Hidden Veggies: Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls That Impress

A family-friendly recipe for soft and savory rolls with a hidden veggie

We figure plenty of people like us might have overbought their sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and still have a couple of them rolling about the pantry after the holiday. Fresh sweet potatoes are pretty hardy and will last a while, but it's best to get them used up to avoid waste. We decided to mash some more of them, and instead of making something common, hide them in a dinner roll.

Hidden veggies are, in our opinion, the best when you have little ones. Our little one is not so little any longer - he has instead entered the "I subsist entirely on processed garbage and carbs" phase - and this still worked quite nicely for him. Even after he realized there was a vegetable (gasp!) in his bread (the affront!), he still ate more of them than anyone else at the table.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes

2 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm milk

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

small amount of butter or olive oil, for greasing the bowl and pan

Tools:

10 inch cast iron skillet or large Dutch oven

measuring cups and spoons

knife or bench scraper (for leveling flour and separating dough)

mixing bowl(s)

instant-read thermometer (useful but not strictly necessary)

stand mixer with dough hook (useful but not strictly necessary)

While we started with fresh sweet potatoes, and peeled, boiled, drained and mashed them, you don't have to. You're welcome to begin with baked sweet potatoes, frozen or even canned if you can find the unsweetened kind.

The important part is to have half a cup, post-mashing, with minimal to no other ingredients, and to allow that half cup to cool to room temperature.

Heat your water to somewhere over 100 degrees but less than 115. This is where a thermometer comes in handy, but if you don't have one, here's a little trick to guess the water temperature. Run the water at the kitchen tap and hold a finger under it until you can feel the water getting good and hot. Just before it gets too hot to keep your finger in the water, fill the cup and turn off the water. (Career cooks and servers, please disregard this advice and find a thermometer, as your heat tolerance is generally higher than average.) From this full cup of water, measure out the three tablespoons you need. Add the dry yeast to it, stir, and sprinkle in a pinch of sugar.

Assuming your sweet potato mash has had a chance to cool, add it to the mixing bowl (or the mixer, if you're using one like we did). Measure in the sugar, salt, butter and warm milk. Stir until combined.

Add in the yeast/water/sugar mixture and give a quick mix before measuring in one and a half level cups of flour. Make sure not to pack the flour into the measuring cups, and to use the flat side of a knife or the edge of a bench scraper to take any excess off the top.

Mix with a dough hook or knead by hand until dough starts to form. It'll be sticky at this stage. If you're using a stand mixer, this is the last stage you'll want it to work on. Even the vaunted KitchenAid will struggle with dense doughs, and this one is about to get dense.

Add another half cup of flour to the sticky dough ball in the mixing bowl. Knead it in by hand. If the dough is still feeling sticky - not tacky, but well and truly sticky - add up to another three quarters of a cup of flour. Do so slowly and stay very hands on, because it probably doesn't take as much as you think to go from sticky dough to dough that's too dry to take on any more flour.

At the point the dough is smooth and just a bit tacky, turn it out onto a floured surface and work it by hand for 5 minutes. Grease the inside of a clean mixing bowl (either clean the one you were just working in, or grab a clean one) and plop the dough ball in. Cover it - with a pot lid, a cutting board, plastic wrap, foil, a clean towel, whatever you have - and allow it to sit somewhere warm to rise for at least an hour.

After it's doubled in size, punch it down, roll it over in the greased bowl, and turn it out onto a flat surface. Using a knife or bench scraper (if you use something sharp, do so on a mat or a board, and not on your countertops!) divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll them into balls.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, grease the inside of the skillet or Dutch oven, and move the dough balls to the skillet for a second rise. Let them sit and rise for at least 20 minutes, then bake for 25 minutes. Brush the tops with butter for extra appeal.

Website 

Call: (214) 599-0055

Additional Reading

Healthy and Flavorful: A Caponata Recipe That You'll Love

Get Your Protein with This Buddha Bowl 

Fall Comfort Food: How to Make Perfectly Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Impress Your Guests with This Easy-to-Make Apple Pecan French Toast Bake

Spice Up Dessert Time with Cranberry-Chipotle Heaven’s Pie

Turning leftover cranberry sauce into a show-stopping dessert.

