Cinnamon Vanilla Waffles

I've been perfecting a waffle recipe for quite a while now, and I think I finally got it. :)

Cinnamon Vanilla Waffles

3 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. coconut oil
5 eggs
1 t. vanilla
cinnamon to taste (we used quite a lot - I let Josiah go at it with the shaker) :)
1 t. salt
2 T. sucanat
2 T. baking powder
1 T. baking soda
3 and 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

Blend wet ingredients along with cinnamon, salt, and sucanat. I use my vitamix, but any strong (and large) blender would probably work. Mix baking powder and baking soda into flour, then slowly add flour mix to wet ingredients, keeping blender running continuously.

Pour into hot waffle iron and cook as usual for your iron.

(I have to admit that usually I blend 2-3 cups of spinach into the buttermilk at the beginning, but if you prefer your waffles brown instead of green, you can skip that part.) :)

Advent, Mary Sunday

Jonathan wanted to make a star for the top of the tree. He cut it out by himself and stapled it with minimal help. It turned out beautifully.



Decorating the tree...



This year Josiah is old enough to put ornaments on all by himself!



We turned on Christmas music - Welcome All Wonders by JAC Redford - and made Parisian Warm Chocolate.



I tell you, this is decadent!



1.5 cups organic whole milk
1/2 cup cream
3/8 cup evaporated cane juice
7 oz. Trader Joe's organic dark chocolate, chopped

Simmer the milk, cream and sugar together until just boiling. Stir in the chocolate until melted. Don't let it boil. Serve warm, with fresh whipped cream.



Gabe lit the advent candles while the boys waited impatiently for the "ok" to start on their chocolate.





Oh my, that is good chocolate.



It was a lovely Sunday evening.



God of love and mercy,
help us to follow the example of Mary,
always ready to do your will.
At the message of an angel
she welcomed your eternal Son
and, filled with the light of your Spirit,
she became the temple of your Word.

from Liturgy of the Hours

Baked rice

I know, doesn't that title sound boring? I almost wouldn't blame you if you didn't read any further. But I hope that you do. :)

I'd like to have more brown rice in our diet, but I've never been good at cooking it on the stove. And I've tried the crock pot...but that has been even worse. It ends up mushy or bland or oily or all three. Ick!

This, my friends, is the solution. Baked rice.

1 T. butter
1.5 cups brown rice
1 T. spice mixture (I used Mrs. Dash garlic/herb, along with some parsley and I forget what else.)
3-4 cloves garlic
1/2 t. salt
2.5 cups liquid (I used my veggie bouillon)
approx. 3 cups chopped veggies (I used carrots and celery, because that's what I had)

In a cast iron skillet, melt the butter and toast the rice until just golden. Add spices and cook for 30 seconds. Add garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. Add salt and liquid. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour.

You just won't believe the results! This is perfect rice.

Vegetable bouillon

As summer is turning into fall, I've started to think about soup recipes again. Most soups, even "cream based" ones, start with a beef, chicken, or vegetable broth. Until recently, I used homemade stock if I had it in the freezer (rarely) and otherwise used a bouillon cube or paste. They're so convenient!

Sadly for convenience, I've been reading lots about nutrition. And I've started reading labels. Do you know what is IN bouillon cubes??

Ingredients: Salt, sugar, hydrolyzed soy protein, salt, partially hydrogenated soy oil, hydrolyzed soy protein, silicon dioxide, partially hydrogenated corn oil, autolyzed yeast extract, salt, sugar, whey powder, lactic acid, spice, onion powder, dehydrated cooked beef, caramel color, dried beef stock, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, autolyzed yeast, flavoring.

And then they have the gall to say "No MSG added."

Personally, I don't think I want to feed that to my family anymore. So today I made fresh vegetable bouillon paste! The recipe inspiration came from here and here, although I made some of my own changes and estimated a lot of the weights of vegetables!

2 large leeks
6 small carrots (what I had - a few more would have been nice)
4 ribs celery
3 crimini mushrooms
1.5 ounces sun dried tomatoes
1/2 bunch baby kale (don't use too much of this - it is STRONG stuff!)
1 bunch spinach
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch parsley
2 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 cup sea salt

First I chopped everything in a food processor. It is a lot of vegetables, so you have to do a little at a time, scrape it out, do the next bit, rinse, repeat.


Isn't it a lovely blend of colors?



