Waffles

Well, I got a new 4-waffle-iron for Christmas from my mom because it was taking way too long to make waffles for our family with the small 1-waffle-iron Jen and I got for our wedding. So as soon as we got home from our travels over the holiday week, I busted it out to make breakfast for dinner. Our family loves breakfast and I know that we will love having the updated waffle iron. I did not just use the "just add water" mix from a box. Instead I made the waffles from scratch and the combination of the new iron and amazing mix made these one of the best waffles I have ever eaten. I am not kidding! I also made scrambled eggs and sausage, but the waffles were the hit of dinner tonight for all of us.

Grade: A+

Waffles:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 3/4 c milk

1/2 c cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

2. In another medium bowl beat eggs slightly; stir in milk, oil, and vanilla. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).

3. Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups of batter onto grids of a preheated, lightly greased waffle baker. Close lid quickly; do not open until done. Bake according to manufacturer's directions. When done, use a fork to lift waffle off grid. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm.

Lucy eating some eggs.

Sarah (we are potty training and that is why she doesn't have pants)

Emily is happy to be home!

Anna actually eating dinner without a fight!

Kids Are Gross

I know that I have not been posting lately, but this is how a lot of our meals have been. On the girls plates there was a hot dog in a bun, some yogurt, and grapes, and all of the girls combined the yogurt with grapes and hot dogs. They are nasty little girls!

Ghouls-in-the-Graveyard

This dinner looked like a cute idea, but the girls did eat the macaroni because it stuck together, but they did eat the hotdogs. In the end I thought it looked like "male-parts" sticking up out of the macaroni rather than ghouls. Also, you need to put the hotdogs close together or you don't stand a chance to transport the section with the hotdog still sticking up. I don't have any pictures, but trust me, they didn't eat any of the mac&cheese and couldn't get up fast enough. And the picture above is the picture that came with the recipe on Kraft.

Grades:
Idea: B+
taste: C
Kid's like it: D-

What You Need2 pkg. (7-1/4 oz. each) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner 1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 2 eggs, beaten 1 pkg. (16 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Wieners, cut crosswise in half 1 tsp. yellow mustard Make ItHEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE Dinners in large saucepan as directed on package. Stir in mozzarella and eggs.

SPOON into foil-lined 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Stand wieners, in 4 rows of 5 wieners each, in Dinner mixture for the ghouls.

BAKE 20 min.; cool 5 min. Add small dabs of mustard to wieners for the ghouls' eyes.

Why Does McDonalds Tea Come in Non-Recylable Styrofoam Cups?

Why Does McDonalds Tea Come in Non-Recylable Styrofoam Cups?

This was an article that I found when I was searching about McDonalds styrofoam cups. The cups have a recycling symbol, but will they actually recycle it. Interesting read.

Beer Can Chicken and Corn on the Cob

Our little chicken fresh out of the grill. Adorable

I have scene/heard of beer can chicken and everything that I have heard about it was how good it was. I was a little sceptical, but thought it was worth a try. Let me tell you one thing about the chicken, besides how cute it looked sitting up, it was not hard and very good. The meat was juicy and it had nice flavor to it. The recipe that I used was from Guy Fieri (Food Network), but I made a few changes to the recipe. First, I cooked it on the grill instead of the oven. I had the grill on medium heat (375ish) and cooked it until it was 165 (about 1.5 hours). The other thing that I did not do was the bacon and the chicken was pretty good without it.
The girls loved it! We had a friend over, so a total of 7 people for dinner, and out of a 4.5 lb chicken, there is only a small handful left. Sarah kept on shoveling it in. All of the pictures have the girls eating corn on the cob, but trust me, the chicken was a hit too.
Enjoy!

Grade: A+ (And for those of you that notice the grades, I am a tough grader!)

Ingredients
1 (2 to 3-pound) whole chicken
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 (12-ounce) can beer
1/2 pound bacon
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Wash chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. Rub 1/2 of the ingredients on inside cavity of chicken. Gently peel skin away from chicken and rub mixture into meat of chicken. Open beer can pour out about 1/2 cup. Drop the garlic cloves into the beer can. Place chicken, open end down, over the beer can to insert the beer into the cavity. Place chicken, standing up, in large saute pan. Place 1/3 of the bacon in the top cavity of the chicken and drape the remaining 2/3 of the bacon down the outside of the chicken. Pierce the bacon to the chicken with toothpicks.

Place chicken in the oven for 10 minutes and then lower temperature to 325 degrees F and cook for another 1 hour, or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.





My "School-Wife" was over for dinner.

Anna looks like she drank the other half of the beer!

Emily clapping for herself between bites.

Lucy digging into the corn like a harmonica.

Sarah before she discovered the chicken.

Creamy Pork Sauté

This dinner was so good. It was great the first night and just as good the second night. This dish did not dry the pork out at all and had some great flavor. Other than the pork recipe (which is below) we had mashed sweet potatoes. For the sweet potatoes I just boiled them, mashed them with my potato masher, and mixed in pumpkin pie spice. I have found that using pumpkin pie spice makes it so good.
All of the girls ate, and liked, at least two of the items. Anna ate the pork if that tells you how good it was.

Enjoy.

Grade: B+


2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 boneless pork loin (about 1 pound), cut into thin strips
2 stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/4 cup water
Hot cooked regular long-grain white rice

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until well browned, stirring often. Remove the pork from the skillet.

2. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the celery, onion and thyme and cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring often.

3. Stir the soup and water in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the pork to the skillet and cook until the pork is cooked through. Serve the pork mixture over the rice.

Anna had to make sure she was taking a bite for the camera.

Sarah loves not using her utensils.

Emily giving you the stink eye.

Lucy loved the rice!

English Muffin Bread

This summer I am trying to make it all the way through the “Bread” section of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook and I have enjoyed baking the different kinds of breads. We have not bought a loaf of bread in the store since the beginning of the summer because we are using the bread that I make to make sandwiches. Jen and the girls are out of town so I could paint the downstairs and I decided to make this easy bread. It is a no-knead bread so you do not have to knead the dough at all. When I was typing out the recipe I noticed that I only used one package of active dry yeast. I cannot say exactly how it changed the final product. It did taste a lot like an English Muffin.

Grade: B


Ingredients
Cornmeal
6 c all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
¼ tsp baking soda
2 c milk
½ c water
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Grease two 8x4x2 inch loaf pans. Lightly sprinkle pans with enough cornmeal to coat bottom and sides; set pans aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 3 c of the flour, the yeast, and baking soda; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, water, sugar, and salt just until warm (120 to 130 degrees). Using a wooden spoon, stir milk mixture into flour mixture. Stir in remaining flour.
3. Divide dough in half. Place dough in prepared pans. Sprinkle tops with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 45 minutes)
4. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove bread from pans. Cool on wire racks.