Waffles. For dinner, snack, and breakfast.

The other night we had waffles for dinner and we've been enjoying them almost every day since so I need to share recipe and record it for future use. Waffles are awesome! My recipe made 16 round waffles. We had them for dinner that night with other breakfast fare. )Well, Cora and I had them for dinner. Daddy and Leyna like them but weren't in the mood that particular night.) The girls also had them for a bedtime snack that night as peanut butter sandwiches and then again for breakfast the next day with syrup ad blueberries. Plus we have a huge stash of them in the freezer just waiting to be eaten. I just pop them in the oven or toaster to thaw and warm them. Waffles rule!

My setup. Waffle maker, batter, 1/3 cup measuring cup for scooping into the waffle maker, and foil + wax paper for wrapping cooled waffles for the freezer.

Cooling waffles

12 waffles ready for the freezer!

4 dinner variations. Leyna: Just scrambled eggs. Cora: Waffles + bacon. Daddy: Leftover steak + scrambled eggs. Me: Waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Oh, and a bowl of blueberries for everyone to share.

Whole Wheat and Flax Waffles
Adapted from www.food.com

3 C white whole wheat flour
3 T sugar
6 t baking powder
4 T ground flax (we use organic)
1/2 t salt
4 eggs (we use organic)
3 C milk (we use 1%)
1/4 C light olive oil or melted butter

 

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another. Then mix dry and wet together and whisk until smooth. Pour appropriate amount of batter into waffle iron (mine takes 1/3 C nicely) and follow instructions to know when waffles are ready. Keep warm in a low oven or cool and freeze for later!

Pizza Friday - A study in orange

Upon serving lunch today I realized it was a little monochromatic. Cora and I hit Costco for a huge cartload while Leyna was at school. We grabbed Costco pizza to go and also bought a case of mangoes. On the way from Costco to pick Leyna up Cora had an undeniable hankering for some chips. So we made a pit stop for some Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. So that was lunch: Costco pizza, Sun Chips, and Mangoes. And even an orange cup to keep with the theme :)

Since lunch was a little lacking on color (and nutrition - ahem...) we made up for it at dinner. I made our new favorite chicken nuggets (Earth's Best Chicken Nuggets - antibiotic and hormone free with whole wheat breading) and lots of veggies to go with them.

Blueberries, chicken nuggets, ketchup, ranch, cucumbers & tomatoes, and carrots

I had my chicken nuggets over spinach & spring salad mix with cucumbers, tomatoes, ranch dressing, blue cheese crumbles, and hot sauce.

Sunday Dinner + Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

I made dinner for the 4 of us + Uncle Steve tonight and it was nothing super special but it was really good and we all sat around for a long time just laughing at the girls being silly. It was a perfect Sunday evening dinner :)

Cheeseburgers (with the organic beef from the farm we visited yesterday), Cascadian Farm organic shoestring fries, and sauteed garlic green beans.

Hungry! Like her "cheeseburger"?

Going in for the kill...

She tore it up! She ate all but a couple bites of the roll!

And for dessert I took some Coconut Oatmeal Cookie dough out of the freezer and baked it up nice and fresh. I made this dough a month or so ago and froze half for later. Later being today! We all love these chewy cookies. So much in fact that I caught Cora stealing  a THIRD one off the counter tonight. Stinker!

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 C granulated sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C butter, softened to cool room temperature
2 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 C flour
1 C shredded, sweetened coconut
1 C quick oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned (bake a few minutes longer for a crispier version).

Eggs

Check out the organic free-range eggs we got at a local farm today. They are SOOOO pretty! I haven't cooked any yet but I keep taking them out of the fridge just to look at them :)

Too Much Easter Candy? Make Easter Chex Crispy Squares!

We received 10 Easter baskets between the four of us. TEN. So I'm going to be finding some creative ways to use some of our candy up over the next few days. Today I hit a real winner - Easter Chex Crispy Squares!

Easter Chex Crispy Squares

4 T butter
1 bag Easter marshmallows (we used Easter ones plus some that were leftover from Valentine's Day)
1 box Chex
jellybeans

First, melt your butter in the microwave in a large bowl. Take it out and stir in the marshmallows, coating evenly.

