From the Kitchen // Birthday Waffles

  Sour Cream Waffles   

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbs sugar

3 eggs (yolks separated, whites whipped)

3/4 C sour cream

3/4 milk or buttermilk

1/4 C oil

1/4 C melted butter

Beat egg whites into soft peaks, fold gently into batter.  Cook up in the greased and heated iron of your choice.

The perfect waffles need the blend of the right temp. waffle iron, the best ingredients possible, and that magic touch on the batter, ever-so-softly folding in the egg whites till they're light as air.  That's it.

For my birthday, we made waffles.  Waffles from my Grandma's recipe - golden, crisp, light, creamy and silky as a really good dream.  She was famous for her sour cream waffles and her hospitality.

A variety of toppings were set out on the festal board, including homemade plum sauce, almond butter, and cinnamon.  But for my first, I reached for the freshly skimmed and whipped raw cream, so sweet that no sugar was needed. A lavish helping of :adorable: chocolate sprinkles, some flecks of butter - and bliss.

Later, a stack of golden waffles for snacking and Wives and Daughters.  

Come on over for breakfast sometime?  'Cause making waffles is my favorite.

Blueberry Almond Cobbler - gluten, dairy, sugar free

This is a recipe cobbled together from my love of recipe creating and the call for a wheat, dairy, and processed sugar free dessert one day.

It was unanimously voted edible, much to my relief, and I've even heard tales of it's even being dubbed delectable.  

Remember, if trying it's worth for yourself, that the below measurements are only approximate (and the ratio should fill one 9x13 baking pan) - I hardly ever measure anything when cooking, and never when going freestyle.

At times this is to my advantage, and at others... Well.  Learning from your own mistakes is the most effective way, right?  

Of course right!

Gluten, Dairy, Sugar free 

Blueberry Almond Cobbler

5 C. rolled oats, soaked in equal parts water + 1 tsp. lemon juice overnight. (this step reduces the level of phytic acid in the oats and makes them the perfect consistency for a crust)

3/4 C. raw honey

3/4 C. coconut oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbs. cinnamon

2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4 C. blueberries

2 C. chopped almonds

1/2 C. raw honey

Mix blueberries, almonds, and 1/2 C honey together and set aside.  Combine all other ingredients and pour in a baking dish, spreading blueberry mixture over the top.  Bake at 350 for approx... let's say 20 minutes. Our propane regulator is acting up and it took mine, well... two hours to bake.  Yes.  I think twenty minutes should do it.  But don't pick up a good book, because you may not be able to put it down in time.  I wonder how I know that.

Remove from oven.

Stack the forks, pull out the plates, and call the gang over!

Or just curl up with an excellently large book on a rainy day and skip that last step.  You're set for hours.

From the Kitchen | Spring Tea

I wanted to introduce you all to my mother's Spring tea recipe - this homemade blend is a favorite in our family.  This delicious concoction has a fabulous full bodied flavor, and boasts natural ingredients that will do wonders for your hair and nails, complexion and overall health as we step into Spring.

 Get an incredible vitamin and mineral boost at your next tea time!

One of my favorite aspects of this tea is that nearly all of the ingredients grow wild right here on our property, and we can gather and dry them from home to have on hand.  Do your research, and if you have access to wild herbs and plants, I encourage you to try it yourself!  You can also purchase the ingredients packaged from places like Bulk Herb Store.

Vitamin & Mineral Tea

------------------------------

Red Raspberry Leaf, cut (about 3 cups)

Nettle Leaf, cut (about 3 cups)

Horsetail, cut or broken up (about 3 cups)

Alfalfa Tops (about 2 cups)

Wild Strawberry Leaf (about 3 cups)

Red Clover Blossoms (about a cup)

Rose Hips (a handful or two)

Oat Straw (about a cup)

Milk Thistle Seed (about a cup)

I just add about what I think is right until a gallon glass jar is full of the tea mix. (A gallon jar will hold about 16 cups, but if the herbs are loose, you can pack it in.) We make the tea by adding a mesh tea ball full of the mix to a gallon glass jar and filling with boiling water. Steep for at least 20 minutes. 

This tea is wonderful hot or iced!

  

Thanks for doing a photo shoot with me, mom - this was way too much fun♥

She asked for a puffer fish cake.

 

When a little sister asks you for a birthday cake, you might not think it such an unusual request.

