Homemade English Muffins

Oh, English muffins.

So delicate, so delicious.

My very favorite breakfast (or lunch) is a toasted English muffin with an over-easy egg and a slice of avocado. Amazing.

And as it turns out, they're pretty easy to make.

I looked at a bunch of recipes, a lot of which involve making a kind of batter and frying it in metal rings.

Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

So I worked off of a recipe from Budget Bytes.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/07/english-muffins/

The only change I made was to substitute whole wheat flour for half of the flour.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1 Tbs. sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbs. butter

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1.5 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup cornmeal

oil

1. Mix together the yeast, sugar, and water. 

Let it sit for 5 minutes or so until it starts getting frothy. Yum, right?

(I love the smell of yeast, tell me I'm not the only one...)

2. Melt the butter in the milk. 

3. Mix the flour and salt together, then add the milk mix and the yeast mix. It will be a sticky dough.

Add flour by 1/4 cup of a time until the dough becomes more solid and pulls away from the bowl. (I only added 1/2 cup more of flour.)

4. LIGHTLY flour your work surface and start kneading your dough. You don't want to over work the dough or use too much flour, or you'll end up with some tough muffins. Knead for about 5 minutes.

5. Shape your dough into a ball and place it in a oiled vintage pyrex bowl*. Oil the top of the dough, and cover with plastic wrap. 

*you probably don't need a vintage pyrex bowl, but I haven't tried it so I can't comment on that.

Let it rise for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.

6. Punch that sucker down. Oil your fist first, so you don't end up with dough on your hands. 

7. Cover and let rise for another hour. Now it's looking good. 

8. Punch the dough down again and roll it out on a floured surface. You want it to be around 3/4 of an inch thick. I used a cookie cutter to cut my biscuits, but you could use a cup if you don't have a round one. Try and cut as many as you can out of each rolling because the dough is more difficult to roll out each time. You can see my biscuits to the left are a little wonky. Put the circles on a pan covered with cornmeal. Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of each biscuit.

9. Cover your biscuits with a damp towel and let them rise. Again.

Curse yourself for trying to make these because it's taking all freaking day and you really just want to eat one already.

10. Now it's time to cook your precious little biscuits. Be careful! You don't want to "pop" them. I deflated a few, and trust me, after all this waiting, it is a real bummer. 

Heat up a skillet or frying pan, coat it with oil and transfer your biscuits to the pan. 

11. Cook for 7-9 minutes on each side. You'll be able to tell when they're done, the have a hollow sound and a beautiful golden brown crust.

I made 9 English muffins from this recipe.

The don't have as many "nooks and crannies" as store bought English muffins, but they taste just as good. Trust me!

I'm waiting on another batch to rise right now. I've got eggs and avocados waiting with me too. 

Starting from Scratch and Vanilla Almond Apricot Granola Bars

I have three kids,each with their own food issues. My oldest needs food around the clock, my middle son is very underweight, and my baby could live on fruit snacks alone.
My husband and I have our own issues, but let's not get into that. (Ahem. Taco bell.)

It's a convenience thing for us. 

Fruit snacks, granola bars, gogurt, chicken nuggets, the list of boxed and bagged foods in this house is endless.

There are a bazillion reasons to cut out processed food. I'm not going to go into a lot of details because a, I don't know everything and b, you can google just as well as I can.

But I'll give you my reasons for going "clean".

1. It tastes better.

Fresh is always better. There's a reason why everything from the Farmer's Market tastes so much better than anything from Walmart. 

2. Those empty calories aren't doing ANYBODY any favors.

Like I said, my son Jared is skinny. Not the good kind of skinny that I wish I was, but scrawny. When I was thinking of ways to give him extra calories, I started thinking about the calories he was already getting. Yeah. Not good. All those chips aren't helping him grow, and they're sure as hell not helping my diet either.

3. It makes me happy.

The feeling of cooking or baking something from scratch is incredibly gratifying. Watching my kids devour the food I made with my own hands is just a bonus. Plus, it keeps me busy and makes me feel productive, both of which make me happy.

