English Muffins

This lovely comes from Leslie, my kinda step-mother over at GreenCollarGirl.com, and oh, hey look, if you click on the title English muffins, I made it so it will take you over there to browse the crazy stuff going on over at my Papa's house where they run prettttty green these days.

Have a craving for an English Muffin with eggs in the morning, but living on a budget you can’t afford to buy that certain brand with all the “nooks and crannies”? Well crave no more ’cause here’s a simple, easy to make English Muffin recipe that produces a mountain of muffin and saves you dough at the same time. To make it ultra easy, I mix the ingredients in my bread machine.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm milk
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

Mountain of Muffins
Warm the milk and water together in a small saucepan, remove from heat and pour into the pan of the bread machine. Add remaining ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed. Select the “Dough” program and set back while your bread machine does the mixing work. Watch that your dough doesn’t over rise in your machine as it will make quite a mess and could damage the machine.

When the dough has doubled, punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with eggs, or with home made jam or even just butter

Spaghetti Carbonara

I've made this twice now and it's really delicious. I like the flavours; Joe loves the bacon. WIN.
Last night I served it over baby spinach which worked really well.

You need:

1 pound any type of pasta (I've used farfalle and rotini)

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 slices bacon, diced (I double this to satiate Joe!)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional) (1/4 cup of chicken stock may be used, or a 1/8 cup vodka)

4 eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook your pasta until al dente. Drain well. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and set aside.
1. Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook chopped bacon until slightly crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat; add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and heat in reused large skillet. Add chopped onion, and cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add wine, stock, or vodka if desired; cook one more minute.
2. Add bacon/onion/liquid mixture to pasta. Toss to coat, adding more olive oil if it seems dry or is sticking together. Beat eggs together with the 1/2 cup Parmesan and pour over warm pasta mixture. Stir until creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste (remember that bacon and Parmesan are very salty).
3. Serve immediately with chopped parsley sprinkled on top, and extra Parmesan cheese at table.

Voila!

You may also add cream, nutmeg, mushrooms, peas, and other delectabilities to this dish. It's easy to adjust; however, try the basic dish first to see what you want to do with it.

NOTE: if reheating this dish for next-day meals, heat on LOW or in short intervals of 15 second increments, otherwise the creamy egg sauce will frizzle into lumpy curds.

Bon appetit!