The day after Thanksgiving feels a little like drowning in assorted leftovers, and eating the same things the same way gets boring pretty quickly. We like to take the leftovers and make something different out of them when we can.

This house loves cranberries and makes a big batch of cranberry sauce to share every year. Some years, it gets decimated at the family potluck Thanksgiving dinner and we bring back a few spoonfuls in the bottom of an almost empty Pyrex dish. But other years - like this year, apparently - we come back home with the larger family having made barely a dent. We had two more cups of cranberry sauce left, and not near enough turkey for that much.

So we got inventive. Today we made cranberry-cream cheese pie with a little kick.

We used homemade whole-berry cranberry sauce with real sugar, lemon juice and allspice. You're welcome to try it with the wobbly canned stuff, but your mileage - and the final product's texture and sweetness - may vary. (Let us know if you try it! We're curious, but also morally opposed to canned cranberry sauce.)

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup homemade whole-berry cranberry sauce

1/4 cup light brown sugar 

1 teaspoon dried chipotle chili pepper

1 9-inch premade pecan pie crust

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Tools:

Measuring cups and spoons 

Food processor 

Spoons

Metal mixing bowl

Electric mixer

Preheat the oven to 350, and shove the mixing bowl in the fridge. We know that second one is a little weird, but just roll with it for now.

Begin by measuring your softened cream cheese into the food processor. Add the cranberry sauce and give everything a whirl to combine. Take a spoon and scrape down the sides to make sure you've got everything. Some food processors end up leaving a solid quarter of the cream cheese behind as it sticks to the edges.

Pack a quarter cup measuring cup with light brown sugar and dump that into the cream cheese and cranberry mixture. Pulse the food processor a couple times to begin breaking it up into the filling.

Measure in the dried chipotle. Feel free to use less if you have a lower spice tolerance.

Make triple sure you're using just the peppers! An anti-caking agent or preservative is totally fine, but not a chipotle spice blend. There are dozens of blends on the market, and while they're certainly tasty, they are not a great fit for this recipe. The most common second and third ingredients in the blends tend to be salt and/or garlic... and we are definitely not looking to make a salty garlic cranberry pie for dessert.

Now that all of your ingredients are in the food processor, run it until everything has reached a uniform consistency. You may have to pause occasionally to scrape down the sides.

Remove the blade from the food processor and scrape the filling into the pecan pie crust. We used a premade Diamond brand crust to avoid washing the food processor twice in one afternoon, but you could certainly make your own crust if you're less dish-phobic than we are.

Level the filling in the crust with the back of the spoon. We know it doesn't look like enough, but don't worry. The extra space is for a fat layer of homemade whipped cream later.

Bake the pie at 350 for 35 minutes. It will still be very thin-looking and wobbly when removed from the oven, but don't worry. Set it aside to cool on the counter for half an hour, then move it to the fridge to chill completely. 

While you're in the fridge, grab the mixing bowl and move it to the counter. Pour in your heavy cream, measure the sugar and vanilla extract into it, power up the electric hand mixer and whip on low and medium low until you get stiff peaks. Cover the bowl and tuck it back into the fridge until it's time for dessert. 

Once it's time to serve dessert, dump the whipped cream into the pie shell on top of the cranberry filling. Use the spoon to smooth it out, cut and serve.

This pie has sweet, tangy and spicy all in one delicious pie. To us, it’s delicious and utterly amazing, but you might just end up scaring some of your dinner guests. For that reason, we advise only breaking out this pie if you’re sure people can handle the heat. 

This pie is proof that leftovers can be as exciting as the main event, blending bold flavors into a dessert that’s anything but ordinary. Whether you’re impressing guests or treating yourself, Heaven’s Pie is a sweet and spicy reminder to embrace creativity in the kitchen. And remember, while we’re all about innovative recipes, when it comes to appliances, leave the troubleshooting to us. Appliance Rescue Service is here to ensure your kitchen keeps running smoothly, pie after pie.

