Wednesday: Cinnamon Rolls, Rocket Launches & Dinner That Was Ready Before We Got Home

Breakfast was another easy one this morning.

We finished off the last of the Costco bagels from the freezer along with the last of the bacon I cooked earlier this week.

And yes…I’m going to say it again.

Freeze the bagels.

I’m always surprised by how many people don’t do this. As soon as I get home from Costco, I slice every bagel and freeze them in gallon freezer bags. Then I can pull out exactly what we need, pop them onto a sheet pan, and they’re ready in just a few minutes. They stay fresh for weeks instead of molding on the counter.

The more I talk about it, the more I think I need to make a reel because apparently this isn’t nearly as common as I thought.

My daughter is also officially back into her smoothie routine now that she’s home from Europe.

Her favorite is:

• Frozen cherries
• Costco Greek yogurt
• Half a frozen banana
• A splash of milk
• A tiny dash of almond extract

It’s one of those smoothies we’ve made so many times that she doesn’t even need a recipe anymore.

Birthday Prep

Before lunch, I decided it was finally time to make the cinnamon rolls for Daphne’s birthday this weekend.

She requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and of course the answer was yes.

I knew I wouldn’t want to make them Friday because we’ll be frosting her birthday cake, and Saturday morning definitely wasn’t happening, so today became baking day.

I made my favorite Sweet Milk Dinner Roll dough (I’ll link the recipe because it isn’t mine, and it’s absolutely worth making).

One of my favorite baking shortcuts is that I don’t make a separate cinnamon roll dough.

I simply divide my dinner roll dough in half.

One half becomes dinner rolls.

The other half becomes cinnamon rolls.

Once you add the butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and frosting, nobody knows—or cares—that it started as dinner roll dough.

Lunch

Lunch was a little bit of everything today.

Fiona decided to recreate the Crunchwrap she made earlier this week, but with a twist inspired by one of your comments.

Instead of taco meat and tortilla chips, she used:

• Cooked chicken
• Nacho Cheese Doritos
• Shredded cheese
• A large flour tortilla

Everything else stayed exactly the same.

Fold the tortilla around the filling, cook it seam-side down until golden, flip, and finish cooking.

She declared it delicious and said the Doritos made it even better.

Meanwhile, a couple of the kids happily finished off the last of yesterday’s Giant Shell Pasta Bar.

That meal continues to be one of the biggest lunch hits in our house.

I finished off almost all of the leftover roast chicken from my parents’ house as a barbecue chicken salad, so the refrigerator is looking much cleaner now.

Prepping Dinner Before Leaving

My brother and nephew were coming over this afternoon, and we planned to head to the park to launch some model rockets.

Before we left, I wanted dinner almost completely finished.

I chopped:

• Yukon potatoes
• Sweet potatoes (because I’m the lone sweet potato fan around here!)
• Zucchini
• Onion
• Red pepper
• Orange pepper

The potatoes went into bowls of water to keep them from browning.

The vegetables went into a bowl with:

• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasoning

I’d already marinated the Costco chicken thighs earlier in the day.

The marinade was my favorite combination:

• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Smoked paprika
• Italian seasoning

Everything was ready to go before we even walked out the door.

Rockets…and a Flat Tire

Before we left for the park, I pulled out some of the taco meat and warmed up a plate of nachos for a protein snack…of course my 3 year old said she ‘wasn’t hungry’ and then proceeded to ask for a million snacks at the park!

We had a great afternoon launching rockets at the playground.

The only unexpected excitement was that my brother ended up with a flat tire, so my nephew came home with us while everything got sorted out.

It made me extra thankful that dinner was already prepped.

When we got home, all I had to do was:

• Drain and season the potatoes before roasting them at 425ºF
• Spread the vegetables onto a sheet pan and roast them in the same oven.
• Throw the marinated chicken on the grill. I like to target a 375-400ºF grill temp.
• Boil some fresh corn.
• I made a bunch of food so we’re set with lots of leftovers for the next couple of days!

I also baked the dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls.

They over-proofed just a little while we were gone, but honestly, no one noticed once they came out of the oven warm and golden.

Looking Ahead

The cinnamon rolls are brushed with butter, completely cooled, tightly wrapped, and waiting in the refrigerator for Daphne’s birthday breakfast this weekend.

I’ll show you exactly how I reheat them on Saturday morning.

The dinner rolls, on the other hand, won’t last nearly that long.

Fresh homemade rolls tend to disappear pretty quickly around here.

Dinner ended up being one of my favorite kinds of meals—grilled chicken, roasted potatoes (both regular and sweet), roasted vegetables, fresh corn, and warm homemade rolls.

Everyone built their own plate, everyone found something they loved, and all of the prep work happened before the busiest part of our day.