Tuesday: Tortilla Patty Melts, Birthday Cinnamon Rolls & My Chicken Soup Trick

We started Tuesday morning with our usual breakfast of Costco bagels and bacon, then got straight to work on homeschooling.

Nothing particularly exciting about breakfast today, but I had a lot I wanted to accomplish in the kitchen.

We have a birthday coming up on Friday, and Wednesday and Thursday are going to be busy. So today was my opportunity to get ahead on a few things.

And I also had some leftovers I wanted to use up.

Tortilla Patty Melts for Lunch

For lunch, I pulled out the very last of our Halloween burgers.

Remember, I made about four pounds of burger patties on Saturday before trick-or-treating?

Well, those burgers have served us very well.

We had them Saturday night, again on Sunday, and some on Monday.

And today, we finished the last four.

But instead of just reheating all of them and serving them on buns, I tried something a little different.

Tortilla patty melts!

I should have taken a picture because they turned out really well.

For two of the kids, I reheated the burgers in a skillet, then put them inside tortillas with cheese.

I folded the tortillas over and warmed them until the cheese melted and the outside was a little crispy.

Kind of a cross between a quesadilla and a cheeseburger.

And they were delicious.

We dipped them into a combination of ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard.

Such an easy way to turn a leftover burger into something that feels a little different.

I served the burgers and tortilla melts with chips and fruit, and that was lunch.

The Last of Friday’s Grilled Chicken

Meanwhile, I made myself another barbecue chicken salad.

I had just enough of the maple balsamic chicken thighs left from Friday night’s dinner for one more serving.

So I warmed the chicken, added barbecue sauce, and served it over a salad.

And now that chicken is officially gone.

I cooked a big batch Friday night, and we’ve used it for several meals since then.

Getting Ready for Friday’s Birthday

After lunch, I got to work on a birthday project.

We have a birthday coming up on Friday, and one tradition I’ve always had with my kids is that they get to choose their birthday breakfast.

And approximately 90% of the time?

They choose cinnamon rolls.

Which I completely understand.

Homemade cinnamon rolls are delicious.

But here’s the thing.

I’m not particularly interested in getting up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. on a Friday morning to start making yeast dough.

Especially when we already have a busy week.

So I make the cinnamon rolls ahead.

And today was the day.

My One-Dough Philosophy

I used my homemade sweet milk dinner roll dough.

I’ve been making this dough for years, and it’s one of my favorite bread recipes.

And here’s something I really believe about yeast dough.

You don’t need a different recipe for every kind of roll.

You need one good dough that you understand and know how to work with.

Once you’ve found a recipe you like, you can use it for all kinds of things.

I use my sweet milk roll dough for:

• Traditional dinner rolls
• Cinnamon rolls
• Pizza rolls
• Other sweet or savory filled rolls

It’s such a versatile dough.

And because I’ve made it so many times, I know what it’s supposed to feel like.

I know how it should rise.

And I know approximately how long it needs in the oven.

That makes the whole process much easier.

So today I made one batch of dough and divided it in half.

Half became regular dinner rolls.

And half became cinnamon rolls for Friday morning.

Two different kinds of rolls from one batch of dough.

Making Cinnamon Rolls With My Sweet Milk Dough

My son, the birthday boy, helped me make the cinnamon rolls.

Once the dough was ready, I rolled it out into a relatively thin rectangle.

Then we covered it with softened butter.

You can also use melted butter, but I like having it soft enough to spread evenly over the dough.

Then we added brown sugar and cinnamon.

Nothing complicated.

Just a generous layer of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Then we rolled the dough up into a log.

And here’s one of my favorite little baking tricks.

Cut Cinnamon Rolls With Dental Floss

I use unwaxed dental floss to cut my cinnamon rolls.

If you’ve never tried this, it’s wonderful.

Instead of using a knife, which can squish the dough and flatten the rolls, I slide a piece of floss underneath the log.

Then I bring both ends up, cross them over the top, and pull.

The floss cuts right through the dough.

And you get a beautiful, clean slice without smashing the roll.

It’s especially helpful when you’re working with a soft dough.

I sliced the entire log this way and placed the cinnamon rolls into a buttered baking pan.

Then I let them rise just like I would regular dinner rolls.

Once they’d risen, I baked them.

I like to check the internal temperature of my rolls rather than relying entirely on the clock.

I aim for approximately 190°F in the center.

That’s usually when I find they’re baked through but still wonderfully soft.

Then I pulled them out and let them cool.

Why I Bake Birthday Cinnamon Rolls Days Ahead

Now here’s the part that makes birthday mornings so much easier.

I don’t make the cinnamon rolls the morning we’re going to eat them.

I make them ahead.

Today is Tuesday.

The birthday is Friday.

And that’s completely fine.

Once the cinnamon rolls were completely cool, I wrapped the pan tightly in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator.

They’ll stay there until Friday morning.

Then I’ll pull them out and reheat them.

I’ll show you exactly how I do that on Friday.

But the important thing is that all the actual baking is already finished.

No mixing dough Friday morning.

No waiting for the first rise.

No rolling out dough.

No waiting for the second rise.

No hoping the cinnamon rolls are done before everybody needs to leave the house.

They’re already baked.

Chicken Soup for Dinner

For dinner tonight, I used some chicken my mom sent home with us after Sunday dinner.

I love that my parents send us home with leftovers.

And cooked chicken is one of the easiest things to turn into another meal.

So tonight I made chicken soup.

Nothing particularly fancy.

Just a good homemade soup with chicken, broth, onions, carrots, and celery.

But I do have one trick I want to share.

Because I think it makes a big difference when you’re planning to have leftover soup.

My Trick for Chicken Soup That Reheats Beautifully

I don’t always put the rice or noodles directly into the soup pot.

And here’s why.

When you make chicken noodle soup or chicken and rice soup, everything is wonderful when it’s freshly cooked.

But then you put the leftovers into the refrigerator.

And the noodles keep absorbing broth.

Or the rice gets softer and softer.

Then when you reheat the soup, the noodles can be mushy, the rice can be overcooked, and the whole texture changes.

I don’t love that.

Especially because I frequently make enough soup to have leftovers.

So instead, I make the soup base separately.

That means I cook the broth, vegetables, chicken, and whatever other ingredients I want.

Sometimes I add beans.

Sometimes I add different vegetables.

Whatever sounds good.

But I leave out the rice or pasta.

Then I cook the carbohydrate separately…or like tonight, I used leftover rice from when I made extra yesterday!

And when it’s time to serve dinner, everybody can add whatever they want to their bowl.

Some might want noodles.

Some might want rice.

Some might just want the chicken and vegetables.

It makes the soup really adaptable.

And it also makes the leftovers so much better.

How I Store Leftover Soup

Once dinner is finished, I refrigerate the soup base separately from the cooked rice or pasta.

Then when we’re ready to eat it again, I reheat the soup and add the rice or noodles to each serving.

The rice doesn’t spend two days sitting in broth.

The noodles don’t get mushy.

And the soup tastes much closer to how it did when I originally made it.

It’s such a simple little change, but I think it’s worth doing.

Especially if you’re making a big pot of soup and planning to eat it over multiple meals.

And that’s exactly what I did tonight.

We had homemade chicken soup for dinner, and now I have leftover soup ready for another day.