4. The cost.

I don't care what anybody says, processed food is not cheap. A freaking box of fruit snacks is over 2 dollars and it lasts about 3 days. 

5. Skill.

The only thing I can make consistently from scratch is chocolate cookies. (um, they're amazing.) I want to add to that list. 

6. My kids.

After reading about what I'm really feeding them, I can't turn a blind eye. I really love knowing that I'm feeding them food that is nourishing their bodies and allowing them to grow physically and mentally. Plus, I definitely want them to think I'm the best cook ever. Their wives won't ever stand a chance.

So this summer we're starting from scratch. Get it? Yeah, ok...

Food isn't the only thing I'm trying to make myself, I'll be doing tons of other projects as well, all which I will blog about, so stay tuned!

Who knows, maybe we'll love it, get a few chickens and move to a farm. (In my dreams) Maybe I'll try and sneak a cow into the garage and get fresh milk. I'm kidding, but look at these Mini Jersey Cows. I DIE.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/small-breed-milk-cows.aspx#axzz2U4N9nOWj

Ok, so without further adieu, here is my first from scratch recipe!

(I made this recipe up, mostly based on ingredients I already had in the house. I'm definitely going to make another batch, so I will come back with more tips!)

Vanilla Almond Apricot Granola Bars

Makes 16 bars

Ingredients

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup sliced almonds (not pictured)

2/3 cup honey

1 large egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 qt. casserole dish. (That's what I used, and I made 16 bars. You can use a different size pan, but the thickness of your bars and the baking time will change.)

2. Mix oats, sugar, cinnamon, flour, apricots, and almonds together in a large bowl.

3. Make a well in the middle of the mixture, and pour in the egg, honey, oil, and vanilla.

4. Use your hands to mix the egg and oil into the oat mixture. I put my hand in the middle and kind of scrunched the dry mix into it a little bit at a time. Those probably aren't the best directions, but just try it.

5. Press the mix into your greased dish. Try to make it flat, but it's not the big of a deal.

6. Bake for 20 - 25 min. Every oven is different, so just watch them. If they are getting brown around the edges, they're probably done.

7. Let the bars cool about 10 minutes before you cut them. Don't wait too long, or they'll be too hard to cut. 

Then, eat! They are seriously delicious. 

Kid approved!

I wrapped mine in wax paper, which the kids seem to enjoy ripping off. They could be stored in a Tupperware container or a baggie.

As for me, I plan on crumbling one up in yogurt for tomorrow's breakfast!

Mimosa Basket

I made this gift basket for my mom this year. 

(I gave it to her early so she could enjoy it in the morning!)

It was quick, easy and cheap!

The basket includes:

a bottle of champagne

2 small glass bottles of orange juice

2 navel oranges

a tangelo

a bar of dark orange chocolate

orange striped straws

a mini peach rose plant.

The whole thing only cost me around $15 dollars, but it looked like it cost at least twice that!

With any luck, I'll wake up to a mimosa too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Free downloadable card here:

http://minus.com/lrjGe0zRqaTVX

Mom's are people too.

When you're little, your world is little. Problems that seem minuscule are huge (I wanted a RED cup!) and real world problems don't exist (If we can't afford it, I'll just get your wallet!). "MOM" isn't a real person to children, she's just a getter of things they can't find, a shoe tier, a high shelf reacher, a snack maker, and of course the maid. She probably says "no" a lot too.

I know my kids can't comprehend that we're on a journey together, stuck in this life together with magical family glue. Sometimes I tell them about what life was like before they were born, and I know they have no freaking clue what I'm talking about. And then I probably yell at them to clean their room or something while I daydream about sleeping in and having more money instead of kids.

Once I was grocery shopping with the boys walking beside me and Amelie in the cart. It's easy to zone out while grocery shopping which is why I like to do it alone. It's basically meditation. Zoned out and shopping, I almost forgot I had kids at all, and when I saw them and my life came back to me I thought "O.M.G. these kids are with me. Who is trusting me with these kids?!?"
But, they don't understand that I'm basically just a child too, figuring this stuff out right along side them. I automatically know how to do everything and they trust me completely. I'm "MOM".

