English Muffins and Crusty Baguettes

This weekend was a low key weekend.  Still recovering from my bronchitis, so other than going to the grocery store, I was basically in my pajamas all weekend.  The problem with bronchitis is that I don’t necessarily “feel” bad, it’s just the nagging cough that’s so not satisfying.  I could go an hour without coughing, then I’d get up and start to do stuff around the house and then spend ten minutes in a coughing fit.

And it was gorgeous in Chicagoland this weekend!  My kind of fall weather – sunny, with temps in the mid-60s?  Yes please!  I would have killed to go on a long walk around my neighborhood.  And I also felt like being Bizzy in my Kitchen and was trying to thing of things to make that wouldn’t have coughing my head off, and I immediately thought of bread.  You mix it, let it rise, I rested at that time, then I baked the bread!

First up – English muffins.  I’ve never made English muffins before and wow are there a lot of recipes to choose from.  Some the dough did a slow rise in the refrigerator overnight, some for three days.  I chose this one but cut the recipe in half.  I also cooked the English muffins for 5 minutes a side on my baking steel on top of the stove, and then finished them off in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes.  I ended up making an open face English muffin sandwich with smoked sausage, eggs, a bit of cheese, butter lettuce and sriracha.   I finally ate this around 12:30!

I knew I was making a pasta dish for dinner using up what I had on hand before grocery shopping on Sunday.  I make the Artisan bread all the time, but wanted to try making a crusty baguette.  I’ve had a baguette bread maker since October of 2009 when Tony took me to a restaurant supply store.  I think I’ve used it three times?  It’s made of light metal and it holds the shape of the baguette while cooking.

I ended up using Kelsey Nixon’s recipe because it only had two short rises of 25 minutes each.   Look at how pretty they turned out!

I tagged Kelsey on Instagram and she replied – how cute is that?!  (well, probably her “people” but still).

Sunday morning I woke up and craved red meat.  My RD friend Shelley said “your body needs zinc!”  This is the most food I’ve had at one time in a long time.  It was delicious.

Do any of you guys shop at Aldi?  My friend Ally has a been shopping at Aldi for a while now, and even posted a meal plan for two weeks for her family of five buying everything at Aldi for $170 for two weeks!  When Aldi first opened by us some 20 years ago, the produce was nasty – like Aldi was the last stop before throwing stuff away and it always put a bad taste in my mouth about shopping there ever since.  We had an Aldi built in our town about five years ago, and while it was nice and clean, I still only considered Aldi as my stock up store for canned goods and to buy dairy products pretty cheap.

Yesterday I had to stop by Aldi to stock up on k-cups, and decided to check out their meat section.  I ended up buying a lemon garlic pork tenderloin for $5.47 – not too bad!  I grilled it over indirect heat for about 35 minutes, then finished it off over the coals for some color.

All I have to say is I am sorry I haven’t tried their meats sooner.  This pork was delicious.  Super flavorful, juicy and tender.  Of course Hannah didn’t eat any, so after Jacob and I ate our portions for dinner, I still have half a tenderloin leftover for two lunch meals for me this week – not bad for the money!

So last night as I was watching t.v. and going through Instagram on my phone, I stopped in my tracks when Sunny Anderson posted a Coke can with my husband’s name on it.  I was a bit sad yesterday because it’s the first season opener of the Bears game where I didn’t have football food planned for Tony.  For some reason seeing his name on the pop can started to make me teary.  I left a comment saying something to that effect – a few other commenters tagged me back and said they were sorry for my loss.  And then Sunny replied to me. 

Although, I think Sunny thought I may be Lauren, because Lauren’s husband was the only husband at the cooking contest in New York, but it was a nice gesture, none the less.   So sorry Lauren if Sunny thinks your husband passed away!

Alright, I supposed I can’t go to work in my pajamas so time to get my stuff together.  I wish I could pack a gym bag, but I am not there yet.  Hopefully soon!  Make it a great day!