Northwest Nom Nom

Sayonara summer, make way for cozy, carb-y autumn! A perfect pairing with chilly nights: these savory black garlic butter rolls, piping hot from the oven in less than an hour.

This recipe is quick, simple, and makes your home smell like Olive Garden garlic breadsticks all day long. We love to dip these bad boys in soups, turn them into ham & cheese hot sliders, or just devour plain while watching British Bake Off on the couch.

Print

Black Garlic Butter Rolls

In less than an hour, you can have hot, buttery bread on your table, and in your stomach

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 15 Rolls

Author Kelsey Connolly

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter plus more for brushing on top
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast (one packet)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black garlic seasoning
• salt and papper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°f. Grease a glass 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray

2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Stir in the water, milk, and honey, and microwave again for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture reaches 115°f.

3. Pour into a large bowl under a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast evenly over the warm mixture, stirring to combine, and let rest for 5 minutes. When it is activated and ready, it should look foamy.

4. Add in the flour and salt, and mix with the dough hook attachment over low-medium speed. Continue for 3-4 minutes, until the dough pulls away from the bowl and is a little tacky, but not sticky, to the touch. If the dough feels too sticky, add one additional tablespoon of flour at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

5. Transfer the dough into a greased bowl, and cover with a towel. Let rest and rise for 15 minutes.

6. Divide the risen dough into 15 equal pieces and roll into balls. Place the dough balls into the prepared glass baking dish, and cover again with a towel to rise for 15 minutes.

7. Uncover the dough balls and bake for 15 minutes. The rolls should look a little blonde, but cooked through.

8. Melt 2 additional tablespoons of butter, and stir in black garlic seasoning. Salt and pepper to taste, and brush onto the tops of the rolls.

9. Broil the buttered rolls for 2 minutes, or until golden brown and fragrant. Enjoy hot, and store covered for up to 5 days. Serve these with Thanksgiving dinner, or beside hot soup, or warmed with butter for a savory treat.

Last night, I promised my 4-year-old daughter I would teach her how to make bread this morning. Then, I stayed up all night with a cluster-feeding newborn. Do you think my oldest daughter remembered we were making bread at 6am this morning? You betcha she did. Oh, the things we do for love.

Despite the fact that I’m a Kindergarten teacher, I didn’t intend for this to be a deeply educational experience. However, after we gave the yeast in the bowl a nice warm drink and “tucked it in for a nap” by covering it with a tea towel, it was my daughter that pointed out that the yeast needed to be fed and rested just like her new little sister!

Bread, much like motherhood, can feel intimidating and overwhelming. For both, there are so many competing schools of thought! And, just like motherhood, the best way to get from Point-A to Point-delicious-homemade-bread is to just get started. Know you are probably going to do something wrong and get your hands messy, but in the end you will end up with a delicious, warm, crusty loaf of baby- I mean bread!

This bread recipe is simple, easy to follow, and comes together quickly. There is a lot of “do this quick thing, and then let it rest”. This crusty loaf is great dipped in soup, sliced and made into sandwiches, or even munched on plain, in the middle of the night when you’re starving and the baby just wants to party. Speaking from personal experience, of course.

Print

No-knead No-nonsense Bread

A simple, easy-to-follow basic bread recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pkg active-dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ¼ cup warm water
• cornmeal for dusting

Instructions

1. Stir together flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the warm water. Using a silicone spatula or your hands, stir to combine until shaggy. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for two hours at room temperature. This is called proofing.

2. Uncover your proofed dough. Use your hands to gather the edges and press into the center, like folding an envelope. This creates a taut, dome-like shape to the bottom of the dough, which will become the beautiful, crusty top of your bread.

3. Lay down parchment paper on the counter, and dust with cornmeal. Upend the bowl of dough onto the cornmeal, so that the gathered side is faced down and the taut, domed side is face up. Dust the top with flour, and cover with the empty bowl for another 30 minutes to proof again. Meanwhile, place a Dutch oven inside your oven and preheat to 450°.

4. After 30 minutes, uncover your dough. You can score the top using kitchen shears or a very sharp knife, to allow for some steam to escape. Use the edges of the paper to lift your dough and transfer the parchment paper and dough into your preheated Dutch oven. Cover with the lid. Bake for 30 minutes covered, and then an additional 15 minutes uncovered. Remove and let cool for half an hour before slicing. Enjoy!

Hark and hallelujah, baby Josie Rose is here! After a long hiatus from writing (or really doing anything other than pandemic teaching) during the long, dark year that was 2020, we are back and ready to get cooking!

For those that have had a baby, you know the Newborn Fog is no joke. There is very little sleep happening, and my body is still recovering from my second and last pregnancy and cesarian birth. Food is primarily for survival right now, and grocery shopping has not been on our regular routine. Enter stage right, my tried-and-true Breakfast Country Crack Casserole.

