Muffins and Minor Stresses

 Yesterday, oh yesterday...It was productive...we did some good baking...but for the emotional part...it was one of those days. Thank goodness it is a yesterday now. Its just one of those kids trying to fight for my attention and get under each others skin type of things, but it just seemed a little more overwhelming  than usual to me.
 Earlier in the afternoon we started on some homemade English muffins to make TUES. Menu item: Mini Pizzas. Which was my sons pick.
Homemade English Muffins
2 cups buttermilk
3 3/4 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 tb sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tb honey
1 tb butter at room temp.
Cornmeal for dusting

> Warm milk in the microwave or on stove top in pot. In a large bowl mix the next 4 ingredients. Then add the buttermilk, then honey and butter. Stir until dough is fully combined, add a little flour if its too gooey. Shape into a ball. It will be sticky.
> Cover and let rise in the fridge for at least 2 hrs. up to 24 hrs.
> Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. Sprinkle some more on your work surface and place dough on top to roll out to 3/4 inch thickness. Use something to cut into 12, 3 inch rounds. I of course use a can opened at both ends. And place on parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 min.

> Heat oven to 350, and then heat a large skillet over med. heat until very hot (a drop of water sizzles dry right away). Brown each side 3-5 min. Then return to baking sheet, and repeat until all the muffins are browned.

> Bake 15-20 min. These are the best English muffins we ever had. Aparently the cat thought so too. While they were on the rack cooling, we went outside for a while. Upon my return to the kitchen I realized a muffin was missing. Through further investigation, we could tell the cat had plucked one off the rack nibbled away at it and left her evidence on the chair. Obviously MacMurray (our dog) would have devoured it on the floor. Bad Kitty, you gave yourself away.

 The ground work was done for these easy little pizzas, that the kids whipped together when it was dinner time!
 Another awesome job guys.
 In all honesty it was a stressful day, with the hecticness of life overwhelming me. But I did take some time in the evening to take a quick relaxing bath, I burned some lavender oil, while sipping a tea and reading a book. I thank the Lord for that relaxing moment, it was truly needed and it worked.