough, and it might be slightly sticky. Let dough rise, covered, in a greased bowl for 1 hour.

Punch down and turn the dough, and let rise covered another hour. And then once more.

Shape dough into balls, tucking the seam under, and place into a greased pan. Let rise another hour, covered.

Heat over to 385 degrees. Bake on middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are nice and brown.

Headed for the Oven - Update on Easter Rolls Experiment #2

After three rises of dough, including after shaping the buns, they're ready for the oven. I made the rolls smaller this time. Fingers crossed that this will do the trick.

Easter Dinner Roll Experiment #2

The second batch of dough is rising for another try at Easter dinner rolls. The first experiment turned out pretty good, but I made the rolls too big. I need to get it right today because I'm expected to bring rolls to an Easter dinner Sunday. I'll post pictures later showing what happens.

King Crab Salad

Romaine leaves, chopped tomatoes and celery and King Crab drizzled with a dressing of mayonnaise, Tabasco sauce and white vinegar.