the rolls that didn’t rise.
i am currently sipping on an airborne cocktail.
it’s my seventh one in the past 48 hours.
yes. that’s right. trying with all my might to ward off any illness that is trying to creep its way into my life before vacation. and my race.
because i am fighting the good fight, i think i should probably get to bed early. seeing as how it is already 9:12 PM, i’ve got to make this snappy.
breakfast was my usual monday morning sales meeting breakfast at the original pancake house: black coffee, eggbeaters with salsa & oatmeal with cinnamon & syrup.
for some reason, they always bring 7 million dishes to the table. i don’t understand why everything needs a saucer under it, including my bowl of oatmeal, my boss’ syrup and butter, both of our coffee mugs, my SF syrup and my side of salsa (not shown– i already dumped the salsa on my eggs at this point.) kind of a waste of dishes (which in turn is a waste of water for washing) if you ask me.
delicious every time!
lunch was a salad.
romaine, spinach, cucumbers, bell pepper, carrots, grape tomatoes, garbanzo beans, shaved turkey breast and asiago dressing.
garbanzos should go on every salad.
snack #1 was eaten while i was still at work– an odwalla super protein bar.
these are pretty delicious, now that i like raisins.
snack #2 was eaten upon getting home from work—479 black truffle & white cheddar popcorn.
this came from my swag bag from the foodbuzz festival.
i LOVED it.
i also had a huge glass of orange juice to ward off the sickness.
i didn’t work out today. or yesterday. and i probably won’t tomorrow.
dinner was typical sick kid fare—soup.
actually, canned soup. glamorous.
aside from the absurd amount of sodium, the stats aren’t half bad.
but let’s face it.. one little can of soup is NOT two servings. you know i ate the whole can.
like my owls? they are our current table centerpiece. marshall picked them out while i was in san francisco—what an adorable thing to come home to. i love him 
see? the whole can really isn’t that much.
i have actually been in search for a soup that tastes similar to campbell’s vegetarian vegetable alphabet soup. it was my absolute favorite soup as a kid. especially when i was sick. however, it has a bunch of funky ingredients so i won’t buy it. i think this can of amy’s is the closest i have come to replicating the campbell’s version!
all it needed was some fresh ground pepper.. (definitely no additional salt needed!)
you learn something new every day. today, i learned that my costco salt and pepper grinders have an adjustable setting to grind either coarse or fine. who knew? not me.
sweet.
should we talk about that brown lump to the left of my soup bowl?
yeah. about that. remember when i eluded to a homemade roll flop yesterday? well.. these are the flops.
a whole bag of sad, failed dinner rolls.
i suppose i will tell you the story. yeah, i need to get to bed, but i also need to fess up to my failed first attempt at using yeast.
i had been eying tiffany’s recipe for clean eating dinner rolls for awhile and decided yesterday would be a great time to test them out.
i followed her directions carefully, step by step.
when the time came to bake the rolls, they had not risen as much as i had anticipated. however, time was running out.. so i popped them into the oven and hoped for the best.
when they came out of the oven, they were hard as a rock.
i am pushing down on that roll real hard with my finger. it didn’t budge. not even when i clenched a roll in my fist.
sigh. i broke one open and the inside was doughy.. there was just a very hard outer shell.
sure, they taste good.. but they are definitely not the light, fluffy roll i was looking forward to!
the only saving grace of these rolls was that they held up well in my soup tonight.
well, that, and that they make great dog treats 
don’t worry, penny and randy, there is plenty more where that came from!
i plan on trying these rolls out again soon. tiffany said my water may have been at the wrong temperature, which would in turn cause the yeast to not react as it is supposed to. it’s definitely worth another shot!
oh, you probably want to know the winners of the three sister’s cereal giveaway, aye?
#131:
and #15
ladies, send me your mailing information and i will get your free cereal coupon sent to you! thanks to everyone for entering and for chiming in on your thoughts regarding instant oatmeal.
well, i am going to eat a popsicle and hit the hay. think healthy thoughts on my behalf!
Qs~
1. have you used / do you use yeast in baking? did you have success the first time you used it or did you have a flop like i did?
2. what is your favorite kind of canned soup? or do you not eat canned soup at all?
xo. janetha g.
meals & moves 
Love those owls! ;)
The only time I’ve ever used yeast was to make bread in a bread maker that my ex-husband and I got as a wedding gift… something went wrong and the loaf was a hella dense, 2 inch tall monstrosity. :)
Amy’s soups are the best, sodium aside. I love them all!
Get well soon, Janetha-lady!
Bummer about the rolls! Way to to keep your head up and try again, you’re giving me the courage to give it a shot.
Praying that you are able to ward of sickness!!!!
I stink at bread baking. I admit it. Quick breads are where it’s at!
I like homemade soup SOOO much better. But Pacific Foods makes some awesome varieties.
