Dinner Rolls to Die For

The story behind this recipe is quite funny. My mom worked in a bakery as a teenager/young adult and regularly baked at home. She would make and decorate wedding cakes, birthday cakes, other cake orders, bread to sell, muffins to sell, various goodies to give away, and bread and treats for us at home. She became well known for her dinner rolls, and after several years, recognized a pattern. Every time there was a funeral, she would get called to make her amazing dinner rolls to serve to the family after the funeral services. It was only natural that the boring name "dinner rolls" developed into the well earned "Dinner Rolls to Die For."

Dinner Rolls to Die For

6 to 6 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 pkg. yeast
1/2 c. butter
1 egg
2 c. warm water (12o˚ to 130˚)
Salad oil

In large bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; add butter. With mixer at low speed, gradually pour water into dry ingredients. Add egg; increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Beat in 3/4 cup flour or enough to make a thick batter; continue beating 2 minutes. With spoon, stir in enough additional flour (about 2 1/2 cups) to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface an knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (I think my mom still uses her mixer for this part, if my memory is correct.)

Shape dough into ball and place in greased large bowl, turning over so that top of dough is greased. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Grease 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch open roasting pan or cookie sheet with shallow edges (not flat!). Cut dough into 30 equal pieces; shape into balls and place in pan. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 to 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425˚. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Brush rolls with melted butter. Remove from pan and serve immediately. Makes 2 1/2 dozen rolls.


These rolls are so amazing, it's ridiculous.

By the way, when my mom worked at the bakery, her boss taught her how to shape the dough into perfect rolls.

• Place the little ball of dough on a lightly floured surface. Cup your hand as if you were to cup a small breast with your hand. (Yep - that's what he said!), now gently roll the ball of dough in a circular motion (breast reference continued) until it reaches the desired shape. :) All I can say is that it really is easier to shape the balls of dough into perfect rolls when you remember this very interesting trick of the trade!
  

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I just wanted to quickly express my thanks for the many blessings I have been given.

I am so blessed to have a great husband who loves me and supports me. I think I appreciate this blessing so much more than I otherwise would, because once upon a time I had a husband who did not support me, and I question whether or not he truly loved me. So, Patrick, thank you so much for being such a loving, patient, and forgiving husband. :) You are truly amazing.

I am very grateful for my wonderful family. I love my parents and my siblings, their spouses, and my beautiful nephews and nieces. All of my in-laws, too! I missed sharing this holiday with my family (especially mom's baking...Rolls to Die For), though I am also very blessed to have great friends who invited Patrick and me to their home for the feast. The rolls weren't my mom's, but they were still tasty. The turkey dressed in bacon and then baked was soooooo good!!

Which leads me to my friends. Great friends are one of life's most precious treasures. And I have a sack full of treasures!

I am grateful that I chose to take part in being an Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay back in May of 2006. I cannot explain what a blessing this has been in my life. I have met so many people and found amazing mentors who have influenced my life for the good. The extra income is great, but I have to be honest - the life changes have been priceless. I anxiously anticipate the good things to come in my life through this great opportunity!

I am eternally thankful for my testimony of God's love for me. Boy have I been a screwed up person, and thank goodness Jesus Christ has made it possible for me to move beyond the screwed up version of me. :) I find so much peace knowing that all things are possible when God is involved, including becoming a better person. Just like with family...I cannot thoroughly put into words how blessed I am because of this knowledge. :)

I am grateful for the beautiful home we live in, our 3 kitties who make me so happy, and the food on our table. I live a good life. And it is all due to God's hand. Thank you!

Now I am going to go eat some more pie. (I'll post recipes for the Rolls to Die For and Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie soon! They are divine!!)

Christmas Memory

One of my favorite memories of Christmas as a child was reading Luke 2 as a family on Christmas Eve. And eating oranges that my dad would peel for us. :) He had a special knife he would use, and we would patiently wait for another orange to eat. My dad is awesome.