But knowing this sister like I do, I wasn't at all surprised when she added - "A Spiny Puffer fish cake!"

I took the idea and ran - here's what appeared after conniving over a simple double layer yellow cake, buttercream frosting, one halved almond, and some chocolate chips.  We dusted the carob powder on with a tea strainer for coloring.  Pectoral/dorsal fins and tail were formed of melted chocolate chips spread on wax paper then chilled, after we got Giuseppe safely to our friend's house for the little party.

 Giuseppe, you were absolutely delicious.

From the Kitchen | Huckleberry Scones

Huckleberry scones are the epitome of the perfect morning.  I know that if there are hot scones for breakfast, it's going to be a pretty awesome day.  What I can't figure out is why people don't have them for breakfast every day.  Why I don't have them for breakfast every day.  

I want every day to be awesome.  Yet I don't make these lovelies every day... something's lost in the equation.

I guess that's what determining-to-have-an-awesome-day-on-jumping-out-of-bed is for.  That and Singing Oh, Happy Day at the top of your lungs.

For those days when you're fresh out of huckleberries.

World's  Best Scones

5 2/3 C flour

1/4 C baking powder

3/4 C sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 C butter

1 1/2 C fresh huckleberries, currants, etc.

1 1/2 C milk

3/4 C sour cream

oven to 400*

Sift dry ingredients - cut in butter.  Stir in berries of currents.

Mix sour cream and milk, then gently blend with dry ing.

Separate dough into 4 sections, patting each into a flat wheel with floured hands. (about 1" thick)

Cut each wheel into wedges, then place on greased baking trays.

Put the kettle on.

Bake 10-14 min till golden.

Enjoy.

From the Kitchen | German Chocolate Ice Cream

 This is a little piece of bliss.  Homemade, Alpenmilch Schokolade Noisette peppermint ice cream.

A friend and neighbor recently returned form a trip to Germany, and bless her, she brought back a goodly bundle of the most delicious Schokolade ever.  We've had a surplus of milk lately, as well, so what could be more reasonable than to whip up some ice cream?

We made this four days in a row.  It's that good.  (Not to mention, there's that much cream that has to be dealt with!)

 Guaranteed 100% Swiss milk.

12.0z Chocolate  (We used less - it was still phenomenal) 

1 1/2 C sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

5 drops peppermint oil

3 3/4 C heavy well-chilled cream

Melt chocolate and milk over the stove

Add vanilla, salt, & peppermint

Whip cream till stiff peaks form

Very gently, fold chocolate into half the cream, then fold the rest of the cream in, a little at a time.

Pour into a freezer tight container

Freeze for exactly six hours.  Give a little longer if you need to, but it's peak of perfection is 6 hours.  Ice crystals start to form after that, affecting the texture.

Grab yourself a bowl before it's all. licked. up.

From the Kitchen | Matilda's Oatmeal Muffins

Oatmeal every morning - that's the general rule at our house.  Thankfully, we all like oatmeal... for the most part.  But when too much of a good thing starts to become a rather bad thing, it's time to get creative.

Our oatmeal consists of rolled oats soaked overnight the Scottish way (I'll do a recipe for it sometime!) topped with almonds, raisins, and honey.  Occasionally milk, and... I'll pull out the brown sugar every once in awhile to indulge;)

Yesterday morning, however, my sister Matilda decided to shake things up a little.  I came in to find her mixing the cooked oatmeal into a bowl, along with some flour, milk, eggs, and brown sugar.  Some raisins made it into the bowl, too, and I suggested a tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 a cup of coconut oil to finish it off.

Spooned into muffin papers, baked at 350, and eaten warm.

She and I don't know exactly how much of everything went into the bowl, but I'm making a stab at it for you to try, if you feel so inclined.  I'm thinking these would make a fabulous picnic breakfast!

~_____ Baked Oatmeal Muffins _____~

7 C cooked oatmeal

4 C milk

3 eggs

3 C flour

1 C brown sugar (sweeten to taste)

1Tb baking powder

1/2 C oil

2-3 C raisins

Mix oatmeal, milk and eggs.  Combine dry ing, add raisins. Stir all together, and spoon into muffin papers 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 for approx. 12-15 min.

Makes around 30 muffins.

(batter should be just runny enough to spoon into papers, not too thick)

Take that, squishy oatmeal! 

What do you usually have for breakfast?