Food for Thought - Grinch Waffles

My good friend, Stacey, at Me, He Plus 3 asked me to write a guest post for her blog way back when we were on our trip to Idaho with the kids and grandkids. Of course I said, "Yes," but then it took me a couple of weeks to get my act together. Then it took her a couple of weeks to actually post it. Anyway, when it did finally post, I totally missed it! So here is a link, sorry it took me a while to share.

 
Since it's Princess's last week before she goes back to school on Monday, she wanted one more chance to cook a fun breakfast. Never one to turn down a free meal (even if I did have to pay for the ingredients!) I promptly gave her the go-ahead. Like the sweet and conscientious daughter that she is, she even took pics and offered to write my Food for Thought for today. So here you have it...Princess's Grinch Waffles.

Today I woke up and just did not want cold cereal. So after rummaging in the pantry, I decided I wanted to make crepes or waffles. Whichever my mom would allow... Well waffles it was, as long as I promised to take pictures and write a blog about it, story of my life. **That's not exactly what happened... :) Mom**

When I was little, I remember making Grinch waffles often. Just about every time my parents went on a date (which was more often than it is now) the kids would make waffles and watch a Disney movie. We would always declare aloud which kind of cool designed waffle we would pick, and if you picked a "flower" you always had to rip it into little hearts and butterflies, not sure why, ask Prima Donna.

I'm pretty sure we got the Grinch waffle maker from our friend, Missy. For quite a few years she gave our family interesting kitchen things for Christmas like a Quesadilla Maker, little frypans that make huge chocolate chip cookies, stuff like that. But our favorite (and most used one) was the Grinch Waffle maker. If you look at the pics of Curly and Burrito, you can see that it has a cool swirl. You HAVE to run the syrup around the swirl, otherwise it just doesn't taste right. I hope you enjoy our waffle recipe. It makes great pancakes too!

Waffles/Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp cooking oil

Mix egg, milk, and oil. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Stir mixture just until blended, but still slightly lumpy.  Pour about ¼ cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet for each standard-size pancake.

Or use a waffle iron. Cook until pancakes are golden brown, turning to cook second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and slightly dry edges.  Makes 8 to 10 pancakes. (We usually six times this recipe!) Today Princess made a small batch (only three times the recipe).

Food for Thought - Fudge

I’m sure you won’t believe this about me, because I am so incredibly cool now, but in a former life I was actually a Tupperware lady…and not just an I-collect-catalog-orders-once-a-month-do-you-want-anything Tupperware lady. I was a super-overachiever Tupperware lady who won several regional awards and a van! So I will tell you more about all that tomorrow, but I’m sure you are anxious to know why I started my Food for Thought Friday like that.

Well, back in the 80s we were selling tons of Tupperware when they introduced their microwave cookware line. So along with the microwave stuff, they gave us a bunch of fun and easy recipes to share with customers. This fudge recipe happens to be one of them. I swear it is the easiest fudge on the face of the planet and yet I get more compliments on it than almost any other thing I make. At Christmas time we give tons of it away and I made a huge batch for Teach to sell at her Relay bake sale and NONE of it came home. For the last two years we have used it to make our own Advent calendars at Christmas time. It’s much better than those tiny cheap chocolates that you get from the store. I just wrap it up in 3 x 3-inch squares and then cut it into small pieces for everyone to sample each night. I’m not sure it’s cheaper, but it is a fun new tradition for us. Give this recipe a try and leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Microwave Fudge

1 and one-half bags (approx. 18 oz) of milk chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
chopped walnuts if desired

Dump all of the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top. Put in the microwave for three minutes.

Take it out and stir. If all chips are not melted, return to microwave for an additional minute or two. Add vanilla. Mix well and quickly because it will start to set up right away. Add walnuts.

Spread into a 8 x 8 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Two batches will make a 9 x 13 pan, but make them separately so that your chips melt evenly.

You can substitute semi-sweet for some or all of the chips, but your fudge will be a darker, heavier fudge. Put it in the fridge for an hour or so to make cutting easier. Enjoy!

Food for Thought - Tuna Casserole

I loved my mother dearly, but I have to tell you that she made the worst tuna casserole on the planet! First of all, she used Cream of Mushroom soup. I’m ok with creamed soups, in fact my recipe uses one, but I can not tolerate the tiny mushroom cubes that used to come in the mushroom variety. I’m sure they have improved it over the last 30 years…but I haven't tried it again in my adult life.

The other thing Mom did was bake it in the oven with uncooked noodles. In her defense, when I was a kid the only person in town with a microwave was Grandma and that’s because she worked at an appliance store and she really was one of the first people to get one. I know she paid over $800.00 for it (with her store discount!) and that was back in the late 70s, early 80s, but she always said it was well worth the money because it made food prep so much easier.

Anyway, back to Mom’s casserole, the noodles never seemed to get all the way cooked so half of them ended up hard and crunchy. Those were the nights I arranged to have dinner at Grandma’s house. When my sweetie and I got married, tuna took a tremendous price increase for several years. I’m not sure why, but for a little while the asking price was over a dollar a can! Then the prices slowly inched down to something more reasonable. That’s when I developed my own recipe for Tuna Casserole. The kids love it! Yesterday was Sport’s 8th birthday and he chose it as his birthday meal. Please give it a try, leave me a comment, and let me know what you think!

Tuna Casserole


1 ½ lbs macaroni (you can use different pasta)
3 small cans cream of chicken soup
milk to fill the soup cans
2 cans tuna (drained REALLY well)
1 cup of cheese
another ½ cup of cheese for topping
crushed potato chips

Cook pasta according to package directions.  In a casserole dish, stir soup, milk, tuna, and 1 cup of cheese until mostly smooth.

When pasta is done, drain it well and add it to the casserole dish.  Stir well, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the microwave for 10 minutes.

Remove plastic wrap.  Stir really well, especially the corners.  Cover with remaining cheese and the crushed potato chips.  Microwave again for about 3 minutes uncovered. And you might want to serve it with something that's not yellow...but Sport's favorite veggie is corn and it was his birthday, so what could I do?

Mom's bed

As you can imagine, we have a rather large table in our kitchen. It has chairs at the head and the foot and long benches on each side. Those benches can accommodate 4 large people or 5 small ones. My kids sometimes feel a bit crowded at meals, but occasionally some will be missing and there will be empty seats. The kids have come up with a little song that they love to sing called "I’ve got the whole bench to myself…" It usually ends with someone rounding the table and joining them on the bench so the song is no longer applicable. 

So last night my sweetie and I were getting ready for bed. My little two-year-old Curly bursts through the door and climbs up in the middle of our bed. "I wanna sleep with you!" he says excitedly. His dad grumbles a bit but moves over. Within two minutes, that small body is thrashing back and forth, taking the blankets with him. This was enough for Dad. He climbed out of bed and started putting on his robe. That’s when I heard that sweet little voice singing, "I got the whole Mom’s bed to myself…"