This recipe has been my go-to recipe for family vacations to feed a croud, last-minute brunch plans (what are those? 2020 was wild.) and my current favorite…. just something in the fridge that is already made and ready to eat. It has 7 easy ingredients that are probably already in your pantry- frozen tater tots from the back of your freezer, an old packet of ranch dressing mix, pre-shredded cheese, some bell pepper you meant to slice up to feed to your toddler but is now looking more wrinkly than your deflated, post-pregnancy belly… it also includes such hits as “almost no dishes”, “toddler-approved” and “very little effort”.

This meal really hits the spot for breakfast, lunch-breakfast, dinner-breakfast, or 3am I-need-sustenance breakfast. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go nap under a pile of laundry while the baby is snoozing…. oops, too late!

Print

Breakfast Country Crack Casserole

The perfect seven-ingredient dump-and-go or prep-ahead breakfast casserole for a crowd, or to munch on through the week.

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb breakfast sausage
• 1 bag frozen tater tots
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheese blend
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 packet ranch dressing seasoning mix (Uncle Dan's is our favorite)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a skillet, cook the breakfast sausage until browned, breaking the sausage into small bits with a spatula.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the frozen tater tots, the cooked breakfast sausage, the chopped bell pepper, and the shredded cheese. Dump mixture into greased baking dish.

4. In the same mixing bowl as before, whisk together eggs, milk, and ranch seasoning- pay particular attention to the bottom of the bowl, where the ranch mix tends to settle and clump. Pour over the tater tots in the baking dish and smooth to distribute everything evenly.

5. Bake for 60 minutes, uncovered, or until the eggs are cooked through and serve. Alternatively, you can cover and refrigerate overnight and bake the next morning instead.

A bun is in the oven! A baby, that is. And this baby is serving me all kinds of crazy nausea and food aversions, which has made cooking really challenging! Luckily, I have some comfort foods up my sleeve, and one of my favorites is warm blueberry muffins, with a little butter inside.

This recipe is easy- so easy, I was able to turn it into some quality time with my daughter (not in short supply during quarantine). I love how the sour cream gives it a creamy zing, and the blueberries are plentiful and juicy! I hope this recipe brings you as much comfort as it did for us. Enjoy!

Print

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour + extra for coating blueberries
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup browns sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup Canola oil
• 2 cup sour cream
• 3 cups fresh blueberries washed and dried

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F

2. Grease a muffin tin with butter or cooking spray. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer on high, beat together the eggs, the white and brown sugar, and the salt for 5 minutes.

4. Add in the sour cream, vanilla, and canola oil. Beat on low for about 1 minute, until combined.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, the baking powder, and the baking soda. Keeping the electric mixer on low speed, slowly incorporate the dry mixture into the wet mixture until smooth. Then, turn off the mixer- we don't want to over-beat the batter and create tough muffins!

6. Separately, coat the blueberries in a couple tablespoons of flour. Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries carefully into the batter. Remember, over-mixed batter will yield a muffin with a tough consistency. We want tender and light!

7. Using a half-cup, spoon muffin batter into the greased muffin tin, almost to the top. You will work in two batches. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375°F until golden on top and cooked through.

8. Makes 2 dozen muffins. Serve warm, with butter, and enjoy! Best fresh, still awesome frozen in a freezer-safe zip top bag and reheated in the microwave.

You will find that I am the crowned and reigning Unapologetic Shortcut Queen. My garlic? It’s always coming from a jar, friend. Wine? That’s a box, from the distinguished vineyards of Bota. Two of my shortcut items that you will always find in my fridge: pre-shredded Mexican cheese blend (because it’s melty as hell) and pre-cut vegetables. I know, sue me, I’m a fraud.

The latter two ingredients lend itself to a very easy stovetop Mac & Cheese that finds its way into our kitchen most weeks- usually on a Tuesday where I have no patience, no time, and three hungry bellies to feed. Look, it even has a vegetable! One pot only! Barely any utensils to wash! These are things that really matter on a Tuesday.

Without further ado, I present to you my magical weeknight Creamy Broccoli Mac & Cheese. If you want to take the time to shred a block or two of various cheeses, be my guest, I am endlessly impressed. If it interests you to cut a whole vegetable, go right ahead. I promise this meal will taste the same. Hey, it’s better than blue-box macaroni, right?

Print

Creamy Broccoli Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 pound Rotini pasta
• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup milk whole preferred
• 1 1/4 cup half & half
• 2 cups shredded cheese mexican cheese blend
• 1/2 tsp dried mustard
• 3 cups broccoli chopped

Instructions

1. In a large pot, boil salted water. Add the rotini and cook al dente, to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in the same warm pot over medium heat. Then, whisk in the flour, salt, and pepper, until the mixture becomes lightly browned.

3. Whisk continuously while slowly adding in the milk, half & half, and dried mustard until warm and thickened, about 3 minutes.

4. Mix in the shredded cheese, the broccoli, and the rotini pasta. Stir until combined, about 3 minutes.

5. Salt & pepper to taste, and serve to happy, hungry family!

Everyone has their own, unique way to wind down from the holidays. For some, tidying the house to get ready for the new year is their way to unwind (look around my house, clearly this is not mine). For others, relief comes from exercise or getting outdoors. For my 3-year-old, peace and bliss came in the form of an hour-long bubble bath to play with her new bath toys from Santa- a coping mechanism to get her over her Holiday Hangover- three days of nonstop entertainment, presents, sugar, and attention.