Website

Call (214) 599-0055

Dinner Made Better: The Perfect Berry Glazed Chicken Recipe

Bring a pop of color and taste to your dinner table.

Sometimes, dinner calls for a little something unexpected—something that surprises your taste buds and makes the whole table pause for a second bite. This dish delivers just that. With the tangy sweetness of strawberry glaze, the subtle warmth of spices, and the richness of perfectly cooked chicken, this recipe brings a unique and satisfying balance to your plate. It’s comfort food with a twist, easy to make and impossible to forget.

Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts

1/3 cup strawberry jelly or jam

2 tablespoons red cooking wine

2 tablespoons vinegar of choice (recommend white balsamic)

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/2 teaspoon coriander

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Tabasco Sweet & Spicy, to taste

Tools:

Large covered saute pan or caldera

Tongs

Measuring cups and spoons

Small mixing dish

Knife

Fork

Meat thermometer

Begin with the tablespoon of butter in the saute pan. Set the burner to medium and let the butter melt. Generously salt your chicken breasts, then add them to the pan once the butter is hot. Crank the heat up to medium-high. Cover the pan and let the chicken cook for at least five minutes before attempting to flip. Double that time if you're working with thick pieces like we were.

While the chicken is cooking, measure your strawberry jelly or jam into the small dish. Measure in your vinegar, the cooking wine, tarragon and coriander. Add only half of the basil and reserve the rest. Whisk the jam, liquids and spices together with a fork, breaking up big lumps of strawberry.

Flip the chicken breasts, reduce the heat to medium again, and reset your timer for 5-10 minutes, adjusting based on the thickness of the chicken pieces. Cover the pan again and find something to occupy your next few minutes. (We used the time to make drop biscuits.)

When you're ready to check on the chicken again, hit it with a meat thermometer to ensure a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees. If it's a tiny bit shy and you're only waiting for the biggest piece in the pan, you can proceed. But if you’re more than 10 degrees low, put the lid back on and try again in a few more minutes. The chicken has to be pretty much fully cooked before going on to the next step.

Next up, pour the strawberry mixture over the chicken, making sure to get some all over the top. Sprinkle on some fresh cracked black pepper, now that it's got something to stick to, and add the remaining basil at this stage.

Lower the heat to medium-low and let the chicken continue to cook in this mixture, uncovered, for another eight minutes or so. Once the sauce thickens up, it's ready to remove from the pan.

Drizzle with Tabasco Sweet & Spicy hot sauce for a little kick. Serve with some dark vegetables, like broccoli, kale or Brussels sprouts for the best flavor balance

Berry Glazed Chicken proves that dinner doesn’t have to be ordinary—it can be extraordinary with just a handful of simple ingredients and a little creativity. Sweet, savory, and with just the right amount of spice, this dish is sure to become a family favorite. And speaking of favorites, when it comes to keeping your kitchen running smoothly, trust the experts at Appliance Rescue Service. From routine maintenance to unexpected repairs, our team is here to help.

Spooky Sweet Halloween Brownies: A Fun Family Treat

Berry Cheesecake Swirls Add a Yummy Twist to Classic Halloween Brownies

The Halloween element of this recipe is purely optional and entirely based on the shape of the food... But being able to play around with festive shapes is the whole point of things like Christmas sugar cookies. Why not Halloween brownies? We vote to have a little bit of fun with it either way. 

This recipe can be a little messy, but embracing the mess before beginning allows you to enlist little helpers without any misconceptions about the kitchen staying clean.

Preheat the oven to 350, and line the half-sheet pan with a single sheet of parchment paper, leaving enough overlap to lift the cooked brownies out of the pan later on.

In the first mixing bowl, dump the box of brownie mix. We find it helpful to break up any clumps with a spoon before adding in wet ingredients, but if you plan to use an electric mixer, you can skip that step.

Add two eggs, a quarter cup of milk, a third of a cup of vegetable oil, and a third of a cup of unsweetened applesauce and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Be certain you're using unsweetened apple sauce and that it doesn't contain cinnamon - sweetened applesauce is far too much sugar for the already sweet brownie base, and cinnamon complicates the flavor profile.

