What I Made Monday: Easy Rosemary Dinner Rolls

Happy Monday!  I hope your Easter weekend was full.  We had an amazing time of worship and serving at our church that we love.  My roses started blooming.  The Hogs won yesterday on the diamond.  And a sweet Southern boy won the Masters.  It doesn't get much better than that!

We spent yesterday afternoon at the ball park with friends who invited us to join them for a non-traditional Easter where we enjoyed catered barbecue and cobbler. (Be still my heart.) So I made "Easter Dinner" last night after we came home.  Broiled flanked steak with my Grannie Nelson's mac and cheese, a bleu cheese and bacon lettuce wedge and rosemary dinner rolls. And we were so stuffed from all of the eating that I didn't even serve dessert! Can you believe I just said that? Me neither.

Now I've posted Grannie's mac and cheese recipe here before.  But I'll repost because I had a few friends ask about it.  And I'm also showing you the rosemary dinner rolls that I made - a Pioneer Woman recipe from her new cookbook.  Let me say this, I'm good at several things in the kitchen, but bread has never been one of them. And having married into the Hannon family, "bread" is king...evidenced by our chins. These dinner rolls were fan-tas-tic.  I was one-part proud of them and one-part sad that I didn't have anyone other than my family of five to show them off to.  Delicious AND pretty!  Here are both recipes for y'all on this What I Made Monday!

EASY ROSEMARY DINNER ROLLS

Package of Rhodes frozen bake and serve white dinner rolls 

(individual frozen dough rounds)

Butter

Fresh chopped or dried rosemary 

 Fine sea salt

Follow package instructions for thawing and rising the dinner rolls.

Once risen, brush rolls with melted butter and sprinkle tops of rolls with sea salt and rosemary.

Bake according to package directions for 15-20 minutes on 350.

 

 

GRANNIE NELSON'S MAC 'N CHEESE

 

{Let me say that as a girl who loooooves recipes and cookbooks,  I have tried every other known recipe for mac 'n cheese and NOTHING is as good as this one. There was even the Christmas Uprising of 2009 when I substituted a 'bedazzled' recipe for Granny's recipe. 

It was an ugly scene.}

1 package jumbo elbow noodles, cooked al dente and drained

1 pound Velveeta cheese, cut into small cubes

1 stick of real butter plus back-up butter, cut into small cubes

whole milk or half and half

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan generously with cooking spray.  Put cooked and drained jumbo elbow noodles in the pan, then randomly cover with cubes of Velveeta and butter.  Pour 3/4 cup of half and half over the noodles/cheese/butter.  Cover with foil and put in the center of the oven, stirring every 20 minutes or so until cheese and butter are melted.  Remove foil, stir in salt and pepper to taste, and add any more butter, Velveeta, or half and half if you're inclined. {I'm not gonna lie, I'm often inclined.}  Cook uncovered 15-20 minutes more until the sides get a little browned and the top layer of noodles get a little bit tiny crisp (do not overcook!)

 

 

NOTE: a quicker version is to put the cooked and drained noodles, cheese and butter cubes and half-and-half into the biggest microwavable bowl you can muster, and heat and stir in the "radar range" (shout out to my Papa).  Heat in increments of 3-5 minutes, stirring, then heating until it's completely  melted.  Then dump into the greased 9x13 to get the top a little bit tiny crisp.  But stirring it in the oven with a long wooden spoon is entirely  more Southern and likely makes it taste better.