Grandma’s Waffles – Tasty Kitchen

This morning we made waffles from a recipe we found on the internet. It sounded like a really fluffy, wonderful recipe.

We’ve cleared out our schedules, hoping to be busy in the Hospital with a newborn son, which has left us with next to nothing to do.

Enter Googling Waffle Recipes.

The best part about the recipe was that it called for beating the egg whites and then folding them in later, which made wonderfully fluffy waffles. They were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.

I did my best Julia Childs impression while Stephanie read me the directions. It was a treat.

We realized we wanted good food and Stephanie usually makes the best food on the face of the planet (no exaggeration or kidding here). But since she’s 40+ weeks pregnant, I’m talking over the kitchen. What I lack in skill, I make up for in randomness (see Julia Childs impression).

This morning we’re enjoying some great waffles and some oolong tea while praying Jonathan will come quickly.

If you’d like to check out this waffle recipe, you can find it here.

French Toast

In our house, it’s hard to imagine a boring Saturday breakfast. This past Saturday, we had an awesome french toast breakfast.

Stephanie found a recipe that uses left over baguette from last night’s dinner as the morning’s breakfast masterpiece. The baguette is cut and laid in a dish with the french toast goodness. Then, it’s baked in that dish. By the time you take it out, the bread has soaked up all of that magical goodness and is as soft and delightful as I could only imagine bread will be in heaven. 

Then, Stephanie tops it off with some powdered sugar, local honey, and just a touch of real maple syrup. Add Florida Orange Juice and some coffee and you’ve got a breakfast that warrants taking pictures.

Orange juice

On a recent trip to visit Graham and Becky in Orlando, we made some fresh squeezed orange juice. I thought I would share a picture for you to be jealous of.

Grillin & Chillin

Tonight, I grilled some tuna steaks and sea scallops for dinner. It wasn’t a feat to grill amazing seafood, though that is awesome. It was special because it was 17 degrees outside when I was grilling. Yes, it was cold. No, I did not loose anything to frostbite. Thanks for asking.

I’ve included some pictures because I didn’t want you to think I got lazy and stopped putting up pictures of food we are eating. I do think it’s amazing that Stephanie continually comes up with amazing meals that taste euphoric, and look like a magazine photo shoot!  I am a lucky man.

So, here are the shots. We had fresh tuna steaks and sea scallops. We enjoyed them with wild rice and spinach. The seafood had a soy-ginger marinade. 

 

Cuban Coffee

My imitation Cuban coffee. Thanks Starbucks for the sweet demitasse cup.

We recently visited south Florida to see family over the holidays. While I was there, I had breakfast with a friend at the Empanada Factory, which I highly recommend. The food was amazing and the coffee addicting.

Ever since that breakfast, I have been craving more cuban coffee. For those of you who haven’t had cuban coffee, think of a shot of espresso, add a little bit of heaven, and there you go.

I recently found out that some family members are going to buy me a cuban coffee maker for my birthday. I can’t wait.

Stephanie makes fun of me because I have “too many toys for coffee.” You see, she doesn’t drink coffee. Truth be told, I have a regular drip machine, a french press, solo press, pour over and an espresso machine. They are all wonderful ways to make coffee and really do meet different needs. As my father-in-law says, “it’s the right tool for the right job.” And he would probably agree because he drinks a pot of coffee a day…

But, on to more important matters. Today, while packing up our Christmas decorations and putting them back in the attic, I craved some Cuban coffee to help me perk up. I searched online and found a way to get close. It’s not as good, but not that bad of an imitation.

As I do with almost everything I eat, I took a picture just to share with everyone. Enjoy.

A Fall Breakfast

On our recent trip to Jamaica, Steph read a book about eating local foods. Though the author took the philosophy a bit far, they had some really good points. The one I like the best is eating what is in season because it is the freshest and tastiest at its peak. This also creates seasonal menus. For example: pumpkin pancakes in the fall.

We went with our community group to Huber’s Family Farm in the middle of October to pick pumpkins. We got one for our Annual Halloween Carving Contest and picked up two more for baking. Steph has mastered how to harvest fresh pumpkin.

She started this pancake recipe with fresh, home-pureed pumpkin. Then she found a recipe online and modified it to her preference. The result was fresh and delicious, fluffy pumpkin pancakes. 

Then, she topped them with powdered sugar and local honey. 

I know some of you out there (maybe not one of our two readers) don’t think there is that much difference in what you can pick up at your local grocery store and what you get at a farmers’ market. Though it is true that some things are nice to be able to get year round, like flour, other things lose a lot of their flavor in mass production. 

Eggs, for instance, don’t have the same flavor. Free-range eggs are better because the chickens scavenge their normal diet of bugs in addition to the grain they are fed. This results in a thicker egg with a tougher yolk. They scramble up a lot brighter yellow and have a ton more flavor. They really add to the taste in everything from a scrambled egg sandwich to cookies. Check out this picture of free-range eggs. The color hasn’t been messed with at all.

