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Recipe: Homemade Waffles

While I'm on a breakfast kick (or at least I was... until I met the Pioneer Woman and went into hiding for a week+), I figure that I might as well roll with it. Although I do fear that my guise under which I've been writing this ah-hem (food) blog is about to be blown wide open.

The facts of the case are this: the person who pens these riveting (sometimes) food-related posts feeds her "family" breakfast for dinner at least once a week. But, you can rest easy knowing that on the nights when we aren't eating some form of eggs, waffles or pancakes, I really crank it up and serve an extremely gourmet tuna salad sandwich... see, we're not all breakfast here.

I've actually just learned that the "breakfast for dinner" thing is a somewhat polarizing issue in the land of "what's for dinner." And honestly, I was shocked!

But I'm hoping that no matter which side of the aisle you find yourself on, you can at least agree with me that waffles, no matter what time of day you choose to consume them, are pretty tasty little things... especially if made well.

Here's where you come in... (do you like how I eased you in like that?) I need help. Bad. I made these here waffles a few weeks ago on a bright weekend morning and we enjoyed them immensely... so much so that I vowed to never stray from the recipe and make them again and again... and again.

The thing is, when I went to make them again (this time for dinner)... the recipe that I had once pledged my allegiance to was no where to be found. After spending far much time searching to no avail, my thoughts turned to you all! Might you lend me a hand?

This is what I remember about the can't-get-out-of-my-head waffle recipe we once relished:

• I could've sworn the original recipe came from Fine Cooking;
  
• I also thought that I ended up using a combination of two very similar recipes (from the same source) though I can't pinpoint exactly what the differences were (a bit more baking soda or powder??), and;
• I am almost certain that I didn't whip the egg whites apart from the rest of the batter (which seems to be included in all of the delicious-looking recipes I can find now - my only problem with that being the whole quick and easy weeknight meal, in my opinion, goes out the window when I have to either whip the egg whites by hand for 10 minutes or break out the mixer)
  

Does that ring a bell... at all? Does anyone even make homemade waffles anymore?

Please, oh please, share your favorite waffle recipe. Even if you tell me the only way to achieve the texture and balance that these waffles once (upon a time) provided is to separate and whip the egg whites... then by golly, I'll do it.

In the end, I realize that I may never uncover the exact recipe that produced these waffles, with their delicately crispy outside and light and fluffy interior. But it'd be a heck of a lot easier to venture back out into the world with your recommended recipe in hand.

Accepting the Past

Recipe: Jamie's Breakfast Casserole with Ham and Cheese

Truth be told... I saw this going differently.

It's just that you might say I grew up on eggs. And not in the sense of living in the country, gathering your own farm-fresh eggs every morning... but moreso that they were so cheap, we turned them into breakfast, lunch, and dinner (which, I must admit, mom, I completely get it now, being one of those crazy adults who has a grocery budget of her own, etc.). It seemed like not a week went by where eggs didn't star in something on our menu - ranging from fried egg and ham sandwiches, to scrambled eggs and hash (out of a can!), and at its height, scrambled eggs with chili on top (which got a family's worth of raised eyebrows... only to be forgotten with the first bite).

Yes, I did just say "hash (out of a can!)" but make no mistake, my mom spent considerable amounts of time in the kitchen preparing healthy, well-rounded meals, for us, every night of the week, and she also made sure that in the midst of everything else, we prioritized eating together as a family. Or should I say... eating eggs together as a family.

So as fate would have it, nowadays, not only do eggs play a prominent role in my own weekly menu (with special thanks to a just-as-cheap-as-me husband who loves breakfast anytime of the day), but I actually like and even crave them (it's true).

To say this Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole* was a no-brainer is stating the obvious. Cheese? Breakfast meat? And, eggs?! Yes, please. And if I hadn't had a great reason to serve it at brunch, you can bet it'd have been right at home on our any-night-of-the-week dinner menu.

So I guess I owe a(nother) thank you to my mother-so-dearest...without whom I would never have known the joy of eggs, or how many different ways you can serve them.

*I substituted smoked Kielbasa for the ham and used our favorite cheesy bread to up the cheesiness.

