Monday, September 22, 2008

What's In Your Pantry?


Last Thursday I made a batch of Garlic Herb Rolls (it's actually a recipe for bread, but I make it into rolls). It's easy to make and the aroma makes the whole house smell wonderful. I sort of forgot to think up anything to go with it for dinner until about 4pm. At that point I was tired and lacking in any imagination, so I started going through my freezer to see what was there....not too much - anyway, not much that was fast and easy. I did unearth a meaty ham bone. Aha, thinks I, we'll have ham lentil soup to go with the rolls. I thawed out the ham and threw it in a pot with some water. No lentils. Well, I might have some downstairs in my food storage, but that would have taken a little more effort than I was willing to expend. This is what my pantry/fridge yielded for our "stone soup":

1 meaty ham bone
2 cans of white beans
garlic
dehydrated onions
dehydrated carrots
alphabet noodles

I have to say, even though it was a less than stellar composition I didn't have to throw any of it away. The family ate it over the course of 2 dinners. What good sports they are. I think the garlic herb rolls sort of made up for the sorry soup.

Get out your bread machines girls and boys, it's time to make some dough!

Garlic Herb Bread

1 1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp softened butter
2 cloves crushed garlic
3 1/4 cups bread flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 3/4 tsps yeast

Process on the dough setting of your bread machine. Shape into rolls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise for a while...say 40 - 60 minutes...Cook at 375' for around 15 - 20 minutes. Enjoy.

If you want a GOOD soup recipe, try the zuppa toscana from my May 14th post. That's what we're having for dinner tonight along with the garlic herb rolls.

5 comments:

Frankie/mom said...

Everything sounds delicious, but it's hard to get excited about hot soup & hot rolls when it's still 95' outside! Autumn happened today, but nary a single leaf fell & there's sure no chill in the air! But it is substantially cooler & absolutely lovely in the morning. This is the reason people move to AZ!
I love lentils...they cook so quickly & take on whatever you cook with them. I also love a good navy bean soup. Made rolls for dinner yesterday tho....it's just not sunday dinner without them.
Are you girls using the white wheat (golden 86 or prairie white)? Sure makes a lovely loaf of bread or rolls & has a higher protein than the red as well.

Keira said...

I was retelling the "stone soup" story to my enraptured cub scouts when I realized that the moral was decidedly anti-capitalistic and opposed to the rugged individualism that made this country...

The election better come soon or I'll lose my mind.

Debbie said...

I need to find a source for the wheat - I'm just using plain old bread flour.

Our weather isn't cold yet - but it did start cooling off a week or so ago. At my age I still have the fan going full blast at night ;)

Suzanne said...

Thanks for the motivation to break out my bread machine. I made bread for dinner and Michael was thrilled to have hot bread. Perfect timing with the leaves starting to turn.

Stephen said...

Keira, Keira, Keira, you do err in your ways. It is not the capitalist of today who made this country great. It is the rugged individual capitalist of yester-year. The ones who's motto was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Those are the strong individuals who made this a great country. Don't mix them up with the "I want more than you have" ones of today. The "I want more" and "I want it now" capitalist are going to bankrupt our country yet.