English Muffin Bread

YOU GUYS. Stop whatever you are doing and go make this bread right now. For real. It is the easiest, yummiest thing you will ever make. [Besides putting chocolate chips on a scoop of peanut butter and horking it down.] I made the entire recipe with Gray on my hip. [poor babe is teething.] AND, we have eaten half the muffins and half a loaf already. And Cam is currently toasting two more slices for immediate consumption.

Recipe found on Pinterest; originally from: One Good Thing by Jillee

ENGLISH MUFFIN BREAD

• 5.5 cups warm water


• 11 cups flour


• 3 packages rapid rise yeast


• 2 tablespoons salt


• 3 tablespoons sugar

Mix it all together. Spoon into 4 greased loaf pans. Let rise to the top of the pans and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before slicing.

 



I admit I was skeptical that the batter/dough would reach the top of the pans, but it totally did. And it baked up beautifully. I didn't have 4 loaf pans. In fact I have 3 loaf pans that don't even match. All turned out perfect. I put the remaining batter in 12 muffin cups. And those turned out perfectly too. [I baked them all at the same time and pulled the muffins out about 8 minutes before the loaf pans.] They make incredible toast. I put homemade mango raspberry jam on top and man oh man it is GOOD.

The crannies my friends. The crannies. [Those blessed little air pockets that hug the butter & jam...oh boy.]

And there are 2 more loaves in my freezer.

I can hardly handle it. We'll be making this a hundred times over.

Overnight Oats & a "Delurk"

I have had the following conversation probably three dozen times.

Me: [Random story/fact about the boys/etc.]

You [or your husband]: "Oh yeah! I [my wife] totally read that on your blog. Is that creepy?"

Me: "Not creepy at all. That's why I write it!"

Ok. This is me calling you out. You are not creepy. You are, however, awkward. Say hello! I am calling for a delurk today. If you've never commented, or you comment on every post, or somewhere in between leave a comment! Either on this post or another one of your liking. It doesn't even have to have anything to do with the post. I just want to get to know YOU. Introduce yourself!

I'll even throw in a "nice to meet you!" picture of the boys.

How can you say no to faces like that?

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As for the Overnight Oats. Are you excited? You should be. These have the power to change your life. To start with, I have a love for oats that I didn't know existed until I was pregnant with the boys. I had this master list of things I wanted to make to have on hand so I ate well and could build and keep a good milk supply. It just turns out that oats were in almost every single one. Granola, smoothies, breakfast cookies, etc. Then, we moved to Arizona. And my milk supply was all but gone. I called the NICU to see if I could get it back and the nurse just asked me how often I eat oats.

I had pinned a recipe for overnight oats on pinterest a while ago that I kept meaning to try, but it called for "chia seeds" and I had never seen them anywhere but on Amazon. I didn't want to buy a whole pound just in case I didn't like it. [Now, guess where my swagbucks gift cards are going to go?] I found chia seeds down here at Sprouts in their bulk section and grabbed a scoop for a couple bucks. And I've had overnight oats every day since.

They are magic.

They fill me up all morning. They're full of protein. I get fruit and calcium and fiber in my diet from the get go. They are YUMMY and I'm a night owl, so making myself a balanced breakfast in the morning [even just adding fruit to my bowl of cereal] just doesn't happen. However, making a balanced breakfast the night before? I can, and do, do that.

[Happy to say my milk supply has never been better.]

I've since modified the recipe a bit, because I'm one of the weird ones that doesn't like greek yogurt. Also, eventually [when I'm not living at my in-laws house], I plan to make a big batch of my own yogurt to use, and I don't intend to greek strain it. And the recipe made about half of what I needed to eat for breakfast, so I started by doubling the amount of oats it called for. I make mine in ziploc tupperware containers. They're not a part of the cutesy mason jar trend, but they do the job just fine. And fit a lot more of everything.

So without further ado, here's my favorite breakfast secret!

Overnight Oats

• 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats


• 1/3 c. milk [I use 1%]


• 1/2 c. yogurt [I have used vanilla and strawberry so far. Must say, I prefer vanilla.]


• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds <--don't skimp on these. They're my favorite part! [And they soak up the liquid and make it the right consistency.]


• Fruit or other mix-ins

Put everything but your mix-ins in a container. Stir well. Mix-in your mix-ins. Let it sit in the fridge overnight. Enjoy in the morning!

I've tried applesauce and cinnamon, mango, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, a tablespoon of cocoa and half a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter and half a banana, and strawberry yogurt [instead of vanilla] with half a banana. Must say, the only one I didn't like was the peanut butter combo. And if you make one with banana, be sure to eat it within 2 days. [I generally make 4 of these at a time and let them sit in the fridge. I eat the banana ones first because I have a weird thing about banana...the blueberry one lasted a good 4 days and tasted divine!]

So there you have it. Have you tried these before? Favorite mix ins? I want to hear about it!