Just Warm Enough

Have you heard? It's snowing here. A lot. And there's more coming shortly following this bunch. I'm more than happy, inside with this girl (who'd rather be outside) tucked in between us, acting as our economical and energy-efficient heat blanket.

This has almost nothing to do with what was on my mind, food-wise, today. But I thought you should be aware of the circumstances that we're dealing with here.

The last time I thought about (read: craved and subsequently proclaimed that it would be ours) this spinach quiche the view out our windows was quite a bit more colorful. And the only thing falling from the sky was a rainbow of leaves, lightly floating their way down; and while the current snowflakes descend just as peacefully, they certainly make quite a bit more of an impact.

And thus for no logical reason, as the piles of white grew higher and higher this morning, I fell deeper in denial that it would actually paralyze our city. So in an effort to not give in to every predictable freezing-weather comfort foods, this quiche popped into my head.

I can not tell a lie, however. This not-too-creamy (allowing the spinach to shine through) but just-the-right-amount of cheesy quiche (encased by a perfectly buttery crust) sadly wasn't what we consumed today. With almost two feet of snow on the ground, my sedan wasn't about to get me to the (in all probability closed) grocery store.

But the memory of it (effortless preparation, economic ingredients, three cheeses blended seamlessly with dark green spinach, sophisticated presentation) was enough to keep me warm - mind you, not paralyzed-by-the-snow warm, but comfortable enough.

*I should mention that this pie crust recipe is the first one I can claim as 100% fool-proof. And, lucky us, it makes enough for two quiches/pies (you get the idea) and stores perfectly in the freezer so you can bet I'll be pulling the second out for round two in a matter of days.

Doing My Part

Heading into this fall season, I detected a bit of unexpected trepidation. Sure, at the outset, everyone who could was proclaiming how excited they were for the changing colors and cooler weather (which are certainly a package deal along with their autumnal cousin). But lurking beneath the exuberance was word that there was a shortage of the worst kind... and could the timing have been any worse?!

Given the situation, it seemed like one could respond in one of two ways... 1) run out and buy up every can of the beloved Libby's before anyone else could, no matter the price or 2) search high and low for every fall-ish non-pumpkin recipe.

So what was my personal response? I opted for... actually both. Since trips to three different grocery stores left me empty-handed, I turned to option 2). My search turned up this amazing looking Praline-Apple Bread - and the result? Dare I whisper that we didn't miss the pumpkin one bit?

Now that's not to say that I won't be back with some pumpkin recipes in the near future (subsequent trips to re-stocked grocery stores served me well) - it is autumn, after all. But you can bet this apple bread is in the queue - just doing my part to keep from driving up the price of our precious pumpkin (or... just an excuse to eat more of this delicious bread).

Southern... or Not

There's an ongoing debate in my life that's been raging (and I mean it! ha) for the past few years... and while it's about something relatively trivial, I'm determined to get to the bottom of it.

The topic in question is how I became (or why I am now... either way) someone who can not and will not show up to someone's home without something from our kitchen ("kitchen" occasionally meaning our wine collection, I will admit).

My mom would immediately attribute this to being Southern. This is suspect as I have no recognizable trace of a Southern accent and have lived in places such as New Jersey and Washington, DC; but I did do most of my growing up in Atlanta and attended school in North Carolina. My main problem with this assumption is that it indicates that people not from the South don't do this!

Others would say it's just your run-of-the-mill manners. I am inclined to go with this theory. Many people who've never dipped a toe below the Mason-Dixon line also can not set foot in another person's home without some sort of tasty item.

But the truth of the matter... what I know lingers down deep in my heart of hearts... is that it is the perfect excuse to dig through cookbooks and find that recipe I've either never made or had long since forgotten about. It doesn't hurt that I also happen to think food makes the ideal gift.

My proclivity towards giving edible gifts (and not just of the hostess variety) started way back in high school... I remember baking up a batch of our favorite peanut butter and chocolate crispy bars and tying them up in a cute baggie as my friends' Christmas treat. I've never looked back so while I can't remember a thing about that holiday season, let's just assume they went over well (that's quite boastful of me).

