Summer is over. Welcome to having time (for now)

So I thank my mother for contributing to the blog while I was away at opera camp in Princeton this past summer. Since getting home, I've slowly re-discovered what it is like to be a non-musician again... an unemployed non-musician, to be more specific. While audition season has yet to start, I only am involved in the CSO chorus at the moment as well as my church job; so all is NOT terrible. Its just a little tight.

And we all know what tight means: no going out to eat.
Which then, follow me down my slippery slope of logic, means that I am cooking more often and utilizing different ingredients that I find for cheap at the market.

Recent discoveries:
Steamed baby bok choy... you are delicious.
Sauteed Rapini... you are not.

Today, however, I chose to embark upon a journey that I've intended for quite some time. The wait was entirely worth it. And incredibly EASY.

Home-made English Muffins
(GASP! I know... don't inhale your neighbor)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast

.....dissolve sugar into milk/water and then add yeast. Let it get bubbly (5-6 min)

1/4 cup melted shortening*
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

.....add to yeast mixture. It will be fairly sticky; I added about a 1/8 cup more flour just to make it a little more manageable.

.....place into well-greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise and double. This took about an hour for me, though it was sitting on the porch in 90 degree heat (not in direct sunlight, though)

.....on a well-floured surface, turn the dough out and knead ONLY A LITTLE. Form dough into a log- roughly the size of a medium rolling pin. Cut into 1 discs (will depend on how thick you would like your muffins to be) and place on to a cookie sheet that has been both greased and dusted with corn meal.

.....let rise again for about 30-40 minutes; they will puff up a fair amount. Again, my kitchen was fairly warm, so you might want to let them rise even longer.

.....on a lightly-greased skillet that has been warmed to medium-low heat, place the muffins gentle and allow to cook. I was checking the first batch to see how well they were cooking; it does take about 5 minutes per side, though that will fluctuate with how thick yours are.

VOILA. Easy English Muffins that taste AMAZING- I ate mine hot off the skillet with fresh rhubarb-strawberry jam from my mother.