It’s a beehive… honey and all!
These buns have tempted me for awhile now and this afternoon, I finally gave in and made them. And it was just as fun as I thought it would be, they turned out just as cute as I expected they would be, and they tasted just as good as I hoped they would be! Things don’t always go that well in my kitchen! With things that have no chocolate involved anyway.
I just realized that I LOVE honey. Almost every evening for supper, we have hot fresh rolls or bread of some sort and it’s always good ol’ strawberry jam that goes on the table. Well, these rolls are loaded with honey inside and out and they were so good! We may just deviate from the jam now and then. That reminds me of apple butter. We love apple butter too, my husband especially does. I’d like to find a good recipe and make it sometime, but I’m afraid it just couldn’t measure up to the stuff we had at Der Dutchman’s in Sarasota, FL. That’s what I always think of when I think of apple butter. Actually, I also remember my mom making it when I was young, I should ask her for her recipe.
Anyway, why am I talking about apple butter?! Back to the beehives…
Beehive Buns …taken from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card
1 envelope (.25 oz) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105F - 115F)
2/3 cup warm milk (105F - 115F)
1/2 cup honey, divided
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 -3 3/4 cups flour (I ended up using only about 3 cups because the dough seemed plenty stiff)
Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 min. Stir in milk, 1/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup butter. Stir in salt and enough flour to form a soft dough. Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, 6-8 min. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place until almost double in size, about 1 hour. Lightly grease baking sheets. Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each half into a 6″x12″ rectangle. Cut 1″ strips from long edge of each rectangle.
Curl each strip into beehive shape with a wide base and narrow top onto prepared baking sheet.
Cover lightly; let rise until almost double in size, about 15 min. Preheat oven to 375. Bake buns until golden, 15-20 min.
Combine remaining honey and butter in a small saucepan. Heat until butter melts. Brush warm glaze over buns. Remove from baking sheet; place on wire racks. Yield: 1 dozen.
These seriously are SO good! And it was nice to have a variation in shape and taste.
The rest of our meal was a rotisserie chicken (done at the local grocery store), carrots and dip, and oven-crisp potato wedges. The potatoes were also a new recipe, so I’ll add them here too.
Oven-Crisp Potato Wedges …from a misc recipe card in my stash of loose recipes
1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 tsp. finely minced garlic
3/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 525. Quarter potatoes and place in large bowl.Drizzle olive oil over potatoes and toss. Sprinkle seasonings over potatoes; toss to coat well. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with vegetable cooking spray. Arrange potatoes on prepared baking sheet.
Roast for 20 min, stirring once or twice during cooking. Raise heat to broil. Broil potatoes until crisp, watching closely not to over-brown, about 1-2 min. Serves 4.
I made a half batch and I also baked them at a different temp because I needed the oven for the beehive buns too. I baked them at 375 for about 40 min, then broiled them while glazing the buns. Worked great.
We liked these potatoes ok, but they were nothing special. We ate them with ketchup. I’ll probably make them again sometime, but they won’t be on the ‘definitely make again’ list like the glazed meatloaf is… that meatloaf is probably the new recipe on this site that I make the most often. It is hands down the BEST meatloaf I have ever had… without the carrots, that is!
It’s a Winner!
Talking about the Red Lobster biscuits here. I tried the recipe from Heidi and it beat the other one! Those were EXACTLY like the ones at Red Lobster. It does have twice the butter though too, so I’m sure that helps! Freida, you’ve gotta try these sometime. I think the secret is (besides the extra butter!) beating the dough with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds. Let me tell you, that’s HARD work! But I could notice a big difference after I did that… it was much fluffier.
So, here it is, the biscuits that make you think you’ve got a seafood dinner coming up next. But then you’re glad after all that you are in the comfort of your own home when you jerk back to reality as your 22-month-old spills soup on her lap.
Red Lobster Biscuits
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Mix Bisquick, cheddar and milk into soft dough. Beat w/ a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Add melted butter and garlic powder. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. Smooth down tops. Bake for 8 to 10 min at 450 degrees.