Most recently Susan's zucchini bread has found its way into the hands of some of our friends. The best part about this bread is that the recipe makes two loaves... so while you might think "oooh, two gifts out of one recipe", I thought "oooh, one for them and one for us". Maybe I don't have this gift-giving thing down after all.

At Any Hour

I'm a breakfast food person - I just am. I like eggs, and breakfast meats, stratas and pretty much anything one can serve in those breakfast hours. I take that back, we eat breakfast for dinner pretty regularly so I even enjoy the above foods outside of those hours (did you know there are people who will not eat breakfast foods outside of the morning hours - there are, I know some of them).

I say these things only to level-set the fact that this recipe wasn't a hard sell on me - especially given the fact that I've tried making cinnamon rolls twice now and wasn't exactly happy either time. Disclaimer: the recipes I tried are NOT flawed, it was all baker - that's me, I have a 1 in 10 success rate with yeast Joy's recipe, though, as daunting as it read, was accompanied by such glorious pictures of her beautiful cinnamon rolls, sure not to be dry given the addition of cream cheese, was not to be resisted - especially when I could justify making them just for Chris and me one weekend morning because I had a lonely stick of cream cheese needing a home.

Wow. The recipe was absolutely flawless - and (said in a whisper) the yeast cooperated and resulted in me dancing around the kitchen shouting "yeast, we might just be friends after all". It worked just as she said it would and within a few hours we had buns of love. Yes, buns of love covered in a deliciously light sweet glaze - it was almost too perfect.

Moral of the story is that it won't be these delicious cinnamon rolls that stand between you and yeast. If I can do it, anyone can. And oh the rewards you will reap.

Just a List

I live and die by lists - I'm one of those people who has lists of her lists. I would imagine quite a few of you can relate.

I should add, too, that I'm usually a pretty organized "lister" - but this one is beyond me; it started just as a list of things I like to do - morphed into a list of things that I want to (learn to) do or see or places I want to go... and in the end, turns out that it doesn't really have a theme, or even a common thread, except that all these items came out of my head.

And with that illustrious introduction, I present the list - the pesky one constantly swirling around in my head, moving so quickly I actually haven't had a chance to put it on paper.

So proceed at your own risk...

- Learn to write better: there are so many people out there (helllooooooo, out there!) who clearly have the gift of writing, and then there are folks like me (hi, me!) who struggle - but we like it, darn it - so I keep chugging along, and you kind souls read (some of) it

- Learn to sew: I took a step towards this one Sunday and actually made a strap cover using my little sewing machine and all; didn't exactly "finish the stitch" so it may very well have already unraveled itself

- Learn more about and become better at photography: preferably in exotic locales (or I could settle for just great pictures of friends and family); it's hard not to be motivated by all the great photographers here on the interwebs

- Develop my style: don't even know what to say here except I have no clue how to pick out clothes for myself, don't even get me started on make-up, starting to find my way around our house and know when I like or dislike something, but I've got a looonnnnggg way to go

- Learn to prioritize: this is a doozie- after all, I'm sitting here writing this instead of doing... well, that's a whole different list (one that made it to paper)

- Need to satisfy my now 6-month long craving for travel: this time last year we were booking our trip to Eastern Europe, and just recently, friends just came back from London and Paris so I've officially got the itch - but where to go, and for how long and ugh... priorities, right?

- And, one for this week, I want to make some more of Susan's Peanut Butter-Banana and Chocolate Chip muffins - not just because they were amazing but because I honest-to-goodness need something to deliver to some friends and neighbors and I'm pretty sure these are just the thing (even though, of course - I have a list of baked goods that I still want to make and share) *I made these using some of Susan's healthified suggestions - Smart Balance instead of butter and egg whites instead of whole egg and I'd do it again exactly the same

Lists could be my demise - but most of the time, they are this girl's best friend... especially when they contain a recipe for insanely delicious muffins.

What's on your list? Or for that matter, make a list and send it to me - misery loves company, after all...

So, When Are You Coming?

To anyone who made their decision whether or not to visit us based on this... I beg you to reconsider. Don't get me wrong, Nicole's chocolate chip coffee cake was (and will be, forevermore amen) delicious, and different. In the best way possible.

