Million Dollar Waffles

I know. You've all missed me and have been wondering what happened to me. I've been trying to come up with a way to tell you all what I've been doing. So...here are few options:

1. We won the lottery and have been traveling around the world;

2. My kitchen exploded and I have not been cooking AT ALL because I'm living off hotel food;

3. I've locked myself in the kitchen, ignored laundry, children and all else because I was trying to come up with the perfect waffle recipe.

4. I've had a freak accident and am in a full body cast and have just learned to type with my tongue.


First, I have to give it up for my friend Jennifer who made all of this possible. A few years back our families spent a weekend together at the shore. Not only did her husband and three kids come to the shore house, but she brought all the makings (and appliances necessary) to make an all out waffle extravaganza for breakfast for us one morning. She was cleaning out her kitchen and decided to part with one of her waffle makers. And being the amazing friend she is, she immediately thought of me and gave it to me. (I think I mentioned this back when I tested the Pumpkin Waffles that were available for a time at Aldi).

Anyway, I digress, onto what I've been doing. My children and I have been on a quest that started with our studies of Europe. We are slowly making our way through My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. When we exploring Norway, one of their books recommended a recipe to try for Norwegian Waffles. And we gave them a try. They were NOT a hit in our house - and everytime I make waffles now, my son will mention how much he hated them. I did too...they were gooey and not crusty. My quest became to find or create a recipe for waffles that would make them really crispy on the outside but light and airy on the inside. Not too sweet, and not bland. I've been experimenting and eating my results (my waistline is a tad annoyed at this, but....perfection has consequences).

After many failures, and not-so-muches, and even a few this-is-close's....I think today we have finally arrived. I'd be so tickled if you'd try them too and let me know what you think. Oh...and by the way, don't be a stick in the mud and only try these with Maple Syrup - I melted 2 Tbs of Vanilla Frosting in the microwave tonight and drizzled it overtop instead of syrup....OH MY GOODNESS...so goooooood!!!! Should be illegal!

Million Dollar Waffles

3 Cups Baker's Corner Baking Mix
2 Tbs. Grandma's Best Sugar
2 Tsp. Spice Corner Cinnamon
Pinch of Sebree Salt
1 1/2 Cups Milk
2 Golden Hen Eggs
3 Tbs. Carlini Vegetable Oil

In a large bowl mix together baking mix, sugar, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, mix together milk, eggs and oil. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until blended (careful not to over mix, but mix until most of the clumps are gone).

Cook in a waffle iron according to waffle iron's directions.

:) ENJOY!

Superbowl Treats #2 - Pepperoni Pinwheels

Instead of ordering a bunch of pizzas, how about making a couple of hand held pizza treats for your Superbowl party guests? These are incredibly easy to make, and even easier to eat!

Pepperoni Pinwheels

2 Pkgs Bueller's Crescent Rolls
1 Cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 Cup diced Priano Pepperoni Slices*
1 Cup Priano Traditional Spaghetti Sauce


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix shredded cheese and diced pepperoni together in a medium bowl.

Open crescent rolls and separate into two large rectangles (each one made up of 4 triangles). Seal edges together. Spread 1/4th of cheese and pepperoni mixture on each rectangle, leaving about 1/2" at the long edge of each one. Roll up lengthwise and seal edge. Cut each rectangle into 6 pinwheels. Place cut side down on a prepared cookie sheet (cover with tinfoil and spray with Carlini cooking spray). 12 should fit on each cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

While baking, heat spaghetti sauce to serve for dipping.

Superbowl Treat #1 - Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

This recipe is loosely based on a Paula Deen recipe. In Paula's original recipe, she coats the bites in a brown sugar and chili powder coating before baking. Hers are really good, I had to adjust for dietary concerns for us. I get around the coating by marinating the chicken in hot sauce and a little bit of brown sugar.

I made a homemade honey mustard dipping sauce, and they were, in a word, Ahhhhh-mazing....they got eaten even by the kids! YUMMY!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

2 lbs Kirkwood Chicken Breasts (5.00)
1 lb package Appleton Low Sodium Bacon (2.69)
1/4 Cup Burman's Hot Sauce (.99/btl - .15 worth used)
1 Tbs Grandma's Best Brown Sugar (.05)
Box of toothpicks


Mix together hot sauce and brown sugar. Cut chicken breast into 1" cubes, marinate for about 1 hour (or even up to overnight) in hot sauce mixture.

When ready to bake them, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak about 50 of the toothpicks in water. Cut bacon strips into thirds. Wrap each piece of chicken in bacon and secure with toothpick.

Place chicken bites on an aluminum foiled broiler pan. (cut the aluminum foil at the slats so that the fat can drip off). Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.

Serve with Honey Mustard Sauce:

1/2 Cup Burman's Mayonnaise
3 Tbs Burman's Spicy Brown Mustard
2 tsp Honey (or more to taste)

Mix together well and serve on the side.

Makes about 40 to 50 chicken bites.

SUPERBOWL IS COMING!!!

