I am the lucky winner of one defective hurt back, so sorry it took me a day to get this up on the blog. Hopefully the doc will be able to take an MRI of said back, and figure out what in the world is the malfunction. My back hates me, but there are worse things in the world so I will try not to complain too much. Thanks to an awesome friend I have been slightly relieved of pain using Blue Rub. Its an essential blue oil cream that helps quite a bit. You know what else helps? No really, do you know? Because I sure don't. Advil does nothing. At all. Any ideas? OK then. Onto happier more pallet pleasing subjects like BREAD.
One thing you need to know about me is that I love to bake. Especially bread or rolls. Or cookies. Or really anything yummy. But bread is #1 on my favorites list. One thing I haven't ever made before is Slider rolls. I have never really thought the store bought ones were all that great, so why not make them at home? Guaranteed they will be better than the crummy dry store bought ones. I found a recipe from King Arthur Flour (adapted it slightly) and gave it a try! They turned out light and moist with a fine crispy outer shell. I served them up with some carnitas with baby romaine lettuce, Famous Dave's sweet and sassy BBQ sauce (one of my favorites) and grilled pineapple. LOVED IT! Finger licking good.
First add water, yeast and sugar to an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on low. Add Butter, eggs and salt and combine. Then add flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Mix this lovely dough for an additional 7 minutes!
Then add the dough to an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in a warm location to rise until doubled. This will take about two hours. Ooh! Look how pretty the risen dough is! I seriously love bread dough. And bread. And eating bread. Bread. Nom nom..... Back to work!
Take that risen fluffy dough boy and cut him into 24 even pieces. Roll those pieces into balls. I know mine aren't perfect, but they are close enough right?
Then flatten those babies like a pancake, like so. Now they need to be covered to rise for an additional hour until doubled in size. Preheat you oven to 375 degrees.
Once they are risen till double again, brush on the egg white and water mixture. Then sprinkle with sesame and poppy seeds. You really could use any kind of seeds you have on hand. I just thought the poppy seeds gave it a pretty color contrast.
Bake for 12- 18 minutes, until golden brown on top! Oh ya. Work it dough boy. You're making us all drool over here. Let your rolls cool for a few minutes before slicing open the rolls to serve. :)
Now on to the main dish! Carnitas. Mix up your little bowl of spices and seasonings. Then rub it all over the meat on both sides.
We want to sear the meat and give it a gorgeous browned outer layer. This seals in the juices. Makes it super yummy too. Preheat a large skillet to medium-high, add your oil and allow it to heat up before adding the meat. Brown on both sides. Set it out on a cutting board. Now we want to let the meat rest for 5 minutes. This helps in retaining the juices of the meat when you cut into it. Once it has taken it's 5 minute power nap, cube that baby up into large pieces. Toss them into your Crock pot and set the temperature to high for 4 hours! Boom baby!
Now for the Juicy goodness. Pour in 3-4 cans of juice or *nectar* of your choice (just enough to cover the meat). Add brown sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes and you are ready to set it and forget it for an entire 4 hours!!! Just enough time to take a nap, clean your entire house, tie a quilt and watch Downton Abbey (for the third time) while your adoring children massage your feet! (In my dreams...) More like, clean up the mess you just made, grill some pineapple, change a few diapers and look for your sanity wherever you lost it!
Right about now you house should be smelling pretty dang delicious. I know when my friends stopped by at this point in my day they all exclaimed at how yummy my house smelled. They even came into the kitchen for a taste sampling of the deliciosity I was preparing for the evening.
Once your meat is cooked, spoon it out of the Crock pot onto a cutting board and shred it with two forks.
Place it back into the Crock pot and give it a stir. Taste the sauce and see if it needs more salt, brown sugar or pepper. Now its ready to be feasted upon. Mhmmm.
Yes please! I'll take a slider with grilled pineapple, Famous Dave's BBQ Sauce, baby romaine leaves and a home baked roll. Heaven is only 3 bites away.
CLICK ON RECIPE TO VIEW AN ENLARGED PRINTABLE PDF
CLICK ON RECIPE TO VIEW AN ENLARGED PRINTABLE PDF
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