English Muffins Take 1

For a little bit of a change I decided to make English Muffins for this Muffin Monday. One of the girls loved them and the other thought they were just okay. I tried to use the Alton Brown/Food Network recipe but we did not have the powdered milk so I tried to use no extra liquid and milk instead. I'd like to try at least once more to see if I can do better but this is how I did it this time:

First, I added 1 1/2 cups of milk with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of shortening, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan until the sugar and salt were dissolved and let it cool down.

In a large bowl I added 1 envelope of dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) and a pinch of sugar together, then added the milk mixture and lest it set until dissolved, about 5-10 minutes.

Next, sift 2 cups of all purpose flour, add to the liquid mixture, and stir with wooden spoon until mixed thoroughly:

Cover the mixture and let it set in a warm place for at least 30 minutes. I let mine set for closer to an hour so their would be as many nooks and crannies as possible (shown here by our lovely model, Audrey):

Next comes the fun part. Preheat a griddle to 300 degrees. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the risen mixture and beat thoroughly. You need to use something round and in a suggestion from another website I found that the canning rings are perfect. I took 1 ring, sprayed with veggie spray, and added to the griddle. Then, I spooned in the mixture until it was full and let it set for 1 minute. At that point the mixture is set just enough for you to remove the ring and add another muffin. By the time you have 5 down you are ready to flip the first one. They need to cook about 5 minutes per side:

I realized about halfway through my griddle was about 20 degrees lower than it was supposed to be. The second batch turned out a little better, cooking faster and having that outside ring you see on store-bought type muffins.So, just make sure you have yours at 300 and keep it consistent. The reason the English Muffin has a crisp outside and chewy inside is because of the time and temperature it is cooked. We were able to make about 12 muffins but next time I will follow the recipe exact and try again adding a little more batter to each ring also. This is the finished product:

Tasty, but slightly flatter than I would have liked. We will definitely try these again as Ella could not get enough. They weren't perfect though so I must try again....

Family Fun at The State Fair of Texas

Sorry about last week. In all honesty, it is hard for me to get things done here in blog world when the kids have a day off. Last Monday was Columbus Day and Fair Day. We actually went to the Fair the day before since Corey could not get Monday off of work. Since that took up my whole Sunday I'll skip the muffins for this week and show you how the fair went.

The fair I'm talking about would be THE fair around here, The State Fair of Texas, known for a wide array of fried foods and anything goes when it comes to fried. This year some new fried treats included fried bubblegum and buffalo chicken flapjacks. Before going, we found a list of the 25 Best Eats at the Texas State Fair and decided which ones we would like to try. It's nice to have a game plan because the fair can get quite expensive if you don't. There are many things to do besides ride the rides and play games. Last year we loved going to the Women's Museum and there are a list of several others that we still have to go to. There are many pavilions and a massive car show inside the Fair, all for free or cheap.

Before getting to the food we found the car show. The Jeep section had a cool climbing wall for kids for free:

And you can sit in all the newest cars. Audrey and Ella tested out the trunk space of the new Fiat, which BTW is super cute but still a little too small for our needs:

Ella was begging us for food after walking around the car show for a while so we set out on our food tastings.

First off, we found the kraut balls in the Hans Mueller Booth on the east side of the Cotton Bowl. Our family favorite of the day for sure. I wish we would have gone back for more.

If you don't try anything else new but this it will be worth it. The booth was located in front of the Cotton Bowl close to the entrance of the Midway:

Next up, we found our way to the Coca Cola Food Court:

There are many, many booths with all kinds of foods but we were on a mission. We found the Greek booth and asked for a giant dolma.

We tried and tried but Audrey would not touch it. The above shot was not posed. This was her natural reaction to having the plate set down in front of her. The rest of us, however, loved it. This was Ella's favorite of the day for sure. The look can be deceiving on this one. We got a lot of looks from passersby. In case you don't know, a dolma is a grape leaf stuffed with beef, lamb, and rice.

We walked out of the Coca Cola Food Court in search of what I was really excited about, tamale balls. After a bit of searching for the Exhibit Hall we found it. I'll have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed. They were just okay. Too spicy for the kids and a little dry in my opinion. Oh, well, the rest made up for them.

At this point in the day it started to rain. We had stopped at Tar-jay before coming to the fair and picked up some ponchos because the forecast showed a high chance of rain. I'm so glad we were prepared. We asked others how much they were charged at the fair for ponchos and we were told they paid $7 each!

We stepped out into the rain and walked around for a bit and found the Museum of Nature and Science. What a great way to spend an hour while waiting for the rain to stop. Admission was only $1.50 and the kids loved it. Bob the Builder was even walking around that day. Now, my kids are a little old for it but all the little ones seemed to love him.

The rain subsided and we found the next item on our list, salsa balls:

These were good too. Audrey liked them the most. It tasted liked nacho cheese mixed with salsa with an outside layer of crunched up nacho cheese Doritos. Not bad. These were found in the Magnolia Beer Garden.

We let the kids ride a few rides at the Midway but several were shut down due to the rain. The most famous of all the rides, of course, is the Texas Star.

The last food we tried for the day, our dessert, was a Fried Latte. In reality, the ice cream is not fried, but it was so tasty it did not matter:

Cappuccino ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkled with coffee flakes, atop a sopapilla. Great dessert to end our day of food samplings! And, I have no idea what THAT face was about. She was just being silly for the camera.