For me, my Holiday Hangover is best spent in solitude, felt-tip marker in hand, reading through a stack of new cookbooks. I love to read cookbooks, cover to cover, introduction through acknowledgement. I put a little heart in the corner of recipes that I intend to try, and later will color the hearts in after the recipe has been attempted, tasted, and devoured. If you ever crack open one of my recipe books, you will find several pages covered in notes and splattered oil, dog-eared and sticky-noted.

This year, my sister gifted me “Molly on the Range”, Molly Yeh’s darling cookbook filled with exciting new spices and intriguing recipes following in the footsteps of her unique Jewish & Chinese heritage. I love that because she is kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere, her ingredients are simple and easy to find, while her flavors and dishes are exciting and and full of flavor- accessibly exotic, sprinkled with some great writing and a dash humor.

Today, I woke up and decided to make hummus. Actually, that is a lie because I had to soak them overnight! Nevertheless, those little chickpeas had plumped and were ready for me to attempt Molly’s hummus- with a Nom Nom twist, of course.

Everything went swimmingly, until the blending. Why did I think my Instant Pot Ace blender was a better tool than my old, cheap food processor? It’s difficult to say. But it resulted in a very creamy, almost peanut-buttery consistency at the bottom and a chunky and bland mess at the top. Luckly, good old Oster the Grouch, my loving and dependable food processor, was up for the challenge.

That’s when I saw the Everything Bagel seasoning, winking at me coyingly from across the kitchen. Molly Yeh’s hummus is amazing, and it was finished, and yet… I wondered if I could Sunday-fy this hummus into a brunchy bite with some seasoning and toppings.

Here are the results- creamy, balanced, and perfect smeared on a bagel or dipped with some fresh cucumber. I liked it best topped with the red onion and some crumbled feta. Enjoy!

*** Recipe adapted from Molly Yeh, from her cookbook “Molly On The Range” ***

Print

Everything Bagel Hummus

A take on Molly Yeh's hummus recipe- flavored with everything bagel seasoning and best enjoyed for Sunday brunch, smeared on a bagel, with hot coffee in hand.

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp everything bagel seasoning

For topping

• thinly-sliced red onion to taste
• everything bagel seasoning to taste
• olive oil to taste
• chopped flat-leaf parsley
• crumbled feta (optional)

Instructions

1. Pour dried chickpeas in a medium bowl and cover with enough water that it reaches 2 inches above the beans. Soak overnight, or for 12 hours.

2. In a colander, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Pour them into a medium pot and add the baking soda. Cover again with water so that it reaches 2 inches above the beans, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 2 hours. Drain again and let cool for about 10 minutes.

3. In a food processor (not a high-powered blender! Trust me, wrong tool!), add the chickpeas, along with the tahini, the garlic, the lemon juice, and the water. Blend for 2 minutes, drizzling with olive oil, until blended. Add Everything Bagel seasoning and blend again, for 1 minute. Salt to taste and transfer to a serving bowl.

4. Top hummus with additional Everything Bagel seasoning, thinly-sliced red onion (we used a vegetable peeler), chopped parsley, feta, and olive oil. Serve still-warm or room temperature with veggies, pita, or on your favorite bagel.

My mom and I are many things. You could describe us as passionate educators, creative home cooks, and even above-average mothers (her more than me, but then again, I’m still in the throes of the Early Parenting Trenches). One word you would not use to describe my mother and me would be television personalities.

And Yet!

Somehow, by either coincidence or luck or by someone playing a trick on my mom, we have been featured THRICE on our favorite local news morning station, KGW Sunrise. This has all been within the last six months. In fact, when our segment airs next week (November 22nd, but who is counting), we will have to back-to-back segments running during the same morning show: one featuring these DELICIOUS smoked gouda mashed potatoes during their Thanksgiving-themed Viewer Recipes spot, and one featuring our beloved local meteorologist, Rod Hill, enjoying the “chaos of Kindergarten” by joining our classroom and teaching the Kinders about wind and weather.

While I do believe my Kindergarteners are so cute, they will steal the hearts of many… I also think these smoked gouda mashed potatoes are so damn delicious, they will steal the show, and the stomachs, of the KGW Sunrise viewers.

Here are three reasons why:

1. They use the Instant Pot only, so this is a glorious 1-pot meal that will avoid the Dishes Dilemma after you are finished gorging yourself on Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, and 5 helpings of these mashed potatoes.
2. They can be made ahead, which means that you can make this a day ahead and easily transport and reheat to any potluck, family gathering, or in our case, every Thanksgiving dinner since 2011.
3. They take up no room on the stove or in the oven, which is a huge selling point during the Thanksgiving day cooking chaos. Sometimes, we literally reheat these in the back bedroom to keep it out of the way.

So, if you are looking for the perfect Thanksgiving side dish to bring to your family’s Thanksgiving table this year, look no further than our very favorite smoked gouda mashed potatoes. Gobble Gobble, friends!