Buttermilk Waffles

Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner or breakfast for breakfast or breakfast anytime?? Tonight we had breakfast for dinner and we served up some homemade waffles. This recipe comes out of one of my Betty Crocker cookbooks (1970's edition).

I forgot the flour in the picture but I assure you that you need flour to make this recipe.

Buttermilk Waffles

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups all purpose flour (you can use wheat flour but I don't like the nuttiness of wheat flour in my waffles)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp shortening
1 tsp vanilla

Heat waffle iron.

My mom gave me this waffle iron back when Kevin & I first got married...so over 15 years ago. I have no idea how long she had it before she gave it to us...it's very loved and still works great!

Beat eggs; beat in remaining ingredients until smooth.

See, there is the flour that was not in the ingredient picture!

Pour batter from cup or pitcher onto center of hot waffle iron. Bake until the waffle maker indicates it the waffle is cooked through. Remove waffle carefully.

Serve with butter & syrup or whatever else you like. Tonight at dinner I watched my boys put peanut butter, applesauce, blueberry syrup, pecan syrup and who knows what else on their waffles.

We had our waffles with bacon (I baked it while I was making the waffles and messing around on twitter!)

ENJOY!

Buttermilk Waffles

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp shortening

Heat waffle iron. Beat eggs; beat in remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour batter from cup or pitcher onto center of hot waffle iron. Bake until the waffle maker indicates it the waffle is cooked through. Remove waffle carefully. Serve with butter and syrup.

Chocolate French Toast

Chocolate French Toast
* 3 large eggs
* 3/4 cup milk
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 2 tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 10 slices whole wheat bread
* 2-1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
* soft margarine


Directions:
1. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, if desired, in large bowl until smooth.

2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-low heat. Grease griddle with margarine, if necessary.

3. Dip bread in egg mixture. Place on griddle. Cook about 2 to 4 minutes on each side.

Serve with small slice of margarine and sliced strawberries!

Pretzels

Very easy to make!

Pretzels
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
Course salt, to taste
2-4 Tbsp butter (melted)

Instructions:

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve: add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 30 minutes.

While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Make sure you stir often.

After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into long ropes (about 1/2" or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again.

Bake in oven at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and enjoy!

Topping suggestions:
After you brush with butter, sprinkle course salt.
For cinnamon sugar topping, melt a stick of butter in shallow bowl. In another butter make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dip pretzel in butter and then dip in cinnamon.

Also, you can serve with mustard, pizza sauce, cream cheese, nacho cheese, whatever!

Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes

I first had Fried Green Tomatoes at a Logan's Steakhouse in Clarksville, TN. Kevin and I had just started dating and I had never had them before. I fell in love with them! Because I don't grow my own garden I do not have the luxury of having green tomatoes on hand during peak times so I am at the mercy of those much more talented than I. Today I hit up the Farmer's Market and they had glorious green tomatoes. I was so excited that we had them for dinner tonight! I think this recipe is one of Tyler Florence's from Food Network that I printed off a while ago. Enjoy!


Fried Green Tomatoes

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Cayenne
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large unripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices, ends removed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Aren't they gorgeous? (the tomatoes, not my slicing skills!)

In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, and cayenne together. (The key is to put enough seasoning in your dry ingredients to really flavor the tomatoes, you really can't overdo it!) Pour the buttermilk into a separate bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Dip the tomatoes in the buttermilk and then dredge them in the cornmeal mixture, coating both sides well.

Place a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the tomatoes (in batches if necessary) until golden brown and crispy on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Carefully remove the tomatoes and drain on paper towels or on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath!

Serve with whatever type of dipping sauce you would like. We like Thousand Island dressing. Or just eat as is. There are numerous sauce recipes out there, decide what you like and go for it!

Homemade Pedialyte

A friend of mine posted this recipe on her Facebook page and it reminded me that I used it when my boys were little. It was less expensive than buying a bottle of pedialyte that we wouldn't use all of. I always did have and still always have these items on hand.

Homemade Pedialyte

2-quarts water
1-teaspoon baking soda
7-teaspoons sugar (get those electrolytes up!)
1- (1/4 oz.) packet unsweetened kool-aid -OR- lemonade mix (any flavor)
1/2-teaspoon salt or salt substitute

Mix all together.
Store in fridge for NO more then 3 days. Can be made into ice cubes.

Freezer Meal Fun

Last week for our Military Spouse Appreciation Day we had various classes that we offered to our Spouses. I taught a class on Freezer Meals. We didn't really have a proper area to actually bring in food to demonstrate so my friend and I put together a video. On the actual day, we had technical difficulty and couldn't show the video so I just had a discussion and it went pretty well. I was really pleased with the turn out and the class itself. I promised the women in my class that I would upload the clips and I thought I'd share them here on my blog as well. We really had a lot of fun making the video. Our Commanding General's wife was kind enough to let us use her kitchen since my kitchen would have been super awkward. Overall I just had fun!

Here is my disclaimer....as you will obviously see I am not a professional, I tend to roll my eyes a lot and I was not working with any script. Now that being said...I am still happy with the final product.

You can watch the intro video on here then click on the video and go to the page where the other clips are. I figured it would be easier to watch clips instead of a full 30 minute video!

Super Easy Chicken Salad

I need to think of some more creative names but honestly this is what it is...Super Easy!

I love chicken salad but I'm weird about my food and often don't care for the store bought stuff. A few years ago I decided I could probably make chicken salad and enjoy it!

Whenever I see the rotisserie chicken on sale (a lot of times if they don't sell at the end of the day they will place them in one of the cold food areas at a discounted price). So I picked up a couple the other day and made Chicken Enchiladas with one and turned this one into Chicken Salad.

Here's my first note to you all. Make it how you want...this is how I make mine and it works for me but dare to be fun and adventurous!

I use the chicken, some pickles (sometimes I use celery, just depends on my mood) some mayo, Season All seasoning and some type of mustard. I tend to like the brown spicy or stone ground mustard over just the ordinary yellow mustard but add what you would like!
It makes your stuff lots better if you get a handsome helper to chop/food process your food. Now I like to use this handy little food processor to chop up my chicken because I like mine in very small pieces but you could dice or shred your chicken to whatever texture you like best! I also throw the pickles into the food processor to make my own relish.

There are no measurements for any of the ingredients it really falls all to taste. So add as much mayo, seasoning salt, mustard or whatever else you are going to add and mix it all up!

I love that I used my most ghetto tupperware plate but hey this is real life folks! I like to eat mine with Ritz crackers. The menfolk turn it into a sandwich but we all love it!