Super Snack Saturday!

Most of the posts this week have been of meals, dinners to be exact, so I thought the weekend would be a good time to share some of the OTHER things we have been eating.  

Waffles with Peanut Butter/Honey/Banana Topping
Home made peanut butter, sliced bananas, and honey were thrown in a bowl...

Warmed....

And served over a toasted waffle!  The waffle was leftover from when we made them last weekend.  I just froze the extra, and when I felt like a fancier breakfast, stuck it in the toaster!

The other big snack-o-the-week is a riddle.

  

What do you get when you mix 2 apples...

a mandolin slicer...

and cinnamon?

Why, apple chips, of course!  Especially when the are baked at 250 for an hour or so!

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Buttermilk Waffles...MMM!

While food shopping last week, I saw some grass-fed buttermilk.  Of COURSE I had to buy it and make some breakfast magic!

Of course, now that I am ready to post about it, I can't find the recipe I used.  I hope you enjoy the photos anyway.  

First I mixed together the dry ingredients...

Then the wet ingredients...

And then the wet AND dry.

The recipe said to whip the egg white separately.  I did it, but I think this is the last time I will, since they were not whipped well and it still tasted good.  Why should I make extra work!?

Anyway... Then I turned on the waffle iron and sprayed it lightly with olive oil.  We use MISTO to spray most of our oils.  It uses air pressure rather then chemical propellants. 

The waffles were then poured in and cooked up!

They were nearly perfect, if I do say so myself!  John had them plain, but I jazzed it up with his homemade yogurt and lots of fruits!

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Oatmeal Blender Waffles!

Experimentation continues with the waffle maker.  Experiment #2?  

Oatmeal Blender Waffles.

The recipe is from this site.  I didn't change a thing (for once!) and they were awesome.  Kind of taste like oatmeal, but in a good way.  I'm sure you can spice it up all you want, but this time, I kept it simple.  

The night before, I blended milk (1/2 soy, 1/2 regular), oats, olive oil, and vanilla into submission.  For exact measurements, see recipe. 

 

This soaked all night.  In the morning, I added an egg, baking powder, and baking soda and blended away. 

 

Onto the waffle maker it went (oiled, of course.  We all know what happened last time.) 

  

The best waffle I have ever made.  And a mineola orange.  

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Home-cooked Breakfast

John and I were lucky enough to be given SO MANY cool presents at my bridal shower (THANK YOU ALL!!) and we experimented with some of the breakfast gadgets the next morning.  

First, I had to make waffles on our new waffle maker

 

Ooooo... pretty!

 

Since we were making peanut butter waffles, we needed flour, sugar, vegetable oil, milk, salt, vanilla, baking powder, an egg and PEANUT BUTTER.

I didn't follow the directions well, but the waffles turned out okay.  

  

(Me beating the egg white into peaks)

 

(Me mixing all the ingredients together)

John took all the pictures while I was mixing and he couldn't resist snapping this shot.
 

(Notice the focus is not the delicious waffle mix, but on my engagement ring.)
 

Anyway, the mix was then poured into the waffle maker.  Make sure to oil it first.  We don't really use those non-stick sprays like Pam anymore, and they are forbidden on non-stick surfaces anyway.  We have this cool new Misto Oil Sprayer that I used for this. 
 

Oooooo a finished waffle!  You may notice to the right there is a red plate with ruined waffle on it.  That is because I didn't oil the waffle maker before making the first one.  I figured, hey, it's non-stick, why would I need to oil it?!  Because non-stick does NOT equal easy food release.  So, take my advice.  Oil the waffle maker.  

 

We were ALSO given an electric griddle.  As I struggled and succeeded with the waffles, John made bacon and eggs with ease.

  

Beautiful breakfast, no?

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Corn Toasties

When I was little I LOVED Thomas' Corn Toast-r Cakes.  We called them Corn Toasties and had them with butter. 

They were on sale at Shoprite, so we bought some.  For some weird reason, I didn't want to have it with butter.  The mere thought is almost sacrilegious, but it's true.  I changed it up and had it with.....

BANANA BUTTER!!  I used a fresh banana instead of a frozen one.  Same result. 

 

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Breakfast of Champions!

This is a two-part breakfast extravaganza!  I wanted to treat John to breakfast delight, and I think I did.  He reported that is was, "The best breakfast you have ever made!"  I'll take that!

I started with cinnamon rolls.  It is one of our favorite snacks, but as we attempt to eat more whole foods, the store bought or "Pillsbury" type have gone out the window.  How did I make them?

First, I rolled out some whole wheat pizza dough and...

brushed melted butter on it.  I am still learning to use this camera, and haven't quite mastered the close-up focus thing yet.  That's why the focus is on the brush-person's belly and not the brush part.  Oops.

Anyway, then I (heavily) sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on top.  The brown sugar is the darker brown, the cinnamon is the lighter brown on top. 

After it was rolled up...

and sliced, I placed it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.

While that cooked, I made a version of the Pioneer Woman's "Egg-in-a-Hole." 

Now, her recipe says to melt a bunch of butter in the pan, then throw the "holey" bread in it.   I didn't want to

waste the butter, so I buttered the BREAD before I put a hole in it.  I sliced the holes with my new ravioli cutters, aren't the ridges cool?!

One-by-one, they went into the pan

and were filled with egg.

I ALSO cooked up the centers, because, ya know, waste not-want-not.

By this time, the cinnamon buns were done!!!

 

Mmmmmmm!

 

The whole plate?

Yeah, that's a cool breakfast.

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Brunch!

Check out this yummy brunch!

It is whole wheat toast covered in peanut butter and raisins with a side of naval orange.

 

Doesn't using a classy glass just make orange juice better?!

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This Week's Highlights!

Today I am posting the best Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner from this week.

Best Breakfast:

It kind of looks like a sugary cereal, doesn't it?  What is it really, you ask?  WELL! It is.....

• 1 banana
• 1 small box of blackberries
• 1 big handful raisins
• 1 big handful peanuts

YUMM!  I didn't add any liquid, even though I ate it with a spoon from my cereal bowl.

Best Lunch:

This lunch is the ultimate in leftover cooking salad making.  I literally opened up my fridge, took out 1/2 of the contents, and poured it into a salad.  It is...

• Romaine lettuce
• Leftover white meat turkey
• Mushrooms
• Raisins
• Walnuts
• Lentils
  
• Ground flax seeds
• Shredded Coconut
• Hummus
• Olive Oil
• Red Wine Vinegar

On the counter it looked like this!

Best Dinner:

This meal was straight out of this blog.  The only changes I made were using chicken thighs instead of breasts (it's what I had in the freezer) and serving it over quinoa (it's what John wanted to make).  I know it looks burnt, but I promise, it is SUPER yummy!

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Sick Sick Sick

Hi!

So, I'm back!

So sorry I was gone for so long.  I had pneumonia.  For a while.  I was sick.  Really sick.

BUT NOW! I am back and cooking and eating again!!!

I was lucky enough to be sent some yummy leftovers to tide my over when I was sick.  I added the chicken to my salad and had that for dinner last night.  MMMmmmMMMm!

Today, I wasn't quite ready for a smoothie for breakfast.  I decided to have cinnamon raisin oatmeal instead.  UNFORTUNATELY there was no cinnamon left.

So I soaked some raisins, 

Cooked some oatmeal,

and added peanut butter to make it yummy!!!  It was probably the best oatmeal I have ever made myself. 

And I deserve it!

Lunch was a simple spinach salad with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar.

 aaaaaaand dinner was a version of this but with spinach.  Just rotini, penne, in a garlic clam sauce WITH spinach.  GO ME!

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