Monday - Mustard and Muffins

There was little of culinary interest going on over the past weekend. Scott was home and it was warm and nice out, so rather than slave in the kitchen, I played outside, watched movies and played video games (yes, I'm a nerd). We ate stir fry, veggie burgers, leftovers and actually went out to eat yesterday! It is still really nice out and I am fighting the temptation to play outside some more. However, for the moment I am content with the windows open and a random play list of about 60 gigs of mp3s blasting. Oh yes, I am also enjoying an afternoon glass of wine (is that wrong? nah).

I'll start today's recipes with mustard. A couple months ago, as I scraped the last drops out of a jar of dijon, I started thinking that it couldn't really be too difficult to make mustard at home. I did a search for recipes online and found one that looked fairly straightforward and doable. I tried it out and was very happy with the results. I wouldn't really call it 'Dijon', but it is a nice spicy mustard that gets better with age. I finally ran out of my first batch this weekend, and in light of Nancy's request, I figured I would make more today and post the recipe.

Homemade Mustard (the original recipe I used is posted here)

2 Tbs mustard seeds (I used a combination of brown and yellow)
1/4 cup powdered mustard
1/4 dry white wine (use something you like to drink)
2 Tbs red wine vineagar (the original recipe calls for white, but I don't have any on hand)

Roughly grind up the mustard seeds in a spice or coffee grinder ( I use this as an excuse to clean out the coffee grinder. You could probably use a mortar and pestle just as effectively). Mix the powdered mustard and ground seeds together in a small bowl. Add wine and vineagar and mix well. Pour the mixture into a jar and seal. Pour yourself a glass of wine:). Leave the jar on the counter overnight then refrigerate for at least 2 days before using.

My other project today is to make homemade English muffins. This is a work in progress, so I'm not going to post the recipe yet. So much for not making bread the 'old fashioned' way. My counter is covered in flour and my hands are tired from kneeding.... If all goes well, I'll update the blog later (and bring some samples to the co-op tomorrow).