Free Range Scrambled Eggs

It has been an awesome morning with really good food. 

I’ve realized this blog is almost always about food. That’s ok with me. Leave me a comment and tell me if there are other things you’d like to hear about.

Check out more pics on our facebook album.

A farmers market breakfast.

We go to the local farmers market on Saturday mornings to get some of the best food around. Then we come home and have a breakfast fit for a king.

This morning we has free-range rainbow eggs, thick sliced homemade toast, and snow St. Jerome cheese. It was so good!

Being one-upped

The last post was about the dinner I made for Steph after she got home. It was really good but not as picturesque as our normal meals. Truth be told, it probably wasn’t as healthy either.

So, tonight Stephanie made a Greek salad that definitely one-upped my dinner. She wasn’t doing it out of a spirit of competition, she just likes to make amazing meals.

We had broiled cod with olive oil and pepper and then a HUGE Greek salad (complete with beets and potato salad). Not only did it taste better, it is more photogenic.

There was also one of my favorite things about summer… Tzatziki sauce. We had pitas to dip in this amazing sauce. I love having it in the summer because she makes it from our home-grown cucumbers. How can you not like it? It’s sweet, cool, delicious, and of course, good for you. It’s best on a pita with some grilled chicken … or better yet, grilled lamb!

Steph is home… and we’re eating well again!

Stephanie’s flight arrived at 1:30 and I was so excited to pick her up from the airport. It’s nice having a wife who is also my best friend.

After running a few unavoidable errands, we settled in at home and I cooked… or grilled an awesome dinner (if I do say so myself). I made a “southwest sauce” that featured chipotle peppers and dijon and used it on some grilled chicken along with sauteed onions and banana peppers (from our garden).

Then I paired corn on the cob and fresh green beans with it. The green beans turned out a littler under-done, but it was an amazing meal.

And this time I can actually say that I made the whole thing. I wanted to do it for Stephanie since she had been on the road for a week and taking care of other people for the past two weeks. I figured it would be a nice welcome home present.

Shrimp Alfredo and homemade Caesar Salad

We cooked some amazing shrimp on the grill and Stephanie made some awesome Alfredo sauce (from scratch, I might add) and then topped it with some basil chiffonade from our garden. It was amazing. We really do eat fabulous meals around here.

Along with the pasta dish, we ate a delicious caesar salad with home-made dressing. It’s really a cinch and very delicious! Here’s the recipe: 1/4c light mayo, 1T red wine vinegar, 1 lemon wedge squeezed, 1T anchovy paste, 1 small clove of garlic minced, a healthy snort of pepper and whisk! Voila! Here’s what it looks like:

Mmmm… bread…

I love bread. Any form of bread. Toast. Dinner rolls. Sandwich bread. Even a plain piece of bread and some butter. It’s probably because Stephanie makes bread by hand every week. Yeah, that’s right… she MAKES bread every week. And we’re not talking using a machine. She makes it BY HAND!

Because of this home-made bread, I love coming home on Fridays. The house always smells like bread baking in the oven. I usually want to eat the entire loaf but she keeps me from doing so.

Just to give you an idea, here’s a picture I took last week of her bread.

Coffee…

Enough said.

Feasting Outdoors

We LOVE to eat! Now that spring is in full force around here, we’re eating outside more and more. The cool air, green lawn and amazing dinners make this a memorable experience.

Our most recent feast was London Broil with a red wine reduction pan sauce, French cut green beans, “Gossett House Salad” and a homemade baguette.
[confession: though I love to eat red meat, my favorite part of this feast was the homemade baguette. Stephanie makes AMAZING bread and this is the "creme de la creme" of carbs]

We enjoyed our dinner in courses, starting with the most perfect baguette with extra virgin olive oil mixed with home-grown herbs. Then, we moved on to the “Gossett House Salad.” If you are privileged enough to stay with us, you are destined to have this salad. Romaine and spinach topped with carrots, tomatoes, home-grown green onions, croûtons and home made Italian dressing. The next course was the real deal… London Broil with an amazing sauce Stephanie made up from scratch. We also had French cut green beans, my favorite green vegetable. Then, after savoring this amazing meal, we topped it off with blended strawberry drinks. The perfect dessert for a warm evening.

Here are some pictures from this meal. You may want to get some towels to wipe the drool off your keyboard before you check them out.

Feasting Outdoors

Yeah, we eat like Kings!

Since it was a gorgeous day and Stephanie was home for dinner, we had an amazing meal. Check out the link below to see some pictures.

Eating Like A King

Irish Dinner

Irish Dinner

Yeah, we were inspired by The Irish Rover and made this amazing dinner. Yay for spring because we were able to eat outside.

We started with an Irish Bread and butter. It’s a heaver consistency than normal bread and the butter is saltier. Then, we had grilled steaks with garlic butter topping and barley with sauteed spinach and shaved parmesan. Yeah, it was amazing!