Chicken Noodle Soup & Dinner Rolls

Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup 
Larissa Terry

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium-size carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf, use fresh if available
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts chicken stock
1 pound wide egg noodles
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken cutlets, cut into bite-size pieces
 Directions 
Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat with EVOO. Add celery, carrots, onions and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2-3 minutes then add chicken stock. Bring to a boil and add the egg noodles. Cook according to the package instructions, adding the chicken pieces during the last 4-5 minutes of cooking. Ladle a portion of noodles, chicken, vegetables and soup into a bowl & Enjoy!

Dinner Rolls

Ingredients

2 c. whole milk (if you’re in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don’t use 1% or skim)
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour
3 beaten eggs

 Directions 

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It’s salty. It’s sweet. Yum.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

 While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.

Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.

Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375.

 Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.

When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls. You must now eat one. Now. While it’s hot.
 Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

Bagels!

Bagels
Abby Belnap

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

2 tsp yeast

2 tbs honey

3 tsp salt

3 cups white flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

favorite toppings such as sesame seeds or poppy seeds set aside on a small plate to dip the bagels in

Poaching liquid:

2-3 quarts water

1 1/2 tbs honey

1 tbs baking soda

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Add the yeast, sugar, and salt to the warm water and let the yeast activate for several minutes until nice and foamy. 

Using a mixer or by hand, add the flour slowly while mixing and let mix for about 3 minutes after all the flour is well incorporated.  Let sit in the bowl for 5 minutes and then mix again for another 3 minutes.

Put in a greased bowl, covered, and let rise for an hour.

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and shape into bagels.  How we did this was we took the balls of dough, stuck our finger in the middle to create a whole we spun the dough around our two pointer fingers until it formed a nice ring.

Place the shaped bagels on a baking sheet covered with wax paper and cover them.  Refrigerate over night.

Remove the bagels the next day and allow to come to room temperature.

Let the poaching liquid come to a boil and give each bagel about 30 seconds or so in the boiling liquid.  After the time is up remove them and put them puffy side down onto the plate of toppings.  Remove and place on a baking sheet bottom side down.  We used a pizza stone sprinkled with a little corn meal and it worked fantastic.

Bake at 450 for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.