An Unknown Child & Finnicky Bread

If I had to pick one word to describe my weekend it would be flour, or maybe milk, or maybe yeast...but more on that in a bit.

For the most part Hubby & I had a plan-free weekend, minus one big obstacle on Saturday afternoon...another section of the CPA exam for Hubby. However, that was only Saturday afternoon so we were able to have a pretty fabulous weekend otherwise!

Friday evening we voted for dinner out & some shopping for our shoeboxes! Our church participates in the Operation Christmas Child campaign each year & while the deadline snuck up on us last year, we weren't about to push it aside this year! We headed to Walmart & first hit up the storage aisle for our shoebox...and then it was time to fill it full of all sorts of goodies. We both chose the oldest age group & I just hope the kids...wherever they are & whatever circumstances they are going through...will feel some love & joy from an unknown follower of Christ from all the way around the world.

Our church took a moment during the service yesterday to bless all the boxes that were being sent out from our congregation. It was quite a moving experience to see all those boxes placed at the front of our sanctuary and ready to be loved & enjoyed by whatever child might receive them.

We filled ours with hygiene items, games, nail polish for the girl, & Legos for the boy....and of course some hard candy just to put a smile on their face!

And now for the word of the weekend...FLOUR. But first a bit of background--a few months ago my in-laws decided to come to Missouri for Thanksgiving which meant for the first time in our marriage, Hubby & I would be attending my family Thanksgiving. Thankfully, my in-laws are also going to be joining my family and I can't wait for Thursday! It will be incredibly to have all of those I love so much together in one place at one time!

Ok, so when we realized I would be in town I was quick to offer up my assistance to my mom...who will be hosting our crazy & big family for the Thanksgiving feast. After my fabulous first attempt at yeast rolls, it was decided that I would be in charge of the very important task of dinner rolls. I was actually really excited, I mean my grandma has always made the rolls in the past but with her health it's just easier for someone else to take on the job--of course that also means I have HUGE shoes to fill.

Pioneer Woman's recipe was my savior, with just a minor adjustment of making them single rolls instead of the 3-part, pull apart rolls. My task started last Wednesday night with making the first batch of dough with plans to finish out the rolls on Thursday night & pop them in the freezer! However, let's just say that baking yeast bread doesn't always go as planned and that batch was a BIG FAT FAIL!!! I didn't make the rolls big enough so although the rose perfectly, they simply spread out in the pan. I was incredibly frustrated but vowed to try again Saturday morning.

Ready for the oven...

They look so yummy, even before baking!

I'm proud to say that Saturday morning was a huge success! I ended up with 72, well 69 after a few samplings, gorgeous, golden brown dinner rolls. I decided that since the rolls weren't huge, and with the appetite of my family I would make another batch and worst case, we would have leftovers at our house...which certainly isn't a bad thing when it comes to homemade rolls.

Well, I think I got overly confident & I'm not exacty sure what went wrong, but it was something...and my 2nd batch on Saturday ended up hard as rocks, no rising obviously meant a roll that you could literally use for batting practice! So...3rd batch...BIG FAT FAIL!!!

Well, not to be defeated & wanting to end the weekend on a good note...I decided to try once again on Sunday afternoon. I used the excuse of needing more rolls, but really I was determined to win the battle of the yeast--at least for this weekend! So, try, try, try again...and SUCCESS!! This time I ended up with 64 beautifully golden rolls as I made them slightly bigger than the other successfuly batch.

All ready for some butter...

or maybe some peanut butter, or jelly, or honey...or all of the above!

Some of you may have opted for Rhodes rolls or just rolls in a bag, but that just wouldn't do for my family full of wonderfully talented cooks. I'm proud to say that after 36 cups of flour, 16 cups of milk, 4 cups of oil, 4 cups of sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt...I have plenty of delicious homemade rolls to go around for family Thanksgiving. Now, hopefully I remember to get them out of the freezer!

In addition to the last batch of rolls, Sunday brought out the Clark Griswold in Hubby & he got all the Christmas lights put up...although I have a strict rule of them not being turned on until after Thanksgiving. Because of that, more pictures will have to wait!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving week! I know I'm so looking forward to this 3-day work week!