Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 02/23/12

Not going to bore you with my mundane meals for this past week.  Have been a bit under the weather with a cold and haven't really stuck to the planned menu but then that isn't totally unusual however.  We did pretty much stick to the challenge of eating from the pantry and freezer and not going to the grocery store.  I think the only thing we bought this week was milk and apples.

I did however add to the pantry this week.  Made a big batch of spaghetti sauce with canned tomatoes from the pantry.  However the peppers were bought a couple of weeks ago and needed to be used before the spoiled so none from the freezer.  Basil did come from the freezer.

 The beginnings of the sauce

The finished product on its way to the canning jars.

Also made 3 pounds of breakfast sausage from the trimming from an untrimmed pork loin that I purchased a couple of weeks ago.

Most of this week has been spent on breakfast food for my brother.  I now have to be sure that he is getting enough protein in the morning for breakfast so have been working on that.  He does not eat a lot of things including eggs if he knows he is getting eggs.

Had left over bread from the weekend and lots of eggs I bought when they were on sale for $.99 a dozen so French toast was in order for the freezer.

Made a batch of English Muffins.  Love to make them they are so quick and easy, cooked up Canadian Bacon from the freezer and added a slice of cheese he now has a breakfast sandwich in the freezer that goes from the freezer to the microwave real easy.

Am off to town today to buy a container big enough to brine the piece of pork loin I have to make Canada Bacon.  This will be a first so should be interesting.

English Muffins

Yields: 9

servings

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 (.25 ounce) package active

dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110

degrees F/45 degrees C)

2 tablespoons melted

shortening

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from

heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In

a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy,

about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups

flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a

soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.

3. 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.

4. 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.

I do make my dough in the bread machine.

Don't forget to visit our host for today's Thursday Kitchen Cupboard, Spring Garden Acre , and see what others are sharing for the week.