Good Night Waffles

I think I would have named them something else. “Good Night Waffles” sounds a bit too like much like a light thriller to me, honestly. Like something Ian Fleming would title a short story about breakfast. Of course, it does have much more poetry and appeal than “Belgian-Style Yeast Waffles”, which is what descriptive recipe-writers at King Arthur Flour called their recipe. -DB

Mom writes…

Most of the mixing for these waffles is done the night before. In the morning, just mix in the eggs, vanilla extract and a pinch of baking soda while the waffle maker is heating. Leftover batter may be covered and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Heat your waffle maker in the morning, stir the batter and have a freshly baked waffle for breakfast.

Makes about 6 Belgian waffles (I don’t really know – I’ve never counted)

• 1/2 cup lukewarm (105 F) water
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 packet)
• 2 cups whole milk, warmed (about 105 F) ( I scald mine then let cool, and I almost always use skim milk ’cause that’s what I have. You can increase the amount of the butter by .04*16=.64oz or another Tablespoon to compensate)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

The night before, or at least 8 hours before baking, combine the warm water, granulated sugar and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, until foamy (I usually skip this step). Stir in the warm milk, melted butter and salt. Beat in the flour until smooth. Wrap bowl with plastic wrap and let stand overnight on the counter top – do not refrigerate.
When ready to bake, preheat waffle iron. Stir the eggs, vanilla extract and baking soda into the batter. Cook.

Alternative if you don’t have overnight or 8 hours before you need to cook them:
Use self rising flour instead of all purpose, don’t add extra salt, and combine everything at once. The leftover batter will be great the next couple days, too. The waffles on the first day won’t be as light and airy, but are still better than anything that’s not home made.

Good luck,
Mom

rum raisin bread pudding

This is pretty close to how I make my baked French toast, honestly. The recipe is adapted strongly from the Food Network, but with some significant changes to make it less rich. For some serious deliciousness, I spoon some cream cheese frosting on top (see cinnamon roll post).

• 8 c milk
• 1/4 c butter
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c rum
• 1 c rum raisins
• 8 c bread, torn
• 8 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large saucepan, add milk, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, rum and raisins and heat until warm. Simmer and stir until sugar dissolves.

Into a large bowl add the cubed bread and pour in the hot milk mixture. Let sit for 30 minutes so the bread absorbs the milk.

Add the beaten eggs to the bread and milk mixture and stir. Pour bread pudding into a buttered 1 1/2-quart baking dish and bake for 50 minutes.

ad hoc dinners

We’ve been crunched for time recently, so I’ve made three ad hoc meals in row. All were more or less out of cans, and all had the consistency of paste. Also, all turned out very well. The salmon and the beans and chicken I would call excellent, even. The pasta and chicken, though tasty, may improve with better seasoning.

curried canned salmon

• 14 oz diced tomatoes
• 14 oz lite coconut milk
• 6 oz canned salmon
• sweet curry powder, Penzey’s (about 1 tsp?)

refried beans with chicken and tomatoes

• 14 oz diced tomatoes
• 14 oz refried beans
• 10 oz canned chicken
• ground cumin
• smoked paprika

pasta w/ peas and chicken tossed with cheese and egg

• 14 oz pasta
• 2 oz cheddar
• 2 eggs
• 2 chicken breasts
• smoked paprika
• oregano

crepes

• sauteed bananas, HCE, p 386

We got this recipe from a cooking demo at our local Williams-Sonoma store:

basic crepes

1 c milk
1 egg
1/2 c plus 1 T all-purpose flour
1 t melted butter
1/2 t salt

Blend together milk, egg, flour, butter, and salt. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Melt a little butter in a nonstick pan. Lift pan at slight angle and pour 2 T of batter into the center, tilting pan to spread batter. Cook until golden underneath, about 1 or 2 min. Flip and cook 1 to 2 min more.

Freezing or refrigerating the crepes worked spectacularly. Some fillings that were particularly tasty:

• grilled chicken breast and brie (good w/ mustard)
• grilled chicken breast and Dubliner (good w/ barbeque sauce)
• sauteed bananas w/ cheese (both brie and Dubliner were very good)

baked garlic cheese grits

I made cheese grits following Paula Deen’s recipe, found here and copied below (because I’m not sure that the link is a permalink).

