Thursday mornings around our
house tend to be a little less rushed because it's my no running day (I look
forward to Thursdays). Most mornings, I feel like I'm rushing around taking bites
of toast or spoonful’s of cereal in between spreading peanut butter and jam on
pieces of bread for my boys lunches or telling Preston again and again (and
again) to hurry and get ready for school. Some mornings I wait until my
boys have walked out the door to sit down at the table and eat my waffle while
Stella watches Super Why. Every once in awhile, it's nice to be able to enjoy every bite of a meal with few interruptions. (A waffle my way is topped with bananas, toasted unsweetened coconut and pure maple syrup. Mmmmmmmm! It's perfectly delicious!)
Whole Wheat Waffles
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat
flour
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking
powder (see note)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 cup lukewarm buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed
orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat waffle iron on high heat.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and
sugar; set aside. In another bowl, combine melted butter, milk, egg,
orange juice and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry
ingredient and stir until just combined. Be careful not to over
mix. Add batter to preheated waffle iron and cook until golden brown (or
until your waffle iron beeps to tell you that your waffle is done).
Remove cooked waffles from waffle iron and serve immediately. (You can
also keep the waffles warm in a preheated 250 degree oven.)
*The first time I made these
waffles, I didn't have aluminum-free baking powder, but I quickly found out
(thanks to Google) that you can make your own. For one teaspoon of aluminum-free baking
powder, combine 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4
teaspoon cornstarch. I actually like these waffles better, when I make my own aluminum-free baking powder.
*I also like these waffles
better when I use a Belgian waffle iron.
Recipe slightly adapted from The Faux Martha
Butter toasted bread, creamy
avocado and fresh mozzarella, all topped with sweet, tangy roasted tomatoes,
torn basil and a squeeze of fresh lemon. All of its parts add up to one
very delicious sandwich!
Roasted Tomato Caprese with
Avocado
1 large tomato or 1 pint cherry
tomatoes (I used some of both)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh basil
1 tablespoon butter
3 thick slices of country bread
1 garlic clove
1/2 avocado, peeled and sliced
thin
Fresh mozzarella, sliced thin
1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cut the large tomato into
1/4-inch slices. Lay on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with
olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt. If using the cherry tomatoes,
toss them with the olive oil and salt and lay them in a single layer on a
parchment lined baking sheet.
Roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until
wilted, wrinkly and caramelized in parts. When the tomatoes have roasted,
remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
In a large skillet over medium
heat, add the butter to melt. Place the pieces of bread in the pan and
cook unitl crisp and golden. about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the
bread from the pan and let cool.
Once cool assemble the open
faced sandwiches. Avocado slices line the bottom, next the fresh
mozzarella. Add a small pile of roasted tomatoes on top and finish with
torn basil leaves, a squeeze of fresh lemon and a sprinkle of flaky salt.
Recipe from Not
Without Salt
We like bananas
around this house of mine, but we each have our own personal preference on the
degree of ripeness that one should eat a banana. I like a banana that
still has a little green at the top. Todd likes them like me, but doesn't
mind eating a banana that is nearing the speckle stage. Noah on the other
hand, thinks that a banana that has a little green on it is gross and prefers a
speckled banana because it's sweeter (I think it's just more mushy).
Preston only likes a banana in the actual banana form. Sadly, he doesn't
enjoy them in baked goods and Stella likes a banana one day and the next she
doesn't. One thing I know for sure about all of us (with the exception
of Preston), once the banana is dotted with brown spots; we all can enjoy them in the form of a smoothie or a baked good of some sort. On
Saturday morning, I was browsing Instagram when I came across a picture of a
muffin tin filled with banana buckwheat muffins that looked lovely and very
tasty. I glanced at my counter and there sat three brown speckled bananas
calling out to be made into muffins. I don't know if the deliciousness of
these muffins was due to the fact that they gave me an excuse to eat chocolate
for breakfast (they are filled with chocolate chips) or simply because they
really are that dang good, but for whatever reason, I thought these muffins
were amazing.
Banana Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Muffins
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated
nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Dark brown sugar
Toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
F. Line muffin tin with liners (I made 18 muffins); set aside. Mash
the bananas in a large bowl, add butter and stir to combine. Mix in brown
sugar, egg, milk and spices. Next, add the baking soda, salt and flour
and beat until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
Distribute batter evenly into muffin liners (I use a spring loaded ice
cream scoop). Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a teaspoon or two of
dark brown sugar, toasted walnuts and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. Bake
for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin
comes out clean. Eat warm with butter. Heaven!
Recipe slightly adapted from Reclaiming
Provincial
I love when I don't know what
I'm going to make for dinner and I don't want to go to the store, but somehow
(once in a blue moon) a meal magically comes together from what I have floating
around in my fridge and ends up being delicious. This was the case the
other night and these grilled cabbage wedges may have been the highlight of the
meal (my 5 year old may beg to differ).
Grilled Cabbage Wedges with
Spicy Lime Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 head of cabbage (I used half
of head of green and half a head of purple)
Canola oil
Preheat grill.
In the bowl of a food processor
or blender combine the lime juice, olive oil, fish sauce, garlic, cilantro,
salt, cayenne and sugar and pulse or blend until the sauce is pale orange color
in color. Set aside.
Remove the loosest, toughest
outer leaves from the cabbage; cut into 8 evenly sized wedges. Do not
remove the stalk or inner core. Lightly brush the wedges with canola oil.
Place the wedges on the grill
and cover. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the edges of each layer are
blackened and the cabbage is beginning to soften. Flip each wedge over,
cover the grill, and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes on the other
side. Remove the cabbage when it is beginning to wilt, but is still firm
in the middle. If necessary, turn the heat down or move the wedges to a
cooler part of the grill so they don't burn. Don't be afraid of the
blackened edges; you want a lot of grill and char marks on the cabbage.
Take the cabbage off the grill
and place on a serving plate. Pour the dressing over the top of the
cabbage and serve immediately with wedges of lime.
Recipe from The Kitchn