But once you see this, you'll be booking your tickets for sure. If you want your traditional - laced with cinnamon, nuts, and brown sugar, coffee cake - look no further... THIS. IS. IT.

Actually, I take that back... do look further. Please.

If you haven't ventured over to Kathy's blog, you're missing out big time... almost as much you will be if you don't make this Sour Cream Coffee Cake, which she found just waiting for her (and the rest of us), on the back of a box of dark brown sugar... so perfectly fitting.

I feel I must tell you that in a fit of creative inspiration, I did end up making a light, cinnamony glaze to drizzle on the cake and it was wonderful, but I also happen to know that it didn't need the glaze... not one bit.

User Error

Do you have things in life that you just know you are meant to do? Like huge life plans... goals and dreams? (sorry, I keep talking about goals - one day I will move on... or you guys will - one or the other)

I realized one of those yesterday. Pretty big time, right? Welllll, I should confess... my achievement wasn't exactly in the realm of what most people would call a life-long dream. It was more of a 6-month long goal - but gosh darn it, I did it.

And I am now here to celebrate the little things in life, including my ability to finally throw a brunch for some of my girlfriends.

Normally having some friends over wouldn't be such a big deal. You all are surely, in fact, rolling your eyes. For whatever reason, though, for as long as I'd been dying to host a brunch, each time we tried to pull it together, something stood in our way.

Enter this fateful weekend. The stars aligned and finally, "the" brunch was here. As far as the food was concerned, while tasty and enjoyable, I wouldn't dare call it the brunch to end all brunches. The company, on the other hand... will be hard to beat.

That's not to say the food wasn't worth mentioning - it just needs some perfecting. Though, let me be clear - this 'perfecting' has nothing to do with the recipes, but rather what I like to call "user error(s)".

Since every meal needs a main dish, though this wasn't necessarily the star of the show, we enjoyed a vegetarian version of my very own cheesy strata. Turns out if you add enough flavorful (and colorful) vegetables, you don't miss the sausage in the least! We thought the combination of asparagus, mushrooms, spinach, onions and roasted red peppers, were just right.

Along with coffee, in the morning another thing I can't do without is some fresh fruit. Filling that role for our brunch was this wonderful Cantaloupe Salad with lime, mint, and ginger.

In my efforts to prepare everything ahead of time, I chopped the mint and zested the lime the night before (good thinkin', right?) - only to return to a bowl of dark green (not yet brown - phew!) mint. I will make this again and (repeat this after me) I will not prepare anything except the cantaloupe early.

And last, but oh my gosh, certainly not least... the Cinnamon Rolls (all 7-8 pans of them). If you don't know which ones "those" are, get to know them immediately. I've been dreaming of making the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls for almost as long as I've been planning this brunch, and they didn't disappoint (although my pictures sadly did).

*note to self - this dough will rise, it will, no doubt about it, so no need to get all over-excited and let it rise like 17 times

I'll keep you all posted on my second try at these - can't decide if it'll be the original again (the perfectionist in me wants mine to look like hers) or PW's newest creation Orange-Marmalade Rolls or Deb's version of Ranch Rugelach.

(Not even remotely) close to perfect food or not, this brunch was almost as fun planning as it was 'attending'. I should have known that Mr. Brunch and I were destined for ever-lasting friendship.

'Round Here...

Let's just pretend for a moment that you were planning to come to our great nation's capital... and you thought "wait justoneminute, Kara lives there and loves out of town (or any, for that matter) visitors" (let's just say).

So far, so good (I'm already thinking about what we will do and more importantly, eat, while you are here - when are you coming, by the way?)...

For your stay, I'm particularly excited about breakfast (we can talk later about the rest of our meals - maybe we'll hit our favorite Mexican spot for dinner??), after all, it is the most important meal of the day! The truth of the matter is I haven't gotten much farther in my meal planning than this coffee cake - it's that good, stopped me cold in my tracks.

Yes, this is for certain; we'll munch on Nicole's Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake with a delicious cup of freshly-brewed coffee. And the best part of it all... coffee cake = tasty goodness with a delicious, crunchy topping that you are allowed (dare I say 'encouraged'?) to eat for breakfast without feeling the slightest bit guilty!!

