English Muffins…..homemade using the bread machine…

Tuesday loves to eat English muffins for breakfast..but I wasn’t thrilled with the ingredients in Thomas’ English Muffins…lots of artificial stuff.  So, I looked for a good recipe, using the bread machine, of course…and I found a keeper!  I found it on the King Arthur flour website.  I cut down the amount of sugar and I think next time, I may try to make them with whole wheat flour.

It was a pretty easy recipe.  The bread machine did most of the work.  I had to roll it out onto corn meal and cut into 3 inch circles.  After it rose for a bit, you had to cook them on a griddle…who knew!

I had no idea that is how you made an English Muffin!  But they turned out great…and great tasting…and they even looked like English Muffins.  My daughter did say they didn’t have as many nooks and crannies..but hey, maybe the next batch will!

English Muffins

1 3/4 cups milk, warm
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/4 cups Unbleached Bread Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place the ingredients in the pan of your bread machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. Use the “dough” or “manual” setting. After the cycle is complete, transfer the dough to a cornmeal-sprinkled surface and roll it out until it’s about 1/2-inch thick. Cut out circles with a floured 3-inch cutter. Re-roll and cut out the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let rest for about 20 minutes.

Heat a frying pan or griddle to very low heat. Do not grease, but sprinkle with cornmeal. Cook four muffins at a time, cornmeal side down first, for about 7 minutes a side.

Check after about 3 to 4 minutes to see that the muffins are browning gently and are neither too dark nor too light; if they seem to be cooking either too fast or too slowly, adjust the temperature of your pan or griddle.

When the muffins are brown on both sides, transfer them to a wire rack to cool, and proceed with the rest. If you have two frying pans (or a large griddle), you’ll be better able to keep up with your rising muffins. Yield: 16 muffins.

Hot….

Today was a crazy hot day…..hot like summer.  We had to go outside and play.   After about an hour and a half, River had had enough….me too.  But she still had fun playing out in the sun….she played a bit of croquet…..

set up an obstacle course….which involved taking out almost everything from the garage…..

And then of course running around the obstacle course a few times….

And then declaring herself exhausted!  But then, she had to do a bit of digging…before we headed in for a glass of cold water!

Ultrasound….17 weeks…

Last Wednesday, Tuesday came with me to my ultrasound appointment.  It was a lot of fun to have her with me…I wish I had taken some photos of the time we spent together…..but I guess you don’t always need photos….but I do have photos from the ultrasound.  Baby A is the boy…he is on my right side.

Baby B is the girl..she is on my left side…It is sort of funny knowing which baby is on which side….It is just amazing to see them moving around and so full of life….modern technology still freaks me out sometimes…..so different from the stories my mom told me about her pregnancies and births….

It was a great experience to share with Tuesday.

I’m not sure when the reality of twins will hit me….maybe not til I’m holding them in my arms….

I think it is going to be a craft day…..

River got some new craft items and I think she is going to spend the day coloring, markering, stickering, glueing, scissoring, taping, painting and all that other good stuff.

Her latest obsession is butterflies..for our butterfly wall..which I’ll have to write about in another  post…we are all about butterflies and Spring!

And speaking of butterflies and Spring..it was so nice to see the sun coming in through the kitchen window..warming up the tomatoes..maybe Spring has arrived…..

Banana Cream Pie…a tradition….

Last week was my husband, Christopher’s birthday….so it was banana cream pie time….a birthday tradition.  I only make this recipe once a year.   Tuesday and River had great fun helping me make it.

There are a lot of components to the dish and they helped do most of the work…from the cutting to the assembling.

It is always more fun when you have help in the kitchen!

I think Tuesday’s favorite part is the eating of the pie…..it is only good for a few days..so it has to be eaten quickly, which Tuesday doesn’t mind!

This Moment…..April Fools….Mother Nature Style…..

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Have a great weekend….and enjoy this April Fool’s snow..inspired by mother nature…..

*Inspired by SouleMama

Who doesn’t like a great hamburger roll…….

Whenever I go to the grocery food store, I can never find tasty looking hamburger rolls that are all natural and not filled with stuff like high fructose corn syrup.  (Yes, even though we are vegetarian, I still call them hamburger rolls, otherwise no one knows what you are talking about!)  So, I decided to make my own…and of course, I wanted to use my bread machine.  After some trial and error, I found a great recipe.  They were perfect.  We had an incredible dinner with veggie burgers, fries and all the fixings!  Probably the only problem with the rolls was that they were so puffy….once you had all your fixings on the veggie burger…it was hard to take a bite!  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of sugar, which I thought was crazy..so I only added 1 Tablespoon.  It also called for vital wheat gluten, but I didn’t add any.  It said that if you added the vital wheat gluten, the rolls would rise higher..I can’t imagine them getting any higher!

Whole Wheat Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns (Bread Machine)

*By Engineer in the Kitchen and posted on May 26, 2006 on Food.com

Ingredients

    • 1 cup water
    • 1 eggs
    • 2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 cup whole wheat flour
    • 3/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 cup shortening
    • 1 Tablespoon  sugar
    • 3 teaspoons yeast
    • 1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (optional)

Directions

  1. Place all ingredients in bread pan, select Dough setting, and press Start. (Vital Wheat Gluten is optional but the bread will rise higher with it.).
  2. When dough has risen enough, the machine will beep. Remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a floured countertop. Gently roll and shape the dough into a 12-inch rope.
  3. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces for hamburger buns or 12 pieces for hot dog buns.
  4. Grease a baking sheet. Roll pieces of dough into balls and flatten for hamburger buns or shape into 6-inch rolls for hot dog buns. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rise in warm oven 10 to 15 minutes until almost doubled.
  5. Preheat oven to 400°F Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown (be careful mine cook pretty fast). Remove from oven and cool on racks. When ready to use, split buns horizontally. These will keep in plastic bag in the freezer for 3 to 4 weeks.