We don't know who's playing yet. But we know that it's coming, and that with the Superbowl, comes parties. And what is a Superbowl Party without awesome food??? WHAT???

Well, the next few recipes will be dedicated to nibbles to have at your Superbowl feast!

Here's hoping Green Bay makes it in...at least for Hubby's sake!

:) Keep a look out they'll be a comin!

Hello All! Happy New Year!

Well...The holidays are over, the decorations are packed away and even PUT away! WHOOOOOOHOOO. Well, aside from the house looking a little bare, my middle is quite full....gained a little bit this year!

I'll be trying to highlight and critique and create some recipes for healthy, light, cooking. :) Hopefully! :)

Fit & Active goodies are lined up on all of the shelves and in the special sections of the store. This is a great time to stock up. They go away around late January, early February, and don't return until folks are prepping for swimsuit weather. Some things are popular enough that they're in the store all the time. There's a lot of stuff right now that's not usually there because they're taking advantage of all of us and our New Year's Resolution to lose weight and get healthy.

Been trying a few new products the last few days, as soon as I can get some pix, I'll be a-postin' .

Day 12 of 12 - Turkey Cranberry Wreath

Well, we made it. Twelve Days of Christmas....it's over, and today is the day of leftovers. Thanks so much for sticking with me through the season. I hope you were able to try some of these recipes, I hope some of them were new. I hope some become your favorites and ones that you'll want to do for years to come. So, the day after Christmas, the eternal question is "What will you do with your leftover turkey?"  How will you eat it. Turkey Noodle Soup, Turkey Tetrazzini, plain old turkey sandwiches (don't forget to use the leftover Cherry Berry Mold on the bread.... yeah....). This one thing that we do every year. I only make it once a year, I don't know why. I'm imagining it's because we don't often have turkey leftovers!

Something you may not know about me is that I was a Pampered Chef Consultant for a while - this recipe is one that was in a very old catalog (2000 I think). And one of the reasons I continue to love their recipes! IF you have a pizza stone, great. If not, a large round pan - or lay out in one long loaf instead of a wreath.

Turkey Cranberry Wreath

2 pkgs (8 oz) Bueller's crescent rolls
1/2 cup Tate's mayonaise
2 Tbs Tate's honey dijion mustard
1/2 tsp coursley ground black pepper
2 cups cooked turkey, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
3 Tsp dried Parsley
1/2 cup Southern Grove dried cranberries
4 oz shredded cheese (they recommend swiss, I use cheddar b/c I hate swiss)
1/4 cup Southern Grove walnuts
1 egg separated


Preheat oven to 375. Unroll crescent dough and spearate into 16 triangles. With wide ends of triangles toward center, arrange 8 triangles in a circle on large round stone (or large round baking sheet). Corners of wide ends will touch and points will extend 1" beyond the edge of the stone. Match wide end with each remaining triangle to wide end of each outer triangle. Seal center seams using Dough and Pizza Roller. Points will overlap in center DO NOT SEAL.

In large bowl, place turkey, celery, parsley, cranberries, cheese and walnuts. Add mayonnaise, mustard and pepper. Mix well.

Scoop filling over seams of the dough. Fold triangles over (in order) over the filling. This creates the "wreath" Tuck the last end under the first when all the way around.

Separate egg, beat white. Brush over the dough. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Instead of doing as a wreath, you can also do as little pockets...use two cresents and seal together as rectangles. Fill in the center and pull edges up to create a packet. Seal edges together.

Enjoy

Day 11 of 12 - Cranberry Sausage Stuffing w/ Walnuts

(no pictures yet, I promise soon!!!

I created this recipe many years ago. It was our first Christmas in this house. It was the first Christmas that I hosted my whole family. I cooked a big turkey that year, and was thankful for an Aldi right around the corner. I believe we had 16 or so people that first year. It was amazing, and a lot of fun. I came up with the following recipe because I wanted to have an "it" stuffing. The one that everyone remembered. The one that the kids would crave when they were grown up and missing home. The one that put my Christmas on the map. It was my first time hosting "the family" Christmas dinner. The torch had been passed to me, even though I was not the oldest, because I was a cook...I loved to cook and loved to entertain. And it was true. It was a lot of fun to host that first year, and in subsequent years. And on the menu each year is this favorite, as requested by my husband. It is now officially not Christmas dinner without it! :)


Cranberry Sausage Stuffing

1 1lb tube pork sausage (bulk)
1 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 Tbs Butter
2 box Cornbread Stuffing Mix
2 1/2 Cups Fit & Active Chicken Broth
1 cup Southern Grove dried cranberries
1 cup Chef's Cupboard French Fried Onion Strips
1/2 Cup Southern Grove chopped walnuts

Saute onion & celery in butter in a large stock pot (4 qt at least). After 5 minutes, add bulk sausage and brown. In a saute pan, brown sausage. Add chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add cranberries and walnuts. Turn off heat and add stuffing mix and fried onion strips. Stir well and cover pot. Allow to cool completely if you're stuffing into the bird. If serving without cooking in bird, fluff with fork first.

This will stuff about an 18 lb bird.

YUMMY!!!!