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!