Once your brownie batter is ready, pour it into the parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Use the back of a spoon to spread it around - or if you're feeling extra daring, tilt the pan until the brownie batter reaches the edges.

Drop the eight ounces of mixed berry flavored cream cheese into a second mixing bowl. We put the KitchenAid to work on this step. If the cream cheese spread is still very cold and not inclined to mix, wait for it to warm a few degrees. Inch it closer to the preheating oven if you need to, but don't let it melt.

Many grocery stores helpfully sell flavored cream cheese in seven-and-a-half or eight-ounce tubs. Try to avoid the whipped cream cheese spreads. They're much easier to mix into the cheesecake layer, but they don't set up quite right.

Add the vanilla extract and the remaining single egg to the cream cheese in the mixing bowl and stir well until it's all one consistency. This can take some elbow grease, which is part of the reason we used the stand mixer. Also, the mixer has an optional cover to prevent things like flour - or the powdered sugar coming in the next step - from getting all over the kitchen... which was the deciding factor. (We just learned we really hate trying to get powdered sugar off the edges of the window sill.)

Slowly add the cup of powdered sugar to the cream cheese mixture, stirring constantly. Try to avoid clumps of sugar, and be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you work.

Using a spoon, drop dollops of the cheesecake mixture onto your thin layer of brownie batter. As long as you're getting some to all sides of the pan, don't worry about uniformity - the messier, the better! After the cheesecake mixing bowl has been emptied, use a toothpick or skewer to marble the two batters together.

Set the pan on a middle rack in the oven for ten minutes. After the ten minutes are up, lower the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees and reset the timer for 30 more minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness before removing from the oven; the brownies may need another five minutes or so.

Remove them from the oven when done, and allow them to cool completely. The waiting is terrible, we know, but cutting into them too soon makes them fall apart.

Once you're sure they're cool, use the parchment to lift them from the pan. Use the cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, being careful to press around the edges instead of using your whole hand (the brownies may stick to your palm if given the chance).

We find it easiest to use a spatula to lift the cut brownies from the parchment to a platter, then break the discarded pieces into chunks and roll them up in the parchment to pour into a bag for storage. The broken brownie edges make fantastic ice cream toppings and milkshake mix-ins, so there's no sense in discarding them. ...If there are any left after the cutting process, at least. We find there is usually dramatically less than we thought we'd have. (The helpers are helping themselves while our backs are turned, we assume.)

We liked our little ghosts just as they turned out, but for extra fun, consider frosting them and adding themed sprinkles. You can also get creative with other shapes for any occasion—these brownies are versatile and perfect for any festivity!

Now that your kitchen is filled with the scent of fresh-baked brownies, here’s a little reminder: If you’ve noticed an appliance acting up while you were baking—whether it’s your oven, dishwasher, or anything in between—our team at Appliance Rescue Service is ready to help. From repairs to maintenance, we’ll have your home running smoothly again. Visit our website or give us a call, and we’ll be happy to assist!

Website:
Call: (214) 599-0055

Additional Reading
Household Hauntings: The Frightening Reality of Appliance Neglect

Ladle Love: Wholesome Potato Leek Soup Recipe

Purple People Eater Pieces

Halloween Drunken Noodles: Perfect for Chilly Nights

 Get cozy this fall with a simple and delicious sausage pasta meal, featuring Halloween-themed pasta!

Although the only thing particularly festive about this recipe is the shape of the pasta, it's most assuredly a warm, comforting, carb-heavy meal great for cooler weather. It's a go-to, quick recipe that frequently appears on our table every fall and winter.

We saw adorable tricolor Halloween shaped pasta at Aldi and just had to make this. It's not even cool here yet - the thermometer reads 82 degrees as we write this, and was pushing 90 last night when this dish reached the table - but it is October, and that means spooky season is in full swing under this particular roof. The neighbors have already complained about our skeleton lawn flamingoes.

Anyway, back to the reason you're actually here - the food.

