Waffles

This is my mom's recipe for waffles. They are SO good, and light and fluffy. The trick to tender waffles is not overmixing. Mix all of these ingredients until they are just combined.

In a bowl combine:

2 cups flour
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) melted butter
2 eggs (separate the egg whites into a separate empty bowl, and put the yolks into the other ingredients. beat up the egg whites with a whisk until they are foamy, then add gently into the batter)

Put a scoopful into your waffle maker. You will not be disappointed!

homemade pasta

I've been making a lot of homemade pasta lately since I got the pasta making attachments for my kitchen aid. You can also just buy a hand crank machine or even roll out the dough by hand and cut it into strips with a knife. We like to use the linguine attachment. The best part about making pasta from scratch (besides the fact that it is so tender and delicious) is the cost. For the two of us I use 1 cup of flour and 2 eggs, and then about a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix it up with a fork and then finish with your hand. Keep surfaces and your hands really floured. The pasta goes directly into salted boiling water and takes about 3 minutes to cook- literally! Here we made the pasta with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. We put it into marinara sauce with meatballs. It was amazing!

Chicken and Pasta in Cream Sauce

From Hot off the garlic press

This is Kristine's sister's blog, and she posts really yummy stuff on there. I tried this pasta recipe last summer, and the first time I made it I fell in love. It is one of my favorite meals now and it takes MINUTES. The first week I tried it, I made it 4 times. The recipe calls for basil and parmesan, and I didn't add either of those things...I just do the cream, salt, pepper, garlic, chicken, bowties and broccoli.

It would also be delicious with spinach added into the sauce at the end, or even asparagus and chopped tomatoes. You can't go wrong with heavy cream :) The best part is that the chicken and broccoli and pasta all cook in the same pot, so you don't need 10 different pans to make dinner with. TRY IT. It's the best! Here's the link: Pasta

Yes, we eat a lot of pasta at my house!

Shrimp Scampi Verde

The won tons turned out great- so good, in fact, that there were none left over for me to photograph. I think we will have them again this weekend and I'll shoot 'em then. Tonight I'm making one of our all time favorite pasta dishes:

Spicy Shrimp Scampi Verde

It's a Rachael Ray recipe and it is so easy and delicious. I love the combination of the basil and lemon, and shrimp in anything is really a good thing, to me :) If I can't find arugula for the recipe, I'll just use spinach. I also don't have any chives so I'm going to use leftover scallions that I already have in the fridge. YUM

Pork Won Tons

1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 pepper
40-50 wonton wrappers
A few inches of vegetable oil in deep pan
(i like a deep pan to prevent oil popping on me)

I usually mix up the meat and seasonings in a bowl, then divide the raw meat mixture in half, put it in a ziploc and freeze it to use another time.
With the rest of the mixture, fill teaspoon with the mixture and place on half of the won ton. Dip your finger in water and moisten the edge of the triangle. Stick the other side to it so it seals well. At this point you can either steam them (I have a bamboo steamer but I've also used the vegetable steamer that goes on top of my rice cooker) and then fry in the oil, or just put them straight into the hot oil. Make sure if you steam them to try to get as much moisture off of them as possible so the water doesn't pop in the oil. When frying, let them cook until golden, then flip. I drain mine on a paper towel. Then I dip them in this:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ginger

english muffin pizzas

like i said before, we have pizza usually once a week. i try to mix it up between pepperoni, pesto or asian. when we're really busy or i do not feel like waiting for my breadmaker to mix up some dough, we make pizzas on english muffins or bagels. you can add whatever toppings you like and even us whole wheat bagels or english muffins as the base. they are so good! and i can imagine kids liking the individual portions and even helping assemble the toppings.

english muffins or bagels
pizza sauce (i like the jarred kind)
mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
i also like to add pineapple to mine
a sprinkle of salt and pepper, or garlic salt

i toast the base before putting the toppings on, to ensure that it is crispy and not soggy. bake at 400 until the cheese is bubbly and the bottom seems crisp. keep an eye on them, they're done fast. never gets old :)

rainbow cake update

here is the link for the rainbow cake!

it was so fun to make! i would definitely make it if i had a baby or a kid having a birthday. instead i just made it for fun :) the best part is cutting it open, because i covered mine in white frosting so you couldn't tell what was inside.