I hope we'll be able to restrain ourselves before your arrival; but... if, uh, we haven't, you now have the recipe to make when you get home and we'll share something savory instead.

Oh... pardon my manners - you would like to know where you'll sleep while you're here? I'm perfectly willing to share but only if you'll agree to help me.

Let's start with your bathroom - it's just at the top of the stairs. You'll find all the regular amenities... and from this vantage point, it's not so bad.

There are extra towels, rolls of toilet paper, and some fragrant lotions awaiting your arrival (me too!). And a whimsical cutesy valance!

From this side, though, the shower curtain's holding its own - but it needs a complementary friend in the bath mat. The current one was left over from my all blue and white bathroom in a previous life. Any ideas?

Next door you'll find a place to rest your head, and honestly, that's about all it is. If these blank, white walls don't scream help to you... well, you should clean your ears.

One reason I can stomach the purple duvet (besides the fact that it was free) is that it worked really well with some great enlarged pictures of Scandinavia that Christy and I took.

But, you can add this floor to the already long list of rooms needing an area rug.

I promise that that little painting above really feels much more "to scale" in the room than it looks in the picture... really.

And while I do feel like we've done a pretty darn good job with a room that used to be a lime green (admittedly a very cute little boy's room) along with using all hand-me-downs... there's got to be something that can be done!

I think this room is just begging for one or two more things (an accent pillow on the bed, something else on the walls or that aforementioned area rug?) to finish the look. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

I've said it before, I'm no interior decorator - just trying to do the best with what we've got... and what we've got is a lot of different styles thrown together (shhh... don't tell but that's become 'my' style!).

So will you still come and visit? I promise to (try and) make up for the less-than-homey guest room with tons and tons (and tons) of food (some of it might even be good).

One of My Very Own

I finally did it...

Breakfast casseroles seem to be a dime a dozen... there are hundreds of recipes for them out there, and they are all slightly different. Do you want bread in yours, and if so, what kind of bread do you use, if not, do you add pancake/baking mix; is yours vegetarian or do you add meat and if so, sausage or ham... and on and on... and on.

So with all those options at my fingertips, you'd have thought that I could have found something suitable to serve my out-of-town guests this weekend - but I struggled, really struggled. And finally I decided I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

Sure in the past I've tweaked a recipe here or there - omitting salt or adding my own seasonings. Nothing we all haven't done before. But this morning I am proud to have served, and incidentally loved, my very own creation - based on a number of different casseroles I found all jumbled together. Turns out they all liked each other a whole lot.

Spinach, Sausage, and Cheese Strata
adapted from The Dinsmore House

1 lb ground sausage of your choice
1 (10-oz) package chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion (1 large)
cooking spray
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
8 cups cubed cheesy rolls (I found mine in the "oops we overbaked" aisle)
2 c shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 c shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 c milk
10 large eggs
2 TBSP Dijon mustard

Brown sausage, breaking it up with a spoon. Add onion and squeeze-dried spinach when sausage is halfway cooked. Add ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of pepper, nutmeg and cook while stirring for 1 minute.

Spread half of bread cubes in a coated 3-quart baking dish and top evenly with half of the spinach-sausage mixture. Sprinkle with half of both cheeses. Repeat layering (ending with cheese).

Whisk together milk, eggs, mustard and remaining salt and pepper in a large bowl and pour evenly over strata. Push down on the bread to make sure the egg mixture thoroughly soaks it otherwise the top will turn to toast. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Let strata stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake strata uncovered in middle rack of oven until puffed and golden brown. Cook through for 45 to 55 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

makes 8 servings

Unlocking

We are a pretty healthy people around here... I think most of the people who know me would agree with that. I also am pretty sure those same people would say the reason I cook and eat health-fully is so that I can splurge on something sweet at the end... and those people would be well, they'd be correct, too.

In my experience, the words "baking" and "healthy" just can't co-exist in the same sentence... or really even anywhere near each other - unless it's to say "good and tasty baking can't be healthy".

But as life should have taught me long ago, I should know to never say never. (okay, I didn't say never to begin with but you get the picture) As soon as Susan posted these, I knew they'd be coming out of my kitchen - I have had a bag of left-over fresh cranberries waiting their turn and these cute, adorable Banana, Cranberry, and Honey mini-muffins were just the ticket.