I chose this recipe, because I knew that the cheese grits I wanted to make had milk and eggs and plenty of garlic and were baked like a custard or casserole. Paula Deen’s fit the bill. Also, her food tends to give good Southern-style results. I did go a little heavy on the very strongly flavored vegetable broth, but I think that’ll be fine, especially since no one at the potluck I’m taking this to has had cheese grits before.

• 6 cups broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 cups regular grits
• 16 ounces Cheddar, cubed
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 8 ounces grated sharp white Cheddar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 4-quart casserole dish.
2. Bring the broth, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in the grits and whisk until completely combined. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the grits are thick, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the cubed Cheddar and milk and stir. Gradually stir in the eggs and butter, stirring until all are combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with the white Cheddar and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until set.

yogurt

Prompted by Harold McGee’s article, I made yogurt last Saturday. It turned out a little thin, but perfect for cereal.

cheddar, bacon, egg, and onion pizza

Inspired by Ruhlman’s recent pizza post (link).

• pizza dough
• onion, diced and sauteed
• bacon, cooked crispy and broken into pieces
• cheddar from Beehive Cheese (link), grated
• eggs

1. Took dough out of fridge.
2. Preheated oven (and pizza stone) to 550 F.
3. Spread dough to desired size by pressing down and out w/ hands.
4. Parbaked dough (2 m).
5. Removed crust from oven and topped w/ bacon, then cheddar, then onion.
6. Baked whole pizza (4 m).
7. Removed pizza from oven and cracked eggs on top.
8. Baked whole pizza until whites were barely set (4 m).

Delicious!

Next time, I’ll fry the eggs separately and put them on top of the breakfast pizza. It’ll be easier to cook, be easier to eat, and look better.

Mexican migas

I’ve been hearing a lot about migas recently. So much so that I checked with Google Trends to see if there had been a recent uptick in “migas” searching. There hadn’t been. Anyway, I decided to make migas for dinner tonight. Honestly, it’s not that far from our normal scrambled eggs. Perhaps there’s a little more stuff in migas, and I never put fried tortillas in my eggs, but other than that, they’re conceptually the same. I started with Food Network’s Mexican Migas Recipe and went from there.

• oil (we used corn)
• 2 corn tortillas
• 2 slices bacon
• 1/4 onion
• 1/4 bell pepper
• 1/4 c corn kernels
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 t cumin
• 4 eggs
• salt, pepper, red pepper to taste

In a skillet, fry the tortillas until crispy. Remove tortillas from pan. Cut up bacon and fry to desired doneness. Drain all but a few T of oil. Add onions and saute until soft. Add pepper, garlic, and cumin and cook for 5 more min or so. Turn heat down (as low as you’re willing to, really–I like my eggs scrambled slowly). Put bacon and tortillas back into the skillet. Beat eggs, add them to the skillet, and scramble. Once the eggs are done, eat!

It was good. I thought it was a touch too sweet; Juliana didn’t.

everyday apple pancakes

everyday pancakes with fresh apples, HCE, p 811-813
everyday pancakes with fresh apples, CEV, p 200-202

I chopped up an apple and added it to Bittman’s standard pancake recipe (as per item 1 in the “other ideas for pancakes” list). I didn’t use any sugar or butter in the recipe, figuring that I could add them later as toppings. The pancakes were much more chewy (in a good way) and moist than any I’d had before. They were spectacular with blackberry jelly or maple syrup.

chicken enchiladas

red enchilada sauce, HCE, p 48
chicken enchiladas, HCE, p 826-827

red enchilada sauce

• 4 large yellow onions
• 56 oz canned whole tomatoes
• 1 dried ancho chile
• 15 cloves garlic

We followed the recipe.

poached chicken

• 2 qts water
• 2 parsnips
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 large yellow onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• whole chicken (~5 lbs)

1. chopped parsnips and carrots
2. minced garlic and onions
3. brought all ingredients except chicken to boil
4. added chicken and brought back to boil
5. simmered for 20 min
6. turned off heat and let sit for 10 min
7. temperature at thickest part of the thigh should be 155 F – 165 F

This made delicious broth, delicious chicken, and delicious vegetable mush. We threw away the bones and the skin.

chicken enchiladas

• 3 c grated cheddar
• 12 large corn tortillas (~6 1/2″ diameter)
• half the meat from of a poached chicken (~5 lbs)
• 5 c red enchilada sauce

We followed the recipe except for the garnishing.