Alphabet Soup

At first, I have to admit I was a bit annoyed at my mom for buying me yet another random kitchen appliance. "it was a black Friday special, and super cheap, and I thought it was cute" she said. Might I mention she also bought me a Belgian waffle maker? And I already had a working waffle maker, so.....yeah. Anyway, the mini waffle stick maker. It actually is kind of cute. And the kids love dunking the sticks in syrup. It only makes 4 at a time, so it's definitely not for rushed mornings. Maybe I'll take the time to make a bunch and freeze them. Hmmm...I could put Doctor Who on the kindle to pass the time...there's a thought! :) Anyway, not a paid advertisement. Just the random musings of an overly tired mama! I hope you and yours had a very merry Christmas! Any random kitchen appliances under your tree?

Do you remember when fast food french toast sticks became a hit?  You know -- those deep fried sticks of bread?  Yeah, I don't know exactly when it was, but I do remember asking my mom to take me to get some.  I thought they were wonderful!  And I have to admit, there are times when I still get a craving to run to Sonic and order some.  I will even admit to feeding them to my kids before.  However...never again.  Not after making them myself!  :) They're really not that hard to make, and the best part?  You can make them ahead of time, freeze them, and just heat them up when you're ready to eat.  The first time I made these, Munchkin and Squirt gobbled them up.  Sprout?  Well, he was too busy being...himself to eat that morning.  Although I did catch him taking a "picture" with a toy camera instead of eating.  Couldn't possibly be because I had just been taking a picture of the food myself, right?...

I recently read that February 23, 2010 is National Pancake Day. Upon further research I discovered that this is actually the IHOP National Pancake Day , in honor of Shrove Tuesday . Except that this year, Shrove Tuesday actually falls on February 16, 2010. According to IHOP's website, they are changing the date of their celebration to extend their fundraising efforts for Children's Miracle Network. See...reading my blog brings you a wealth of information. ;) Now, if you asked my kids, they would likely say National Pancake Day should be celebrated everyday. And in fact, we typically celebrate it at least once per week! Although I have my "go-to" recipes, I'm always up for trying a new one. (Many) Thanks to Christi, I have my very own copy of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook !! In it, there is a recipe for sour cream pancakes. This came in very handy a few weeks ago, when I didn't have regular milk or buttermilk on hand, but did have some sour cream in the fri...

As you know, most Sundays I can be found making either pancakes or waffles. This week, I had some buttermilk to use up, and realized that I didn't have a recipe for buttermilk waffles that didn't require the eggs to be separated and the eggs to be whipped, like this recipe that I've reviewed before. Sure, I could have just used the exact same recipe and just not separated the eggs, but it was early, I wasn't thinking straight, and I hadn't had any caffeine (still haven't for that matter!). So I went on a search. I wound up adapting a recipe I found on Recipezaar. The kiddos kept asking for more, so I took that as a good sign. When I finally got to taste, I thought they were pretty good. My waffle iron makes quite thin waffles. If it ever bites the dust, I think I'll get one that makes thicker waffles. I think that would be an improvement, but of course the kids would probably want the thin ones!! Acutally, I think the problem is that the wells for ...

This morning, while trying to decide what to fix for breakfast (ie deciding between waffles and pancakes) I noticed one lonely ripe banana sitting on the counter. Banana pancakes! That was the answer. I knew that somewhere in my files I had a recipe for banana pancakes. Indeed I did, although it had been several years since I'd made them. The recipe actually called for two bananas, but in my notes at the bottom I had made a notation to cut the recipe in half. Perfect!! I tried passing these pancakes off as "normal" to the oldest, but he noticed something was off. Never mind that in the aforementioned notes I had written down that he loved them, but he didn't like them this time around. Oh well. Lucky for him there was something else he could have! Anyway, the rest of us enjoyed them, and I was able to make use of that last banana. :) Banana Buttermilk Pancakes 1 egg 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup buttermilk* 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1...

Just so you know, I blog all the time. In my head anyway. I'm always thinking to myself "I could write about this, and that..." I do this while shopping, driving, attempting to sleep. Sometimes while actually cooking. And yet, many of these thoughts never make it to the computer. Such is life, I guess. But look at me go. How many blog posts in a week's time? Let's hope this trend continues. While flitting about on the internet the other day, I came across a post on Bakerella's site about blueberry cornmeal pancakes. I became intrigued. Mostly because I love blueberry pancakes, and just so happened to have some blueberries in my refrigerator . It was fate, I tell you. Monday night I whipped up a batch of the orange maple butter. It was not as easy as described. Sort of like mixing oil and water. Oh, wait... Anyway, I got it "mixed" and into the refrigerator . Tuesday morning - cooking time. Cornmeal in my pancakes was an interesting idea. How would ...

Growing up, my dad would often cook breakfast on Sundays. It certainly wasn't gourmet. Often, he just made pancakes from a mix, or he'd fry up some eggs and make some toast. Whatever it was, I loved it when my dad made breakfast on the weekends. When the Munchkin was little, I started cooking breakfast on Sundays, and I loved it just as much. It was usually either pancakes or waffles, as he loves both of those. I had moved past the pancake mix stage of life, but will readily admit that my fallback recipes come from an old Betty Crocker cookbook that my grandmother gave me. One Sunday while I was pregnant with Sprout, I just didn't feel like cooking breakfast. My mom picked Munchkin up a little early (he usually spends part of Sunday at my parents' house) and they stopped by McDonald's to pick up breakfast. It was all over after that. He only wanted McD's for his Sunday breakfast. At the time, I didn't have the energy to protest, so I let it go. And it...