Morning English Muffin Bread

I wanted to make bread this morning, and decided on English Muffin Bread. It's so easy and quick to make due to the fact that there is no kneading, and it only rises once. This recipe is similar to what you can get in the store, but better, especially toasted with a little butter and jam spread on it.

Morning English Muffin Bread

2 pkgs yeast

5 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water

*cornmeal for sprinkling

Grease two bread pans well and sprinkle with cornmeal. Combine 3 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Heat the milk and water together until very warm (120-130 degrees). Add mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in the remaining 2 3/4 cups flour to make a stiff batter. Spread the tops with corn meal. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

* I use flour instead of cornmeal because I don't really like cornmeal - I don't put any in the bottom of the pans, just on top to help spread out the dough. For a variation you can add 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins. Also, I always increase this recipe by half  to get larger loaves - it's better that way. 

Here's my breakfast: toasted English Muffin Bread with homemade cherry jam from my mom. Yum!  

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!!!

My birthday was last week. I won't mention how old I am because I'm trying not to think about it. Anyway, in between having mild panic attacks (I literally hyperventilated in a restaurant the night before the big day just from thinking about turning another year older - it was embarrassing and sad) and lying to anyone who would listen about my actual age, I was able to snag a few cool gifts.

One was a Cuisinart ice cream maker which I am thrilled to have. I couldn't wait to try out, so yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart and bought out the dairy section so I could make some ice cream.

I decided to start with a recipe from the recipe booklet that came with the machine and settled on one flavored with green tea.

Overall, I am pleased with the way it turned out, but I'm not sure I will make the same recipe again. It's a little too eggy for my taste, and the green tea flavor isn't very strong. Still, it is pretty yummy, although I think I can probably tweak it to make it better.

I've been reading about all the different kinds of things I can make with this machine, and I'm excited to try them all, especially since it has been too hot around here for baking lately.

Here's the recipe for the ice cream I made yesterday.

Green Tea Gelato
3 1/4 cups whole milk
8 green tea bags
1/4 cup powdered fat free milk
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat to a simmer. Pour half over the tea bags in a medium bowl and let steep for 30 minutes; strain, pressing all the liquid from the tea bags. Stir powdered milk into remaining milk and keep warm over low heat. Place egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a hand mixer or whisk, beat until thick and pale yellow. While mixing, slowly add the hot milk and whisk until blended. Stir the egg mixture back into the saucepan and addd the tea-infused milk; increase heat to medium. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thickened like a custard sauce and registeres 180 degrees. Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Stir in cream, cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours before continuing.

Turn the machine on; pour mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. The gelato will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer to an airtight contained and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Love this song!

Hills Alive 2011

Last weekend was the annual Hills Alive music festival in Rapid City, South Dakota. I went with Aunt Jacque and Uncle Bret last year, and it was so much fun I decided to go back this year.

It was really fun, but extremely HOT! Probably over 100 degrees both days, and only limited amounts of shade were available.

Here is Aunt Jacque, me, and mom before we melted.

I tried to take pictures of all the bands. Some of them didnt' turn out so great since we sat farther back to try to get some shade, but here is who we saw and heard.

The first day started out with Reilly, a band we saw last year. They are a fun, upbeat band from Philadelphia and are unique in that they have two violinists in the group.

Reilly

They were followed by a group called 33 Miles, who did their set acoustically. At first I didn't think I knew who they were, but realized I had heard a couple of their songs. We all really liked them.

33 Miles

They were followed by Chris August, who has a hit song on Christian radio right now about a starry night. We weren't very impressed with him, so we left to check into our hotel and to cool off for a little while.

Chris August

When we returned, it was time for The Afters. If you listen to Christian radio at all, you have heard their song about you light, light, light up the sky. I really liked them, and was pleased to find out that they knew more songs than the one I just mentioned.

 

The Afters

After The Afters was Hawk Nelson. I think I must be getting old, because they were pretty rocky and did some head banging which I did not find to be appealing at all. Hmmmm.

Hawk Nelson

Finally, the night ended with Kutless. They put on a fun, but worshipful show. I think all of us became fans.

Kutless

Sunday morning we were back at the park bright and early to claim a spot with some shade. It didn't work though, and we were in the sun till about 5 o'clock.

The music started with The Afters, again. They lead everyone in worship for about an hour. I liked them even more after that.

The Afters, day 2.

Then there was a group called School of Worship. We didn't pay a lot of attention to them, instead we went in search of lemonade and restrooms. They were followed by the group Abandon. I didn't think I knew them either, but I was familiar with two of their songs from the radio. 

Abandon



The next artist was Matt Maher. We were all really excited to see him, and Aunt Jacque and I went and stood down in front of the stage so we could bask in his coolness. He's great.

Matt Maher

Then we heard a really fun band called NEWWORLDSON. They were super entertaining and wow, could their drummer drum!

NEWWORLDSON

The last two bands of the night are both big names in Christian music. Matthew West was first. He was really fun, and I have a new favorite song by him: Strong Enough.  

Matthew West

The festival ended with Third Day. They were really fun to see live and have some neat songs right now. I've been listening to their album Move pretty much nonstop this past week.

Third Day

It took a day or two to recover from the heat, but it was well worth it. Yay for Christian music and the reason artists write and sing it.