It was supposed to be an easy dinner...

I have quite a bit of leftover chicken in the fridge, from various cooking endeavors over the last few days, so I knew, going into the week, that we'd be having leftover chicken in different forms this week. The plan for tonight was BBQ pulled chicken. Easy and delicious.

Well, not quite as easy as it could have been... because I didn't have any rolls in the house. And BBQ pulled meat goes on rolls, right? I usually make rolls using the Amish White Bread recipe, making one loaf and six rolls rather than two loaves. But I was in the mood for something a little different today, so off I went, searching for a roll recipe that would speak to me.

After a few minutes, this one did. It's funny. It spoke to me through a small thumbnail picture on foodgawker, and then I was confused when I clicked through to the actual recipe and found that, rather than a recipe for rolls, it was a recipe for challah, that was also made into rolls. Not to be deterred, I decided to stick with this choice, and little miss and I proceeded.

My helper was very involved today. And I think she had a pretty good time, too. Usually she helps me whisk together dry ingredients for recipes, but today, for this one, she helped me whisk the wet ones. And had a lot of fun with the new method I taught her for whisking - rolling the whisk between her palms rather than the traditional whisk-stirring. Hey, we had to get the honey mixed in well, right?

Ingredients whisked, and KitchenAid mixer enlisted to do the majority of the heavy kneading for this, we had a couple of hours to play and dance and generally have a good time.

Once the dough rose, there was lots to do, and little miss was happy to help.

The dough had to be punched down:









Then, once divided into smaller portions, it was rolled:









and shaped into rolls:









which, after being proofed, were basted:









at which point they were finally ready to go into the oven, and, finally, they were ready:









They smelled heavenly, the color was really nice, and tasted pretty good. The only complaint I have is that the crust was pretty thick, so not exactly the perfect sandwich rolls, but all in all, pretty good!

So, rolls ready, chicken shredded and simmering in BBQ sauce, I thought I was all set. Until I realized that I didn't have a side dish! I mean, BBQ sandwich and veggies is, technically, a fine meal, but I always have a side, some kind of starch. With only 35 minutes until dinner, my options were kind of limited... I didn't want rice, but what else was there time to make? Then I remembered a friends blog post the other day for breakfast potatoes. Which, when I read it, reminded me of a heftied-up version of hash browns that I sometimes make. Easy! I'll make the hash browns! I usually use leftover baked potatoes (I usually bake extra potatoes just to be able to make them), but, having none, I quickly scrubbed a few potatoes and threw them into the microwave. I have never actually microwave-baked potatoes before, but it came in super handy today! While they cooked, I heated some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and added in some roughly diced onion. Once the potatoes were done, they were also roughly diced, thrown into the pan, and gently spiced with garlic sea salt. That's it. Just keep them moving enough so that they don't burn, but let them get nice and crispy. Instant side! And I finished with a few minutes to spare!

So that's what happens when an easy meal turns into a not so easy one, but winds up not to difficult after all!