great grains

Look at my LEGIT homemade English muffins!

The other day I was like “there are hardly any carbs in my house, WHO AM I?”

Step 1 was checking the downstairs freezer, where there are usually a gazillion breads. Which there were, but they were mostly of the white flour kind, and I was craving some wholesomeness.

A bit of sleuthing (I was actually surprised; there’s a bit of a dearth of whole wheat english muffin recipes on the web) led me to this recipe, in which I used a substantially larger proportion of whole wheat flour (like, 70%?).

You make the dough like you would any other- proof the yeast, mix in flour n liquid (though this was all milk, no water), and let it rest for various periods of time. Here they are once all that was done.

But then you cook ‘em on a GRIDDLE, like my beloved pancakes!

They were all the same weight in terms of dough content, but due to my lack of rolling out skills and probably also due to increasing the proportion of whole wheat flour, some were flattish and some were high and puffy. The topography:

But actually, I like that! Because I sometimes want a high and fluffy muffin (like Trader Joe’s British Muffins) but sometimes want a flattish one (like Thomas’s Hearty Grains- can we tell I’m a whole wheat English muffin aficionado?).

So I forked open my first guy:

 

Pro: It is heart shaped!

Con: It is slightly undercooked. Though part of it was not waiting for it to cool cause it smelled so INSANELY DELICIOUS!

No prob, because who ever heard of an untoasted English muffin anyway?

After:

And I made myself an awesome awesome fabbity fab tuna salad (just tuna, bit o’ celery, bit o’ green onion, bit o’ olive oil, bit o’ lemon juice, salt, and pepper) on my English muffin!

With the last of the carrot and radish salad from the other night.

   

And a camera-shy Chobani (it’s not like you haven’t seen enough of those the past few days!)

More carby goodness:

When I saw this recipe for Artichoke and Walnut Fettuccini with Toasted Breadcrumbs over in Anna's blog I knew it’d be a matter of when, not if, I’d be making it. (Her blog is a new favorite of mine! I wish she were my professor!)

Oh my goodness gracious.

I used bucatini instead of fettucini and cut back a wee bit on the breadcrumbs, but I followed the recipe exactly for the artichoke-parsley-lemon zest-walnut topper and OH MY GOD IT WAS SO INSANELY DELICIOUS. It definitely deserves a closeup.

Just those simple ingredients made for a pasta topper that tasted like SPRINGTIME! And we have leftovers… honestly, it would taste REALLY REALLY GOOD on a turkey sandwich. Oh, Lent. But whatever, it’ll be an opportunity for me to get creative.

Fact: artichokes are my favorite vegetables of all time. I have no interest in being rich (which is good as I appear to be solely applying to work for nonprofits!) but the idea of being able to buy artichokes WHENEVER I WANT is, I have to admit, dizzyingly intoxicating. That is probably the only reason I’d ever want to be rich. Artichoke acquisition.

Alongside, I made asparagus the way my roomie used to make it, which I’ve decided is my favorite way to cook asparagus.

I just heated olive oil in a pan on medium/medium high, then added minced garlic and got that sizzling, then added the asparagus. Let that sizzle around, then added some water (last night, the conveniently close pasta water) and let the asparagus finish cooking in that.

It is so sweet and delicious! I know asparagus and acid are a traditional pairing (lemon juice/zest, vinegar, etc.) but I urge you to try this method because it shows you a whole different side of asparagus.

Incidentally, three cheers for my first asparagus of the spring. HMart, I love you.

Another HMart fun item:

Lately I’ve just gotten one new and exciting and fun looking thing every time I’ve gone to Hmart. It’s an inexpensive way to get an international travel experience! Ish.

I tried the walnut and peanut one:

It tasted like soy milk, mostly (which I have to say I actually find really delicious and would drink all the time if it weren’t so expensive and also if I weren’t slightly creeped out by soy), but had a nice sweet nuttiness. I like!

I had it with my afternoon tea… and yes, more carbs (it’s almost like there’s something chemical going on, *ahem*)