Tools:

Knife

Cutting board

Measuring cups and spoons

Can opener

Large, heavy-bottomed pan or stock pot with lid

Slotted spoon

Ingredients:

+/- 1 pound pasta of choice

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup alcohol of choice (vodka or white wine recommended)

1/2 pound ground Italian sausage (sweet or hot)

1 yellow bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 shallot

1 28-ounce can crushed tomato

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

Although the only thing particularly festive about this recipe is the shape of the pasta, it's most assuredly a warm, comforting, carb-heavy meal great for cooler weather. It's a go-to, quick recipe that frequently appears on our table every fall and winter.

We saw adorable tricolor Halloween shaped pasta at Aldi and just had to make this. It's not even cool here yet - the thermometer reads 82 degrees as we write this, and was pushing 90 last night when this dish reached the table - but it is October, and that means spooky season is in full swing under this particular roof. The neighbors have already complained about our skeleton lawn flamingoes.

Anyway, back to the reason you're actually here - the food.

Before doing anything else (you already know what we're going to say) - wash your produce!

Dice your peppers and shallot to desired size, but leave them on the cutting board for now.

Place your pan on a burner and turn the heat up to medium. Add your olive oil to the pan and allow it to heat up for a minute, then add the minced garlic and the black pepper. You may think this looks like a lot of garlic. We feel it is barely enough. Adjust to your own liking as necessary. Let the garlic and pepper cook until fragrant.

Add in your Italian sausage, crumble it and let it brown. Be momentarily awed at how little fat it lets off, side-eye the colander or similar implement you had out despite it not being in the list of tools, and put it back where it belongs. Open the can of crushed tomato while you wait for the sausage to finish browning.

Add the oregano, basil, parsley and onion powder and sugar to the pan. Sprinkle in a little crushed red pepper if your family is spice tolerant; otherwise save it to add to your own plate later. Give everything a good stir, then add in the peppers, shallot and whole can of crushed tomato. Stir again. Cover the pan and reduce the heat by half. If you have a stubbornly hot electric burner (we do) that HATES to drop even a degree, remove it from the heat entirely while you wait for the burner to cool down, or shift it to another burner that has been set where you want it. Letting it sit on a too-hot burner will scorch the sausage to the bottom of the pan and make cleanup much more demanding.

Wait a couple minutes until you see the tomato start to bubble, but don't bring it up to full boil... mostly because boiling tomato sauce makes a BIG mess.

Tear into the box or bag of pasta you plan to use. We paused a minute to move some of the pasta to a dish in order to show off the cute shapes - owls and pumpkins and witches and bats and spiders! - in a photo for you. You probably have no reason to waste time or energy on that step, but do what makes you happy. Dump the pasta into the pan.

Measure your alcohol (we used white cooking wine because we rarely keep anything else on hand, but vodka would be fantastic if you have it around) and pour it into the pan. Measure your chicken broth in the same measuring cup, then add it, too.

Keeping the heat no higher than medium, allow the pasta to simmer uncovered in the tomato/broth/booze mixture for 10-12 minutes or until the pasta has reached the desired tenderness level.

Definitely enjoy with garlic bread if at all possible.

As you enjoy this delicious meal, spend a minute thinking about your stove. All of this was done with just one pot but there were a few steps that could go wrong if your stove isn't functioning properly. Whether you have a gas or an electric stove, it is vital to your cooking for it to function properly. You know that and so do we. So if you have started noticing that maybe your food is coming out burnt more often, or burners are staying on for too long, you might want to call in the professionals. 

Some electric stoves, like ours, just stay hot longer. It's part of the way that they're constructed and the reason why professionals love gas stoves so much. But if you know something is wrong with yours or if you know that it is staying hotter for far longer than it should, we can help. You can reach out to appliance rescue service via our website link below, or by giving us a call. We will work with you to find a time and date that fits your schedule and send our technicians to diagnose the problem. Whatever the problem, we are here to help.

Website

Call  (214) 599-0055

Additional Reading

Halloween Horrors In Your Home? 

Pumpkin Soup From Picking to Serving 

Harvest Bliss: Cranberry Pumpkin Nut Bread