Joe Rogan did a bit about becoming an adult and thinking "If I'm the adult, we're screwed!" Or something like that. That's pretty much how I feel about raising kids. They don't see it though, so we're probably ok. Their teeth are brushed, their clothes match, and the floor is generally clean. I think I'm pulling it off.

I do have dreams and talents that go far beyond reading Dr. Seuss every. freaking. night. It's easy to lose yourself when your children are sucking every last drop of energy and soul you ever had. It's hard to keep your inspiration for life as you change the 3948472920 diaper that day. For now, I will derive my happiness in listening to my five year old read, getting a crayon drawing from my four year old, and finally getting a hug from my one year old. I'll keep sneaking bits of my real self into them, and one of these days, they'll look at me and thing "Oh man, you were cool my whole life and I just didn't realize it! Thanks, mom!". That'll be a good day.

Weekly Chore Sheet

download:

http://minus.com/lbrfNyLSbVVrxH

I am a list maker. 

Constantly.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm a list-completer.

I usually lose my lists before I have a chance to cross everything off. 

That doesn't stop me from making more.

I'm also busy and easily distracted, so I like to have a plan for everyday. It makes me feel accomplished when every task is complete. 

I have a house, three kids, a dog, a business, and a husband who works 14 hour days. Everything goes to hell if I get behind, so I made myself a "chore chart" to keep up. The boys have one too, so it's only fair.

So here it is, fairly simple and takes almost no time if you do it everyday. 

Notes:

By swing chores, I mean that one week you do one, and the next you do another. Who needs to dust every week? Ok, I probably do - but I'm not going to!

I am fortunate to have two good little helpers (and one not so good one) that do their own chores. These include making their own beds, picking up their toys, and stuff like wiping down cabinets. My chore sheet is pretty general so you might want to add stuff specific to your house and lifestyle!

Also, I DO NOT CLEAN ANYTHING ON SUNDAYS.
But that might just be me.

Blue and Orange Baby Shower

Doesn't that look fun?!?

For this Baby Shower, I really wanted to do something bright and fun but not tied down to any specific theme. 

I chose to do a combination of aqua and orange, with a little gray and silver. 

The main decorations were the garlands. I did a circle garland, a strip garland, a bunting flag garland, and streamers I cut into triangles. These garlands were super easy to make! Just cut out or punch your shapes and sew together. Simple, cheap, and cute!

I also added some tissue paper poufs (following Martha Stewart's directions again) and paper lanterns. 

Can you tell I loved this look? I only took 239485763829 pictures of it. 

And here's the beautiful desert table!

Cookie Lollipops

Cake Pops

Sixlets

Orange Slices

Marshmallow Popcorn

Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispie Treats

Fudge

How perfect are these? And so delicious!

I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cake (WHY???) but it was vanilla cake in ombre orange layers with orange cream filling. 

For the outside, I frosted it with cream cheese frosting and used chocolate melting wafers to make the dots. 

I made the cake topper the same way I made the garlands and then tied it to two wooden skewers.

I designed all the food labels and water bottle labels.

The holder for my cookie lollipops is just styrofoam that I painted black. This has come in handy so many times! 

 

The Blue Lemonade Punch was amazing! Blue Hawaiian Punch mixed with Lemonade.

We did have non-sweet food too!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Meatballs

Chips

Grapes

Veggie Tray

Simple and easy, but everyone was happy and full.

The background for the table was a balloon wall with a paper onesie garland. 

I originally wanted to do an ombre balloon wall, but alas, they only had one shade of aqua at Party City!

I loved the way it turned out anyway!

I free-handed the onesie shape, cut it out of dark gray card-stock and added sparkly silver letters to spell "Boys Rock!"

For a table runner, I used orange polka-dot wrapping paper. The centerpiece was a small tissue ball I bought at Walmart with a circle I printed taped to it. 

Gotta love a vintage blue mason jar!

Our only game was a Mad-Lib! I wrote a custom Mad-Lib having to do with the mother-to-be, and we read them aloud. This was hilarious!

Custom designed invitation can be ordered from my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/cutiepiejones