Our last stop for the day was a must. Have I mentioned that Audrey is OBSESSED with pigs. She would give anything to have one but our little suburban home just won't accommodate a pig, much to her dismay. So, we have to settle for occasional petting zoo piggies:

And Ella was happy feeding a baby goat, or kid, of course.

The petting zoo is also free with a small fee for the food.

We left having had a great, relatively inexpensive, day. I actually liked going during a rainy day. I think many people did not come because of it so the parking was good and the lines weren't bad. This is our 2nd time in 2 years to go as a family and I think we will just have to add this to our rotation of things to do every year now that we figured out how to do the fair.

That Ship is Bananas

Good afternoon my lovelies. I have been saving this recipe for a while. I don't know why. Maybe just wanted to get those bananas at the perfect ripeness to make them. On a side note does anyone else sing that Gwen Stefani song when they spell bananas, as in that sh-t is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s. When Ella was little she loved that song so we told her they were singing that Ship is Bananas so that is exactly what she sang. Wish we could get away with that now. Whatever works, right?

Anyway, if you guessed banana nut muffins for today's treat you are correct, sir. Or madam. Whatever the case may be. So, I had so much going on this weekend I needed to go to my 'go-to muffin recipe'. This is actually a recipe for my banana bread in muffin form. I don't use wheat flour a lot in my baking but the texture of the bananas and cinnamon blends so well with the wheat flour that these muffins really benefit from the use of it.

Banana Nut Muffins

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour (or you could use 1 1/2 cups white-wheat flour instead of the 2 separate flours)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites, slgihtly beaten
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Mix eggs, banana, sugar, and oil in a large bowl.
4. Stir flour slowly into banana mixture just until moistened.
5. Stir in nuts.
6. Spoon equal amounts of batter into 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My Fall Color Palette

My Fall Color Palette by pamela-s1 featuring a coral dress

Lela Rose tulle dress
$2,495 - net-a-porter.com

Lela Rose bow dress
$1,295 - farfetch.com

Oasis coral dress
$75 - oasis-stores.com

Ready For Fall

I have been looking at so many great outfits lately I just had to make a set of my own. Here in Texas it has been in the nineties all week but we are FINALLY getting a cold front and I can actually start changing into Fall mode. Yay! Now, if I could only procure the money to afford all of these great looks. In real life (you know, outside the wonderful dreamy blog-life) I am super picky when it comes to buying outfits. If only it could be as easy as going online and putting things together like this:

That pop of red-coral is MY pick for color of the fall. It's so pretty! I picked up a steal on a mini-trench last Spring for Audrey at the end of the season that she is now wearing in this color, and it is an instant mood-lifter. Love it!

Happy Fall shopping everyone!

It's a Doughnut. It's a Muffin. It's Both!

Oh Monday, my old friend. I have a genuine love and hate relationship with you. I love starting everything new each week with your presence but at the same time I can see the long list of things that have to be accomplished before you come back round again. 

One thing I do not mind doing, however, is Muffin Monday. This week, I happened upon a good-looking muffin recipe while searching through Pinterest. You can see my own Pinterest page here. Anyway, it's a Doughnut Muffin. The recipe came from Once Upon a Chef & I just could not resist making them. What could be better, right. I know! We've got another winning recipe here. Everyone loved them. Corey did think they tasted a little 'off' at first but he snatched one right after I pulled them out of the oven and before the topping was put on. He said once the topping was on it straightened the taste up and was very good. I wouldn't know what they tasted like straight out of the oven because I have, ahem, self control. What? I do. Ok, sometimes I do. Here is picture of this double-duty muffin:

And don't skip that topping. It really does make it taste like a cinnamon sugar cake doughnut!

The recipe can be found at Once Upon a Chef. Check it out.

Feeling Crafty

This is the best time of day for me, just after the kids are off to school and the chaos dies down a bit. The morning sun is casting the perfect light for beautiful pictures, like this:

I have a gazillion pictures of the sky, most in the morning, but not exclusively. Does anyone else take this many pictures of the sky? I just love natural beauty, hence why I have so many of the sky, of flowers, & of my girlies.

Here's a few more, just cuz I want to share the stormy sky and because we are finally getting some much needed rain here in Texas and the sky has been void of any clouds all summer that it just makes these that much more gorgeous.

So, anyway, I'm sitting here, wishing I could work on my goods for my Etsy store but need to start my regular work instead. So I put it off anyway and I go to order supplies and lo and behold everyone(!) is out of the tiles that I JUST discovered that are perfect for necklaces that I plan to sell in my shop: Pixie Feet Photography. I originally bought 4 squares and 8 circles to see how those would work. Turns out the squares are perfect but now they are nowhere to be found. Every resource I had found them on a few weeks back is out of stock for some reason and I cannot find them in any of the local big box craft stores. Poor me. I went ahead and ordered the smallest squares to see what I could do with them because I needed to get glaze anyway so I might as well get everything at once. So, crossing my fingers I can do something with those. Also, ordered another batch of photos I am excited to get. I wonder if someone else had the same idea I did and ordered those tiles all for themselves? Boohoo. Guess I'll start on the headbands, which is my 2nd idea. Here is a sample of what I'll be doing:

I have a huge collection of buttons that my grandmother collected over the years and am going to be adding them to the headbands. I believe they would count as vintage. She passed away in the late nineties and many of her buttons were still on the original strip, with copyright dates in the sixties. In this shot you can kind of see one of them. I am glad to use them for something pretty and useful and hopefully others will like them too.

So, on to boring work (bleh) and then hopefully I can squeeze in a little time to create!