Recipe

For disaster would be to send George to sit outside a store all night for any reason. If I really want him to do something, usually I can get him to, but I know he would not do this. He is going to town now and he is supposed to get me a paper. I may or may not have a paper when he gets back, but I have a better chance than he does when he sends me for stuff. And, I would not sit outside a store all night for him either.

I was not going shopping today, but it was 6:30 and I had been up over an hour and George was asleep, so I decided to go to Walmarts at Berryville. They are never all that busy. I spent more than I meant to. I wanted to get Hannah one of those doll things with the stroller, and all the other pieces for her birthday that was on special. I did not like the looks of it when I saw it. It was $19 and they had a nicer one that was only $30 regular price. When I take her shopping Monday we will see if this is what she wants. I did get her a doll for her birthday that Mommie and Daddy will love. You put its bottle in its mouth and it makes drinking sounds; take the bottle out and it cries a realistic baby cry. Hannah, the hard hearted, will love hearing it cry; Mommie and Daddy not so much.

Mostly I got stuff for me, a $13 crock pot, a $4 electric mixer, a $4 electric chopper and a 4 GB USB drive for $8. I did get the babies some $3 pjs and sweatshirts for Hannah's birthday. Buying the $4 mixer made me think of Helen. I am sure she has one of those stand mixers. I always thought they were more trouble than they were worth, getting it out, setting it up, cleaning it up, putting it up. The little one I have is avocado green and maybe I got it when I got married 37 years ago. After taking the new red one out of the box, I think I may just keep my old one and give this one to Jackie. The one I have is heavy and the new one is very light. I equate light with flimsy. The chopper is like the mixer, I would like to have a big food chopper that does lots of things, but I know I would never use it because I would be thinking about putting it together, taking it apart, cleaning it and putting it up. This one may have the same problem, but I am only out $4 if I do not use it. It is small and I found a place by the toaster for it. I can always give it to one of the kids later if I do not use it.

And, now, do you want my roll recipe? Every time we have a dinner here, unless it is a BBQ, Mama has to make home made rolls. I have been making rolls for 35 years, and they are one of the easiest things to make in my book.

My recipe is to dissolve the yeast in warm water (baby bottle warm) with a teaspoon of sugar to make sure it is still good. Remember the 8 year old can of pumpkin. Heat the milk in the microwave until good and warm. Use at least 1/4 cup of fat of some sort (oil, lard, shorting, or my favorite melted margarine). Use at least 1/4 cup sugar, but I usually use 1/3 cup and probably about 2/3 cup if I am making Cinnamon rolls instead of just rolls. Do not use just water, but sometimes I use half water and half milk. Thanks to Helen, I use only the egg yolk and throw out the egg white. Add the sugar, melted margarine and about a teaspoon of salt to the warm to hot milk. Add a cup or so of flour to this moisture. Beat it until it is smooth and elastic and looks like a bread base. Do this a few hundred times and you will know what I mean. Add the egg yolk (2 yolks for a large batch, more than 2 pans is a large batch). Beat again. Add the yeast mixture (use 1 package yeast for a small batch, 2 for a large batch or to hurry the process along, 3 or 4 for a very large batch, but I recommend making 2 large batches instead of 1 very large batch). Add flour a cup or so at a time and knead it in until you have dough that is right for bread dough. Make it into a smooth ball, put in a greased bowl, turn to grease the top, put kitchen towel on top and let rise til doubled or until ready to make into rolls. Pinch off roll size pieces, make smooth ball and put in greased baking pan. Place towel on top and let rise till doubled. Bake in 375 oven until done. Take a stick of margarine and run over the tops of the rolls when you first take them out of the oven. I use about 1/4 stick per pan for this. Most of the time these rolls are very good. Sometimes they are not. Helen's egg yolk in place of the whole egg helps keep the left over rolls moist for the left overs that you eat the next day. If you are going to eat them all within an hour or so, you can use the whole egg.

The real secret to making good yeast rolls is to enjoy eating good yeast rolls and being the only member of your household that is going to cook anything. If you want good food to eat, and no one else in the house is going to cook good food, you will learn to cook.