While baking, melt butter in pan and stir in garlic powder. When done, brush butter on top and serve hot.
Heidi adds “This is how I have it written out, so I’m guessing you do the butter and garlic powder twice. I don’t know, its been so long since I have made them. I’m going to try them again and see, but I guess if you think that sounds like a lot of garlic, I would leave it out when I brush the butter on.” I did both the butter and garlic twice (once mixed in the dough and once brushed on top).
Thanks Heidi! And Freida!
Soup, Salad, and Red Lobster Biscuits
You know the term “just quick throw a soup together”? Well, I don’t see it that way!!! Every time I make a soup from scratch, it’s alot of work. But I do get a satisfaction out of starting with raw whole veggies and ending up with a good soup. And it’s fun to make… I just don’t buy the thing of it being ‘quick’. Any comments on that? 
This soup is actually pretty easy though because the only raw veggies in it is potatoes and onions.
Chunky Potato Soup . ..I’m not sure where this recipe comes from, it’s handwritten it on a blank cookbook page
3 med red potatoes
2 c. water
1 sm onion, chopped
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
Crushed red pepper flakes
Black pepper
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham
Peel potatoes and cut into 1″cubes. Cook until tender.
Drain, reserving liquid.
Saute onion in butter until tender, but not brown.
Add flour, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Cook 3-4 min.
Add potatoes, 1 cup liquid, milk, and sugar to saucepan. Stir well. Add cheese and ham. Simmer 30 min, stirring frequently. Serves 12. Very good! That red pepper gives it some kick and extra flavor.
I know my dipper for the soup is way too big! I bought a smaller one just this morning.
Red Lobster Biscuits …from Freida
Preheat oven to 450. Mix 2 cups Bisquick, 1/2 cup water or milk, and 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese. Drop onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 min. After baking and while still hot, brush on 1/4 cup butter mixed with 1 tsp. parsley flakes, 1/2 tsp. garlic salt or powder, and 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning. Serve hot!
I have tried to copy Red Lobster biscuits SO often! I think every time we go there, we say we’ve gotta figure out how to do them. And this is the closest I’ve gotten to them yet! Still not quite as light and moist, but very close. Definitely the best biscuit recipe I’ve tried so far! You know they’ve gotta be good though… the tops are laden with melted butter! You really oughta try them!!!!!
EDIT: This was my 1st attempt. Then, I got another recipe, which is better… so if you try the biscuits, please use this recipe instead.
Tweaked until it got right…
This recipe originated out of the Derstine cookbook. I thought it was sorta blah, so I tweaked it here and there and now that my recipe is all marked up with a pen and pencil, I’ll try to make sense of it and put it in print! I barely ever make casseroles because I married a ‘meat & potatoes’ guy, but the 2 exceptions of all-in-one meals for us are: this lasagna and wet burritos. I almost always make the lasagna for carry-in at church. Once in awhile I make El Paso casserole, which I plan to feature sometime. I don’t like when my group is on for hot dish… I’m way more in my comfort zone with salad & dessert! That’s why I always make the same hotdish!
Kay’s Lasagna … this fits perfectly in a large crockpot (I don’t know the size, but I have a little one and a big one. The inside comes out of the big one.)
16 oz noodles …For the crockpot, sometimes I cook and cut up lasagna noodles, sometimes I use rigatoni or some other noodles. When I layer it to bake in the oven, I always use whole lasagna noodles.
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1/2 of an onion
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, more if using mozz cheese instead of Italian
5 1/2 c. speghetti sauce
2 c. ricotta cheese
About 2 lbs. shredded Italian or mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Cook noodles. Brown hamburger and onion; add speghetti sauce and Italian seasoning. Simmer 10 minutes.
For crockpot:
Layer in this order:
1/3 of meat mixture
1/3 of noodles
Sprinkle a little salt over noodles
1/3 ricotta cheese
At least 8 oz shredded cheese
A good amount of Parmesan cheese
Then, I press down on it a little bit. Weird, yeah, but I do it so that after it cooks down, the crockpot is still full. Repeat layers 2 more times. The lid will easy fit on, but the crockpot will be VERY full. Turn it on HI till you leave for church, plug it in at church, still on HI… and I don’t know what the food committee does with it from there!
