Honey Wheat Pretzel Rolls

Who doesn't love pretzel rolls? Terrorists, probably. Pretzel rolls are the best part of any sandwich. If you are on a late night Sheetz run and you get a sandwich on anything other than a pretzel roll, then you're doing it wrong. I've always wanted to make my own soft pretzels, but never thought to make pretzel rolls. My mother brought me some delicious honey the other day, so I thought why not make honey wheat pretzel rolls? I have a roadtrip to Nashville coming up in a few days with my sister, and we were planning on bringing sandwiches and whatnot for the road, so this would be perfect for that! I couldn't find an exact recipe that was what I wanted, but I adapted this recipe to my liking.

First gather your supplies. You'll need warm water, yeast, regular flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, butter, honey, an egg, and baking soda. That's all. It's that easy.

Get a bowl and dissolve one packet of active dry yeast in 1.5 cups of warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes so it gets foamy.

Use the yellow bowl that your grandma used to use to make her famous pizza dough all the time. If you use a different bowl, your pretzel rolls are going to suck.

In another bowl, combine 2.5 cups regular flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 4 tablespoons of butter (melted).

Slowly add this mixture to the water and yeast, stirring to combine. Add 2 tablespoons of honey.

You can also use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, or you can go old school and use a spoon and then knead it together with your hands. It will look like this when you're done.

Don't eat it yet.

If you plan poorly for all the kneading, your ring will also look like this and you'll need to dig out your jewelry cleaner.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and break the dough into 14 equal (or mostly equal because you're careless in your measuring) pieces.

Form each piece into a ball by pinching the sides together.

Form a seal on one side, and place seal-side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet about an inch apart.

Cover with a towel and place somewhere warm to rise again for about 30 minutes. You could put them on top of your stove while you preheat your oven to 425, if you'd like.

Stir together 2 quarts of water with 1/4 baking soda. Bring all of this to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Once it's simmering, drop each ball one at a time into the water. Cook for about 30 seconds on each side, turning and removing from the water with a slotted spoon.

This step is what turns the pretzels brown and makes them look like pretzels.

Return each lightly boiled ball to the parchment line sheet. Cut a slash or an X into each piece.

Beat an egg in a small bowl and get your salt ready. Lightly brush each roll with the egg and sprinkle with the salt.

Ready for the oven!

Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and admire how pretty they look.

 Transfer to cooling rack, become overwhelmed with how badly you want to eat all of them, and then burn your mouth on them because you're too impatient to wait until they're cool enough to eat.

Get some dijon mustard and a little bit of honey together because you don't care if you made them for a road trip in a few days, you want to eat one now.

------------------------------

Honey Wheat Pretzel Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• coarse salt

Directions

1. Mix the warm water and yeast in a bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
2. Add in the flours, sugar, salt, honey, and butter. Stir/knead to combine.
3. Cover bowl with a towel and let sit for an hour, or until dough has doubled in size.
4. Punch down the dough and separate into 14 equal sized balls. Form a ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching a seal. 
5. Place dough balls seal side down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 1" apart from one another. Cover with a towel and let sit somewhere warm for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
7. Mix 2 quarts of water with 1/4 cup baking soda. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer.
8. One at a time, drop rolls into the water, cooking for 30 seconds on each side.
9. Place rolls back on baking sheet. Cut a slice or an X on the top, brush with egg, and sprinkle with coarse salt.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Lemon Parsley Chicken

Sometimes I feel like taking a nap. And sometimes when I lay on the couch I get the urge to try out a new recipe. Today was one of those times.

I got off the couch and browsed my fridge and pantry and brainstormed. Lemon parsley chicken! I love using fresh herbs when I cook, so I was excited to use the parsley I bought yesterday.

So gather your ingredients and follow along...

Chicken breasts. Fresh parsley. Lemon. Olive oil. Honey. Salt. Pepper. That's all you need.

Chop up a bunch of fresh parsley and put it in a bowl. Drizzle some olive oil over it, squeeze the juice out of a whole lemon into it, add a little bit of honey, and throw in some salt and pepper. Combine all of this together and pour over some chicken breasts in a shallow dish or container. Mix it all together and admire how pretty the chopped up parsley looks on the chicken.

Cover the dish and stick in the fridge for at least 15 minutes so all of the flavors can get inside the chicken.

While the chicken is marinating, maybe sneak in a quick nap. Or clean the bathroom that you've been telling yourself you would get to for the past 3 days. Or do some laundry. Or watch more Friends reruns, because let's face it, that's all you ever do anymore.

After the chicken has been marinating for about 15 minutes (or a few hours because you got distracted and went for a run after you watched a few episodes of Friends), take the chicken out of the fridge and place the breasts in a single layer in a glass baking dish. Make sure you pour all the remaining marinade over the chicken.

Put it in an oven that you had preheated at 400 degrees. Bake about 20 minutes-ish on each side. Take out of the oven and look how pretty!

When you put it on your plate, salt and pepper to taste, and pour a little of the marinade over it. Serve with some sesame sauteed carrots and oven roasted rosemary fries and enjoy!

How do you make the carrots and fries? Well I'm glad you asked! Both sides are ridiculously easy to make and ridiculously yummy.

For the fries, grab a couple potatoes, any kind. I used a sweet potato and a regular baking potato. Slice them up, then throw them in a bowl.

Pour some olive oil over the potato slices, then season with some salt, pepper, and dried rosemary. You could really use any herb you want. I've been on a rosemary kick lately, so that's what I went with. Toss everything together to combine, then spread the slices out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Throw in a 425 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes. Give the pan a shake a few times.

Enjoy a small snack while the fries are baking, silently cursing your roommate under your breath for leaving Hershey's bars on the kitchen table.

Once they're out of the oven and cooled, put them on a fancy plate so that you don't feel guilty about eating french fries for dinner.

For the carrots, slice up a couple carrot sticks. It's ok if they don't look pretty. They're still going to taste fantastic.

Heat a little olive oil over medium high heat on the stove. Toss in the carrot sticks and some sesame seeds (and a little salt and pepper) and sautee for about 10ish minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Once finished, drizzle a little honey over them.

Finish the dish with one of the chicken breasts.

You can now sit back and enjoy your dinner and relax. Until you realize that you still haven't cleaned your bathroom or done any laundry. Realize that you can either do those things now or watch more Friends reruns while finishing the last of your fries. Realize that you have a Friends addiction. Weep silently to yourself. Eat more fries. Everything will be ok.