Cinnamon Waffles

My kids absolutely love to wake up to the smell of fresh waffles on the griddle. I believe that if I gave them their way, I would be preparing a batch every morning. Knowing this, my wonderful husband gave me a restaurant quality waffle iron for Christmas that I absolutely LOVE and it makes baking waffles so much fun! Ulterior motive?? Maybe!

The other morning the breakfast fixins' were pretty slim (I had neglected to make it to the store) and I knew that I would have my hands full with grumpy kiddos if I didn't figure out breakfast quick. I rapidly searched All Recipes for a waffle recipe with ingredients I had on hand. I liked this particular recipe because the batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week!

These were light and fluffy and absolutely wonderful!! They had just the perfect hint of cinnamon flavor and I'm thinking I just might add a touch of nutmeg to them next time too. I can't wait to prepare these again and serve with some fresh fruit Yummo!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Waffles

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.

Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

This batter can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to a week. Whisk well before using again.

Source: All Recipes

Pork Tostadas

These tostadas were the second dinner prepared from the original Spice-Encrusted Pork Tenderloin posted earlier. I was so excited to be using left-over meat to prepare an entirely new and exciting meal.

These were absolutely delicious!! The combination of the spicy pork, salsa, and beans was perfect and packed with huge flavor! At first, I was tempted to leave out the black beans and salsa combination, that the recipe called for but after tasting the first bite of my tostada I was so thankful that I went ahead and prepared it! To be honest, the beans didn't look appetizing at all, but..oh, my they had tremendous flavor!

This meal was another successful one for our household, not only delicious and packed with tons of flavor but also a great savings on the weekly budget! Hooray!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Pork Tostadas

3 tablespoons corn oil
6 (5-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups Seasoned Black Beans (Recipe follows)
1 (15.5-ounce) jar prepared salsa
Guacamole (I omitted)
2 pork tenderloins, warmed and shredded
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream

In a large nonstick skillet, heat corn oil over medium-high heat. Cook tortillas on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels.

In a small saucepan, add beans, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until all liquid has evaporated. Use a potato masher to mash beans.

To assemble tostadas, layer beans, salsa, guacamole, shredded pork and sour cream on each tortilla. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.

Seasoned Black Beans
(I halved this recipe for our tostadas)

4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained
2 (10-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine beans, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook according to above directions.

Source: Cooking with Paula Deen Jan/Feb 2009

Spice Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

Lately I've been on the search for dinners and recipes that will offer and provide a couple of different meals throughout the week for our family. Trying to stretch our family grocery budget has become a priority with me not working over the summer months. And it never hurts to tighten up the budget strings anyway...just ask my husband! :)

Pork tenderloin was not on sale the week I had this on my menu so I hesitated a moment at the meat counter. These two loins were a total cost of $10.34. As I stood and figured out that I would be preparing three different meals for the six of us, I realized that the cost per person per meal for the meat was right around .55 cents. WOW-not such a bad deal after all!!

This recipe was quick and simple to prepare. After rubbing the loins with all the spices, I browned the meat for a few minutes per side to seal in the flavor and juices of the meat and then baked them for 20 minutes. Pretty easy, huh?!

The flavors of the spices on the tenderloins were fantastic!! It definitely had a little "kick" to it, but not too much that the kiddos wouldn't eat it.

In my next post I'll be sharing a recipe for Pork Tostadas using shredded pork reserved from this recipe!!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!
Spice-Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons garlic salt
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
4 (1.5-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed)
1/4 cup olive oil, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine chili powder, coriander, cumin, kosher salt, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper. Coat tenderloins evenly with spice mixture.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook 1 tenderloin for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove tenderloin and place on prepared pan. Repeat with remaining olive oil and tenderloins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of tenderloin registers 155 degrees or desired degree of doneness. Slice to serve.

Source: Cooking with Paula Deen Jan/Feb 2009

And The Winner Is.....