This takes me about exactly an hour from the time I walk into the kitchen till the time it’s all in the crockpot and the kitchen cleaned up again. I do it Sunday morning, once every other month, usually from about 7:15 to 8:15.
For oven:
Same layer order as crockpot, but only 2 layers instead of 3. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown… less if you don’t like your cheese browning.
This lasagna freezes well. When I make it, I put it in smaller pans, then it’s so handy to pull out on a busy day or on Sunday morning before going out the door.
The only pictures I have are of one time when I made a double batch for hot lunch at sewing and then took out enough for us to put in a smaller pan for supper. So here they are: 
Repeat layers.
Also that evening, I made a new breadstick recipe. This one will need a bit of tweaking too.
Italian-Style Breadsticks … from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 can (11 oz) refrigerated breadstick dough
1 egg
1 Tbsp. water
Preheat oven to 375. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; mix well and set aside. Unroll dough; separate breadsticks. Cut each strip in half crosswise.
On a lightly floured surface, with floured fingertips, twist the 2 halves together. Beat egg w\ water. Lightly brush tops of breadsticks with egg mixture.
(Side note: On this picture, can you tell that my photographer is about 3 1/2 ft. tall? Can almost see the breadsticks! 
Also, yeah, that’s a sweater… hard to imagine in this hot weather. This is from a backlog of recipes/pictures not featured yet, but made earlier this year.)
Sprinkle seasoning over breadsticks, turning to coat evenly on both sides. Place breadsticks on baking sheet, 1 inch apart.
Press down edges slightly to prevent twists from unraveling. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.
WAY TOO MUCH seasoning!!!!! Next time I’m going to try just sprinkling some Italian seasoning on them over the cheese instead. We could hardly eat them. But man, they sure looked good!!!
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Thanks for all your entertaining/interesting comments in the last post! And I’ll just leave you with a couple things coming in the next posts… Redneck Pizza (designed by my husband) and Steak Fajitas… which one should I feature first? 
Italian Bread Wedges
Tired of scones by now? 
This recipe is taken off of ilovecooking’s site . She has progressive pictures too, but I’ll put mine on anyway in case you don’t get over to her site. She posts new recipes pretty often (with pictures) and it’s very interesting! 
Italian Bread Wedges
1 T. dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 t. sugar
*edit* 2 Tbsp oil, sorry! Thanks, kanadian_mom!
1 t. salt
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. dried thyme
dash pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used more.)
In mixing bowl dissolve yeast in warm water and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes. Add oil, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.. Knead until smooth and elastic. (I do this in my kitchen-aid.) Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down. Press onto greased 14 inch pizza pan.
Spread with salad dressing. Combine seasonings. Sprinkle over dressing. I mixed the seasonings in the dressing before spreading. I figured it would get more evenly seasoned that way. I also used creamy Italian dressing (instead of regular) because that’s what I had on hand.
Top with cheese.
Bake at 425 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
I usually cut into 16 slices. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping. These look good and are good! It’s made alot different than pizza as far as the sauce and seasonings, but it’s amazing how much it tastes like pizza! It’s easy to make and looks very nice to serve. Yum!
And here was the rest of our meal… fried chicken breasts, cooked veggies.
About Me
Hi! Welcome to my kitchen! My name is Kay. I'm from northern WI. I love cooking and baking. Especially baking. It's thereapeudic for me. I'm not a professional or gourmet cook by any means. I'm a Mennonite homemaker who happens to take pictures of some of the food I make. I have 2 little 'helpers'... Lexi (5) and Tiffany (2), who are young cooks in training. I don't do anything on the grill... that's where my husband comes in! He grills quite a bit, especially in the summer. So, sit back and enjoy browsing thro' the recipes. If you try some of them, I'd love to hear feedback on how you liked them!
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