Last Day of Winter Break

For some reason I thought it would be good idea to make Waffles for the kids breakfast on the day before they go back to the school.  Today is the last day of the girls Christmas vacation.  I am looking forward to Tuesday morning.  I have been running a bit frazzled lately, being sick and having the kids fight a bunch of the time.

In 2009, I put together a cookbook for Lady Bird's preschool.  I put a lot of effort into it and I am really proud of what I made.  I still use my copy of the cookbook and I will probably try to put one together for the kids in the future.  I did manage to teach myself how to use Microsoft Publisher and get a really neat cookbook out of the deal :)

This recipe was submitted by Jacqueline.  Delicious!

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles
Makes about 8 waffles
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
4 Eggs
2 cups Buttermilk
1 cup Pumpkin puree
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla
Non-stick spray

~Preheat waffle iron
~Whisk flour, bk powder, bk soday, and all the spices.
~In another bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients.
~Add dry to wet and mix until smooth
~Spray preheated iron and pour in some batter.
~Once they are cooked serve with whipped cream and maple syrup.  

~If there are any leftover waffles, cool them and place then in the freezer in a single layer.  Once frozen, place in zip top bag for later.  Then just toast them up and serve.

I Need a Post Vacation, Vacation.

We got back home after a long week in Whistler.  We had a bit of snow, a lot of friends, and a bunch of sickies.  Little man had a fever and was a whiny, whiny boy.  Lady Bird was also a melty kid.  Rosie was the only one who didn't seem too affected by the sick, although she has been super tired and whiny today.  

We left a day early since I was worried about a snow storm that was headed our way and we were in my hubby's car which didn't have winter tires, we didn't have chains, and it is a 2 wheel drive car, and I did not want to chance it.  We arrived late last night; in the process of unpacking the car I had to put the left over food away and discovered a week left alone made the veggie crisper rather disgusting, so I had clean it out at like 10pm at night, yuck!

After spending the day doing laundry and even folding it, again yuck!  Cleaning the kitchen, and again feeling yucky all day.  So after a day like that I didn't want to make anything too taxing especially with Little Man being demanding in his high pitched voice that always seems to be whiny when I have a headache.  He still doesn't get that asking over and over will not get him what he wants.  I am hoping that this stage of language development, developes a bit faster.

Back to tonight's dinner, I made a cabbage soup.  I know that sounds rather boring but it is really tasty.

Cabbage Soup

by me

1 Onion, sliced

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

10-12 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

5 cups Chicken Stock ( I used Better than Bouillion, otherwise use 4 cups stock and 1 cup water)

2 Mild Hungarian Sausages*, quartered lengthwise and then sliced

4 Potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 head of Cabbage

2 splashes Apple Cider Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

~In a large soup pan, heat oil over medium.  Saute onion until translucent, then add garlic and sweat for a minute or so, then add chicken stock, bring to a simmer.

~Add Sausage and potatoes.  Simmer 5 minutes and then add in the cabbage.  Once the potatoes are cooked add a splash or 2 of vinegar and then season as needed.

*Hungarian Sausage is a dry cured sausage, it is quite hard.  If you can't find it, any cured sausage will do and if that fails, you can get a salami from the deli department, you'd need about 2 inches of deli salami.  Pepper, Genoa, or capricollo would all work but fell free to try any of the salami*