I'm sure that you all have been waiting to see who the incredibly lucky cookie winner is! Well, today my niece Taylor, and Megan sat at the kitchen table and wrote down everyone's name, then folded them and shook all of them up in Nathans hat, then Lauren chose the lucky winner. Before I give away the name, I would first like to thank everyone who entered this contest and became a follower. I can tell everyone really would love to win these cookies, and we have a winner! The name on the paper that was pulled out was... CaSaundra Leigh! Congratulations CaSaundra Leigh, I will start working on your cookies very soon!

CaSaundra, if you could please e-mail me a way to contact you, and also your mailing address. Thanks, ChristyOoley@yahoo.com :-)

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!!

This post was written by my talented niece-Taylor.

Father's Day Cookie Giveaway!

You may have read in earlier posts about the cookies that my friend Sarah and I have been making lately. . . we've been creating hand painted sugar cookies for all different holidays and events. Our Mother's Day cookies (pictured above) were a hit and we decided that it would be fun to do a Father's Day Blog Giveaway!

We are giving away a box of 9 hand painted, personalized "Father's Day Theme" sugar cookies-- to be shipped anywhere in the continental U.S. One box will be given away to a random winner on this blog and another will be given away to a random winner on Sarah's blog.

Here's how you can win:

* 1 entry for leaving a comment on this post

* 1 additional entry for signing up to follow this blog

* 1 additional entry for linking back to this post from your blog (be sure to leave me a note letting me know that you have done this!)

As an added bonus, you can go to Sarah's blog to have added entries on her giveaway! This contest will run through June 6th, at midnight EST. That way we can be sure to have these shipped out in plenty of time for Father's Day.

Good Luck!

Rocky Road Cupcakes

This delectable little cake hails from a cute little cookbook that my daughter, Megan, received from our friends the O'Brien's when we shared the first night of Hanukkah together. Megan has enjoyed baking several recipes from it and I used it as my resource for our "Last Day of School" celebration lunch. :-) My kiddos absolutely devour Rocky Road ice cream any time I buy it, so I knew they would be thrilled to see these waiting for them after school.

The cake is marbled with white and chocolate batter and is incredibly moist and delicious. The topping is a mixture of toasted coconut, peanuts, dried cherries and marshmallows. All those yummy little goodies are then tossed in melted milk chocolate and mounded onto the tops of cupcakes. Oh yummy!! These were a huge hit with my kids to begin our summer vacation.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Rocky Road Cupcakes

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour, sifted
1/3 cup milk
pink food coloring
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons milk, extra

Rocky Road Topping

1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1 cup red candied cherries, halved
1 cup pink and white marshmallows, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
7 ounces milk chocolate, melted

Decorations

2 ounces milk chocolate chips, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 6-hole oversize (Texas) or 12-hole standard muffin pan with paper baking cups.

2. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour and milk in two batches.

3. Divide mixture evenly among three bowls. Tint one mixture pink. Blend sifted cocoa with extra milk in cup; stir into another mixture. Leave third mixture plain.

4. Drop alternate spoonfuls of the mixtures into baking cups. Pull a skewer backwards and forwards through mixtures for a marbled effect; smooth surface.

5. Bake large cakes about 30 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto a wire rack to cool.

6. Combine ingredients for rocky road topping in medium bowl.

7. Place topping on tops of cakes; drizzle with chocolate.

Source: cupcakes

Brioche a' Tete

Many of the food blogs that I visit regularly have boasted about the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". The concept of having the ability to bake homemade breads on a daily basis without the many hours of preparation truly intrigued me. I wondered how a refrigerated dough could yield so many wonderful breads without a time-consuming, all day affair. So, like any faithful foodie, I ran to our neighborhood Barnes and Noble and purchased the book. :-)

Last week my friend Sarah and I enjoyed another afternoon of baking. One of the items we chose to work with was the Brioche dough from my new book. We divided the dough between us and this is my first completed bread from my "starter". I know Sarah had had great success with the two recipes that she baked up with her dough, so you'll have to be on the look-out for her creations on her food blog too. I loved how quickly I had a loaf of fresh, homemade bread cooling on my kitchen counter. As I've said before, there's something about baking bread that gives me a feeling of comfort and satisfaction. If you haven't purchased this amazing book yet, go now...run don't walk to your nearest bookstore and get it. It truly changes how bread baking can be accomplished in our busy homes.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!