And as Susan's commitment to healthy eating puts mine to shame, of course she's developed a wonderfully healthy but still unbelievably (though I am a believer now) tasty recipe. While her recipe was like nothing I've ever cooked (though all the ingredients are "normal" and required exactly zero special trips to the grocery store), it was so good, and good for you that if I do ever risk branching out, I will always use her base recipe as my starting point. Why mess with something already so perfect!

Watch out world of healthy baking... this could get ugly.

The Good Kind

Unless you're new around here, I think we all know that I like free stuff... though I attempt to be somewhat discerning and not just gather the free stuff that has no purpose. Luckily, there was no chance of that today.

Have you heard... for the month of February, every morning from 5am - 9am, McDonald's is giving away FREE cups of their Premium Roast coffee (and while I may lack some fancy tastebuds, I have been told and agree with the tellers, that this stuff is good).

This is exactly what I experienced this morning - since I am usually a law-abiding Metro rider and can't bring beverages with me on my trip into the office - I had to wait for a morning off work.

Ta-DAAA... this morning I said "come to me FREE McDonald's Premium Roast coffee" and it did, and I drank it. I will rinse, wash and repeat as many times as possible in this unfairly short month of February.

A Sweet Morning

Being in town this Christmas means lots of opportunities for hosting - and I think I'm finally ready to admit that I will find just about any reason to host a dinner, or any other kind of, party. So when we went through our Christmas week plans with everyone in my family, we thought starting a tradition of a Christmas Eve brunch would be fun - and no surprise, I jumped at the chance to have it at our house.

And of course, this meant pulling out all the stops... while I brainstormed for at least a month about the perfect menu, it only took a few seconds to decide that we'd use my new jewel-tone red chargers as a backdrop to our beautiful china to create a festive table. Suffice it to say, I'm not one of those people who's china won't get used.

I also came across these cute ornaments that I thought could double as place cards so each of us had one waiting at our appointed seat.

The menu did not come about quite so easily - but I think the final product was really delicious and hit the spot. We had a little beverage buffet of coffee, orange juice and holiday punch (a family favorite) - all ready when my brother's family arrived. Shortly after, we dug into a selection of cheddar cheese baked grits, a sausage and vegetable egg casserole, fresh sections of oranges dotted with sliced almonds, and homemade cinnamon rolls topped with cream cheese frosting. To round it all off, we had a mini dessert buffet of some Christmas candy and a tiered silver tray with brandy walnut balls and apricot crumbles.

I'm so thankful that mom and I work together in the kitchen so well because I definitely couldn't have pulled it off without her. Mom helped prep most of the entrees (and cut all the oranges!) the night before while I was delving into another attempt at yeast "bread" (Mom is an amazing cook but we both stay pretty far away from anything to do with yeast, aside from homemade pizza crust) with the homemade cinnamon rolls, which turned out to be so much fun to make and absolutely delicious!

After preparing the dough and letting it rise for just over 2 hours, it was perfectly soft and workable. I rolled it out and spread butter, cinnamon and brown sugar for the filling, all over the center of the dough. Then I rolled the dough into a long log and cut it into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices and place them into two greased baking dishes.

I prepared the rolls last night, then I covered them tightly and placed the dishes in the fridge overnight. I took them out early this morning and let them rise for about 45 minutes and then baked them according to the directions. In the meantime, I prepared the cream cheese frosting so it was ready when the delicious-smelling rolls were finished; I frosted the rolls quickly after pulling them out of the oven and before they were devoured.

They were a hit and even though there were quite a few steps, it was worth it and each step was actually really simple. The cinnamon rolls could have been sweet enough to serve as our dessert but also provided the perfect complement to our savory casseroles for brunch.

Since the left-over cinnamon rolls doubled as our dessert earlier this evening and are sure to show up again on our Christmas plates, I'm sending them to JZ of JZ's Tasty Treats, host of Santa's Challenge.

We loved spending our Christmas Eve morning together and this brunch menu was just the icing on the cake!

Merry Christmas to my dear family!