HUGS! (but not too close, I don’t want to get sick.)
i love baking, but it’s just kinda a trial and error thing… the more you do it, the easier it is.
and bad bread can still make decent breadcrumbs if you don’t wanna eat ’em and you don’t wanna waste ’em
Feel much much better chicky! I never understand when restaurants waste a million dishes- you would think they’d be trying to conserve so they didn’t have to wash them all. 1 can of soup always seems to equal 1 serving of soup in my book too :) Sorry about the rolls- did the mixture bubble up a bit when you added the wet to the dry? If not, maybe the yeast was no longer active. My favorite soups are V8. They have a vegetable mix you might like?
THe only soup I ever eat is the black bean soup from Panera. Love that stuff!
Every roll I make is a complete flop. I have problems with yeast. It scares the daylights out of me. But I do like that soup. You should also give the Pacific Veggie Lentil with Roasted Red Pepper a try. I just had this the other day and was so pleased with the taste, texture and overall nutrition of this soup.
um, I think we both were in the same boat the other day. I made bread that didn’t rise and I fed it to my pups. But at least yours was a simple mistake with yeast, I just plain forgot the baking powder!! I called it my blonde bread. Ya, I vented on my blog. Cheers to flat buns and bread. hehe!
LC
Amy’s is my favorite brand of soup, too!! LOVE.
I’ve had much success with yeast breads…………not sure how or why, but I’ll take it! :)
I love using yeast. Luckily, mine almost always turns out.
When I make rolls and/or bread/pizza dough, I ALWAYS rub olive oil on the outside to prevent drying while rising!! Try it!
And yes, the water needs to be fairly warm, but not too hot. If it is cold, the yeast will not activate (you could also try adding a pinch of sugar- the yeast needs to feed on something, I always do), too hot and the yeast will die. They are tempermental little buggers!
I LOVE Trader Joe’s split pea soup. With home made croutons. Mmmmmm.
xo
Oh no! Sorry you’re feeling sick :/ Amy’s no-chicken noodle is my perfect go-to for sick days :/
I’ve used yeast a few times and I’ve only really gotten it to work perfectly once…the other times it didn’t *not* work but it didnt rise like it was supposed to. Tricky, tricky little bugger!
PS – Have always hated that @ Ihop! My Cracker Barrel does the same daggum thing with the dishes!
Ha, when I read your first line I interpreted it to mean airborne as in on a plane! I was so excited for you :) In reality, I hope you feel better.
1. I tried making sourdough (from a starter kit) and I ended up with a flat, hard boomerang of bread.
2. I had some Progresso Chicken Tortilla Soup the other day that tasted great. Disclaimer – I did have a horrible allergic reaction to it and puked all day. But the flavor was spot on, so if random things don’t make you puke then I do highly recommend it.
I love Amy’s soups. I also like Health Valley Organics. Their veggie one is pretty good to me.
That is a lot of dishes! I didn’t even notice it until you said something.
I love tomato soup, so any vegan tomato soup I can find is an instant favorite!! They tend to add cream to most versions…
Those rolls actually look good to me…kind of like biscuits? Any kind of carb is delicious in my book!!
1. I’m sorry you’re sick.
2. All those saucers are ridiculous.
3. I love your picture with just the tip of the fork in focus.
4. Garbanzo beans are amazing.
5. I pounded that popcorn on the flight back. It rocks. I can’t believe you still have food left from that trip. :)
6. I swear that brand of yeast is crap. I’ve never had problems with bread rising until I bought that kind. Try another brand. Also, you probably know this, but there are little nuances between yeast so check your recipe: dry active, instant, fresh all very different in how they react.
7. BYE!
I hope you get to feeling better! Sleep, soup and dinner rolls (failed or not) should do the trick!
a) chickpeas SHOULD be on every salad
b) those odwallas are the best ones after superfood – its green and yummy
c) 1 can of soup is barely 1 serving…its a joke
d) those rolls made me laugh – sorry you had such a baking fail
Don’t feel bad about your roll problems! I’ve been yeast baking for a couple of years now, and I make almost all of our bread, but there’s a definite learning curve. For example, I learned the hard way that salt kills yeast, so your bread won’t rise if you pour the salt on top of the yeast. It also took me a while to realize that, if you buy the jar of yeast, you need to store it in the fridge; the yeast dies if you put the jar in the pantry. Yep, we had quite a few hockey puck type rolls in my house before I got the hang of things! Just keep with it, and I’m sure you’ll learn the tricks and be baking beautiful, yummy, fluffy rolls in no time.
I love using yeast, especially for my grilled pizza dough! However, I have never used the RapidRise. I always use Active Dry.
:)
It seems like everyone is fighting off some bug or another right now. It’s like a mad rush to feel better before Thursday. Keeping you in my thoughts girl!
I’m sorry about your fluffy roll fail, but it sounds like you created a fabulous cracker/bread hybrid!