A blog I follow, Design Mom, posted this cute nativity that the children in her church participated in. It's narrated by one girl, and filled with photography of the different scenes. The sheep are my favorite. It's so very cute...check it out:

General Conference Thoughts

I was doing my daily blog reading and a friend of mine, Jon, was posting his notes on the morning session of the LDS General Conference. His notes are on his blog Pitching In and Catching On. I think it's great that Jon took the time to log the highlights of the talks given.

So, I found myself inspired to tune into Conference. I LOVE modern technology. As a child, we would watch Conference on tv at home, and usually get dressed and watch the Sunday morning session at church via satellite transmission. Now, you can watch Conference live on the internet. That is amazing and wonderful.

I'm not the best at making sure I watch all of Conference, but I do make an effort to listen to or watch what I can. And the bits and pieces I see or hear always move me.

One of my fond memories of Conference is watching my dad and brothers get ready on Saturday evening and go to the Priesthood Session at 7pm. They had a tradition of going to the session together and going out for dessert afterward. As a teenager, it seemed like such a sacrifice for my brothers to miss out on a fun and exciting weekend night to do something churchy, but I realize now, as an adult, what a great opportunity it was for them.

I savor every occasion I had and will ever have to spend time with my dad, especially when those occasions include something where we can be united in our faith and knowledge that we are an eternal family. Now that my dad is older, and a grandfather, he is so much more open about sharing his love for the gospel and Jesus Christ with us. He did share it when we were younger, too, but I'm sure his perspective of eternal families is so much more rich and comprehensive with such a beautiful growing family.

My parents, Jack and Lola, December 2007

My dad is becoming more and more like his dad, my grandpa Mecham. Years ago, at a family gathering, we were all over at the church playing volleyball, and my grandpa sat down next to me, watching everyone play. In that room sat my grandpa, my dad and his siblings, their children, and their children. Four generations of such a beautiful and wonderful family playing volleyball together. I asked my grandpa what it was like, to see his posterity all gathered together in one room. He got teary-eyed and expressed the great love he has for all of us and his great desire for each and every family member to live a righteous life and to be an eternal family. Seeing my cute old grandpa tear up with love for his family and legacy quite obviously made me tear up. I'll never forget that moment. I love him dearly.

So, opportunities to be reminded of my family, our values, and my great love for it all are always welcome. Here's one little quote from Conference that I liked:

Faith, hope, and charity lead us to abound in good works.

I hope to always live a life that includes good works. I truly believe that when it's all boiled down, that is what matters...being unselfish and doing what we can to bless the lives of others. That's when we are blessed the most.

Childhood Memory

This is kind of a gross/dirty memory, but I'm going to share it anyway...

When I was growing up, the easiest way to solicit praises of being "the favorite child" from my mother was to rub her feet. Sometimes she would even pay us a dollar to rub her feet for half an hour or so. (Little did I know she was scamming us for child labor...haha!)

Attached to that memory of my mom's feet is the memory of all of us always being barefoot. I grew up in Phoenix, our grass was green, and we just didn't really wear shoes unless we had to. I am also deeply in love with sandals as the second best option to being barefooted.

As anyone could imagine, we got our floors pretty dirty. There were 5 kids in our family, Mom, Dad, and occasionally cats in the house, as well as visitors. So, the floors would get dirty. My mom was really big on sweeping and mopping, though, so they wouldn't stay dirty for long. However, on the days the floors didn't get cleaned, the bottoms of my mom's feet would get so black from being up and moving around all day long.

To me, as a child and as an adult, my mom's black-bottomed feet were a symbol of her devotion to being a mother and a homemaker. They reminded me of how much she loved us and how hard she worked to keep our home running smoothly.

Today I sat down at the computer and realized how dirty my feet were. I'd love to say it's because I'm a great homemaker and have been up and moving all day long, but I probably just need to sweep and mop the floors. :) I did do 2 loads of dishes and made an early dinner, though!

Interesting side note: there's a forum dedicated to discussing dirty feet!

My conclusions:

~Dirty feet are happy feet.
~I need to get my feet dirty more often. :)