I know what's for dinner!

We have lived in our new house for 17 days and I have actually made something different for dinner every night - with only one repeated meal, because it was that good. Most of the meals are not what we were eating on the island, but I have made some of our favorites. Here's just a sampling of the things I have made (because I know you're dying to know what we are eating at the dinner table)...

• Taco Salad - this is the one we have had twice. I have a great dressing recipe that I got from a friend on the island. So yummy when it's all mixed together! All the kids love it, although they would rather eat it without the lettuce.
• Potato Chowder - we ate this quite often on the island, but for some reason, it tastes better here - maybe because it's cold outside so the hot soup actually feels good as well as tasting good.
• Hamburger Noodle Bake - has noodles, cream cheese and sour cream, along with other stuff so you can't go wrong. This one had no leftovers, it was that good.
• Chicken soup with dumplings. I added carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, broth, cream of chicken soup and heavy whipping cream! Then I found a recipe online for the dumplings and it turned out great! I think we'll have this one again tomorrow night.
• German Pancakes - even had company with this one. Always a crowd pleaser (except for little Savannah who seems to be a picky eater {that's what her parents said}).
• Chicken and wild rice soup - heavy whipping cream is involved so you know it's good. I wanted to keep eating and eating but had to stop before I gave myself a tummy ache.

And those are the highlights. I had a hard time making rolls when we got to Massachusetts (I tried twice) so I was a little worried about getting it to work in Michigan. I need good rolls for some soups and other things so I had to try again. I figured the problem was the colder temperature and the dough not being able to rise. That wasn't really something I had to worry about on the island. I am happy to report that our natural gas oven has it's pilot light lit all the time so the oven is a nice warm place for the dough to rise. The rolls I made turned out okay but now I have to work on the baking portion because they got a little dark on the bottom. Adjust, adjust, adjust.