Right. Should have read this post before my last comment ;) I have baking fails ALL the time. But, I think it’s made me a better baker because instead of blindly following recipes, I now know WHY some things do and don’t work. I still hate yeast though. Stupid water temperatures.
the exact reason why I dont bake/am so bad at it is because I would probably forget the yeast all together, or forget an important ingredient and they woudl turn out JUST like that! its like when i made cookies and used salt instead of sugar, yeah that was exciting. haha, I know I can’t bake I just dont think I was built that way! I do LOVE to cook though especially homemade soup!!
McDoughalls makes amazing soups and I love that they come in boxes, not cans. they are all low sodium and delicious! definately check them out! Amy’s minestrone is great too! the problem with canned soups is definately the sodium, which is why I love to make my own!!
I like canned soup in a pinch—Amy’s is good and there’s one other brand but I have no idea the name–I just know what it looks like!
Where’d you get that soup bowl? It’s so cute!
Hope you feel better J! Brian woke up not feeling well this morning too :l
I tried making yeast bread a few times and haven’t yet had sucess… Hoping my luck will change ;P
I don’t eat canned soups much, but when I do… I like amy’s (esp low sodium kind) and TJ’s chicken noodle YUM.
The trick to making breads out of whole wheat anything is to add a TBSP of vital-yeast gluten per cup of flour you use :) It does the trick every time. Otherwise the breads are too dense. It has to do with the percentage of gluten in the flour: if you’re using white flour, all the bran etc. is gone, leaving a higher percentage of gluten. So if you add that back in to the WW, it is way more “cohesive” :)
Try it!
I meant “vital-WHEAT gluten” :)
My boyfriend would give up his d*ck for those owls!
I use yeast once in a while, and I’ve had if flop with pizza crust – which wasn’t too bad, actually.
And I like Amy’s lentil soup – it’s so hearty tasting!
I have to make dinner rolls on Thursday..and now I’m scared!! That is too funny about the grinder settings…haha. Hope you stay healthy!!! No time for being sick around the holidays :)
I’ll bake with yeast when I have to, but it makes me nervous.
I love Amy’s soups. I’ve found that adding bulgur or small pasta to her veggie or tomato soups tastes like alphabet soup or spaghetti o’s.
Yes, I use yeast when I bake. I love Amy’s Soups
yeast is really like chemistry class. I actually did ok in my baking class in culinary school but I failed, yes FAILED chemistry in college! In fact the teacher felt so bad for me, she advised me to just drop out before the grades were in! But i learned in culinary school the key is too have the perfect atmosphere for it to rise, humid and and little hot, so maybe over an oven or even in the bathroom! Yeast doughnuts are like nuggest of mouth orgasms. Ok, that sounds bad, but you know what I mean.
I am so scared of using yeast! I really need to work myself up to this. Don’t worry about the flop – I’m sure I would have failed far worse!
Good luck on staying well/ getting better. :)
hope you feel better soon! It’s not fun to be sick on a holiday, especially a fun one like thanksgiving!!!
i’ve never tried cooking with yeast, i leave stuff like that to the professionals :)
jen
I’ve had many many rock hard roll fails, but after so many fails you are left with some good soft rolls. I’ve been working on perfecting my whole wheat pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving and tonight I’ll be testing out my final dough.
Hope you feel better – keep fighting girl :)
Hope you’ve warded it off!
OMG – your saucer rant slayed me. I had to read it out loud to Chris. So true and hilarious. I really think you should point that out to OPH, although it probably makes everything easier to carry now that I think about it. But, seriously, the planet only has so much water.
Rolls and bread baking is so hard sometimes…it definitely takes practice and I have and still have my fair share of fails. But you HAVE TO try this recipe!
It is so easy, only rises for 20 minutes, and they always turn out light, warm, and perfect for wheat rolls. I left out the wasabi powder, because I didn’t have it, but it would probably be delicious. Hope you try them!
http://www.neverhomemaker.com/2010/10/wasabi-dinner-rolls-no-waiting.html
oh gosh I cannot even tell you how many bread and roll recipes we have thrown into the trash. Bread baking is hard!
I love chickpeas, we use garbanzo bean flour to make a savory bread, which is actually easy to make, which is good for us since we are not bread bakers ; )
Hope you feel better soon!
~Michelle
ugh, yeast.
the first time i used it, i made the BEEST bread. i was so excited, and feeling so confident, that i did the same recipe about two weeks later.
welp, even after 5 (!!!) failed attempts at that SAME recipe, it still didn’t work :'(.
so i understand. but better luck next time :)
That bread actually looks great! I’d do with with chili, or put it in the oven with some butter and garlic and make garlic bread!
Or grind it into bread crumbs, stuffing, croutons, bread pudding, with soup, or in a casserole or pie! You can crumble them in or on top (like an blueberry or apple crisp) and they soak up the flavor!!!
Amy’s has my favorite Alphabetti replacement soup! Thanks for the soup recommendation- I’ve never SEEN or tried this one!
Barbara
Thanks for the sweet recipe!