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We bought some English muffin bread a while back at the farmers’ market, but I thought I’d see about making some on my own.

I’ve been making this weekly for the past month so Mark can make his egg sandwiches for breakfast. And I’ve been working on making it better every time. This recipe is for one loaf and comes from cooking during stolen moments.

English Muffin Bread

3 c. flour
2 1/2 t. yeast (or 1 packet)
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1/8 t. baking powder
1 c. milk
1/4 c. water
Corn meal, for dusting the pan

1. In a mixing bowl, combine 2 c. flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix for 1 minute.

2. While flour is mixing, pour milk and water into a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until warm, about 2 minutes. Pour into mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes.

3. Add remaining cup of flour, 1/2 a cup at a time, and mix for 3-5 minutes (or knead by hand for 5-7 minutes). Dough will be somewhat sticky.

4. Grease a loaf pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Spread dough into pan, cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

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My friend Meredith recently made a trip to Iowa from Texas for work and we went out for dinner with a couple of our other girlfriends and hopped over to Borders.

There we found two of the most amazing books. Ever.

Because regular Pirates aren’t that popular anymore.

I’m a hu-a-hun-a-hungry for some heart-attack inducing food.

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I love to cook and so does my beau and I’d like to think we’re pretty good at it. But every once in a while there is a major flop.

Fortunately, we’re not to blame on this one. The recipe we used STINKS!

A long time ago I’d asked the wide world of twitter for their opinions on a good Pad Thai recipe. I LOVE pad Thai. And I’ve made it before, but not from scratch — from a box.

Tweeple directed me to this Real Simple Pad Thai recipe. I was convinced that this would be amazing for a couple of reasons — one, because I trust my twitter peeps and several of them highly recommended this recipe. And two, because the recipe was from Real Simple and I’ve never had a bad experience with anything that came from them.

Weeellllll I may have had a bad experience now. The recipe was AMAZING. Except the sauce. There was too much fish sauce in it and the ENTIRE pot of pad Thai was ruined — tasted like ROTTEN FISH. My whole apartment smelled! I had to take the garbage out just to get rid of the smell.

So lesson learned? If you’re going to use this recipe, cut the fish sauce in HALF if not less. Or buy a pre-made jar of Pad Thai sauce.

Regardless, it still looked delicious, so here’s some fabulous photos.

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This week’s Humpday Blog love goes to my friend Steph Hertel’s Turtle Soup blog.  Don’t confuse her with the yodeling sensation, Stefanie Hertel.

I don’t even know where to start! Steph is pretty much the perfected version of what I do at my blog … she makes things … creates things … designs things … bakes things … and is pretty amazing at it.  I met Stephanie through ISU’s graphic design program — and she is extremely talented.  She works for Hallmark, which is the most coveted job in our field (or at least in my eyes anyway!)

Here’s a random smattering of lovely things that Steph has created and blogged about … you should go check her out, and don’t forget to leave her some love!

Lovely tote bag Steph created a while back

Um, YUM. Peanut butter cup cookies! Oh yes — and she shares recipes as well.

Lovely Zucchini pasta

Seriously — she is a jack of all trades! Adorable felt flower pin …

Here’s a closeup of an adorable onesie she made

Here’s a little taste of some of her great design skills … an invite for her annual cookie party and what I’m guessing is the lovely packaging she created to go with it.

And … a beautiful quilt.

You must take 5 minutes and check her out! Definitely worth it, unless you don’t like looking at well-designed and yummy things. Then … um … why are you here?

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So, I decided not to go to the grocery store this weekend.  So, we made due with what was in the house for breakfast and dinner, which made for a couple of interesting recipes! Again, I don’t have any pictures. Mostly because I was mad that some of the pancakes burned (so be careful with these!).

Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup

For pancakes

• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 2 large eggs, separated and at room temp
• 1 cup skim milk, room temp
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whisk flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks with buttermilk, milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients to make a thick batter, be sure not to overmix.
4. Whip egg whites until they have soft peaks.
5. Fold the whipped egg whites into the batter.
6. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
7. Lightly coat the surface with butter.
8. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet for each pancake.
9. Cook until bubbles break the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are golden brown.
10. Flip pancakes and cook for another minute or so on the other side. Be careful — these burn easily.
11. Keep cooked pancakes warn on baking sheet in the oven while you cook the rest.
12. Serve pancakes with warm blueberry syrup.

For blueberry syrup

• 1 cup blueberries, or mixed berries (I used half blueberries and half blackberries)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 t cinnamon (or more if you love cinnamon!)

1. Toss the blueberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan.
2. Add cinnamon and cook over high heat until boiling and blueberries begin to pop, about 5 minutes.

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…as I sit and eat my makeshift Co-Co Wheats (read: whole grain Cream of Wheat + 2 T ovaltine)…

I found this freaking awesome recipe on Bakerella‘s blog. It’s for Chocolate Chip cookie dough brownies…which entails using both a brownie AND a cookie mix from Betty Crocker.

Anyway, I’m totally satisfied with my CoCo Wheats so I won’t be making any of those brownies today…but I’ll keep them on the backburner for our next girlie get together (which my girlies will probably kill me for).

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