I used the food processor because I was following the directions. In retrospect, I think I probably could have just used the Vitamix blender from the beginning. In any case, I wanted it to be a smoother paste than the food processor was creating, so I threw it in the blender.



Added salt - yes, that is a LOT of salt. But keep in mind that a teaspoon of the finished paste will make a whole cup of broth.



Finished product:



(Plus at least this much again in the freezer.)

Verdict: it tastes amazing. A little too much kale for my personal preference, which can be changed next time. But as a soup base, I think this will be just perfect.

Peanut butter play dough

I have fond memories of running around outside on blustery days when I was a child. Sadly, my children have thus far spent their life in the land of no seasons. They are something like shocked when the temperature drops below 70 degrees. Misty wet weather, like we had last week, sends them running inside (and then bouncing off the walls!)

My mom reminded me of this fun treat a few days ago when I called her, slightly desperate for creative ideas. You take a large glop of peanut butter and add honey. Don't ask me how much - I didn't measure any of this. Until it looks right. :) Stir together, then slowly stir in whole wheat flour until it reaches the consistency of soft play dough. Serve with a variety of fun foods that can be stuck on/into the dough, such as nuts, seeds, raisins, oats, etc. Whatever you have in your cupboard!



The kids had a great time - Thomas was thrilled that he was being told to play with his food!



And it tastes like peanut butter cookies. :)



Yes, it's a little messy, but hands wash!

Good-for-you hot chocolate

It has been unusually chilly and overcast this past week. Starbucks has rolled out their fall ad campaign, and even though I know that I don't really want a mocha or hot chocolate...I still think that I do. It is wrapped up with my idea of warm and comforting and snuggly. Darn advertisers.

So I found an alternative. :) The original recipe came from Meghan Telpner's blog, Making Love in the Kitchen. I've made quite a few changes, because frankly, I am nowhere close to her level of health food finesse and enjoyment. Here's what I came up with, and trust me, you'll want to try it. Chocolaty goodness, comforting as a warm blanket and a good book!

Good-for-you hot chocolate

3 T. cocoa powder (if you have it, use raw cacao powder instead)
1-2 T. chia seed "glop" (what you get when you mix chia seeds with water, 9:1, and let sit overnight)
1 T. coconut oil
1-2 T. evaporated cane juice
1/4 t. maca root powder
1/4 t. vanilla
nutmeg or cinnamon if desired
handful baby spinach
1 and 1/2 c. milk or almond milk

Put it all in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. If you're using a vitamix, 5 minutes on high will give you hot chocolate! If using a typical blender, you'll just need to heat it later. The original recipe recommends pouring it through a strainer before drinking, but I think that with my recipe it is just fine without straining. Enjoy!

WFMW - healthy eating

Every week I think, "I should participate in Works for Me Wednesday - it is such a good idea!" Only I can't ever think of anything interesting that works for me. ;) But healthy eating...this I can do! So here is one of my newest favorites:

“Cream” of Broccoli Soup
Original recipe from allrecipes.com – I tweaked it a bit to make it better.


4 cups water
4 cups broccoli florets
2 T butter
1 onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1/3 c. flour
2 T. chicken broth base
2 ½ c. milk (I used 1% and it was great – I bet skim would work as well.)
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. pepper
1 c. shredded cheddar

In a medium-sized cooking pot, add water and broccoli florets and bring to boil; reduce heat and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain, reserving the water.

In a blender, blend half the cooked broccoli until fairly smooth (you may want to add some of your reserved water to help it blend well.) Chop remaining broccoli and set aside.

In a large cooking pot, melt butter, add onion and celery and cook for about 3-4 minutes until soft. Stir in flour; cook, stirring constantly for about 1-2 minutes. Add reserved water and chicken broth base and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, stirring constantly until thickened.

Unless you like little chunks in your cream soup (in which case, skip this step) transfer the soup to the blender and blend until smooth.

Return soup and blended broccoli to pot. Stir in milk, nutmeg, pepper, and chopped broccoli, and heat through. Just before serving, stir in grated cheddar.

Garnish with a little more cheddar, if desired.

The soup isn’t particularly thick the first day – it thickens overnight in the fridge, though. If you like your cream soup thicker, you can either make it in advance and serve reheated the next day (very good – we loved the leftovers) or you could try adding more flour or cornstarch to thicken the base.

The lovely thing about this soup is that it tastes really, really, really good, and just about as "creamy" as the not-so-good-for-you versions. It was a hit with both Gabe and Jonathan - hurray for yummy ways to feed the menfolk broccoli! :)