We are in a state of anticipation here at our house. Sometime tomorrow morning, February 14th, 2012, our new little grand-daughter will be born. Megan had tests today which indicate that the baby's lungs are well developed so all systems are go for the delivery as scheduled. We would appreciate your prayers for them. I plan to go up to Michigan to help out at the end of the week. I'll try to post pictures ASAP. 
In the meantime I've been cleaning and cooking up some things for Rob to eat while I'm away. Today I made some breads for the freezer. I made some of these delicious Herbed Oatmeal Pan Rolls. They go together quickly and are quite tasty. I also tried this new recipe for English Muffins. This version contains buttermilk and is cooked on the stove top and then finished off in the oven. I liked this method a little better than trying to cook them all the way through in the skillet.
Homemade English Muffins
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4-2 1/4 cups bread flour
4 tsps. yeast
2 Tbsps. sugar
3/4 tsps. salt
2 Tbsps. honey
1 Tbsp. soft butter or margarine
cornmeal for dusting
Warm the buttermilk to 115-120 degrees. Set aside. In mixer bowl combine the whole wheat flour and 1 3/4 cups bread flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add buttermilk, honey, and butter and mix to form a dough that clears the side of the bowl adding the additional flour as necessary. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.
Line a baking sheet with parchment and dust with cornmeal.
Roll or pat out dough 3/4 inch thick on surface dusted with cornmeal. (I used another piece of parchment.) Cut into rounds with biscuit cutter or a glass or tin can. Transfer rounds to baking sheet. Cover loosely and let rise 45 mins.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat heavy skillet or griddle medium hot and then lightly butter skillet and brown both sides of muffins (about 3 mins. per side.) Place on the prepared baking sheet and then bake 15-20 mins. Cool and then split with a fork.
I'll close with a recent picture of Ryan. He's ten months old and has four teeth now and enjoys cruising around the furniture and chasing one of our cats. I've tried to get a picture of the two of them but they are both just too quick for me to get a good shot.
Becka