Return the bowl to the microwave and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, until marshmallows are melted.

Stir until smooth. Add Chex cereal and stir until evenly coated.

Press mixture into a greased 9x13 pan, press jellybeans into top, and allow to cool.

Cut into squares/rectangles/triangles and enjoy :)

Easter Dinner Leftovers

We brought home lots of leftovers from Easter dinner so I thought I'd try them on the girls one more time. I thought maybe they were just distracted at the real Easter dinner yesterday because they were eating with different people and at an odd time of day. Turns out that was not the case.

Hard boiled egg, fruit (from fruit salad and I washed the white dressing off of it because they thought it was weird), carrots, green bean casserole, macaroni & cheese, and ham

Guess what they had for dinner tonight... Carrots. That's it. OH WELL :(

Easter Dinner

Easter dinner was delish, as usual. Too bad I can't convince the girls of that!

My plate

Leyna's plate. We made the peas just for her. She ate the roll and the peas, not the ham.

Cora's plate. She ate the ham after I cut it in tiny pieces and told her it was "puppy treats." Oh, and she ate the cheese out of the celery. That was it!

Chicken Rice Soup

Leyna and I have been feeling a little under the weather with colds so when she suggested soup for dinner I was all for it. I haven't been grocery shopping yet this week but was able to pull this amazing soup together out of the things we had on hand. This soup was EXCELLENT. I had 2 bowls and Leyna had 3! Cora even ate about half of her dinner for the first time all week :)

Chicken Rice Soup

2 chicken breasts (we use organic)
2 quarts of water
3 T organic chicken base
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
4 T butter
4 T flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
1 C rice (I used white Minute rice) 
1 bag frozen peas and pearl onions, thawed (I accidentally bought these awhile back instead of just peas and they turned out to be perfect for this soup!)

Combine the chicken, water, and chicken base in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is fully cooked. Then remove chicken, shred or cut into bite-sized pieces, and return chicken to pot. Add carrots and bay leaf and continue to simmer. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan and whisk in flour. Cook 1-2 minutes whisking constantly, until fragrant. Add this roux to the soup pot with the chicken and broth. Whisk to combine.
At this point you can keep the soup at a simmer for as long as you need to. About 30 minutes before dinner add the rice to the pot and make sure it's at a low boil. About 5 minutes before dinner add the peas and pearl onions to the soup and stir. After 5 minutes your soup is ready to serve up! ENJOY!!! (and you probably want to pick the onions out if you're serving it to your kids!)

Easter Egg Hunt Fare

Today we had our 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt and I'm proud to say it was a huge success! Part of that is probably in thanks to the food of course! Here's what we ate:

Candy, of course!

Clockwise from bottom left: Veggies and Cheese from a guest, Grapes from a guest, Annie's Organic Bunny Snack Mix (3 boxes!), Marinated Olives, Mee Maw's Deviled Eggs, and Nana's Deviled Eggs.

Carrot and Ranch Dip Shooters, Assorted Cheeses (from Costco), Grapes and Strawberries. We also had Hebrew National Hot Dogs with all the condiments, Beer & Wine, Lemonade, Sweet Tea, and plenty of Juice Boxes for the kiddos.

Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (both recipes from my Betty Crocker Cookbook). The frosting and jellybeans on top are supposed to look like Bird's Nests :)

And perhaps the biggest hit: Carrot Cake Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. (I purchased the royal frosting carrots for the top.) Recipe Below because it was requested a lot!

Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
from Allrecipes.com
(makes 12 cupcakes)

2 oz white chocolate
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t orange extract
4 C powdered sugar
2 T heavy cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 C white sugar
1/3 C brown sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract
2 C shredded carrots
1/2 C crushed pineapple
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
1 C chopped walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350. Line or lightly grease 12 muffin cups. 

For Icing
In small saucepan, melt white chocolate over low heat (or you can carefully melt it in the microwave). Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature. In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in white chocolate, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and orange extract. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Mix in heavy cream. 


For Cake
Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with the icing and sprinkling with remaining walnuts.