Gooey Delicious Whole Wheat Orange Rolls, updated

UPDATE: I've played with this recipe more since originally posting and have found that the more orange, the better. So below you'll find some additions and increases in the orange ingredients that make these rolls even yummier.

If I were a poet, I would write an ode to my sister Cayenne and dough enhancer. Together, you two have rocked my world.

If you will recall, a while back Cayenne posted a recipe for Gooey Delicious Cinnamon Rolls.
I'm a dietitian, so I've had a great food nerd dream of making them with whole wheat flour. Well I finally picked up some dough enhancer* and my dream has come to fruition. Sort of. I was out of brown sugar, so I made orange rolls instead. SO YUMMY! My husband actually thought I'd bought them somewhere. I want to play around a little more and see if maybe I can use honey instead of granulated sugar, but for now these are delicious just the way they are. They're not low cal or in any way better to eat more of than normal orange or cinnamon rolls, but it's great to know that I can get a couple of servings of whole grains while indulging myself.

Here is the modified recipe, changes are in italics:

Whole Wheat Orange Rolls
1 1/4 oz package active dry yeast (since I'm not sure exactly what that is I throw in about 2 TBS)
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine (I like butter better) melted (Smart Balance)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp dough enhancer 
1-2 tbsp orange zest (more never hurts)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Throw in everything else but the flour and mix it well. Then slowly add the flour and start getting your elbows good and dirty kneading it (this is the best part, get out all those frustrations grrr)

Put the dough into a bowl, cover and let it rise for about an hour or until it is doubled in size. Once it is you can take it out, plop it on a floured surface and roll it out to about a quarter of an inch thick. Melt or soften some butter and spread it all over. Combine 3/4 cup sugar with 2 tbsp or more fresh orange zest then sprinkle on top of butter.

Roll it up and using some handy dandy floss cut it into about 1-2 inch chunks. place them on a pan and let them raise another 1/2 hour or so. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Just until thy are beautifully golden brown. mmmm, making myself hungry!




Now for the BEST part. The icing.

1/4 cup butter or margarine (Smart Balance)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar or thereabouts
1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese (fat free...we bought some by accident and while I usually find it inedible and gross, it was great in the frosting and I will definitely use it again)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

Cream together softened butter and cream cheese. Beat in powdered sugar then add orange juice. Should make a nice thick glaze but not a stiff frosting. Once the little beauties are cooled, ice to taste.

*Dough enhancer is a specialty baking product that helps whole wheat flour behave more like white all-purpose flour. It's more than just wheat gluten. It has stabilizers that keep baked goods aloft rather than becoming dense and hard. You can buy dough enhancer or make your own. 

Rosemary

And yes, those are pictures of Cayenne's Cinnamon Rolls. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures.

Orange-scented stir-fry

I had to get creative to make a decent dinner in a hurry last night, so I made up a new stir-fry sauce. I liked it pretty well and will attempt to tell you what went into it.

Orange-Scented Stir-Fry

2 medium oranges
1/3 cup soy sauce (I used lite soy sauce which is lower in sodium)
1/4 tsp or so ground ginger
1 clove garlic minced or mashed (not sure how essential this one is, but it didn't detract)
crushed red pepper to whatever level of spiciness you like
1/4 cup or so water
1-2 tbsp corn starch
1 lb your choice of meat or 14 oz. tofu
5-6 cups sliced vegetables of your choice
canola or vegetable oil as needed
cooked rice

Remove zest from 1/2 to all of one of the oranges into a bowl large enough to accommodate your meat (don't skip the zest! It gave it the signature orange flavor that you're looking for that you can't get from juice alone). Juice both oranges into the same bowl and add soy sauce, ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper, and water, stirring to combine. Place sliced meat in the newly-formed marinade for half an hour or more in the refrigerator.

Stir-fry vegetables, remove from pan/wok and set aside. Remove meat from marinade with a slotted spoon and stir-fry it. After meat is cooked, return vegetables to the wok. Stir corn starch into the remaining marinade and then pour it into the wok as well. Allow everything to cook together for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens up and all remaining salmonella or e. coli is dead. Serve atop rice.

Not bad for a first try at this. The amount of soy sauce is something of a guess since I added more than that and thought it was too much. I'll definitely try this one again though.

Rosemary

Zesty and Delicious...Potatoes?

Having oodles of wonderful Idaho-grown potatoes at my disposal I decided to get a bit creative and try out a new potato recipe or two. Not that I don't love all the traditional (and abundant) uses for potatoes, but I just wanted to really test their limits...So, here is one recipe that I found particularly interesting and figured I might as well share. I mean really, who could possibly RESIST the call of Idaho potatoes...don't you hear them? They say..."eat me....eeeeeeat me" see, they like it. So you should like them, it is only fair. If you would like the verdict from this highly unusual recipe please see the end of this post.

*Note: If you do not happen to have true Idaho potatoes handy I am sure that in light of the circumstances it can be forgiven to use some other regionally grown potatoes.

Orange Potato Meringue Pie (from the cookbook "Tasty Taters Potato Cookbook"

1 c. unseasoned mashed potatoes (I made mine from scratch, which works great I would
just recommend spending a bit more time to make sure you mash them well, chunks
taste a little funny in pie, that's all I'm saying)
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
2 egg yolks (save the whites)
1 whole egg
1 Tbsp grated orange rind
1 unbaked pie shell

Mix all those ingredients together until smooth and pour into your pie shell. Pop it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until it is set and then put your meringue (see below) on it and bake for another 20 min or until it is nice and browned.

Meringue: beat together the two egg whites, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and 6 Tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form. *note when beating egg whites it is best to use a metal bowl and to not dip your fingers in it, oils make it much more difficult to get those stiff peaks.

Verdict: This was an alright pie. I guess it wasn't really the best fit for me because AFTER I made the pie I remember that I'm not really a pie person to start with, and in addition, I've never really been a meringue person...but this was just too interesting to resist. My biggest problem was how sweet it was, I think if you cut back on the sugar that you use it would be a LOT better. So, this was a very sweet pie and mine had potato chunks in it, which made for some interesting textures but didn't really taste bad. The flavors themselves were pretty good. I do have to say though that the best part was the pie crust, which I made from scratch and was super proud of. Turned out super flaky and delicious. mmmm... but feel free to play with this some. I think it might taste good with some nuts in it as well, but maybe I'm just weird.

Up next...
Some form of potato cookies!
-Cayenne